DOBSEYl BUSHOTTER ON THE SUN DANCE. 463 



directly to the lodge of preparation, around which they march four 

 times prior to entering it. 



§ 190. When the devotees emerge from the dancing lodge, one of 

 their attendants places more gifts on the line of sticks between the two 

 lodges, and after the jn'ocession has moved on there is considerable 

 disputing among the small boys of the camp for the posessiou of the 

 gifts. 



§ 191. After leaving the lodge ofpreiiaration, the exhausted devotees 

 are taken back to their own tents, where each one is given four sips 

 of water and a small piece of food, and by the time that he gets accus- 

 tomed to food after his long fast, he eats what he pleases, enters the 

 sweat lodge, rubs himself with the wild sage, and thenceforward he is 

 regarded as having performed his vow. 



§ 192. The spectators scramble for the possession of the blankets and 

 long pieces of calico left as sacrifices at the dancing lodge, and some of 

 them climb to the top of the sun p(jle and remove the olyects fastened 

 there. The sun pole is allowed to remain in its place. The author saw 

 a sun pole at Ponka Agency, then in Dakota, in 1871. It had been there 

 for some time, and it remained till it was blown down by a high wind. 



At the conclusion of the dance the camj) breaks up and the visitors 

 return to their respective homes. 



§ 193 All who participate in the dance must act according to rule for if 

 one slights part of the rites they think that he is in great danger. 

 The men selected as overseers or managers are the i)ersons who act as 

 the attendants of the candidates. 



The candidates think that all their devotions are pleasing to the sun. 

 As they dance, they pray mentally, " Please pity me ! Bring to pass all 

 the things which I desire ! " 



INTRITSIYE DANCES. 



§ 194. During the sun dance, other dances — intrusive dances, as Lynd 

 terms them — are going on in the camp. Among these are the follow- 

 ing: The Mandan dance, jjerformed by the (Jaijte tiijza okolakiciye, or 

 the Society of the Stout-hearted Ones; the Wakaij wacipi or mystery 

 dance, the Pezi mignaka wacipi or the dance of those wearing grass in 

 their belts, the ghost dance, the bufl'alo dance, and the Omaha kiyotag 

 a-i, popularly called the grass dance. 



§ 195. When a man joins the Mandan dance as a leader, he wears a 

 feather headdress of owl feathers, a scarf, called " Waijzi-icaske," is 

 worn around his neck and hangs do^Ti his back, and he carries a 

 pipe, a bow, and arrows. In the Pezi mignaka wacipi, both young 

 men and young women take part. All these dances are held out- 

 side the lodge of the sun dance, within which lodge only the one 

 dance can be performed. The grass dance is named after the Omaha 

 tribe. As many men as are able to participate in that dance inarch 

 abreast until they reach the camp of some gens, where they sit 



