280 INDIANS. 



esting enough ; but by that time fatigue, the slow rotary 

 motion, the constant keeping the eyes on one spot, and the 

 expenditure of breath in unceasing whistling, begin to tell. 

 By this time every foot of space inside the lodge is crowded 

 with eager and intensely interested spectators. Eelatives 

 and friends watch every movement of the dancers, rouse 

 up the flagging by yells and shouts, by words of encou- 

 ragement or terms of endearment. The lodge is a fright- 

 ful babel of sounds, which culminate in shrieks and a 

 rush of women, as some dancer totters, reels, and falls to 

 the ground. The rush is sternly met, and the body 

 dragged by the guard out of the dancers' into the guards' 

 circle. There it is laid on its back, and the high priest 

 proceeds to paint symbols and hieroglyphics on the face 

 and person with ' medicine paint ' of varied colours. If 

 consciousness is not restored by this treatment, the body 

 is taken into the open air and buckets of water thrown 

 over it. This, as a rule, soon revives the inanimate form, 

 at sight of which the women set up yells of delight, and 

 surround the priest with prayers and entreaties that this 

 dancer may be spared further effort. 



Throughout all the ceremony the word of the medi- 

 cine chief is law, which no power may question. He may 

 now order the revived dancer back to the circle, to dance 

 until he again falls, or he may excuse him. Influenced 

 by the women, or by the promise of one, two, or half a 

 dozen ponies (according to the wealth of the dancer), the 

 priest generally accedes to the request, and the overcome 

 dancer is carried off to his lodge by his women, to be 

 petted and condoled with until fully recovered. In the 

 meantime the dance goes on. One by one the dancers 

 fall, to be revived by the same process, and excused by the 

 same persuasion, or sternly ordered back to their work. 

 As the death of a dancer is indicative of ' bad medicine,' 

 this forcing one back after falling is only done in rare 

 and important cases, or when the priest has an object 

 to gain. 



