82 The Winning of the West 



where the women and young girls were allowed to 

 do whatsoever they listed. 



Once a year, when the fruits ripened, they held 

 the Green-Corn Dance, a religious festival that 

 lasted eight days in the larger towns and four in the 

 smaller. Then they fasted and feasted alternately. 

 They drank out of conch-shells the Black Drink, 

 a bitter beverage brewed from the crushed leaves of 

 a small shrub. On the third day the high priest or 

 fire-maker, the man who sat in the white seat, clad 

 in snowy tunic and moccasins, kindled the holy fire, 

 fanning it into flames with the unsullied wing of 

 a swan, and burning therein offerings of the first- 

 fruits of the year. Dance followed dance. The 

 beloved men and beloved women, the priest and 

 priestesses, danced in three rings, singing the 

 solemn song of which the words were never ut- 

 tered at any other time; and at the end the war- 

 riors, in their wild war-gear, with white-plume 

 head-dresses, took part, and also the women and 

 girls, decked in their best, with ear-rings and arm- 

 lets, and terrapin shells filled with pebbles fastened 

 to the outside of their legs. They kept time with 

 foot and voice; the men in deep tones, with short 

 accents, the women in a shrill falsetto; while the 

 clay drums, with heads of taut deer-hide, were 

 beaten, the whistles blown, and the gourds and cala- 

 bashes rattled, until the air resounded with the deaf- 

 ening noise. 24 



Though they sometimes burnt their prisoners or 



24 Hawkins and Adair, passim. 



