150 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



Such is near the interpretation of this song; and, like thi3, the various parts of the 

 war dance are accompanied with boasts and threats upon an enemy to whom the 

 songs are usually addressed. 



The approaching dance. — The approaching dance is also a spirited part of the 

 war dance, in which the dancers are, by their gestures, exhibiting the mode of ad- 

 vancing upon an enemy, by hunting out and following up the track, discovering the 

 enemy, and preparing for the attack, &c, and the song for this dance runs thus: 



O-ta-pa ! 



I am creeping on your track, 

 Keep on your guard, O-ta-pa ! 

 Or I will hop on your back, 

 I will Lop on you, I will hop on you. 

 Stand back, my friends, I see them, 

 The enemies are here, I see them 1 

 They are in a good place, 

 Don't move, I see them 1 

 <fec, &c, <fcc. 



Ha-kon-e-crase (the eagle dance). — The eagle dance, as they call it, the "soar- 

 ing eagle," is one of the most pleasing of their dances, and forms a part of the war 

 dance. The war eagle of their country conquers every variety of the eagle species 

 in those regions ; and esteeming the bird for its valor, they highly value its quills for 

 pluming their heads and parts of their dresses; and a part, therefore, of the war 

 dance must needs be given in compliment to this noble bird. 



In this beautiful dance each dancer imagines himself a soaring eagle, and as they 

 dance forward from behind the musicians they take the positions of the eagles, head- 

 ing against the wind, and looking down, preparing to make a swoop on their prey 

 below them ; the wind seems too strong for them, and they fall back, and repeatedly 

 advance forward, imitating the chattering of that bird, with the whistles carried in 

 their hands, whilst they sing — 



It's me — I am a war eagle! 

 The wind is strong, but I am an eagle I 

 I am not ashamed— no, I am not ; 

 The twisting eagle's quill is on my head. 

 I see my enemy below me ! 

 I am an eagle, a war eagle ! 

 (fee, &c, <fec. 



The Calumet dance. — The Calumet, or Pipe of Peace, dance is given at the con- 

 clusion of a treaty of peace, after smoking through its sacred stem, by the dancers 

 holding the calumet in the left hand, and a sheshequoi, or rattle, in the other. 



The calumet is a sacred pipe, and its stem is ornamented with war eagle's quills. 



This dance is also often given in compliment to a warrior or brave, and is looked 

 upon as the highest compliment they can pay to his courage and bravery, and on such 

 occasions it is expected he will make some handsome presents. By this dance also 

 they initiate friends into the relationship of brothers or sisters, by adoption. 



To commence this dance the pipes and rattles are' handed to the dancers by the 

 greatest warrior present, who makes his boast as he gives them, and the one on whom 

 the honor is conferred has the right to boast of it all his life. 



The scalp dance. — This barbarous and exciting scene is the Indian mode of cele- 

 brating a victory, and is given fifteen nights in succession, when a war party returns 

 from battle, having taken scalps from the heads of their enemies. Taking the scalp 

 is practiced by all the American tribes, and by them all very much in the same way, 

 by cutting off a patch of the skin from a victim's head when killed in battle ; and this 

 piece of skin, with the hair on it, is the scalp, which is taken and preserved solely for 

 a trophy, as the proof positive that its possessor has killed an enemy in battle, and 

 this because they have no books of history or public records to refer to for the account 

 of the battles of military men. The scalp dance is generally danced by torch-light, 



