1 If) [ND1 w- "i mi PLAINS. 



"mescal" is wrongly applied to this fruit by many 

 white observers. Long ago, these ceremonies seem to 

 have been known to the Kiowa and Comanche of the 

 Plains and widely distributed in the Southwest and 



Mexico. The rites begin in the evening and continue 

 until the following dawn, and are restricted to men. 

 There is a definite ritual, a small drum and rattle of 

 special form being essential. Within the last few years, 

 this worship has become general among the Arapaho, 

 Cheyenne, Omaha, Dakota, and Kiowa and threatens 

 to supplant all other native ceremonies. It is even 

 found among the Winnebago, Sauk and Fox, and 

 Menomini of the Woodlands. This diffusion in his- 

 toric times, makes it one of the most suggestive phe- 

 nomena for students of Indian life, since it affords 

 an indisputable example of culture diffusion. 



Dancing Associations. There are a number of semi- 

 religious festivals or ceremonies in which a large num- 

 ber of individuals participate and which seem to have 

 been handed on from one tribe to another. The best 

 known example of this is the Omaha or Grass dance 

 which has been reported for the Arapaho, Pawnee, 

 Omaha, Dakota, Crow, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and 

 Blackfoot. The various tribes agree in their belief 

 that this dance, and its regalia originated with the 

 Pawnee. The Dakota claim to have obtained it 

 directly from the Pawnee about 1870. The Arapaho 

 and Gros Ventre claim to have learned it from the 

 Dakota. The Gros Ventre taught it to the Blackfoot 

 about 1883. Though these statements of the Indians 



