THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 313 



442. Dance to the Berdashe, Sac and Fox. An unaccountable and ludicrous cus- 



tom amongst the Sacs and Foxes which admits not of an entire explana- 

 tion. Fainted in 1836, at Rock Island, Sept. 1836. 



(Plate No. 296, page 215, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



Dance to the Berdashe (Plate 296) is a very funny and amusing scene, which happens 

 once a year or oftener, as they choose, when a feast is given to the Berdashe, as he is 

 called in French (or 1-coo-coo-a, in their own language), who is a man dressed in wom- 

 an's clothes, as he is known to be all his life, and for extraordinary privileges which 

 he is known to possess he is driven to the most servile and degrading duties, which 

 he is not allowed to escape ; and he being the only one of the tribe submitting to this 

 disgraceful degradation, is looked upon as a medicine and sacred, and a feast is given 

 to him annually; and initiatory to it a dance by those few young men of the tribe 

 who can dance forward and publicly make their boast (without the denial of the 

 Berdashe) that Agh-whi-ee-choos^cum-me hi-anh-dwax-cumme-ke on-daig-nun-ehow ixt. 

 Che-ne-a'hkt ah-pex-ian I-coo-coo-a wi-an-gurotst whow-itcht-ne-axt-ar-rah, ne-axt-gun-he 

 Wdow-Ws dow-on-daig-o-ewhicht nun-go-was-see. 



Such, and such only, are allowed to enter the dance and partake of the feast, and 

 as there are but a precious few in the tribe who have legitimately gained this singu- 

 lar privilege, or willing to make a public confession of it, it will be seen that the so- 

 ciety consists of quite a limited number of u odd fellows." 



This is one of the most unaccountable and disgusting customs that I have ever met 

 in the Indian country, and so far as I have been able to learn belongs only to the 

 Sioux and Sacs and Foxes — perhaps it is practiced by other tribes, but I did not meet 

 with it ; and for further account of it I am constrained to refer the reader to the 

 country where it is practiced, and where I should wish that it might be extinguished 

 before it be more fully recorded. — Pages 214, 215, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years. 



443. Beggars' Dance, Sioux, for presents. Painted in 1832 at mouth of Teton River. 



(Plate No. 103, page 245, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 

 Dancing is done here too, as it is oftentimes done in the enlightened world, to get 

 favors— to buy the world's goods; and in both countries danced with about equal 

 merit, except that the Indian has surpassed us in honesty by christening it in his own 

 country, the "beggar's dance." This spirited dance (Plate 103) was given, not by a 

 set oi beggars though, literally speaking, but by the first and most independent young 

 men in the tribe, beautifully dressed (i. e., not dressed at all, except with their breech 

 clouts or Jcelts, made of eagles' and ravens' quills), with their lances and pipes and 

 rattles in their hands, and a medicine-man beating the drum, and joining in the song 

 at the highest key of his voice. In this dance every one sings as loud as he can halloo ; 

 uniting his voice with the others in an appeal to the Great Spirit to open the hearts 

 of the bystanders to give to the poor, and not to themselves; assuring them that the 

 Great Spirit will be kind to those who are kind to the helpless and poor. — G. C. 



444. Dance to the Medicine-Bag of the Brave, Sacs and Foxes. Painted in 1836. 



(Plate No. 297, page 215, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years.) 

 Warriors returned from battle, with scalps, dance in front of the widow's lodge, 

 whose husband has been killed. They sing to his medicine-bag, which is hung on a 

 bush, and throw presents to the widow. 



Dance to the Medicine of the Brave (Plate 237). This is a custom well worth record- 

 ing, for the beautiful moral which is contained in it. In this plate is represented a 

 party of Sac warriors who have returned victorious from battle, with scalps they 

 have taken from their enemies, but having lost one of their party, they appear and 

 dance in front of his wigwam, fifteen days in succession, about an hour on each day, 

 when the widow haugs his medicine-bag on a green bush which she erects before her 

 door, under which she sits and cries, whilst the warriors dance and brandish the 



