!J'J4 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth.ann.14 



Translation 



I heai everything, 

 I hear everything. 

 I ;iui the crow, 

 I am the crow. 



Tliis is another song expressive of the omniscience of the crow, 

 which, as their messenger from the spirit world, hears and knows every- 

 thing, both on this earth and in the shadow land. The tune is one of 

 the prettiest of all the ghost songs. 



49. A-ba'qati iunh in iiiiiixisa 



A-liii qati' hii'niohii'bi'hinH na, 

 A-bii qati' ha'nichii'bi'hina na. 

 A-wa tlina ni ani'ii tiihi nana, 

 A-wa'tiina ni ani'a'tiihi nana. 



Translation 



With the ba'qati wheel I am gambling, 

 With the ba'qati wheel 1 am gambling. 

 With the black mark I win the name, 

 With the black mark I win the game. 



This song is from the northern Arapaho. The author of it, in his 

 visit to the spirit world, found his former friends playing the old game 

 of the bii'tjiiti wheel, which was practically obsolete among the prairie 

 tribes, but which is being revived since the advent of the ( rhost dance. 

 As it was a favorite game with the men in the olden times, a great many 

 of the songs founded on these trance visions icier to it. and the wheel 

 and sticks are made by the dreamer and carried in the da nee as they sing. 



The game is played with a wheel (ba'qati, "large wheel") and two 

 pairs of throwing sticks (qa'qa-u'nutha). The Cheyenne call the wheel 

 a'ko'yo or akzci'u, and the sticks hoo'isi'yonots. It is a man's game, and 

 there are three players, one rolling the wheel, while the other two, each 

 armed with a pair of throwing sticks, run after it and throw the sticks 

 so as to cross the wheel in a certain position. The two throwers are 

 the contestants, the one who rolls the wheel being merely an assistant. 

 Like most Indian games, it is a. means of gambling, and high stakes 

 are sometimes wagered on the result. It is common to the Arapaho. 

 Cheyenne, Sioux, and probably to all the northern prairie tribes, but is 

 not found among the Kiowa or Comanche in the south. 



The wheel is about is inches in diameter, aud consists of a flexible 

 young tree branch, stripped of its bark and painted, with the two ends 

 fastened together with sinew or buckskin string. At equal distances 

 around the circumference of the wheel are cut four figures, the two 

 opposite each other constituting a pair, but being distinguished by 

 different colors, usually blue or black anil red. and by lines or notches 

 on the face. These figures are designated simply by their colors. Fig- 

 ures of birds, crescents, etc, are sometimes also cut or painted upon 

 the wheel, but have nothing to do with the game. (See plate CXI.) 



