STEVENSON] MA'^KE SAN nakwe 563 



After the novices are fairly instructed they, the small boy excepted,'* 

 make awkward attempts at healing the sick. 



As all those forming- the choir are members of the order of Mystery 

 medicine, they take turns in leaving their places to practice on the 

 sick. The women, though far less graceful than the men, appear 

 wilder; they cry out loudei- and gesticulate more vehemently. One 

 ver}' old woman with perfectly white hair, known as the Great ^Mother 

 of the fraternity, seems wilder than an}" of the men. 



After a time a theurgist, whose body is inhabited bj' the spirit of 

 the Cougar, advances on all fours to the altar and taking his mi'li 

 from the altar raises and lowers it and then moves it sidewise. invok- 

 ing the Beast Gods to give him power as their agent; then he backs 

 down the long room, never taking his eyes off the mi'li, which he holds 

 upward before his face, moving it to and fro. He is followed by men 

 in whose l^odies the Bear, Badger, and Wolf are spirituall}- present, 

 the former carrying the little novice on his back, as before. They 

 leave the house to visit the ceremonial chamber of the U'huhukwe 

 (Eagle down fraternity), which is also holding a meeting. 



After each member of the choir has had a turn in healing Nai'uchi, 

 the elder brother Bow priest comes to the floor as the White Wolf, 

 and he is by far the most graceful man who appears. He wears his 

 warrior plume wand attached to the crown of his head and extending 

 backward, and the inevitable fluffy eagle feather, colored red, attached 

 to his forelock. The war pouch worn earlier in the evening has been 

 removed. He moves about in a beautiful, graceful wa}' , sucking at 

 the shoulders, limbs, or feet of the invalids. Several others pei-form 

 after the elder brother Bow priest takes his seat In' the altar. 



After the party returns from visiting the r'huhukwe the elder 

 l)rother Bow priest removes the large bowl from the side of the old 

 woman, brings it to the altar, and waves it in a circle; then he carries 

 it from the house and empties the contents in an excavation in the earth 

 which has been made for the purpose near by and carefully Alls the 

 excavation. After the removal of the bowl, a girl of 12, one of 6 

 years, and a little boy whose body is painted to represent the heavens, 

 form in flle and dance. The eldest girl is on the north end, the younger 

 girl on the south, and the boy between. The}' dance up and down side- 

 wise, lirst facing south, then north, turning at each end of the room. 

 At the same time the elder brother Bow priest dances before the altar, 

 dipping his eagle plumes into the medicine water and sprinkling the 

 altar by striking the plumes in the manner before described. Going 

 to the cardinal points, he sprinkles in the same way north, west, south, 

 and east; he is then joined by a man representing the Bear, when the 



« Members of Mystery medicine must have arrived at years ol discretion before they are instructed 

 in healing. 



