14 THE HAKO, A I'AWNEE CEKEMONY [eth. ann. 22 



My colliihorjitor in tlic present work liu.s been Mr James R Murie, 

 an educated Pawnee whom I have known since lie was a school- 

 boy, twenty years af^o. jV[r Murie lias taken up the task of preserving 

 the ancient lore of his people, and he has not spared himself in his 

 labor. How difficult liis undertaking has been, and still is, can only 

 bo ajjjjreciated by those wlio have attempted to accomplish a similar 

 work. 1 lis patience, tact-, and unfailing courtesy and kindness have 

 soothed tlu* pr(>judice and allayed the feai's of the old men wlio hold 

 fast t(i the failli of their fathci's and are the repositories of all that 

 remains of the ancient rites of the tribe. 



Tahii-rissawielii, a full-blood Pawnee, who is the authority for the 

 text and explanation of the ceremony whicli forms the subject of this 

 paper, officially accompanied the Ilako when it was carried by his 

 people to tli(» Omalias. He thus became a(M[uaiiit('d with the leading 

 men of that tribe, who were my friends, and this circumstance has 

 favored the successful prosecution of this work. During tlio fall of 

 180S and again in 1900 he and ]Mr Murie were my guests in Wash- 

 ington; then, and also dui'ing my visits to the Pawnees in 181)1) and 

 1001, we were engaged upon the rituals of this ceremony. A final 

 review of the manuscrii)t was made with Mr Murie in the spring of 1002. 



'rahiriissawichi is a nuMuber of the Chaui band of the Pawnee tribe 

 and about 70 years of age. Tie is tall ami well made, and preserves 

 much of tile vigor of his earliei' days, lie is mentally alert, ([iiick to 

 observe, possessed of a tenacious memory, and gifted with a genial 

 nature, lie enjoys a joke and is always ready with good-felk)wship, 

 but he ncN'er forgets the dignity of his calling, or fails to observe the 

 conduct b(>litting his position as the guardian of sacred rites. 

 Althoui;h lie is childlike and trusting, lie has a keen discernment of 

 character and a shi'ewd common-sense way of looking at men and 

 thin.n's. While he is not. indilfei'(>nt to th(> gi'eat changes which have 

 overtaken his peo]»le, new conditions have failed to disturb in any 

 way tlie convictions of his early i-eligions training. 



lie has st ruggh'd to avoid li\ iiig in a house, and has held to an earth 

 lodge until it has droj)i)e(l toijieces about him. He said:" "I can not 

 live in a white man's house of any kind. The sacred articles com- 

 mitted to inv care niu.st bo kept in an earth lodge, and in order that 

 1 may fulfill my duties toward thcTii and my people, I must live there 

 also, so that as I sit I can stretch out my luiiid and lay it on Mother 

 Ea)'th." T.astr fall (1001) I saw how he had propped up a part of the 

 i-uins of his lodge so that he miijlit still keep the sacred objects in a 

 primitive dwelling. 



When h(> was in W.ishington in 1808 he was taken to the Capitol 

 and t lie Library of C'oni;ress. \Vhile the vaslness and beauty of these 

 St rncl uii's gave him pleasure, Ihey did not appeal to him, for such 



n See A Piiwnep Ritual Used WLen Changing a Man's Name, American Anthropologist, n. s., 

 V. 1, January, 1899. 



