BUSHNPLL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 93 
human scalp serves for the fringe and tassels. Of their contents we 
know nothing. The fireplace is a simple shallow cavity, in the center 
of the apartment, with an upright and a projecting arm for the sup- 
port of the culinary apparatus.” (Op. cit., pp. 120-121.) 
Say and his associates left the Kansa village to rejoin the main 
party aboard the steamboat’ Western Engineer, then waiting near Isle 
au Vache, but soon after starting on the journey were attacked by 
some wandering Pawnee and forced to return to seek refuge among 
those whom they had just left. And as told in the narrative, they 
were, as a consequence, able to witness an interesting ceremony in 
one of the large earth lodges. This was August 23,1819. ‘“ Mr. Say’s 
party were kindly received at the village they had left on the preced- 
ing day. In the evening they had retired to rest in the lodge set 
apart for their accommodation, when they were alarmed by a party 
of savages, rushing in armed with bows, arrows and lances, shouting 
and yelling in a most frightful manner. The gentlemen of the 
party had immediate recourse to their arms, but observing that some 
squaws, who were in the lodge, appeared unmoved, they began to 
suspect that no molestation to them was intended. The Indians col- 
lected around the fire in the centre of the lodge, yelling incessantly ; 
at length their howlings assumed something of a measured tone, and 
they began to accompany their voices with a sort of drum and rattles. 
After singing for some time, one who appeared to be their leader, 
struck the post over the fire with his lance, and they all began to 
dance, keeping very exact time with the music. Each warrior had, 
besides his arms, and rattles made of strings of deer’s hoof, some 
part of the intestines of an animal inflated, and inclosing a few small 
stones, which produced a sound like pebbles in a gourd shell. After 
dancing round the fire for some time, without appearing to notice 
the strangers, they departed, raising the same wolfish howl, with 
which they had entered; but their music and their yelling continued 
to be heard about the village during the night. 
“This ceremony, called the dog dance, was performed by the Konzas 
for the entertainment of their guests. Mr. Seymour took an- op- 
portunity to sketch the attitudes and dresses of the principal figures.” 
(Op. cit., p. 135.) The sketch made by Seymour was engraved and 
served as an illustration in the narrative of the expedition prepared 
by James. It is here reproduced as plate 30, 6. The interior of the 
large earth lodge is clearly shown. The “ continuous series of mats” 
are suspended around the wall, and the “bedsteads,” as described, 
serve as seats for the guests. Mats are also represented as spread 
over the floor in the foreground. 
On August 25, 1819, the steamboat Western Engineer steamed away 
from Isle au Vache, and that night, after having advanced about 
23 miles up the Missouri, stopped at the mouth of Independence 
