CHAP TEE VI. 

 VISITING CUSTOMS. 



§ 116. Medicines or fetiches taken along. — Some of the (/'egiha used to 

 take their respective medicines with them, saying, "Our medicines are 

 wise; they can talk like men, and they tell us how many horses we are 

 to receive from the people to whom we are going." For an account of 

 the dance of discovering the eneujy, as Dougherty terms it, see §271. 

 It is danced by visitors. 



§117. Mode of approaching a village. — When people go to make a 

 friendly visit to another tribe, they stop when they are a shou distance 

 from the village or camp of their hosts, say at about 100 or 200 yards 

 from it. There they sit on the ground and wait for some one to come 

 and invite them to the village. Generally, each visitor departs with 

 his special friend, or with the messenger sent from the village by that 

 friend. On some. occasions, all the visitors have been invited to one 

 lodge, but these have been very unusual. The Omahas, Poukas, Dako- 

 tas, Pawnees, and other tribes act thus when they visit. 



THE CALUMET DANCE. 



§ 118. Tli£ x Valumet Dance. — The generic term is "wawa"," in (fegiha, 

 answering to the j^oiwere " waya^we" (the specific of which is ";ikiwa u ," 

 jjOiwere, akiya"we), to dance the calumet dance for any particular per- 

 son. But the word makes no reference to dancing or singing. It is 

 equivalent to " waqube eki<fe," to make a sacred kinship. He who wishes 

 to confer this degree is called "wawa" aka," the dancer of the calumet 

 dance, which is also the title of those who assist him. He for whom the 

 dance is made is the ";iwa"i aka," who becomes the adopted son of the 

 other man. 



§ 110. The preliminary feast. — When a man contemplates adopting 

 another man in this dance he invites all the other chiefs to a feast, and 

 consults them. When the person has not been selected he says to them, 

 '•Wawaina" ka"'b<fa. Pwi^-ixi'dai-ga " — I wish to dance the calumet 

 dance for some one; look ye around for Wit (and see who would be the 

 proper object). But if he has already selected the person, he says to 

 the chiefs, "Awama" ka"'b<fa. I u ifi I "wa"da"'bai-ga " — I wish to dance 

 for him. See for me if he is the proper one. Sometimes they reply, 

 •'Let him alone! He is not the right one, as he is bad;" or, "Ni'aci"- 

 ga <('i" piiiji ha. Ji"';'iji. Akiwa"'ji-ga " — The man is bad. He is proud. 

 Do ><ot dance for him. But should the chiefs give their approval, the 

 man sends a messenger to the one whom he intends to honor, having 

 intrusted to him a buffalo bladder containing tobacco, which is sent as 

 a present. When the messenger reaches the place, and delivers his 

 message, the awa"i aka calls his kindred together to lay the proposi- 

 ti ; 



