278 INDIANS. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 



THE MEDICINE DANCE. 



ALL being collected at the rendezvous, preparations are 

 at once commenced for the ' medicine dance.' The 

 squaws are set to work patching the old, or making a 

 new, medicine lodge a huge structure of dressed skins, 

 capable of holding some hundreds of people. All is 

 bustle and excitement ; for not only does the policy for 

 the year depend upon the result of this dance, but some- 

 body is likely to die during its performance, and the selec- 

 tion of dancers is not yet announced. 



The medicine lodge is completed. A joss, or image, 

 rudely cut from a plant or split log, with the profile of a 

 man, one side painted white, the other black, is suspended 

 from the centre and near the top of the lodge. A circular 

 space of some twenty feet in diameter is roped off for the 

 dancers. A concentric space of a few feet is for the 

 guard; all the outer portion of the lodge is for the 

 spectators. 



In accordance with his right and duty the ; medicine 

 chief now announces his selection of the warriors who 

 are to make the dance. The number varies ; but is, on an 

 average, one for every hundred persons in the bands 

 represented. 



The head chief also announces his selection of the 

 guard, whose duty it is to see that the dancers are in no 

 way interfered with, and that they perform their duty in 

 accordance with the instructions of the medicine chief. 



