54 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVIII, 



The specimen shown in Plate vii, Fig. i, represents a rat. 

 The possessor and maker of this head-dress explained his 

 choice of this animal as an object of representation, by the 

 occurrence of the rat in a number of tales about the mythic 

 personage Nih'a'ga". It is a fact, however, that all the objects 

 of Arapaho manufacture which represent animals at all, de- 

 note small animals such as the lizard, frog, fish, or rat. The 

 cross on this specimen is the conventional na"kaox, or morning 

 star. 



Fig. 2 of the same plate shows one of these head-dresses 

 worked in quills. The horse-tail is dyed golden-yellow. This 

 color was chosen by the wearer of the head-dress because he 

 was desirous of possessing a horse of this color. The horse- 

 hair is also a symbol of good luck, because horses are the 

 usual gifts when presents are made. 



The animal symbolism is fairly well worked out in this 

 specimen. The quill-work is the body of a rat; the horse- 

 tail, its tail. The long pendants at the four corners are of 

 course the legs. Two loops at the top of the head-dress are 

 the rat-ears, and two strings of red beads at the top represent 

 the pointed mouth. Down the middle of the red quill-work 

 runs a green stripe, which is a path. Blue, yellow, and green 

 squares at the sides of this stripe represent (the tracks of.?) 

 rats running into the path. 



Fig. 3 of Plate vii shows a similar head-dress representing 

 a lizard. It is worked in beads, and the tail is twisted and 

 dyed red. The bead-work design is the morning-star cross. 



The navel-strings of Arapaho girls are preserved and sewed 

 into small pouches stuffed with grass. These pouches are 

 usually diamond-shaped and covered on both sides with beads. 

 The child wears this amulet, which contains its navel-string, 

 on its belt until it is worn out. 



Such amulets are found among many tribes. Among some 

 they are worn by boys as well as girls, or two are worn by one 

 child. Among the Sioux these amulets sometimes have the 

 shape of homed toads. Among the Assiniboine they are gen- 

 erally diamond-shaped, but less elongated than among the 

 Arapaho. Among the Gros Ventres they are often diamond- 



