HKl.K.lo.N AND CEREMONIES. 



109 



bundles, a medicine-pipe and a sun dance bundle 

 (natoas) from the Blaekfoot, the latter a very sacred 

 thing; an Arapaho bundle; and the sacred image used 

 in the Crow sun dance. To them the reader is referred 

 for further details. 



Tribal Ceremonies. 



In addition to the above ceremonial practices, there 

 are a number of procedures deserving special mention. 

 Most tribes had a series of ceremonies for calling the 

 buffalo and inducing them to enter the pound or to 

 permit themselves to be easily taken by the hunters. 

 These have not been satisfactorily investigated but 

 seem to have varied a great deal probably because this 

 function was usually delegated to a few tribal shamans 

 each of whom exercised his own special formulae. 

 The Crow, the Blaekfoot, and perhaps a few other 

 tribes had elaborate tobacco planting ceremonies. 

 The Pawnee formerly sacrificed a captured maiden 

 in a ceremony to propitiate the growing of maize and 

 some of the maize-growing tribes in this area are 

 credited with a u green corn" or harvest dance, a 

 characteristic of the tribes east of the Mississippi. 

 The Ponca also maintained some curious star cere- 

 monies having a vague resemblance to certain "Night 

 chants" of the Navajo of the Southwest. Turning 

 from these rather exceptional practices, we find certain 

 highly typical ceremonies. 



The Sun Dance. One of the most important tribal 



