166 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 61 



wakar)'' sacred 



maka'ga pelo' I have been made 



kola' friends 



wanma'yarika yo behold 



wakag' sacred 



maka'ga pelo' I have been made 



Analysis. — This song contains several points of unusual interest. 

 First among these may be mentioned its compass of 14 tones, begin- 

 ning on the fourteenth above the tonic and ending on the tonic. (See 

 Table 5.) We note also the upward progression of a tenth, which is 

 found midway through the song and again at the beginning of the 

 repeated part. The low tone at the close of the song (G flat) in some 

 instances was given accurately, while in others the singer found difh- 

 culty in reaching it and sang it a trifle sharp. It is strange that a song 

 characterized by a range of almost two octaves and by one particu- 

 larly lai'ge interval should contain also an unusual number of minor 

 seconds — the smallest interval recognized in these analyses. Many 

 songs do not contain even one minor second, but in this melody 

 18 (44 per cent) of the entire number of intervals are minor seconds. 

 The song contains all the tones of the octave and is m.elodic in 

 structure. 



As already stated, the ceremony called Heyo'ka Ka'ga is a cere- 

 mony of public humiliation and is enacted cliiefly by those who have 

 dreamed of the thunderbirds. A man is required to be leader in only 

 one such ceremony, but when other thunderbird dreamers are enact- 

 ing the ceremony for themselves he is expected to join them. If a 

 man who has seen the thimderbird in a dream should become arrogant 

 or fail to express liis unwortliiness, it is said that Wakaij'taijka would 

 punish him through the agency of some of the great forces of nature. 

 Thus every man who has been favored with this wonderful dream 

 tries to demonstrate that in his own estimation he is below the least 

 in the tribe. A man signifies his intention of performing this cere- 

 mony by placing a decorated robe, tobacco, or some other offering 

 to the thunderbirds liigh on the poles of his tent. All who see such 

 offerings know that the man intends to fulfill the obligations of his 

 dream at the earhest opportunity, after which he will feel free to 

 mingle with his relatives and friends. 



The ceremony may be held at any time after the thunderstorms 

 begin in the spring. In fulfilhng the obligation of his dream Lone 

 Man erected witliin the tribal circle a tent such as only the poorest 

 member of the tribe would use, in this, as in other respects, following 

 the custom of the ceremony. The tent was often ragged, and its 

 furnishings were always of the most inferior quaUty. On the day 

 of the ceremony ho clad himself in the poorest garments. 



