512 A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS. 



tliey make a liguie of wood or clay, substituting for the heart an awl, 

 a needle, or a jjorcupine quill, and bury the image at the foot of one of 

 their "medicine poles."' 



JUGGLEIJV. 



§337. The "medicine of one man consists in making a snowball, 

 which he rolls a long time between his hands, so that at length it 

 becomes hard aad is changed into a white stone, which, when struck, 

 emits a fire. Many persons, even whites, pretended they had seen 

 this, and they can not be convinced to the contrary. The same man 

 pretends that, during a dance, he plucked white feathers from a certain 

 small bird, which he rolled between his hands, and formed of them in 

 a short time a similar white stone. * * * ^ great many Mandan 

 and Hidatsa believe that they have wild animals in their bodies ; one, 

 for instance, affirmed that he had a buffalo calf, the kicking of which 

 he often felt ; others said that they had tortoises, frogs, lizards, birds, 

 etc. * * * Among the Hidatsa were seen medicine dances of the 

 women, where one claimed to have an ear of corn in her body, which 

 she ejected from her mouth during the dance, and then ate, after it had 

 been mixe<l with Artemisia. * * * Another female dancer caused 

 blood to gush from her mouth at will."^ 



GUOfiT LOKK. 



§ 338. The Mandan belie\e that each person has several spirits dwell- 

 ing within him ; one of which is black, another brown, and a third light- 

 colored, the last alone returning to the Lord of Life. They think that 

 after death they go to the south, to several villages which are visited 

 by the gods; that their existence there is dependent on their course of 

 life while in this world; that the brave and kind-hearted carry on the 

 same occupation, eat similar food, have wives, and enjoy the pleasures 

 of war and the chase. Some of the Mandan are said not to believe all 

 these particulars, l)ut to suppose that after death their spirits will dwell 

 in the sun or in certain stars. 



THK ITTURK LIFE. 



§ 339. The Mandan belief in a future state is connected with the tra- 

 dition of their origin : The whole nation resided in one large village under 

 ground, near a subterraneous lake. Some of the people climbed up to 

 this earth by means of a grape-vine, which broke when a corpulent 

 woman essayed to climlj it. Therefore the rest of the people remained 

 in the subterranean village. When the ^Mandan die they expect to re- 

 turn to the original seats of their forefathers, the good reaching the 

 ancient village by means of the lake, which the burden of the sins of 

 the wicked will not enable them to cross.^ The concluding clause of the 



Maximilian, Travels ' ' in North America, p. 382. » IWiLiip. 382, 383, 423, 42*. 



3 Lewis and t'larke. Expedition, ed. Allen, Vol. 1, p. 175. 



