MATTHEWS.] CEREMONIES: DANCE OF GREAT PLUMED ARROW. 435 
steps. Then they withdrew the arrows, and held them up to view as 
before, with triumphant yelps, as if to say, “So far have I swallowed 
it.” Sympathizers in the audience yelped in response. The next thing 
to be done was to apply the arrows. Gne of the dancers advanced 
to the patient, and to the soles of the feet of the latter he pressed the 
magic weapon with its point to the right, and again with its point to the 
left. In a similar manner he treated the knees, hands, abdomen, back, 
shoulders, crown, and mouth in the order named, giving three coyote- 
like yelps after each application. When the first dancer had completed 
the work, the other took his place and went through exactly the same 
performance. This finished, the sick man and the buffalo robe were 
removed. The bearers of the arrows danced once more around the fire 
and departed. 
132. The plumed arrow is frequently referred to in the songs of this 
rite. It seems to be the most revered implement and the act in which 
it appears the most revered alili of the night. All the other shows may 
be omitted at will, but the dance of the katso-yisgan, it is said, must 
never be neglected. I have witnessed other performances where the 
arrow swallowers reappeared with their numbers increased to six or 
eight. The additional dancers all pretended to swallow arrows, but 
they did not apply them to the patient. The origin of this alili is well 
accounted for in the myth (paragraphs 47, 55, and 69), and the peculiar 
significance of the injunction not to break the arrow is easily under- 
stood when we know how the arrow is made. 
133. Third dance. At 10 0’clock the sound of the whistle again called 
the spectators to attention and a line of twenty-three dancers came in 
sight. The one wholed the procession bore iu his hand a whizzer (Fig. 
56) such as schoolboys use, a stick tied to the end of a string; this he 
constantly whirled, producing a sound like that of a rain storm. After 
him came one who represented a character, the Yébaka (anglicized, 
Yaybaka), from the great nine days’ ceremony of the klédji-qagal, or 
night chant, and he wore a blue buckskin mask that belongs to the 
character referred to. From time to time he gave the peculiar hoot or 
eall of the Yaybichy, ‘“hu‘hu‘hu‘hu” (paragraph 32). After him fol- 
lowed eight wand bearers. They were dressed like the bearers of the 
great plumed arrows; but instead of an arrow each bore a wand made 
of grass, cactus, and eagle plumes. The rest of the band were choris- 
ters in ordinary dress. As they were all proceeding round the fire for 
the fourth time they halted in the west, the choristers sat and the stand- 
ing wand bearers formed a double row of four. Then the Yaybaka 
began to hoot, the orchestra to play, the choristers to sing, the whizzer 
to make his mimic storm, and the wand bearers to dance. The latter, 
keeping perfect time with the orchestra, went through a series of fig- 
ures not unlike those of a modern quadrille. In our terpsichorean no- 
menclature the “calls” might have thus been given: “Forward and 
back. Chassez twice. Face partners. Forward and back. Forward 
and bow. Forward and embrace. Forward and wave wands at part- 
