the third set of songs had been sung, the 
attendants built a big fire and hung a 
kettle of water and dog meat (or buffalo) 
The leader advanced to the 
over it. 
kettle when it was full of boiling soup, 
plunged his arm into it and took out a 
piece of meat. All the other members 
followed suit and unscathed pulled out 
meat, for they had secured medicine 
power that enabled them to overcome 
the force of the fire. An evidently re- 
lated ceremony occurs among other 
tribes. In the Hot Dance of the Man- 
dan and Hidatsa, the performers not 
only executed the trick practiced by the 
Pawnee, but also danced with bare feet 
on glowing embers until they had 
stamped out the fire. This was likewise 
a usage of the Crazy Dancers of the 
Arapaho, who indulged in other queer 
antics, such as doing everything in re- 
verse fashion and expressing the opposite 
of their intended meaning, thus lending 
to an otherwise solemn performance an 
aspect of buffoonery. 
While the activities just described 
seem to have had no object beyond 
the exhibition of the performer’s super- 
natural power, the dance of the Mandan 
Buffalo women’s society was intimately 
connected with tribal welfare. When- 
ever the supply of buffalo had failed and 
the village was threatened with famine, 
the members of this organization were 
99 
