144 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



The Sioux south of the boundary are said to be all vac- 

 cinated. 



In sickness prairie Indians are much depressed, and 

 often seek consolation in the monotonous drum of the 

 medicine man and his heathenish incantations ; an inflic- 

 tion which the grossest and most debased superstition alone 



Sioux Quiver, Bow, and Arrows. 



would tolerate; it is submitted to with confidence and 

 hope, however, by men who are anxious and timid during 

 the roll of thunder, invoking the Great Bird by whose 

 flapping wings they suppose it to be produced, or crouch- 

 ing from the blink of his all-penetrating eye, which they 

 allege is the lightning's flash. 



