38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULD. 80 
whom in turn tried to bring rain.** Otter Woman said that her 
father, Black Tongue, was often called upon and-that the people 
“poured a great deal of water on his head, and he secured rain for 
the corn.” Two of Black Tongue’s songs are included in this series 
as Nos. 16 and 17. 
In the summer evenings, after it was dark, the Goose Women some- 
times went to the lodge of the Corn Priest and sang with him. The 
Corn Priest was closely associated with this organization and had a 
part in its ceremonies (see p. 45). 
Tue Instructions or Goop Fur Rost 
When Good Fur Robe, the first Corn Priest, grew to old age and 
realized that he had not long to live, he selected a man as his suc- 
cessor and instructed him in the duties of the office. He also in- 
structed certain of his descendants so they could act as Corn Priests 
and gave them a special commission that, when he and the other 
male chiefs died, they should keep the three skulls, saying that as 
long as they did this the people would have good crops of corn.* 
His instructions were obeyed and it is said that the skulls are now 
in the possession of the only descendant of the three chiefs. 
Good Fur Robe told his successors to keep a “map of the earth,” 
which he drew on buckskin, and the ceremonial pipe which was 
smoked only by the Corn Priest. The map and pipe were de- 
stroyed by fire when Moves Slowly’s lodge was burned and were 
never replaced. This fire took place prior to 1884, but the exact 
date could not be ascertained. A tradition concerning the origin 
of the ceremonial pipe is remembered by a few of the old people. 
They say that Good Fur Robe wanted to make such a pipe and that 
his brother sought for suitable material. He found the quarry of 
red pipestone located in what is now the State of South Dakota 
and called it to the attention of Good Fur Robe, who refused to 
use it for a ceremonial pipe because the red color symbolized blood. 
The red pipestone was therefore used only for common pipes and 
the ceremonial pipe was made of wood.** When Good Fur Robe had 
finished making this pipe, he said, “ This pipe represents the earth. 
It is one pipe, yet it can be taken apart, the stem from the bowl. 
The land on the north of the Missouri River can be represented by 
53 Informants differed on this point, some saying that the request was made first of the 
medicine men, and that if they failed, it was taken to the Corn Priest. 
' It is the custom of some tribes of the southern plains to place the skull of a chief 
‘in their shrine. Pepper and Wilson state that the ‘‘ Hidatsa eagle-man ” said in his old 
age, ‘‘ My skull and my friend’s skull shall be the medicines of my band... And so 
long as my skull is thus kept in honor, my spirit will remain with it to help the people 
and be their guide.” (An Hidasta shrine and the beliefs respecting it, p. 293.) ; 
55 A wooden pipe was among the articles in the Hidatsa shrine. See Pepper and Wilson, 
An Hidatsa shrine, p. 285, 
