276 THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE CEREMONIES OR POWER. 
Bear family was. This was the only cedar in the medicine-lodge. In 
the night the medicine-men did many wonderful things. The owner of 
the stone and ceremony was among the first who, through the powers of 
the stone,made lightning. The fire was put out, so that it was dark in the 
lodge. The medicine-men stood up on the west side of the fireplace; a 
dyed and tanned buffalo hide was waved through the air, and then the 
stone was waved by the owner in front of the hide, while several of the 
other men squirted water with their mouths upon the stone. In this 
way lightning was made. Others performed sleight-of-hand tricks. 
The first night of the sleight-of-hand performances, the leader placed 
the water drums in front of the altar; then he spoke and said: ‘‘All 
put mud, downy feathers, and animal skins on your bodies. We want 
now to throw up the animal power from our insides. We want the people 
to see these powers.’’ The owner and the three men ran around the 
fireplace, each taking up a handful of ashes and throwing them up to the 
four world-quarter gods. They stood in a line, and as each stamped with 
his feet he fell to the ground, face downward. The things called ‘‘powers”’ 
were seen sitting upon the ground. The men left them lying there 
and went and took their seats in the west. Now the drums were taken 
up and the men began to sing. Each man came out from his willow 
lodge and danced. When they stopped singing, all of the men fell to the 
ground and in a few minutes all was quiet. 
As each man revived, he went and stood in front of his willow lodge. 
The owner told the errand man to place a wooden bowl of water west of 
the fireplace. The owner and the other three then went to the powers, 
which looked much like ice or glass. The owner was the first to pick 
up this. He held the power up with his thumb and finger so that the 
people could see it, then he dropped it into the water and lifted it to his 
mouth and swallowed it. He then stamped his feet on the ground and 
beat the sides of his body with his palms, then stood up straight and said, 
‘“Now, medicine-men, this power that I have within me I shall keep. I 
shall not throw it up any more.”’ The other three men went through the 
same movements, which were then repeated by the other medicine-men. 
Night after night they performed, until all the people became inter- 
ested. Other medicine-men who had never before taken part came into 
the lodge and asked permission to take part in the ceremony. One night, 
just before they began their sleight-of-hand performances, a warrior of 
distinction walked in and stood in the lodge and said: ‘‘Medicine-men, 
I came to ask your permission to take part in your ceremonies. I wish 
to perform some sleight-of-hand tricks, and I wish these brother medicine- 
men to see me perform them.” All of the medicine-men said: ‘‘Nawa, 
