THE CODE OF HANDSOME LAKE llj 



quately the rites of this society would require a small volume. For 

 the purposes of this paper, since the society has been described at 

 greater length elsewhere, only a few notes can be given. 

 ■ The company is organized to perform the rites thought neces- 

 sary to preserve the potency of the '' secret medicine," niganega"a', 

 known as the " little-water powder." The meetings, moreover, are 

 social gatherings of the members in which they can renew friend- 

 ship and smoke away mutual wrongs, if any have been committed. 

 It is contrary to the rules to admit members having a quarrel unless 

 they are willing to forgive and forget. Both men and women are 

 members. Its officers, in order of their importance, are : the song- 

 holder, the chief matron, the watcher of the medicine, the feast- 

 makers, invoker, flute-holder, and announcers and sentinels. There 

 are two altars, the Altar of the Fire and the Altar of the Mystery. 

 The ritual consists of three sets of songs describing the various 

 adventures of the founder, known as the Good Hunter. At the 

 close of each section the feast-makers pass bowls of berry juice, 

 giving each singer a draft from a ladle. In some lodges a pipe is 

 passed. An intermission then follows, during which the members, 

 men and women alike, siioke the native home-grown tobacco. The 

 singing is accompanied by the shaking of gourd rattles, and each 

 member shakes one while he sings. Only purified members are 

 supposed to enter. Unclean men or women, even though members, 

 are debarred. The society has no public ceremony and no dances. 

 Only members are supposed to know the precise time and place of 

 meeting. The songs must never be sung outside of the lodge-room, 

 but special meetings are sometimes called for the purpose of in- 

 structing novices. The office of song-holder by the Cattaraugus 

 Seneca is hereditary to the name O'dan'kot, Sunshine. The present 

 song-holder of the Ganun^dase lodge, the pagan lodge at New- 

 tOAvn, Cataraugus reservation, is a youth who is learning the song, 

 George Pierce, the former O'dan'kot, having recently died. 

 Visitors may listen to the §ongs in an outer room, but are debarred 

 from viewing the " mysteries." Each member, on entering, de- 

 posits his medicine packet on the Altar of the Mystery and places 

 his contribution of tobacco in the corn-husk basket. The tobacco 

 is thrown into the fire by the invoker as he chants his prayer to 

 the Creator, the Thunder Spirit, and to the Great Darkness. The 



