96 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
pairs, sometimes separately, vigorously 
stamping the ground with their feet, and 
frequently mimicking martial exploits. 
The orchestral equipment of the 
Indians is not very comprehensive. The 
flute (or flageolet) is restricted to use in 
courting. For dancing, the drum and 
the rattle are by far the most important 
instruments, although other types were 
used over a relatively large area; this 
applies, for example, to notched sticks 
rasped with other sticks and bird-bone 
whistles, usually worn suspended from 
the neck. The drum varies consider- 
ably in form. On the Northwest Coast 
the natives merely beat a plank or box. 
The Plains Indians commonly use a skin 
stretched over a hoop, held by strings 
crossing underneath, but a large double- 
headed drum suspended from four sticks 
also occurs. Rattles are likewise of 
widely varying kind, such as gourds con- 
taining small pebbles and ring-shaped or 
globular rawhide bags — for which in 
the dance of to-day baking powder cans 
make favorite substitutes. Sometimes 
a certain instrument is considered dis- 
tinctive of a particular dance or of a 
society performing the dance, and vari- 
ous forms of costume are also considered 
badges. 
the Indian dance a place of significance 
Thus dress comes to occupy in 
to which there is no correspondence in 
the dancesof civilized races. Sometimes, 
to be sure, the apparel merely is designed 
to give an appearance of picturesqueness, 
while in other instances lack of clothing 
is sometimes compensated for by face 
and body paint or by a profusion of 
regalia held in the hand. In a Northern 
Blackfoot Grass Dance which I witnessed 
in 1907, some performers were naked 
save for moccasins and a breechcloth, 
but many carried ornamental objects 
such as mirrors, swords, and feathered 
and hooked staffs. When dances are the 
property of special organizations, as is 
often the case, there is naturally a tend- 
ency to differentiate between these by 
some visible token of dress or regalia. 
Thus the members of one Arapaho danc- 
ing society are marked off from the rest 
by wearing a headdress of buffalo skin; 
in another society every one wears feath- 
ers at the back of the head; a third is 
characterized by the carrying of clubs. 
Similarly where a single organization has 
several officers there is again a natural 
attempt to distinguish them through 
some external means. Thus a leader in 
the dance may carry an otter-wrapped 
pole, while the privates of the rank and 
file have none. 
The Crow Grass Dance might be 
chosen as an example of the social type 
of Indian dance, the Pawnee Iruska and 
the Mandan Buffalo Women’s dances as 
representatives of shamanistic or reli- 
gious performances, while the Mandan 
Okipa illustrates well the great tribal 
festival type of dance. 
The Crow Grass Dance, or as the 
natives call it the “Hot Dance,” is re- 
garded as the joint property of four 
clubs, to some one of which nearly every 
man of the tribe belongs. In a sense 
these are mutual benefit organizations, 
for whenever a member is confronted 
with a difficulty his comrades are ex- 
pected to help him in every way. In 
each of the districts of the Crow Reserva- 
tion, these four societies share with one 
another a substantial dance house. 
When the time for dancing comes, a 
committee of men proceeds from lodge 
to lodge, planting a stick in front of each. 
This means that each household is to 
contribute to a feast to be held by the 
clubs after their dance. A crier rides 
through camp heralding the perform- 
ance and calling on all members to 
present themselves at the dance house. 
On one occasion I have known four 
marshals to be appointed to punish the 
