218 BUEEAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY fBcr.r,. ci 



After this he found some stones (similar to those in pis. 29 and 80). 

 He could talk to them and depended on them for help. Once a war 

 party had been gone two months; no news of them had been re- 

 ceived, and it was feared that aU were killed. In their anxiety the 

 people appealed to Bear Necklace, asking him to ascertain, by means . 

 of the sacred stones, what had become of the war party. Bear 

 Necklace requested them to tie his arms behind him, then to tie his 

 fingers and toes, interlacing them with twisted sinew. He was then 

 wrapped in a buiTalo robe and tied with ropes. His medicine drum, 

 medicine bag, and a bell were hung high on the tent poles, and he was 

 laid on the ground beneath them. The tent w^as darkened, he sang 

 the following song and told his dreams. Then the tent began to 

 tremble, the articles hanging from the pole dropped to the ground, 

 his cords loosened, and he stood entirely free. As soon as the 

 medicine articles fell to the ground there appeared a row of four or 

 five small round stones ready to teU him what he wanted to know. 

 Sitting Bull was present and made an offering of a buffalo robe to the 

 sacred stones and asked that he might become famous.^ Bear Neck- 

 lace wrapped one of the stones in buckskin and gave it to him. Sit- 

 ting Bull wore it in a bag around his neck to the time of his death, 

 and it was buried with him. 



Bear Necklace then gave correct information concerning the 

 absent war party. At that time he proved his power to give mforma- 

 tion by the help of the sacred stones, and afterwards the stones 

 always told him the names of those who were killed m war, the names 

 of the survivors, and the day on which they would return. This in- 

 formation was always correct. 



The folloudng song was composed by Bear Necklace at the time he 

 was hurt, and was sung by him when demonstrating his power. The 

 words refer to the passing of the stones through the air in the dark- 

 ened tent while an exhibition of his power was in progress. It is said 

 that a person who did not believe in the power of the stones was fre- 

 quently struck by them, or by other objects hurtling througli the air 

 in the spirit-filled darkness. 



1 See account of Sitting Bull, p. 458; also songs Nos. 91, 92. 



