40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 80 
women.” His account has many resemblances to that herewith pre- 
sented.** Curtis describes an Hidatsa ceremony in honor of the 
mythical Old-woman-who-never-dies, for the purpose of securing 
abundant crops of corn.” 
CEREMONY AND MEetIne OF THE GoosE WomMEN Socretry 
When the geese went away in the fall a woman might say, “I 
promise, O geese, to give a feast for the Goose Women when you 
return in the spring.” Such a woman began her preparations for 
the feast before the coming of the geese and several of her friends 
helped her. Together they made a rack of poles with sticks laid 
across the poles, and on this rack they hung slices of beef or other 
meat and of fat. This feast was held in connection with the cere- 
mony of the Goose Women Society which took place in the spring 
of the year.® 
The ceremony of the Goose Women took place during the day, 
and its meeting, with dancing, was held that evening. ‘The cere- 
mony was held in the open air, near the rack of poles on which 
was hung the meat. Coming ftom one of the lodges, the Goose 
Women appeared carrying large sheaves of fresh sage in their arms. 
Four songs were sung during the ceremony, exclusive of that sung 
by the Corn Priest alone. During the first and second songs (Nos. 
1 and 2) the Goose Women swayed to and fro like the corn in the 
field. The third and fourth songs of the group (Nos. 3 and 5) were 
connected with a trance which formed part of the ceremony. All 
these were “sacred songs.” 
In all the songs of the Goose Women Society it was customary 
for three or four men to sing with the women, this being one of the 
regulations imposed by Good Fur Robe when he organized the so- 
ciety. Each of these men beat upon a hand drum similar to those 
used in the men’s societies, but much smaller and decorated all around 
the rawhide head with goose tracks placed close together near the 
edge of the drum. The specimen illustrated (pl. 18, a) is very old 
and is in the possession of the North Dakota Historical Society. 
The rawhide is so discolored with age that only one goose track is 
discernible. This track is 14 inches in length and about the same 
in width. The drum is warped by the strain of the rawhide, and 
58 Maximilian, Travels, pt. 11, pp. 334-336. 
5° Curtis, The North American Indian, vol. Iv, pp. 148-152. 
6 Maximilian mentions an autumn feast of the Goose Women, and Will and Hyde 
state that the autumn ceremony was considered more important than that held in the 
spring. ‘‘ Meat racks were set up and the women danced four dances, just as in the 
spring corn dance; but the fall dance was primarily a buffalo ceremony, intended to 
insure a good fall hunt.” (Corn among the Indians of the Upper Missouri, p. 275.) <A 
connection between corn and the buffalo as important articles of food has already been 
mentioned in this paper (p. 36). 
