74 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science 



After the first song, a speech-prayer service was conducted by the 

 chief of ceremonies. Then the women cliose male partners by ap- 

 proaching and waving their hands toward the one of their choice. If 

 a white man was chosen he was expected to pay for the privilege of 

 dancing, and any one chosen was obliged to accept or get out of the 

 enclosure. Preparatory to the dance the men and women lined up fac- 

 ing each other in column abreast, the women in one column, the men 

 in the other. The members of each column held hands, one column tak- 

 ing two steps forward and the other two steps backward to the time of 

 the music, then vice versa. Thus was the dancing kept up in a set and 

 continued in each succeeding set till the closing dance the fourth day, 

 the Indian women choosing a new partner for each set. 



The closing set was an* endurance test. It began the same as the 

 others, but soon changed to a single couple's partner dance in which the 

 partners held each other in a position similar to that taken in our 

 waltzes; the step, however, was the same as before. This dance was 

 kept up till the participants quit of exhaustion. One participant fell 

 down in the dance and the medicine man used one of the drum sticks 

 as a wand and collected the evil spirits on it and then sent them to 

 the four winds; he laid the stick first on her feet, then across her hips, 

 then across her breast, then across her back, and lastly on her head. 

 Unless this was done, it was believed some misfortune would befall her. 



After the close of the endurance fete, the chief medicine man took 

 a cup and as he danced, he held it upward as an offering of thanks 

 to the gods and as a prayer for rain. His dance was followed by two 

 speeches by two leading men. Then a feast was set out for all, after 

 which they returned to their respective homes, believing that the gods 

 would bless them and give them a bountiful crop. 



An interesting account of the habits of the Southern Ute Indians 

 is given by Dr. Alex Hrdlika in bulletin 2, pai-t 2, pp. 619-620, of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology. 



