254 



CHEYENNE 



[b. a. e. 



tions of the tribe in 1851, as has been 

 stated, but the bundle is still religiously 

 preserved by the Southern Cheyenne, 

 by whom the public ceremony was per- 

 formed as late as 1904. Besides the pub- 

 lic tribal ceremony there is also a rite 

 spoken of as "fixing" the arrows, at 

 shorter intervals, which concerns the 

 arrow priests alone. The public cere- 

 mony is always attended by delegates 

 from the northern body. No woman, 

 white man, or even mixed blood of the 

 tribe has ever been allowed to come near 

 the sacred arrows. 



Their great tribal ceremony for genera- 

 tions has been the Sun dance ( q. v. ) , which 

 they themselves say came to them from 

 the Sutaio, after emerging from the tim- 

 ber region into the open plains. So far as 

 known, this ceremony belongs exclusively 

 to the tribes of the plains or to those in 

 close contact with them. The Buffalo- 

 head ceremony, which was formerly con- 

 nected with the Sun dance but has been 

 obsolete for many years, also came from 

 the Sutaio. The modern Ghost-dance 

 religion (q. v. ) was enthusiastically taken 

 up by the tribe at its first appearance, 

 about 1890, and the Peyote rite (q. v.) is 

 now becoming pojjular with the younger 

 men. They also had until lately a Fire 

 dance, something like that credited to the 

 Navaho, in which the initiated perform- 

 ers danced over a fire of blazing coals 

 until they extinguished it with their bare 

 feet. In priestly dignity the keepers of 

 the Medicine-arrow (Cheyenne) and Sun 

 dance (Sutaio) rites stood first and equal. 



At the Sun dance, and on other occa- 

 sions where the whole tribe was assem- 

 bled, they formed their camp circle in 

 11 (?) sections, occupied by as many rec- 

 ognized tribal divisions. As one of these 

 was really an incorporated tribe, and sev- 

 eral others have originated by segrega- 

 tion within the memory of old men still 

 living (1905), the ancient number did not 

 exceed 7. One authority claims these di- 

 visions as true clans, but the testimony 

 is not conclusive. The wandering habit — 

 each band commonly apart from the 

 others, with only one regular tribal re- 

 union in the year — would make it almost 

 impossible to keep up an exogamic sys- 

 tem. While it is quite probable that the 

 Cheyenne may have had the clan system 

 in ancient times while still a sedentary 

 people, it is almost as certain that it dis- 

 appeared so long ago as to be no longer 

 even a memory. The present divisions 

 seem to have had an entirely different 

 genesis, and may represent original vil- 

 lage settlements in their old homes, a 

 surmise rendered more probable by sur- 

 vivals of marked dialectic differences. 

 As it is now some 70 years since the whole 

 tribe camped together, the social struc- 



ture having become further demoralized 

 in the meantime by cholera, wars, and 

 intermixture with the Sioux, the exact 

 number and order of these divisions is a 

 matter of dispute, even among their own 

 old men, although all agree on the prin- 

 cipal names. 



The list given below, although subject 

 to correction, is based on the best con- 

 sensus of opinion of the southern chiefs 

 in 1904 as to the names and order of the 

 divisions in the circle, from the e. entrance 

 around by s., w., and n. to the starting 

 point. The name forms vary consider- 

 ably as given by different individuals, 

 probably in accordance with former dia- 

 lectic differences. It is evident that in 

 some instances the divisions are older 

 than their existing names: 



(1) Heiflqs' -nV ' paMs (sing., Hevlqs^- 

 ni'pa), 'aortas closed, by burning.' All 

 authorities agree that this was an im- 

 portant division and came first in the 

 circle. The name is said to have origi- 

 nated from several of the band in an 

 emergency, having once made the aorta 

 of a buffalo do duty as a pipe. Grinnell 

 gives this story, and also an alternative 

 one, which renders it 'small windpipes,' 

 from a choking sickness sent as a punish- 

 ment for offending a medicine beaver. 

 The name, however, in its etymology, 

 indicates something closed or shriveled 

 by burning, although it is also true that 

 the band has a beaver tabu. The name 

 is sometimes contracted to Hei'Vqsin, for 

 which Wee hee skeii of Lewis and Clark's 

 Journals (Clark, 1804, ibid., i, 190, 1904) 

 seems to be a bad misprint. 



(2) M&iseyu (sing., Mois), 'flint peo- 

 ple,' from m&lso ' flint', apparently having 

 reference to an arrowpoint (Fetter), pos- 

 sibly to the sacred medicine-arrows. For- 

 merly a large division said to have been 

 the nucleus of the Cheyenne tribe, and 

 hence the Dzitsistiis proper. The Arrow- 

 men of G. A. Dorsey. Now nearly extinct. 



(3) Wu^tapiu (sing., Wu''tap), a Sioux 

 word (ivdiap) meaning 'eaters,' or 'eat'. 

 A small division, perhaps of Sioux admix- 

 ture (cf. 0'-mVs1s). Some authorities 

 claim this division as an offshoot from the 

 H6vhaita^nio. 



(4) HevhaitcVnio (sing., H^vhaitan), 

 'hair men,' i. e. 'fur men'; so called 

 because in early days they ranged farth- 

 est to the s. w., remote from the traders 

 on the Missouri, and continued to wear 

 fur robes for every-day use after the other 

 bands had adopted strouding and calicoes. 

 A probable explanation, advanced by 

 Grinnell, is that the name refers to ropes 

 which they twisted from the long hair of 

 the buffalo for use in capturing ponies 

 from the tribes farther s. They formed 

 the advance of the emigration to the 

 Arkansas about 1835, hence the name is 



