UENSMOHE] CHIPPEWA MUSIC— II 249 



long life," he brings one of his garments with tobaeco folded in it 

 and ties the garment around the pole. In the autumn a similar 

 feast is often held, but the frozen state of the ground makes it impos- 

 sible to take down the pole. 



When the friends of a sick person are anxious about his condition 

 they put tobacco in one of liis garments, wliich they fasten liigh on 

 one of these poles. Sometimes they scrape a weatherworn pole so 

 that it is wliite and smooth, or even replace it with a new pole, on 

 which they tie a garment belonging to the sick person. 



The writer saw a pole wliich appeared to have been recently 

 erected ; it was painted with bands of red and blue and the figures on 

 the banner were clearly outlined in blue. (PI. 41.) On inquiry the 

 information was given that it was not a new pole but one which had 

 been scraped a few months previously, when Me'dweya'suii C'the 

 sound of the wind"), the chief or "speaker" of the village, was very 

 ill. The pole belonged to one of liis relatives. It had been freshened 

 and redecorated, the cloth of the banner renewed, and an t)ffering 

 fastened on the pole. But Me'dweya'sM did not recover; he had 

 lived the full measure of allotted years and died of old age. 



At another house the writer saw the peculiar medicine pole which 

 Me'dweya'sM himself erected; on this too were fluttering strips of 

 cloth, portions of garments he had worn, placed there by his friends 

 in the effort to prolong his life. This medicine pole consisted of an 

 uprooted tree placed horizontally between two forked poles as braces 

 at a height of about 5^ feet from the ground. (PI. 41.) In his youth 

 Me'dweya'siin dreamed of war; he dreamed that he was leader of a 

 war party, that he conquered the enemy, and in pursuing them 

 leaped over a fallen tree. Years passed. The call to battle did not 

 come, the tribes were at peace, and there were no war parties for him 

 to lead. At length he put up this tree as his medicine pole, placing 

 it at the same height as the fallen tree over wliich he leaped in his 

 dream. ^ He felt obliged to do this because he "had not fulfilled his 

 dream," but the song which should have inspired his warriors was 

 buried in his heart. 



Ki'tciodja'nimwewegi'jig ("sky in terrible commotion ") told the 

 writer that when he was a boy he fasted and dreamed of a bird. 

 As he never went to war, he later erected a medicine pole beside 



1 See description preceding No. 101. 



