STEVENSON 



ma'^ke ^san'nakwp: 555 



])V four more women. A man desiring a certain woman to dance 

 pulls off her knit legging-.s, tor she must not appear on the floor a.s a 

 dancer with her leggings on. All the officers of the fraternity, except 

 the warriors, when not on the floor sit back and to the north side of 

 the altar. The choir is jovial, and the 3'ounger brother Bow priest 

 causes great merriment by frequently approaching it and giving instruc- 

 tion how to sing. After a time two 3'oung men join the dancers. The 

 director hands a lighted cigarette to a man in the choir, who puffs it and 

 returns it. when the director takes a wdiiff' and hands it back to the 

 man, who smokes it a moment, then passes it around. The represent- 

 atives of the beast gods frequently break out in animal-like cries. The 

 a'kwamosi dips his eagle plumes four times in the medicine water, 

 sprinkling the altar each time. The choir closes by the drawing in of 

 the sacred breath of A'wonawil'ona" and all repeat a praver, after 

 which there is an intermission until night. At night the novices 

 occupy their same positions. The choir assembles as on the previous 

 evening, the leader beating on a pottery drum, the others using the 

 gourd i-attle. The choir opens with a low chant, but their tones grow 

 louder and the noise is deafening during the making of the medicine 

 water. The music and dancing continue until midnight, when the 

 fraternit}' adjourns until morning. 



Tldrd day. The mi'wachi for the novices ai-e prepared by their 

 fraternity fathers during the morning. In the afternoon five slabs are 

 placed, as the three were on the previous day, for grinding medicine. 

 The women are dressed and led to the mills, as before described, 

 except that the plume w^orn by one of them is colored red with dry 

 pigment. Bits of archaic shell and te'nas^sali root are deposited on 

 the mills before the grinding begins. During the grinding of the first 

 medicine (that of the Cougar of the North) the attendant at the center 

 mill deposits two pieces of corn husk on the mill, and the girl takes 

 them in each hand and rubs the metate for a while, then lays them aside, 

 and continues grinding. When reduced to a powder the medicine is 

 bluish gray. It is placed in the bowl by the attendants, who lift it 

 w'ith an eagle plume held in each hand. An}^ medicine adhering to the 

 mills is scraped off with stone knives. The medicine plant of the 

 Bear of the West is next placed on the mills, bits of archaic shell 

 and an atom of the te'nas*sali having been first crushed. Upon the 

 completion of the grinding of this medicine, it is collected in the 

 same manner and placed in a bowl. Then the medicine of the Badger 

 of the South is ground with bits of shell and te'nas*sali, and it is 

 deposited in the first bowl containing the medicine of the Cougar of 

 the North. Upon completion of the medicine of the White Wolf of 

 the East, bits of shell and te'nas'sali having been ground wuth it, it is 



a See p. 22. 



