162 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



were defended by strong piquets or stakes, eighteen feet high, and 

 a ditch. The chief wore a splendid costume, with a head-dress 

 of raven's quills, and he carried two pipes of peace in his hand. 



In about three years after Mr. Catlin's visit small-pox destroyed 

 all but thirty-one of the tribe, and these were speedily cut off by 

 their enemies, and the whole race thus became extinct. While resi- 

 dent among the tribe, Mr. Catlin painted four notable pictures, 

 and in reference to them he explained that the subsiding of the 

 Flood was commemorated at an annual ceremony by the Mandans, 

 and that at the same time all the young men who had arrived at 

 manhood during the preceding year went through an ordeal of 

 voluntary bodily torture, after which they were entitled to the 

 respect of the chiefs, and to the privilege of going on war parties. 



The first picture represents the interior of the Mystery Lodge 

 of the Mandans during the first three successive days of the 

 annual ceremony. The young men are seen lying around the 

 sides of the lodge, their bodies covered with clay of different 

 colours, and their respective shields and war weapons hanging 

 over their heads. In the middle lies the old medicine man, who 

 watches the young men as they fast and thirst four days and 

 nights preparatory to the torture. 



The second picture illustrates the Buffalo Dance, which took 

 place simultaneously. 



The third picture represents the interior of the Mystery Lodge, 

 as it appeared to Mr. Catlin on the afternoon of the fourth day. 

 A number of young men are seen reclining and fasting, as in the 

 first picture ; others of them have undergone the torture and are 

 taken out of the lodge, and others are seen in the midst of the 

 most horrid cruelties. A scalping-knife, hacked so as to render 

 its edge like that of a saw, is passed through the muscular parts 

 of the body, through the soft parts of the legs and arms and 

 underneath the muscles of the breast and back. Wooden splints 

 or large flat skewers made of a strong wood are passed through 

 these in the flesh, and the young men are hung up to the roof of 

 the lodge by ropes attached to the splints in the upper parts of 

 their bodies, while heavy weights, as buffalo skins, war weapons, 

 &c., are hung upon the splints in the arms and legs, so as to add 

 to the agony of the sufferer. While they are thus suspended in 

 the air by means of their own flesh, each young man is swung 

 round by another with a pole till he faints, and then he is let 



