102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 6i 



held tlie office, and instructed him in its duties. A large amount 

 was paid for the instructions and songs. The tribe knew when a 

 young man aspired to this office, and if his preparation were complete 

 he was elected as soon as occasion offered. 



Red Bird made the statement: "The tribe would never appoint 

 an unworthy man to the office of Intercessor. In his prayers and 

 offerings he represented the people, and if he were not a good man 

 Wakaq'taqka might not answer his petitions and grant fair weather; 

 he even might send disaster upon the tribe." Chased-by-Bears said 

 that no man who had committed a great wrong could act as Inter- 

 cessor, no matter how fully he had repented. The record of an 

 Intercessor must l)o absolutely without blemish. 



The Leader of the Dancers was usually the warrior who first re- 

 turned successful from the warpath, stating that he had made a Sun- 

 dance vow and that he wished to act as Leader of the Dancers at 

 the next ceremony. As with the office of Intercessor, the quali- 

 fications were so well known that a man who lacked them would not 

 presume to seek the position. He must have a reputation above 

 reproach and be able to fill the office with credit to himself and the 

 tribe; he must furnish the various offerings placed upon the sacred 

 pole, and the buffalo fat in which the pole was embedded; he was 

 also expected to offer a Sun-dance pipe and provide the buffalo skull 

 upon which it rested during the ceremony, a skull without defect 

 selected by him from the many that strewed the prairie. 



The Sun-dance pipe (pi. 14), furnished by the Leader of the 

 Dancers, was decorated at his request by one of the most skillful 

 women of the tribe. It was considered a great honor to decorate this 

 pipe, which was prepared some time before the ceremony. There 

 was no prescribed pattern, but the decoration consisted of porcu- 

 pine-quiU work and did not cover the entire stem. The men who ful- 

 filled their vows also made certain offerings, wliich they prepared 

 before the ceremony; these varied in value according to the wealth 

 of the man. Thus a man of large means might give a pipe, a 

 quantity of tobacco, a buffalo robe, and other goods, while a man of 

 small means gave only tobacco. Like the offerings made during 

 the ceremony by the Intercessor, these were regarded as gifts to 

 Wakarj'taqka. A difference between the two classes of offerings 

 was shown by the fact that the goods offered by the Intercessor 

 were left undisturbed on the prairie, while those offered by the dancers 

 were free to anyone who wished to appropriate them. The reason 

 given by Red Bird was that ''the Intercessor represented the whole 

 tribe and his offerings were to Wakaq'taqka, while the dancers were 

 all alike and their offerings were among themselves." 



The tobacco offered by the dancers was tied in little packets, each 

 holding -about a pipeful, and each being fastened to a stick (pi. 15). 



