100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 80 
song (No. 44). After entering, they danced around the lodge sing- 
ing the same song, then seated themselves and rested a while. 
The drum was brought into the lodge, the singers took their places, 
and many spectators came to watch the dancers. After a short time 
the singers at the drum started the Bear song (No. 41) and all the 
Little River Women rose and danced. The two women who wore 
the bear-claw necklaces danced near together and close to the fire. 
After the song was finished the dancers remained standing and the 
women who wore the bear claws gave presents to those from whom 
they purchased their membership in the society; they also gave gifts 
to all their relatives and friends. This was followed by the singing 
of the Shell song (No. 42), and the woman who wore the polished 
shell gave gifts as the women with the bear claws had done. Any 
songs could be sung after these, but the four principal songs taught 
by the spirit women were sung several times during each evening. 
At the close it was customary to sing the song of the coyote, which 
also marked the end of the entire ceremony. All danced and the 
singing was peculiar in that it began slowly and accelerated in tempo. 
Each night a rawhide thong was stretched across the lodge and on 
it the headdresses were hung. If the women awoke and found 
that one of their number was missing they at once instituted a search 
and compelled her to return. As they went about the village seeking 
for her they sang the following Mandan words to the melody of the 
first song given by the spirit women (No. 39) : 
LmMUpa este 2U ee ee ee ee my companion (see p. 53) 
We In aie OS eaten hy ak eh hear 
Walia 235.32 See eee come 
At the end of the fourth day the women who had taken part in 
the ceremony were “cleansed” by an old man who had “eagle medi- 
cine.” Their bodies were brushed with a spray of wild peppermint 
dipped in water, the old man meantime singing his own medicine 
song. 
The casting away of the headdresses marked the conclusion of the 
ceremony, all the headdresses being placed together. 
Tt is said that once a member of the society would not believe that 
the braided grass represented a snake. After a ceremony she did 
not put her headdress with those of the other women but threw it 
carelessly aside. Later a friend saw it and placed it with the others. 
After a time the first woman went to the place where the wreaths had 
been laid and instead of braided grasses she saw a heap of living 
snakes. 
The principal songs of the spirit women (Nos. 39, 40, 41, and 42) 
were recorded by Scattered Corn in 1912 and again in 1915, the two 
