436 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 92. 



which became the fount of honors won in 

 peace, for the Wa-dhin-e-dhe were not 

 deeds of war ; for their achievement, indus- 

 try and accumulation of property, as well 

 as valor, were required. So also, whereas 

 the honors, bestowed in the Sacred Tent of 

 War, were worn by the warrior himself, or 

 tattooed upon his own body, as ghdhe-ghe, 

 or mark of honor authorized by the power 

 represented in the Sacred Pole, was placed 

 upon the daughter of the successful aspi- 

 rant, the woman being the industrial factor 

 in the tribe. The mark of honor consisted 

 of two symbols ; upon the forehead of the 

 girl was tattooed a small round spot repre- 

 senting the sun, and upon her chest and 

 back a circle with four equidistant points ; 

 the same symbol that was made upon the 

 earth and the buffalo skull in the Sun 

 Dance, and bearing the same idea, of 

 strength in unity. 



The seven chiefs who formed the oli- 

 garchy must act as one man, for without 

 unanimity in their councils nothing could 

 be done. In their decisions all the seven 

 men must be alike represented, and the re- 

 sultant unity was believed to be derived 

 from "Wa-kan-da, present in and acting 

 through the mysterious Sacred Pole. To 

 quote from the Legend: "The chiefs are 

 slow to speak, * * * no word is without 

 meaning, and every word is uttered in 

 soberness, ^== * * believing the words come 

 from Wa-kan-da, so the words of a chief are 

 few. They (the seven chiefs) have all one 

 heart and one mouth * * * After a ques- 

 tion is decided, the Herald proclaims it 

 about the camp circle, * -!< * none of the 

 people dare dispute it, for they say, It is 

 the word of our Chiefs." 



The two avocations upon which the life 

 of the people depended were agriculture 

 and hunting, and these were controlled by 

 the ceremonies of the Sacred Pole. From 

 the Pole was decided the time for planting 

 the corn, and about it the ritual of the 



maize was sung. The great tribal hunt 

 was under its immediate direction, the 

 rules and regulations of which were an im- 

 portant part of its function. On this an- 

 nual hunt the people left their village and 

 their fields in care of a small guard and 

 followed the herds, under the strict control 

 of the Chiefs and of a body of men called 

 Soldiers. During the entire time, two 

 months or more, the rights and inclinations 

 of the individual were held rigidly subordi- 

 nate to the good of the tribe. The Sacred 

 Pole was carried in advance of the people, 

 as they moved from camp to camp. From 

 its presence the runners went forth in 

 search of the buffalo, and to it they re- 

 ported upon their return. At the close of 

 the hunt the ceremony of thanksgiving and 

 anointing the Pole took place, when the en- 

 tire tribe gathered about this central object^ 

 erecting a communal tent for some of the 

 particular ceremonies and offering gifts. 

 Finally, the men enacted before it the 

 events of their career, thus presenting a. 

 sort of dramatic current history of the 

 tribe. 



At the inauguration of the Pole and its 

 ceremonies, to quote from the Legend i 

 " The Leader said, this (the Pole) belongs 

 to all the people, but it shall be in the keep- 

 ing of one family." For over two centu- 

 ries this Sacred Pole was preserved, and its 

 tent was pitched a short distance in front 

 of the segment of the tribal circle occupied 

 by a subdivisionn of the Hu?^-gagens, its 

 Keepers. It was regarded with fear and 

 reverence, as the supernatural protector of 

 the people, as the power that insured to 

 them an abundant supply of food, and com- 

 manded the coordination of the gentes and 

 the unification of the authority of the 

 Chiefs. 



In all these rapidly considered ceremo- 

 nies, marking periods in social development 

 of this group of tribes — development more 

 or less modified by shifting environments — 



