MICHELSON |] OWL SACRED PACK OF THE FOX INDIANS ie 
in better literary style may be obtained by using this method than 
by dictation without a manuscript. 
For general information on the Fox Indians see Michelson, Journal 
of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 9, 483-494; 521- 528; 
593-596. 
ETHNOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE. OF .THIS TEXT 
On a former occasion (Journal of the Washington Academy of 
Sciences, 6, 209) I laid emphasis on the value of ritualistic origin 
myths for strictly ethnological purposes. For it is patent that in 
bulk we have reflections of what actually takes place to-day, or did 
until very recently. Moreover, the former owner of the owl sacred 
pack is now dead, and the pack itself is in the Museum fiir Voélker- 
kunde at Berlin. The present text therefore contains all the infor- 
mation available on this pack. Incidentally we obtain a ena deal 
of data on Fox ethnology. 
The text starts out with a general description of how a gens fes- 
tival is conducted; and it will be noticed that my contention that 
the tribal dual division into Ki‘cko‘ag™* and To'kanag*'' is cere- 
monial as well as for purely athletic purposes is sustained. Other 
information given is that after the words 6’.nd’%tc** (on which see 
William Jones, Fox Texts, 337, footnote 1) are pronounced conver- 
sation ceases. If a baby cries the mother will take the child home, 
and divest herself of her finery. The account of the winter cere- 
mony is given more succinctly (p. 19). The suitable foods are men- 
tioned; and the manner of disposing of the bones is referred to: 
the winter ceremony they are to be burned; when a dance is ane 
in combination with the gens festival Grhich will only be in sum- 
mer) they are thrown far. away at the foot of an oak tree on the 
north side, where no sunlight will strike them. 
The use of the sacred pack in warfare is duly explained (p. 19 and fol- 
lowing); a brief description of the ceremony preceding a war party 
is given. Next we are told the various songs—the dancing, the 
eating, and the medicinal ones. Further directions (p. 27) now fol- 
low regarding the ceremonies appurtenant to this sacred pack; and 
‘the foods to be eaten are again touched on. Still further instruc- 
tions on how the ceremony is to be conducted follow (p. 27). The 
wailing songs are then given. Some brief information regarding the 
disposal of the dead succeeds. 
The properties of the medicine contained in the pack are next 
described (p. 29). General medical procedure follows in turn. 
Procedure on the warpath is now given; and the marvelous powers 
of the medicine in the pack in causing death, and the effect of the 
sound of the flute on the enemy are duly recorded. Instructions 
are given as to ceremonies if hard-pressed by the enemy or if the 
enemy is about to escape: wide rivers can be made narrow by the 
mystic power of the contents of the pack. 
