80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 75 
a Ute medicine man, replied without hesitation, ‘They get better 
because they don’t eat and drink for a while.” 
There was said to be no ceremony connected with the cutting of 
the tree for the Sun dance pole, but it was not permissible for the 
pole to touch the ground. After fellmg the tree the bark was 
removed, together with all the branches except “a few green leaves 
at the top” and a short branch near the top, to which was fastened 
some willow brush. When the pole had been carried to the camp 
it was lifted carefully and placed upright in the hole dug for that 
purpose. Around the Sun dance pole a lodge or shelter was con- 
structed by erecting a wall of brush about 4 feet in height and placing 
poles from this to the Sun dance pole in the center. This lodge 
opened toward the east and the drum was at the left of the entrance. 
In preparation for the ceremony the dancers painted their bodies, 
this paint being renewed every morning during the period of dancing. 
The manner of decoration was decided by individual taste. The 
designs were simple, no “pictures” or ‘zigzag lines” being used. 
Pa’gitS said that his design was ‘‘a line across the nose.”’ Each 
dancer carried an eagle-bone whistle, to which was attached a white 
eagle plume. There was no decoration on the whistle. : 
The ceremony lasted four days and nights, during which time the 
dancers abstained from food and water and remained in the lodge. 
Occasionally the dance was terminated at the end of the third day, 
but four days was said to be the proper length of time. It was 
Said that a ‘sham battle”? was held early in the morning of the day 
that the Sun dance began. This was sometimes followed by a 
Dragging-feet dance, but no social dances were permitted in the 
camp after the opening of the Sun dance. The old men sometimes 
built a sweat lodge and went into it before the ceremony, but this 
was not a common custom. 
A ‘‘parade”’ was held before the beginning of the Sun dance. In 
this, as in other parades (see p. 166), the participants were on horse- 
back, the men preceding the women and beating hand drums as they 
sang. One song of this parade was recorded (No. 26). 
Pa’git8 (pl. 10, ¢) said that 10 or 12 was the usual number of dancers 
and that they entered the lodge in the early evening, when ‘‘only a 
rim of the sun was above the horizon.” There was no acknowledged 
leader of the ceremony, but a prayer was made by one of the men 
after they entered the lodge. He was said to ‘‘pray to the sun.” 
This man did not sit by the pole, but sat wherever he liked. The 
man who prayed at the time of entering the lodge did not make 
another prayer during the ceremony, but others made prayers from 
time to time. It was required that these be men who had dreamed 
dreams. The first night the men danced until daylight. No one 
