120 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



without cessation, sendins: it from one to another, from band to hand, and from 

 one party to anotlier, nntil at last one more fortnnate or more skillful retains it 

 and gains the prize, something which at times does not happen for more than 

 three hours. 



[Here Dumont inserts n description of the chnnkey game, given elsewhere.] 



In the midst of these amusements the day passes, and toward sunset they 

 return to the table and sup with the same ceremonies with which they had 

 eaten in the morning. However, the shadows having succeeded tlie light, night 

 offers the spectacle of a new fete, which is surpassed in nothing by that of the 

 day. In order to celebrate it, they begin by illuminating the entire open space 

 with bundles of canes, each of the size of one's arm, and more than 25 feet long. 

 These bundles of canes are planted on posts of a suitable size, scattered over 

 the open space and planted in the earth at distances of about S feet a]iart, and 

 when they are lighted they give out as much luster as a hundred wax 

 torches together. On the right, opposite the cabin of the chief, the women and 

 girls of the savages, together with the old men, are seated in a circle having 

 in the middle the master musician beating on his pot with his stick, while 

 the entire assembly answers in cadence with these words, often repeated, " liona- 

 thca, honathca,'' which these savages utter from the depths of their breasts,' 

 striking roughly on their stomachs, so that they form among them a kind of 

 echo, which allows nothing to be heard in all that concert but the last syllable 

 thea. While they sing, some hold feathers in their hands and make them move 

 in cadence, others shake their chichicoUas or calabashes, also in cadence, and 

 all these pai'ts together form a harmony vei'y melodious to savage ears. l 



Opposite this circle of male and female nnisicians is raised a round or square 

 post G or 7 feet high, on which is placed crosswise the famous calumet of 

 ceremony. All the warriors — men and boys — come in turn one after the other 

 to strike on this post, and they always come there on the run, as if they had 

 started from a distance, and bearing in the hand a gun or a war club. Arrived 

 at the post, the warrior malies a cry, striking his moutli many times with his 

 hand. At this signal the music ceases, there is a profound silence in the entire 

 assembly, and the one who has just struck the post, taking up the word, begins 

 his speech, which consists in an abbreviated recital of all his exploits. He says, 

 for example, " I chela, here I am; I have taken so many scalps; I have passed 

 three days and three nights without eating in order to triumiih over my enemy," 

 etc. At each pose which the orator takes and at each fine action which he 

 recounts those present applaud by a horn, horn, which means in their language 

 that it is good, and when he has finished he retires, after having thrown at 

 the foot of the post the presents which he has brouglit, such as guns, shirts, 

 knives, mirrors, war clubs, packets of beads or of vermilion, etc. In a word, 

 all is good and well received. 



In the feast which I have just described the Frenchmen were themselves 

 admitted to come and strike the post, and, provided they brought their present, 

 had they said in French to the savages all the injurious things possible, as 

 some among them did who on addressing themselves to them said to them, " Is 

 it not true that you are all rogues?" etc., the entire assemblj^ nevertheless 

 replied to them atchiocmn ("yes, it is good.") The strangers who come into a 

 village to present the calumet there never leave without this ceremony of the 

 post, and to them belong all the iiresents whicli are brought there. The next 

 day even they are seen with the famous calumet and the jiot, which they beat 

 while dancing, to go throughout tlie entire village from cabin to cabin where 

 still more new presents are made them. 



In order to finish the description which I have begun of the feast of the tun 

 of importance, I will add that while some sing and others strike the post tlie 



