124 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXI, 



Gray-bull said that while he had seen men hold weasels in the dance 

 this was usually done only by the women. Personally he would dance 

 with weasel skins now (1913) if his wife were living, for he had dreamed 

 two weasel songs. In the old days weasel skins were not taken along 

 for the planting ceremony, as is customary now. 



YELLOW TOBACCO CHAPTER. 



Shows-a-fish gave the following origin account. A man was mourn- 

 ing on the prairie and had a vision of a lizard. He went home and made a 

 buckskin shirt with fringed seams at the side and bottom; on each 

 shoulder he drew the picture of a lizard. The shirt was painted yellow. 

 He also used yellow calico and a red blanket at the Tobacco planting. 

 Further he would tie a small package of Tobacco, beaded at the opening, 

 as well as a yellow object to a chokecherry stick and plant it before him 

 at a dance. This method was passed on from generation to generation. 



While this last sentence implies considerable antiquity, other in- 

 formants ascribe the origin of the chapter to Mosquito (Apakec), at a 

 time when an old Crow living in Lodge Grass was a young man. Mos- 

 quito had been adopted into the Tobacco society by Muskrat's father, 

 but as the result of a dream he founded the Yellow Tobacco chapter. 

 This differed from other chapters in the mixture used for planting. The 

 Tobacco seeds were the same, but the Yellow Tobacco people had 

 different ingredients otherwise; they used wild onions, mole-dirt, buffalo 

 chips, and young willow roots. As a result of his vision the Yellow 

 Tobacco entered Mosquito's body as his batsiw'pe, and sometimes it 

 would get out of him. Gros-Ventre's father-in-law and my informant's 

 brother ( = Mosquito's son?) had the same power, which was manifested 

 at the Bear Song dance. 



Old-woman (Xariec), who seems to have been Mosquito's daughter, 

 was the Mixer of the Yellow Tobacco chapter, having obtained the 

 privilege from her father. She said that sometimes she had only mixed 

 for from three to five members, then again for a good many. Though 

 properly adopted into this chapter, she was at the time of my interview 

 connected with the Wolverenes, " Because her brother was a member 

 and owned the medicine." 



Little-rump admitted that Old-woman was the principal Mixer, 

 but said that Mapgie was likewise and he himself had been once, but 

 had given up the office after his wife's death. Similarly, he had bought 

 the right to distribute food before his wife's death but used it only once. 



