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



(Free translation : We shall live until summer when the berries are ripe. There 

 will be no disease. I went on a war party, they killed some of the enemy and I struck 

 a coup. Joyfully I came home. I saw the Tobacco you had planted; it was plentiful. 

 I wished to see the Tobacco, it is growing excellently. The Crow are faring well ; 

 you shall eat berries safely.) 



After the runner's report the Owner says to him, "It is done, go!" 

 (karak'dwik', da\) Then he cries out aloud what the water-carrier has 

 told him sotta voce, and the crowd shout aho ! The water is passed about 

 and drunk by the singers and the old people in the lodge. 



After entering the lodge the leader of the procession hands the pipe 

 to her husband, the Owner. Any redstone pipe may be used for this 

 purpose. It is filled with trade tobacco not the sacred Tobacco, which 

 was not smoked as it was believed to produce a rash on the face. From 

 one account it would appear that the Owner lights the pipe and hands it 

 to all members present. Other notes suggest that the tobacco-lighter 

 (ak'-6p-ardxia) need not be identical with the Owner. At all events he is 

 an important personage, as shown by the fact that in the Strawberry 

 chapter Medicine-crow 7 , the founder, acts in this capacity. It is the 

 tobacco-lighter that sings the first song with his wife for the benefit 

 of the musicians, who are expected to catch the tune at once; sometimes 

 he will repeat it for them. Then they intone the song and all the mem- 

 bers rise and dance to it. According to Lone-tree, the tobacco-lighter in 

 a manner determines the subsequent procedure : if he sings three songs, 

 all the later singers do likewise; if only two songs, the rest also follow 

 suit. If he begins with an eagle song, the women dance with eagle feather 

 fans; if he sings a weasel song first, they take weasel skins into their 

 hands. The tobacco-lighter sits next to the door, and no one must pass 

 in front of him ; he is also entitled to get food before all others, taking 

 precedence of the other singers, whose turn comes next. 



Me:Hcine-crow remarked that the Tobacco dance was the only 

 time when the pipe might be smoked w r hen passed backwards. Those 

 who do not smoke offer a prayer. Old men sit behind the tobacco- 

 lighter. The songs start from them and end with the singers seated in 

 the middle. The tobacco-lighter then smokes the pipe with incense, 

 lights it a second time, and hands it round again, beginning with the 

 man in the middle facing the door. The last man to receive it passes 

 it over his head and sends it to the men who are not acting as musicians. 

 According to Medicine-crow, an outsider is not permitted to enter the 

 adoption lodge unless the real owner of the pipe has delegated to him 

 the office of taking charge of it. 



