124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



drink, and sang over it. Pretty soon the mule got up and walked around. He 

 rode that mule in the hunt and beat them all. 



The mescal bean was sacred to many of the Prau-ie and Plains tribes, 

 and several, including the Wichita, Pawnee, Tonkawa, Osage, Iowa, 

 Oto, Kiowa, and Arikara also possessed cults centered about it in 

 which mescal bean tea was drunk by the members. In view of the 

 fact that the Mescal Bean cults are much older in the Prairie-Plains 

 area than is the Peyote religion, and in view of the fact that some 

 forms of the ceremony were very similar to the later Peyote rites, 

 particularly those of the Ponca and Tonkawa, it is interesting to 

 speculate that perhaps the Mescal Bean cult "smoothed the way" 

 for the Peyote religion, and contributed much to the ritual form of the 

 Prairie-Plains Peyote ceremony as well. 



Fletcher and La Flesche (1911, pp. 490-i93) mention a medicine 

 society called Ingd'U-iddede, 'those to whom the thunder has shown 

 compassion.' The society was open only to men and women who 

 had been visited by thunder beings in dreams or visions. Members 

 were believed to be able to control the elements, to bring rain or to 

 drive storms away. Future events could also be foretold, and some- 

 times members pitted their power against one another. 



There were two cults of ceremonial clowns among the Ponca. Both 

 are described by Skinner (1915 c, p. 789). Concerning the Heyoka 

 cult he writes: 



Under this name went certain men who, because of some dream which I could 

 not ascertain, danced in companies in the spring. [*'] They used backward 

 speech, and took food from boiling kettles. Some even poured boiling water over 

 themselves. On account of the identity of the title of these clowns with the 

 Dakota performers of similar antics, I suspect that the cult is of Teton origin. 



He also describes a distinct clown cult called "Those-who-imitate- 

 mad-men": 



These people (called ■DanibdaSd) are said to have been entirely distinct from 

 the heyoka and the cult is perhaps not of foreign origin. They did ridiculous and 

 foolhardy things, such as crawhng up and trying to touch a woman's genitals in 

 broad daylight; coming to a stream they would strip off one legging and moccasin 

 and ford it by hopping on the clad leg and carefully protecting the bare one from 

 moisture. They were looked upon as clowns and fun-makers and their antics are 

 said not to have been significant. 



Only the vaguest memories of these clown cults remained with my 

 informants. JLR seemed to remember a Heyoka cult performance 

 he had seen as a boy, but was not sure whether it was Ponca or 

 Santee Dakota clowns. Clowns formed a popular diversion at the 

 Southern Ponca powwows in 1952 and 1954. They were not part of 

 any organized group, however, and appeared to be simply funmakers. 



<• Among the Dakota, men joined the Heydka cult because of having dreamed of thimder. It was believed 

 that if they did not dance as clowns they would be struck by lightning. 



