ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 51 



Dr. Fletcher thought that none of these various forms of skull 

 perforations had any relation to the practice of trephining. 



Dr. H. C. Yarrow then read a paper entitled Some Superstitions 

 of the Sioux Indians. 1 



The reader disclaimed presenting the paper as an original effort, 

 the material having been furnished by Dr. Merritt, of the army, 

 who obtained it from Mr. Wm. Everett, a Government scout. He 

 considered that gentleman entitled to great credit for the account. 

 Mr. Everett stated that the Sioux believe they go direct to the 

 happy hunting grounds, after passing a great divide upon which 

 their dead enemies attack them, and for this reason they need their 

 horses, weapons, &c. If the spirit pass unscathed and reach the 

 desired haven the friends who have gone before meet them, and all 

 is joy. If they have lost members of the body, or been mutilated, 

 all is restored as before at this place. Their idea of sickness is that 

 a bad spirit enters the body and must be driven out. If the patient 

 dies he has been conquered by the bad spirit. The spirits of bad 

 Indians are sometimes sent back to earth to do penance for their 

 sins, in the shape of animals. The men are supposed to turn into 

 buffaloes, wolves, and bears; the women into deer or owls. A 

 curious example was given of a conversation which took place be- 

 tween Sitting Bull and a wolf in regard to the position of a herd 

 of buffaloes. The awe the Indians experience regarding the white- 

 tailed deer was described. It is thought that women become deer 

 after death, and an Indian dislikes to kill one of these animals, for 

 fear of hurting the spirit of his sweetheart. It is believed, too, 

 that hunters have been found strangled by the white-tailed deer 

 spirits, and a story was given in detail how a number of youth per- 

 ished who were foolhardy in hunting them. 



The President made the general comment upon the legends re- 

 corded in the paper that they appeared to have been largely colored 

 by conceptions of white men engrafted upon them. 



1 Published in full in the " American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal," No. 

 XIV, Vol. IV, 1882, pp. 136-144. 



