DOBSEv] BOUEKE ON THE SUN DANCE. 465 



beautiful in all that porcujiine (juills, beads, aud liorsehair could supply. ButValoes 

 had atthattime disappeared from the face of the country within reach of that agency, 

 and there was also au increasing difficulty in the matter of procuring the pipestone 

 from the old quarries over on the Missouri River [sic].' 



§ 199. First, in regard to securing the sacred tree, after the same had been desig- 

 nated by the advance party sent out to loolc for if. The medicine men proclaimed 

 to the young warriors tli.it all they were now to do was Just the same as if they were 

 going out to war. When the signal was given, the whole party dashed oft' at full 

 speed on their ponies, and as soon as we arrived at the tree, there was no small 

 amount of singing, as well as of presents given to the poor. 



Next, a band of young men stepped to the front, and each in succession told the 

 story of his prowess, each reference to the killing or wounding of an enemy, or to 

 striking coup, being corroborated by thumping on the skin which served the medicine 

 men as a drum. 



^ 200. The first young man approached the sacred tree, swung his brand-new as, 

 and cut one gash on the east side ; the second followed precisely the same program 

 on the south side ; the third, on the west side, and the fourth, on the north side, 

 each cutting one gash and no more. 



i^ 201. They were STicceedcd by a young maiden, against whose personal character, 

 it was asserted, not a breath of insinuatitm could bo brought, and she was decked in 

 all the finery of a long robe of white antelope skin almost completely covered with 

 elks' teeth, as well as with beads. She seized the ax, and, with a few well-directed 

 blows, brought the tree to the ground. 



5i 202. In carrying the tree to the camp it was j)laced upon skids, no one being 

 allowed to place a hand upon the tree itself. Upon reaching the summit of the knoll 

 nearest the camp the tree was left in charge of its immediate attendants while the 

 rest of the assemblage charged at full speed upon the camp itself. 



5i 203. When the tree had lieen erected in jiface, it was noticed that each of those 

 who were to endure the torture had been proWded with au es()uire, while there was 

 also a force of men, armed with guns to preserve order, criers to make proclama- 

 tions, and heralds and water-carriers armed with long staves tijiped with bead- work 

 and liorse-liair. These water-carriers did not carry water for the men attached to 

 the tree, they were not allowed to drink, but if they happened to faint away the 

 medicine men would take a mouthful of water ajiiece and spray it upon the body 

 of the patient, producing coldness by the evaporation of the water. 



§ 204. All the Indians on that occasion were attached to the tree itself by long 

 ropes of hair or by thongs, fastened to skewers run horizontally under the flesh. (See 

 5i 181.) 



§ 205. The young woman. Pretty Enemy, was not tied up to the tree, bfit she danced 

 with the others, and had her arms scarified from the shoulders to tlie elbows. All 

 this scarification was done by a medicine man, who also slit the ear of the babies 

 born since the last sun dance. 



$ 206. The young men were scarified in the following manner : Their attendants, 

 whom I have called esquires, seized and laid them on a bed of some sagebrush at the 

 foot of the sacred tree. A short address was made liy one of the medicine men ; then 

 auotlu-r, taking up as much of the skin of the breast under the nipple of each dancer 

 as could be held between his thumb aud forefinger, cut a slit the length of the 

 thumb, and inserted a skewer to which a rope was fastened, the other end of the 

 rope being tied to the tree. 



vS 207. The young men placed eagle pipes, as they were called, in their mouths. 

 These pipes wore flutes which were made each from one of the bones in au eaglet's 

 wing. They had to be sounded all the time the young man was dancing. This danc- 

 ing was done in the manner of a buck jump, the body aud legs being stiff and all 



' The famous pipestone quarry was near the Big Sioux river In Minnesota. 

 11 ETH 30 



