130 BULLETIN OF THE 



Their gentes are Elk, Black-shoulder (a bufifalo gens), Foremost (a 

 buffalo gens), Dhatada (Thunder people?) and Kansas. 



The Ishtasanda gentes are — Earth-lodge makers (or Wolf people), 

 Buffalo-tail, Deer-head (or Deer people), Red dung (a buffalo gens), 

 and Ishtasanda (a Reptile and Thunder people). 



Orgin of Gentes. — The Black-shoulder people say that their an- 

 cestors were buffaloes, who lived in the water. When they came out 

 of the stream, they made the water muddy, hence the first-born son 

 is called " Makes the water muddy." Having reached the land, 

 they snufled at the four winds, and prayed to them. The north 

 and west winds were good, but the south and east were bad. 



The ancestors of the Foremost gens were buffalo, and lived under 

 the water. They moved about with their heads bowed down and 

 their eyes closed. By and by they opened their eyes in the water, 

 hence their first name " Opening the eyes in the water," which is 

 also the birth name of the first-born son. Emerging from the 

 water, they lifted their heads and saw the blue sky for the first 

 time, so they took the name " Clear sky makers." 



The Ingdhe-zhide or " Red dung " gens has been so called since 

 the visit of the seven old men with the sacred pipes. When they 

 reached the camp of this gens, they found the erect body of a buff- 

 alo, partly buried in the ground, visible from the flanks up. The 

 animal had been flayed, and the skin was made into a tent. The 

 body was bloody and frightful to behold, so the old men passed by 

 without giving them a pipe. 



The only thing pointing to the mythological origin of the Elk 

 gens is the sacred bag of that people. This bag is the skin of 

 a prairie-wolf, and contains a clam or oyster shell, the bladder of a 

 male elk filled with killickinnick, some tobacco leaves, a pipe, a 

 cedar stick, and a piece of the sinew of a male elk. 



Rights and duties of each gens. — (a.) Seven have the sacred 

 pipes: Black-shoulder, Dhatada, Kansas, Wolf or Earth-lodge, 

 Buffalo-tail, Deer-head, and Ishtasanda. 



Elk keeps the war tent, and leads in the worship of the thunder- 

 god. 



Foremost lights the sacred pipes for the chiefs, and keeps the 

 two sacred tents. He regulates the buffalo hunt. 



