434 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS  [2TH. ann. 24 
a peeled branch about half an inch in diameter, tied with sinew, to form 
a ring 10 inches in diameter, and painted in four segments—yellow, 
red, blue, and black. It is accompanied with four sticks, 114 inches 
in length, painted like the hoop, one yellow, one red, one blue, and one 
‘black. A small calico bag, painted to correspond with the stick and 
containing tobacco, is tied at the blunt end of each stick. These 
objects were made for the donor, Mr Louis L. Meeker, by Cangleska 
Luta, or Red Hoop, an Indian or mixed Cheyenne and Kiuksa Oglala 
p ! A g 
parentage. I append Mr Meeker’s® account: 
According to Indian belief the hoop represents the ecliptic, or zodiac, or, as 
the Indian would say, the circle of day and night. The yellow, segment repre- 
sents the part between the eastern horizon and the zenith, over which the sun 
seems to pass between sunrise and 
noon. The red segment represents 
the part between the western horizon 
and the zenith, over which the sun 
seems to pass from noon to sunset. 
The blue represents the part from the 
western horizon to the nadir, the sup- 
posed course of the sun from sunset 
tomidnight. The black represents the 
part from the nadir to the horizon, the 
supposed path of the sun from mid- 
night to sunrise. The colors ordina- 
rily used are yellow, from the juice of 
the prickly poppy; red, from blood or 
red clay; blue, from blue earth; and 
black, from charcoal. Each color rep- 
resents a quarter of the globe, or, as 
an Indian would say, the colors de- 
note the places of the four winds. If 
the hoop is set up perpendicularly, 
FiGc.570. Conjurer’s hoop and sticks; diameter : 4 
of hoop, 10 inches; Oglala Dakota Indians, with the juncture of the red and yel- 
South Dakota; cat. no. 22241, Free Museum of | low above, the former to the west and 
Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. the latter to the east on the plane of 
the ecliptic, each color will be in its 
proper position, as above described. If the hoop is laid upon the ground in a 
horizontal position, with the juncture of the yellow and red to the north, it will 
give each of the four winds its proper color—from north to east will be yellow ; 
east to south, black; south to west, blue; and. west to north, red. 
Bach stick belongs to one of the four winds, as indicated by its color. In case 
of sickness, the hoop, sticks, and tobacco borne by the sticks are offered in the 
following manner to secure recovery: The hoop is laid in the center of the 
lodge or on the ground in the position described above. The performer takes 
each stick and sets it upon its color on the hoop, point down, at the same time 
chanting the syllables he and e, he e, she, and e e, with or without improvised 
words of his own, relating to morning or forenoon, hanhanna; dawn, anpao; 
noon, wicokala; evening, htayetu; midnight, hancokaya; and tate, wind, 
with or without the name of the color of the stick—zi, yellow; sa, red; to, 
blue; and sapa, black. 
@ Bulletin of the Free Museum of Science and Art, v. 3, p. 252, Philadelphia, 1902. 
