DORSET.] BUSHOTTER ON THE SUN DANCE. 461 



candidates,^ if one wishes to dauce iu the manner about to be described, 

 he is made to stand between four posts arranged in tlie form of a 

 square, and his flesli on his back being scarified in two places, thongs 

 are run through them and fastened to them and to the posts behind 

 him. His chest is also scarified in two places, thongs are inserted and 

 tied, and then fastened to the two posts in front of him (see PI. xlvii, 1, 

 Okaska uazin, or "He stands fastened to" or "within"). Bushotter 

 says nothing about the skewers used in torturing the dancers; but 

 Capt. Bourke obtained three ornamental ones which had been run 

 through the wounds of some of the devotees, in order to be stained with 

 blood and kept thereafter as souvenirs of the bravery of the dancers. 

 Besides these were the regular skewers which were thrust horizontally 

 through the flesh; and to the ends of these skewers were fastened the 

 thongs that were secured by the opposite ends to the sun pole. The 

 last dance allowed by the Government was in 1883, and it would be 

 diflicult now to find any of these skewers. (See § 204.) 



Another man has his back scarified and a thong inserted, from which 

 a buffalo skull is suspended, as shown in PI. XLVil, 2, Pte-pa kin wa6i, or 

 "He dances carrying a buffalo sktill on his back." He dances thus, 

 thinking that the weight of the skull will soon cause the thong to break 

 through the flesh. The blood runs iu stripes down his back. 



§ 182. Another man decides to be fastened to the sun pole. For the 

 use of such dancers there are eight leather thongs hanging down from 

 the pole, being fastened to the pole at a j^oint about midway from the 

 top. For each man tied to the pole it is the rule to take two of the 

 thongs and run them through his flesh after the holes are made with 

 the knife (see PI. xlviii). After the thongs are fastened to him, the 

 dancer is required to look upward. When the candidate is a short man, 

 his back is scarified and his attendants push him up high enough from 

 the ground for the thongs to be inserted and tied. In this case the 

 weight of the man stretches the skin where the thongs are tied, and 

 for a long time he remains there without falling (see PL xxix). 



§ 183. A very long time ago it happened that the friends of such a 

 short man pitied him, so they gave a horse to another man, whom thev 

 directed to release their friend by pulling at the thongs until they 

 broke out. So the other man approached the dancer, telling of his own 

 deeds. He grasped the short man around the body, threw himself vio- 

 lently to the ground, breaking off the thong, which flew upward, and 

 bringing the short man to the grotind. Then the kindred of the short 

 man brought presents of calico or moccasins and another horse, with 

 other property, and they made the old women of the camp scramble 

 for the possession of the gifts. The horse was given away by the act 

 called "Kahol yeyapi," or "They threw it oft' suddenly." The father 

 of the dancer stood at the entrance of his tent, holding a stick in his 

 hand. He threw the stick into the air, and the bystanders struggled for 



'See Miss Fletcher's account, Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1882, p. 584. 



