380 THE GEORGE CATLlN LNbiAN GALLERY. 



mony the proceedings were commenced by five men ranging themselves in front of 

 the big canoe, with drums made of skins, shaped like turtles, and said to be filled 

 with water. I believe, though, that they were stuffed with hair, with a hoop to keep 

 them distended and make them give out when struck a sound like a drum. After these 

 were arranged, a man, stripped to the skin and smeared with white clay, came from 

 the medicine-lodge opposite the big canoe, and, walking behind the canoe, leaned 

 against it and hid his face in his hands. At the same time a woman in a short skirt, 

 with her legs scarred and bleeding, her hair cut short, and several bleeding wounds 

 in her forehead and breasts, leaned against the side of the canoe and began crying 

 and howling most piteously, the drummers all the time thumping away and chanting 

 in unison. This woman was the relative of a young man who had been killed a short 

 time previously by the Rees. Having sung his praise and exhibited her grief by her 

 scarifications, she went away, and some ten or fifteen objects bounded into the arena. 

 These were men painted in a grotesque manner, wearing buffalo heads, with strips of 

 fur down their backs and long branches of willow fastened to their arms. The drum- 

 mers beat and howled, the buffalo men danced and capered in admirable precision, 

 and waved their willow branches like wings; everybody shouted, dogs barked, and 

 the motions of the dancers became more and more violent. Two of the buffalo men 

 would run together and butt with their heads, and, indeed, they imitated all the 

 motions of a herd of buffalo. Suddenly the drummers rose, snatched up their drums, 

 and ran into the medicine-lodge, followed by the individual who had been leaning 

 against the canoe, the buffalo disappearing among the lodges. Then came an old man, 

 who dug a hole in the ground about 20 feet in front of the canoe, and erected a stout 

 post 15 feet high, having two cords fastened at the top and looped at the ends. The 

 drummers came out of the medicine-lodge, took their places, and the young man who 

 in the first performance had stood behind the canoe was led to the foot of the post by 

 two villainous-looking old medicine-men. 



This young man had been three days without meat or drink, and, being perfectly 

 naked and smeared with clay, he looked ghastly. Kneeling on the ground, one of the 

 old men took up a portion of the skin of the young man's breast and passed a knife 

 through it, making two apertures, with a strip of skin between. The blood trickled 

 down, and the victim winced perceptibly. A skewer of wood four inches long was 

 passed through the two holes, and the loop at the end of one of the cords placed over 

 its two ends. The second cord was fastened in like manner to the other breast, and 

 the poor wretch lifted to his feet. The drummers thumped, and the young man threw 

 himself violently back, bearing his whole weight on the cords, and swinging round 

 the foot of the pole. The skin drew out several inches and seemed to stretch further 

 at every jerk of the poor fellow, who pulled and tossed and shouted in order to break 

 away. It was sickening to behold, especially when, after four or five minutes, nature 

 claimed her sway, and the poor wretch fainted and hung collapsed. He was not 

 touched, and, seeming to revive, renewed his efforts to bring the torture to a close by 

 breaking the ligaments of skin which held the skewers. After half an hour or more 

 the skin broke, and he was carried off. 



The next victim was served even more dreadfully, though he bore it remarkably 

 well. The skewers were passed under the skin of the back, just above the shoulder- 

 blades, and he was hung up to a scaffold with his feet three feet from the grouud. Then 

 more skewers were inserted in the fleshy parts of the arms and legs, and buffalo-skulls 

 hung to them. I was amazed to see how far the skin would stretch, puffing out to a 

 distance of 12 or 15 inches. 



These disgusting scenes were repeated during two days, varied by races round the 

 big canoe by troops of young men and boys, dragging from four to ten buffalo-heads 

 attached to skewers in their backs. Some fainted and did not recover ; some were 

 violently nauseated, and proved conclusively that their three-days' fast had not been 

 faithfully kept; others held out to the end, and leaped, kicked, and struggled until 

 they were free from their disagreeable attachments. 



