STEVENSON] '^hle'wekwe 459 



seats on the ledge at the south side of the room, west of the choir, and 

 the youths sit at the west end of the room. The onlj- thinj^ in the 

 large chamber to indicate there is to be any unusual occurrence is 

 the presence of two boxes toward the west end of the room, side In' 

 side, painted white and decorated with figures of the cougar, bear, 

 shrew, wolf, A'chiyala'topa (being with wings and a tail of knives), 

 and stars. 



It is 10 o'clock when the Mu'waiye begin dancing. The girls wear 

 their ordinary dress, also the boy; but he soon removes his calico trou- 

 sers and shirt, and a director places on him a black woven kilt embroid- 

 ered in blue, and also furnishes each of the three with bunches of 

 ribboned and curled corn husks. The three have their e3'es obscured 

 by their bangs." The dance begins to the music of the pottery drum 

 and song; no rattle is used. The first motion of the Mu'wai3'e is a 

 lowering of the body without bending forward or raising the feet, the 

 boy holding his upper arms out and forearms up, with his hands clasp- 

 ing the husks before him, the girls holding their arms out and upward, 

 each hand clasping a bunch of husks. After two motions of this kind 

 the bodies are bent forward, the arms extended straight before them, 

 the boy keeping both hands clasped to the husks as they beat their 

 hands violentl}^ toward the earth, at the same time raising their heels 

 from the floor and returning them with a stamp. After one motion 

 of this kind, the first is repeated three times, then the second twice, 

 after which comes a pause, and then the two motions are repeated. 

 After three repetitions of this figure, which consumes forty minutes, 

 there is a pause and the time and the character of the music change. 

 The girl to the west side is the first to begin dancing. First the right 

 arm, then the left — the face following each time to the right or left in 

 the direction of the extended arm — is thrown out from the side, the 

 hand resting on the breast before it is extended, and a step is taken 

 each time by raising squarely from the floor first the right foot, then 

 the left. When the girl to the west has taken a few steps, the boy 

 begins, and after he has taken a step or two, the second girl starts. 

 When the three are dancing their motions are S3Michronous and rapid. 

 They dance some distance to the west, then to the east, and so they 

 move to the right and left several times, when the music again changes 

 and the first movements are repeated for an hour, when the dance 

 closes. One of the girls is compelled to rest a minute or two during 

 the dance. 



Although many witness this dance from the beginning, the room 

 becomes crowded at its close, when preparations for the arrival of the 

 *Hle'wekwe are begun. The smaller of the two boxes referred to is placed 

 immediately west of the larger one, four notched sticks and deer-leg 



a When the writer was learniiiK this dance, her instructor declared many times that unless her hair 

 covered the eyes the snows would not come. 



