DENSMOKE] TETOX SIOUX MUSIC 93 



not represent a consensus of opinion. Throughout the councils care 

 was taken that the form of a question did not suggest a possible 

 answer by the Indians. 



On the afternoon of that day the entire party drove across the 

 prairie to the place, about a mile and a half from the Standing 

 Rock Agency, where the last Sun dance of these bands was held in 

 1882. 



A majority of the Indians who went to the site of the Sun dance 

 with the writer were men who took part in the Sun dance of 1882 

 and had not visited the place since that time. When nearing the 

 place they scanned the horizon, measuring the distance to the Mis- 

 souri River and the buttes. At last they gave a signal for the wagons 

 to stop, and, springing to the ground, began to search the prairie. 

 In a short time they found the exact spot where the ceremony was 

 held. The scars were still on the prairie as they were on their o\vn 

 bodies. A depression about 2 inches in depth stiU square in outline 

 and not fully overgrown with grass showed where the earth had been 

 exposedjor the oway' lea waA^a?;' (^'sacred place"); see page 122. Only 

 3 or 4 feet away lay a broken buffalo skull. Eagerly the Indians 

 lifted it and saw traces of red paint upon it — could it be other than 

 the skull used in that ceremony? They looked if perchance they 

 might find a trace of the location of the pole. It should be about 

 15 feet east of the "sacred place." There it was — a spot of hard, bare 

 ground 18 inches in diameter. 



One said, ''Here you can see where the shade-house stood." This 

 shade-house, or shelter of boughs, was built entirely around the Sun- 

 dance circle except for a wide entrance at the east. It was possible 

 to trace part of it, the outline being particularly clear on the west 

 of the circle; to the east the position of the posts at the entrance 

 was also recognized. The two sunken places (where the posts had 

 stood) were about 15 feet apart, and the center of the space between 

 them was directly in Hne with the site of the pole and the center of 

 the ' 'sacred place " at the west of it."^ More than 29 years had passed 

 since the ceremony. It is strange that the wind had not sown seeds 

 on those spots of earth. 



The little party assembled again around the buffalo skull. 'Mr. 

 Higheagle gathered fresh sage, which he put beside the "sacred 

 place;" he then laid the broken buffalo skuU upon it and rested 

 a Sun-dance pipe against the skull, with stem uplifted. He, too, 

 had his memories. As a boy of 6 years he was present at that 

 final Sun dance, wearing the Indian garb and living the tribal life. 

 Between that day and the present lay the years of education in the 

 white man's way. Some of the Indians put on their war bonnets 



» These measurements were verified by the writer at a subsequent time. 



