IJ.PLESCHE] RITE OF VIGIL FREE TRANSLATION. 175 



Go and lead him thither, lead him thither. 



Look j'oii, he wlio is to speak is being led to his seat. 



The fourth song belongs to the final act of the great war ceremony 

 called Wa-sha'-be A-thi", performed when a war party is being cere- 

 monially organized. It is here used in this group of the No^'-zhi^-zho" 

 songs for the purpose of teaching that all the men of a war party thus 

 ceremonially organized, including the privates, the commanders, and 

 the Do-do" '-ho''-ga, have an equal chance to win o-do°' and be chosen 

 to act as Wa'-do^-be in the initiatory rites. The final act of the 

 Wa-sha'-be A-thi° from which this song is borrowed was performed on 

 the open prairie, a mile or so outside of the village. At this ceremony 

 of the final act which is entitled Tsiu'-i-btho-thi-sho", Procession 

 Around the Village, the warriors sit in two great divisions facing the 

 west, those of the Ho"'-ga at the right and those of the Tsi'-zhu at 

 the left. A space running from east to west forms the dividing line. 

 The No°'-ho°-zlii°-ga stand around the two divisions of sitting war- 

 riors in two great semicircles, those of the Ho°'-ga at the right and 

 those of the Tsi'-zhu at the left. At the close of a certain ceremony 

 the Xo'-ka sings this borrowed song that belongs to the final act of 

 the Wa-sha'-be A-thi" when the No°'-ho°-zhi"-ga march in solemn 

 procession around the warriors, the Ho°'-ga making a sinistral circuit 

 and the Tsi'-zhu a tlextral circuit. 



There are sixteen stanzas to this song, fifteen of which are in three 

 groups. The first group of stanzas refers to the simultaneous and 

 collective movements of both the Ho°'-ga and the Tsi'-zhu No°'-ho"- 

 zhi°-ga in a procession aroimd the two divisions of the sitting war- 

 riors. The second group of stanzas refer to the simultaneous proces- 

 sional movement (f( the Ho"'-ga and the Tsi'-zhu severally, the 

 Ho°'-ga passing from their side to the fsi'-zhu side as they march 

 and the fsi'-zhu passing from their side to the Ho°'-ga side as they 

 march. The third group of stanzas refers to the conclusion of the 

 ceremony antl to the readiness of the warriors to go forth and strike 

 the enemy. The sixteenth stanza relates to the actual departure of 

 the war party. 



In the first two lines of all the sixteen stanzas is mentioned the 

 mystic clay used as a symbol by the Do-do°'-ho°-ga in his vigils. In 

 the closing lines of the stanzas composing the three groups, the five 

 symbolic articles used in the war ceremony are mentioned in the fol- 

 lowing order: The pipe, the knife, the club, the charcoal, and the 

 standards. In the last line of the sixteenth stanza is mentioned " the 

 moccasins." These refer to the four ceremonial steps each warrior is 

 required to take as he goes forth. These steps refer to the readiness 

 of the symbolic man (typical of the unity of the tribe) to strike the 

 enemy. 



