hooxey] THE SWEAT-LODGE 981 



purpose the Indian generally selected a tuft taken from the breast close 

 under the shoulder of the animal. When the Kiowa, Comanche, and 

 Apache delegates visited Washington in the spring of 1894, they made 

 an earnest and successful request for some buffalo hair from the ani- 

 mals in the Zoological Park, together with some branches from the 

 cedars in the grounds of the Agricultural Department, to take home 

 with them for use in their sacred ceremonies. 



34. A -xf: v ■tiiihiv A I1WA 



A'-ut"'. : i'thibiw;V liana, 

 A'-nca'tnibiwa hana — 

 Thi'aya'ne, 

 Thi'aya'ne. 



Translation 



The place where crying begins. 

 The place where crying begins — 

 The thi'aya, 

 The thi'iiija. 



This song refers to the sweat-lodge already described in treating of 

 the Ghost dance among the Sioux. In preparing the sweat-lodge a 

 small hole, perhaps a foot deep, is dug out in the center of the floor 

 space, to serve as a receptacle for the heated stones over which the 

 water is poured to produce the steam. The earth thus dug out is piled 

 in a small hillock a few feet in front of the entrance to the sweat-lodge, 

 which always faces the east. This small mound is called thi'aya in the 

 Arapaho language, the same name being also applied to a memorial 

 stone heap or to a stone monument. It is always surmounted by a 

 buffalo skull, or in these days by the skull of a steer, placed so as to 

 face the doorway of the lodge. The thi'aya is mentioned in several 

 of the Ghost-dance songs, and usually, as here, in connection with cry- 

 ing or lamentation, as though the sight of these things in the trance 

 vision brings up sad recollections. 



35. Thi'aya he'xaa'awa' 



Thi'aya' he'naa'awa ' — 

 Thi'aya' he'naa'awa', 



Na'hibiwa'huna', 

 Nii'hibiwa hnna'. 



Translation 



When I see the thi'aya — 

 When I see the thi'aya, 

 Then I begin to lament, 

 Then I begin to lament. 



This song refers to a trance vision in which the dreamer saw a sweat- 

 lodge, with the thi'aya, or mound, as described in the preceding song. 



