hoffman] LEARNING THE SONGS 109 



interpretation can be obtained only from tlie priests of the order, after 

 one is regularly entitled to receive such information by initiation and 

 tbe payment of fees, presents, and food. 



The figures marked care in the attitude of conversation, as above 

 mentioned and as is indicated by the voice lines extending between the 

 two persons indicated. Two similar characters at i are, according to 

 the general system of pictographic interpretation of the Indians, con- 

 versing about the migis or kona'pamik, both voice lines centering on 

 the same object. 



The figure at o is at the beginning of the path of life, the first step of 

 which is made in the inita'wiko'mik, and the interpretation of which is 

 explained with more or less clearness in the mit;i' v recitative chant ren- 

 dered by Shu'nien (see page 79). 



Reference to the pipe («•) and dish (x) indicates the observance of 

 ceremonial smoking, for upon the ring are noticed four spots at the 

 cardinal points, the four directions in which smoke is puffed by those 

 participating. 



The new member, at 2, is said to be trying his powers as a mitii' v . The 

 kona'pamik is shown between his face and his medicine bag, while the 

 three oblong characters beneath the bear denote the footprints of that 

 animal as he departs. 



It is probable that the slight dissimilarities and inconsistencies which 

 appear from year to year in the dramatic and ritualistic order of cere- 

 monies of the Mita'wit are attributable largely to the fact that no 

 pictographic records or mnemonic songs are now employed. In conse- 

 quence of this carelessness and disregard of an old custom, the newly 

 elected member is enabled to familiarize himself with the traditional 

 order of procedure only by close observation and by regular attendance 

 at the recurring annual meetings. He has no mnemonic guide by 

 means of which he can refresh his memory by instant reference to a 

 bark record; neither are the members of the society in perfect accord 

 in the general conduct of the ceremonies, since among the tribe under 

 consideration no cosmogonic charts, such as exist among the northern 

 Ojibwa, and of which three variants have been presented in connection 

 with the subject of the cult society of the latter tribe, 1 are now known. 

 It is quite apparent, therefore, that under such circumstances a gradual 

 degeneration and abbreviation of the dramatic rendering of the ritual 

 as well as of the original phraseology pertaining thereto is practically 

 unavoidable and accounts to a greater or less extent for the changes 

 observed and above referred to. 



As before stated, the Menomini and Winnebago lived side by side 

 for an indefinite period, and through constant intercourse, which thus 

 became possible, the mita' v ceremonies, as performed by these tribes, 

 without doubt became very similar in detail. The analogous mediciue 

 ceremonial of the Winnebago Indians is described somewhat fully in a 



'Seventh Annual Report of tbe Bureau of Ethnology, for 1885-86, 1891, pp. 143-300. 



