278 



Then each one who cared took some of the dust of the gods, that is, 

 gathered a pinch of dust from each of th-^ symljolic figures. This being 

 done, the disli -was obliterated. The Gunelpieya ceremonies were thus 

 brought to a close. The next scenes were those of the ghost dance. 



At about ten o'clock that night a huge bonfire was kindled in a level 

 open area, around which practically all the Indians of the tribe gathered. 

 Two drummers seated themselves on their blankets a little to the west 

 of the big fire and began to beat the Indian "tomtoms." drums made by 

 stretching a rawhide over the open face of a pot. As soon as the dull 

 drum beats were heard all who desired to sing joined the drummers and 

 began to chant: 



To'-kwah tzlioo'-nali nahd'-o-tash' 



To'-kwali tzlioo'-nah nahd'-o-tash' 



To'-kwah tzhoo'-nah nahd'-o-tasli' 



To'-kwali tzhoo'-nah nahd'-o-toosh'-she ah' i' a' uah' ah' 



To'-kwah tzhoo'-nah nahd'-o-toosh'-slie ah' i' a' nali' i'. 

 After the singing had been going on for probalily half an hour, the sick 

 girl was carried to the place of meeting and placed on a blanket to the 

 east of the fire. On this she reclined for almost an hour waiting for those 

 who were to perform over her. At last they came, the ghost dancers. 

 There were five of them, four medicine dancers and a clo"mi. The former 

 were "Chedens" and were all attired liko the "Cheden" above described 

 with the exception that the hats of two of them had the lath crest pieces 

 arranged in fan shape so as to resemble the spread tail of a turkey, which 

 it was intended to represent. The clown was attired, painted and daubed 

 similarly to the ghost dancers, the crest of his hat, however, was neither 

 square shouldered nor fan-shaped; but instead the lath extended out as 

 horns from each side, a small cross cresting the hat. Besides the differ- 

 ence in the hat, he also had a belt of pine twigs around his waist and a 

 bunch of fir twigs at his back that, in several respects, made him look 

 like Christian in "Pilgrims' Progress" as he started out with his load of 

 sins on his back. The ghost dancers carried lightning painted wands in 

 each hand; the clown carried a thunder stick in one hand and a three- 

 pronged stick in the other. The thunder stick was a piece of lath sus- 

 pended on a string. The string being twisted, the whirling of the latb 

 gave a sound "all the same thunder," to use the Indian expression. The 

 three-pronged stick resembled the trident of the fabled Neptune. The 



