HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



at the north and those of the Tsizhu at the south. When all have 

 settled down, the old men form two processions, each marching around 

 the two groups of warriors, the H6 n ga going around by the left and 

 the Tsizhu by the right, singing the final songs of the ceremony. When 

 this is done the leader steps forward a few paces, in the line of the 

 space dividing the warriors, and recites three rituals, standing with 

 his face toward the west. He then takes from a pile of grass, placed 

 at his feet by a servant, a handful, and holding it toward the sky, 

 makes a prayer. Four times he does this, at each time laying down a 

 bunch of the grass, so that all four bunches lay in a row along the 

 line of march. This done, the leader returns to his place and the 

 warriors march out, each group in single file, over the four bunches 

 of grass. When a man of the H6 n ga division arrives at the four 

 bunches of grass, he does not forget to put forward his right foot to 

 step upon the first bunch of grass when taking his four sacred foot- 

 steps in marching out, and a man of the Tsizhu will remember to put 

 forward his left foot first as he takes his four sacred footsteps. 



The teaching of the symbol, expressed in the ceremonial arrange- 

 ment of the tribe, as that of a man and his going forth, as acted out in 

 the war ceremonies, became so fixed in the minds of those who had 

 been initiated into these rites that they repeated the acts of the 

 "going forth" of the symbolic man when they were about to enter 

 upon the duties of their daily life, as when a man of the H6 n ga side, 

 on arising in the morning, always puts on his right moccasin first, 

 and a man of the Tsizhu side puts on the left moccasin first, so that 

 his steps might follow those taken by the symbolic leader. 



When the men who planned the organization subdivided each of 

 the two great divisions into smaller groups, they declared two of 

 them to be peace-makers, one for the H6 n ga and one for the Tsizhu. 

 The one for the H6 n ga was called P6 n ka Washtage, the Gentle Po"ka, 

 and the one for the Tsizhu was called Tsizhu Washtage, the Gentle 

 Tsizhu. From the minds of the people of these two gentes were re- 

 moved all thoughts of vengeance, bloodshed, and acts of violence. 



From among the people of these two groups were chosen two 

 chiefs, one from each group. It was the duty of these two chiefs to 

 maintain peace within the tribe and to sentence to exile any member 

 of the tribe who became unruly and defy authority. It was also 

 their duty to conduct the buffalo hunt, during which one chief issued 

 the orders for the march one day and the other chief those for the 

 next day, and so on through the entire journey, thus making it appear 

 as though the tribe was moving on two legs. The position of each of 

 the two chiefs was hereditary. If a murderer fleeing from vengeance 



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