320 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



brought food for the singers whenever their boys appeared tired. 

 Some fasters would leave for the hills to continue the fast, others 

 would break the fast but retire to isolated spots to sleep in the hope 

 of receiving good dreams. By this time there were usually only a few 

 fasters left. A fasting clansman was expected to stay until the cere- 

 mony terminated in order to take the pledger's place should the latter 

 become totally exhausted. The singers and remaining fasters left the 

 lodge at sunset. Long Arm impersonator delivered to the pledger 

 all the things he had worn while impersonating Spring Boy. These 

 items became his personal property and were made into a ceremonial 

 bundle which he cared for during his lifetime and which was placed 

 at his grave or scaffold when he died. 



The ceremony was concluded with sweat lodge rites attended by 

 the pledger, his wife or wives, and the Long Arm impersonator at the 

 latter's lodge. The instructor usually attended, since he had handled 

 the sacred objects too. Special cleansing songs were sung by Long Arm 

 impersonator while rubbing the occupants with a switch made of the 

 dark sage. The sweat lodge participants then partook of food pre- 

 pared by the wives of the Long Arm impersonator. While participat- 

 ing in the cleansing rites at the termination of the NaxpikE, the Long 

 Arm impersonator gave the pledger the right to doctor injuries from 

 falling limbs or trees. This right to doctor could be sold four times 

 independently of NaxpikE performances. The lodge was left standing 

 untU it fell down. When the ceremony was next performed, a new site 

 was selected. 



We see that a NaxpikE performance provided a formal institution 

 for the transfer of bundle rights from a father to his son. In addition, 

 it provided an opportunity for others to fast and thereby receive 

 vision instructions to purchase their own fathers' bundle rights to 

 this and other ceremonies. The ceremony also provided the pubUc 

 with an opportunity to observe young men's abilities to endure the 

 torture features of the ceremony. Having performed the NaxpikE 

 did not entitle one to take the part of the Long Arm. This bundle 

 right was sold independently to a son or sons who had formerly 

 performed the NaxpikE, but, in historic times at least, there seems 

 to have been no inclination to maintain more than the one bundle 

 line originating at Awatixa village. 



There was reluctance on the part of men to marry widows who 

 had participated in the ceremony with their late husbands and it 

 was said that the decision whether or not to marry largely rested 

 with the man. This was in line with native concepts that super- 

 natural powers were controlled by certain rules which the uninformed 

 would not know. Women of bundle owners frequently made a 

 public vow during the husband's funeral rites that they would not 



