144 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 72 
medicine feast.” This appears to have been a ceremony arranged by 
the women of the village. The structure in which the dance took 
place was not one of the earth-covered lodges of the town, but a rather 
temporary shelter of unusual shape. As described by Maximilian: 
“ Between the huts, in the centre of the village, an elliptical space, 
forty paces or more in length, was enclosed in a fence, ten or twelve 
feet high, consisting of reeds and willow twigs inclining inwards. 
(See the woodcut.) [Fig. 11.] An entrance was left at a; 6 repre- 
sents the fence; d are the four fires, burning in the medicine lodge, 
which were kept up the whole time. At e the elder and principal 
men had taken their seats; to the right sat the old chief, Lachpitzi- 
Sihrisch (the yellow bear) ; some parts of his face were painted red, 
and a bandage of yellow skin encircled his head. Places were as- 
signed to us on the right hand of the yellow bear. At f, close to the 
fence, the spectators, especially the women, were seated: the men 
Fig. 11.—Plan of a ceremonial lodge. 
walked about, some of them handsomely dressed, others quite simply: 
children were seated round the fires, which they kept alive by throw- 
ing twigs of willow trees into them.” Here follows a description of 
the ceremony, and it is related how six elderly men who had been 
chosen by the younger ones to represent buffalo bulls, entered the in- 
closure. They came from the hut opposite and when they were with- 
in, and after certain formalities, were seated at c. The ceremony was 
attended by smoking, the pipes were “ brought first to the old men 
and the visitors; they presented the mouth-piece of the pipe to us in 
succession, going from right to left: we each took a few whiffs, 
uttered, as before, a wish or prayer, and passed the pipe to our next 
neighbours. . . The six buffalo bulls, meantime, sitting behind the 
fire, sang, and rattled the medicine sticks, while one of them con- 
stantly beat the badger skin. After a while they all stood up, bent 
forward, and danced; that is, they leaped as high as they could with 
both their feet together, continuing to sing and rattle their sticks, 
one of them beating time on the badger. Their song was invariably 
the same, consisting of loud, broken notes and exclamations. When 
they had danced for some time, they resumed their seats. 
