﻿246 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 78 



thou toss over they shoulder the admonition of justice and right conduct by 

 which all the people live. Should tliis come to pass, then know that the time 

 is near when the feet of thy people shajl hang over the abyss of the sundered 

 earth (of impending ruin). Should this misfortune take place there is no One 

 under heaven who is alile to draw them out of it save One, the Creator of 

 our bodies, who has the power to do this and to aid all in distress." 



XIV. "The Loss of Reason— Suicide." 



" Our grandsires made another decree forbidding another thing, and that is, 

 that the mind should not be permitted to lose its reason by nursing the memory 

 of deep sorrow 



'' That verily is a grave matter when the mind loses its reason because a 

 grievous loss has befallen a person ; for, it is well-known that there grow 

 things on the earth, over which the other things of the earth have no power, 

 but which have the power to end the days of a human being, should there be any 

 weakening of the mind." 



The Celebrant admonishes : " Should this come to pass, it will be a source of 

 death to the people. |So, for this reason, we. Three Brothers, forbid this thing 

 to you, so that now you can again think in contentment." 



XV. " The Ever-burning Signal Torch " And " The Short Purple Wampum 

 String of Notification." 



"When our grandsires, now long dead, conjoined their affairs they made 

 a decree, saying: 'Here we place two rods horizontally side by side, and held 

 fast by them fix the Ever-burning Torch.' 



" And here, over the small horizontal pole of partition where it pierces the 

 bark-wall we suspend a Pouch of the Skin of Dji'nho"'do'hye""a', of indifferent 

 fur, in which we put the Short Purple Wampum String of Notification. 



" And we, so many as our Council Fires number, have an equal right to 

 these two objects. And they shall be of essential use wherever a grevious 

 thing (^death) has taken place, or where instant peril, menacing death to 

 one and all, is seen creeping like a serpent close at hand. 



" It matters not on which side of our Council Fire (the Father Side or 

 the Mother Side) the evil will be, these two things shall be vitally important. 



" In either case, the one whose mind is unaffected (ago'nigo"'ga"te') shall 

 grasp the Ever-Burning torch from its holders and also unhang the Pouch of 

 the Skin of Dji'nho"'do'hye""a' containing the Short Purple Wampum String of 

 Notification, and he shall at once start going through the Lodge of the League so 

 that the message he bears shall quickly be carried through the entire Lodge 



and all the Council Fires be made acquainted with it His going shall 



be done in such manner that there shall be no traces — no ' forms ' — of lying 

 down along the path 



" So, now, verily, with respect to thee, thy Ever-burning Torch is removed 

 from its place and thy Pouch with the Short Purple Wampum String 

 of Notification is unhung for thee, all this because of the grievous calamity 

 which has befallen thee." 



The Celebrant orator comforts with the following : 



"Now, we, Three Brothers, again suspend the Pouch of the Skin of 

 Dji'nho"'do'hye""a', of indifferent fur, over the Small Horizontal Pole where 

 it pierces the Bark-wall of the Lodge, containing the Short Purple Wampum 

 String of Notification which we have replaced and we also set back the Ever- 



