356 THE GEOKGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



bad rcprcseuted him iu the performance of some of his mysteries) with which he had 

 been so exceedingly pleased as well as astonished (as "he could see its eyes move"), 

 that I must needs be, iu his opinion, deeply skilled in magic and mj'steries, and well 

 entitled to a respectable rank in the craft to which I had been at once elevated by ' 

 the unanimous voice of the doctors, and regularly initiated, and styled Te-lio-j^ec-nee- 

 icasJi-ee-wasJca-j)ooska, the white medicine (or spirit) painter. 



MR. CATLIN AND COMRADES ADMITTED. 



With this very honorable degree which had just been conferred upon me, I was 

 standing in front of the medicine lodge early in the morning, with my companions by 

 my side (Messrs. Kipp and Crawford and Bayard), endeavoring to get a peep, if pos- 

 sible, into its sacred interior, when this master of ceremonies, guarding and conduct- 

 ing its secrets, as I before described, came out of the door and taking me with a firm 

 professional afiection by the arm led me into the sanctum sanctorum, which was strictly 

 guarded from even a peep or a gaze from the vulgar by a vestibule of S or 10 feet in 

 length, guarded with a double screen or door, and two or three dark and frowning 

 sentinels w^ith spears or war-clubs in their hands. I gave the wink to my compan- 

 ions as I was passing in, and the potency of my medicine was such as to gain them a 

 quiet admission, and all of us were comfortably placed on elevated seats, which our 

 conductor soon jirepared for us. 



We were then in full view of everything that trans]3ired in the lodge, having before 

 us the scene exactly which is represented in the first of the four pictures. To this 

 seat we returned every morning at sunrise and remained until sundown for four days, 

 the whole time which these strange scenes occupied. 



THE INTERIOR OF THE MEDICINE LODGE. 



504. Medicine (or Mystery) Lodge, interior view of the, during the first three days 

 of an annual ceremony. 



This ceremony continues four days and nights in succession, in commemoration of the subsiding of 

 the iiood, and also for the purpose of conducting all the young men, as they arrive at manhood, through 

 an ordeal of voluntary torture which, when ' endured, entitles them to the respect of the chiefs, and 

 also to the privileges of going on war parties and gaining reputation in war. 



The floor and sides of the lodge are ornamented with green willow-boughs. The young men who are 

 to do penance by being tortured are seen lying around the sides of the lodge, their bodies covered with 

 clay of different colors, and their respective shields and weapons hanging over their heads. In the 

 middle of the lodge lies the old medicine-man, who has charge of the lodge. He cries to the Great 

 Spirit all the time, and watches these young nien, who are here to fast and thii'st for four days and 

 nights, preparatory to the torture. Behind him, on the floor, is seen a scalping-knife and a bunch of 

 splints, which are to be passed through the flesh, and over their heads are seen also the cords let down 

 from the top of the lodge, with which they are to be hung up by the flesh. 



On the ground, and in front of the picture, are four sacks (containing several gallons each of water), 

 made of the skin of the bufi'alo's neck, in form of a large tortoise lying on its back. These are objects 

 of veneration, and have the appearance of great antiquity. 



By the side of them are two sJie-she-quoi, or rattles, which are used, as well as others, as a part of the 

 music for the dance in the next picture (No. 505). 



In addition to the preparations and arrangements of the interior of this sanctuary, 

 as above described, there was a curious, though a very strict, arrangement of buifalo 

 and human skulls placed on the floor of the lodge, and between them (which were 

 divided into two parcels), and in front of the reclining group of young candidates, 

 was a small and very delicate scaffold elevated about 5 feet from the ground, made 

 of four posts or crotches not larger than a gun-rod, and placed some 4 or 5 feet apart, 

 supporting four equally delicate rods resting in the crotches, thus forming the frame 

 of the scaffold, which was completed by a number of still smaller and more delicate 

 sticks transversely resting upon them. 



