THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLEEY. 333 



The cliiefs and doctors sympathized with the plaints of the women, and recom- 

 mended patience. Great deliberation, they said, was necessary in these cases; and 

 thongh they resolved on making the attempt to produce rain for the benefit of the corn, 

 yet they very wisely resolved that to begin too soon might insure their entire defeat 

 in the endeavor, and that the longer they put it oft' the more certain they would feel 

 of ultimate success. So, after a few days of further delay, when the importunities of 

 the women had become clamorous, and even mournful, and almost insupportable, the 

 medicine-men assembled in the council-house, with all their mystery apparatus about 

 them, with an abundance of wild sage and other aromatic herbs, with a tire prepared 

 to burn them, that their savory odors might be sent forth to the Great Spirit. The 

 lodge was closed to all the villagers, except some ten or fifteen young men who were 

 willing to hazard the dreadful alternative of making it rain or sulfer the everlasting 

 disgrace of having made a fruitless essay. 



They only were allowed as witnesses to the hocus pocus and conjuration devised by 

 the doctors inside of the medicine-lodge ; and they were called up by lot, each one in 

 his turn, to spend a day upon the top of the lodge, to test the potency of his medi- 

 cine; or, in other words, to see how far his voice might be heard and obeyed amongst 

 the clouds of the heavens ; whilst the doctors were burning incense in the wigwam 

 below, and with their songs and prayers to the Great Spirit for success were sending 

 forth grateful fumes and odors to Him " who lives in the sun and commands the thun- 

 ders of heaven." Wah-kee (the Shield) was the first who ascended the wigwam at 

 sunrise; and he stood all day, and looked foolish as he was counting over and over 

 his string of mystery-beads ; the whole village Avere assembled around him and pray- 

 ing for his success. Not a cloud appeared ; the day was calm and hot ; and at the 

 setting of the sun he descended from the lodge and went home; " his medicine was 

 not good," nor can he ever be a medicine-man. 



Om-pah (the Elk) was the next. He ascended the lodge at sunrise the next morn- 

 ing. His body was entirely naked, being covered with yellow clay. On his left arm 

 he carried a beautiful shield, and a long Lance in his right ; and on his head the skin 

 of a raven, the bird that soars amidst the clouds and above the lightning's glare. 

 He flourished his shield and brandished his lance and raised his voice, but in vain; 

 for at sunset the ground was dry and the sky was clear ; the squaws were crying, and 

 their corn was withering at its roots. 



War-rah-pa (the Beaver) was the next. He also spent his breath in vain upon the 

 empty air, and came down at night ; and Wak-a-dah-ha-Jice (the White Buftalo's Hair) 

 took the stand the next morning. He is a small but beautifully-proportioned young 

 man. Pie was dressed in a tunic and leggings of the skins of the mountain-sheep, 

 splendidly garnished with quills of the porcupine, and fringed with locks of hair 

 taken by his own hand from the heads of his enemies. On his arm ho carried his 

 shield, made of the buffalo's hide; its boss was the head of the war-eagle, and its 

 front was ornamented with "red chains of lightning." In his left hand he clenched 

 his sinewy bow and one single arrow. The villagers were all gathered about him ; 

 when he threw up a feather to decide on the course of the wind, and he commenced 

 thus: "My friends! people of the i)heasants! you see me here a sacrifice. I shall 

 this day relieve you from great distress, and bring joy amongst you ; or I shall de- 

 scend from this lodge when the sun goes down, and live amongst the dogs and old 

 women all my days. My friends ! you saw which way the feather llew, and I hold 

 my shield this day in the direction where the wind comes; the lightning on my shield 

 will draw a great cloud, and this arrow, which is selected from my quiver, and which 

 is feathered with the quill of the white swan, will make a hole in it. My friends! 

 this hole in the lodge at my feet shows mo the medicine-men, who are seated in the 

 lodge below mo and crying to the Great Spirit; and through it comes and passes into 

 my nose delightful odors, which you see rising in the smoke to the Great Spirit above, 

 who rides in the clouds and commands the winds! Three days they have sat here, 

 my friends, and nothing has been done to relieve your distress. On the first day was 



