THE BEAR MEDICINE AND CEREMONY. 353 
to the west, where the sun sets, and that was also placed by the fireplace. 
Then she offered a little more to the southwest, to the home of the Bears; 
this was placed upon the ground, southwest of the fireplace. Now she 
went to the bear hide and placed the native tobacco upon its nostrils, 
passing her hands over the head and down the body. She made another 
preparation of tobacco and horse saliva. She took it out and placed it 
on the southwest side of the tipi, for this was a special offering to the 
Bear. The woman then told her husband to fill his pipe and smoke, and 
to give one whiff to Tirawa, four whiffs to the sun in the east, and four 
whiffs in the west to the setting sun, and four to the southwest to home 
of the Bears. The ashes were dumped out southwest of the fireplace. 
When the man had finished the smoke offering, he called his errand 
man to take the ponies to the other herd of ponies that were grazing 
upon the prairie. The man returned to the tipi, and as he sat down the 
_ woman began to tell him how the Bear came to her and how he took 
her to their den. Her husband was glad to hear the story, so the woman 
taught him all the songs she had learned from the Bear. The people 
now knew that the woman had wonderful powers. 
several years afterwards she gave birth to a son, and this son grew 
and was never known to be sick. Years afterward she gave birth to a 
girl. These two children grew. The woman gave birth to several other 
children and they died. She knew that they would, for she caught only 
two young Bears, when she was told to catch as many as she could. 
On one of their buffalo hunts the man killed many buffalo and the 
woman tanned them. She had many, so she made a tipi. After the 
tipi was completed, she sent for the wounded man and some of her own 
relatives, and she had the tipi painted as she had been told by the Bear. 
In the Bear ceremonies and dances the woman was sent for, because 
she was one of the leading persons in the Bear dance. On the buffalo 
hunts the woman always had the man possessed of the Bear spirit; 
so if he was attacked by the enemy he could fight and would not be 
afraid of the enemy; for the arrows and bullets could not go through 
his body. ‘‘But,” said the woman, ‘‘if they should happen to strike 
you on the hands you will surely die.’’ On one of these hunts the men 
had gone to attack buffalo, and the women and children had gone to a 
creek near by and made camp. As the men attacked the buffalo and 
scattered out, the enemy attacked them. As the shouts and shooting 
- were heard, the men left their dead buffalo and ran their ponies toward 
camp. In this way the Skidi gathered together and they fought the 
enemy; but the enemy was more numerous and the Skidi had to run. 
The last to run was Bear-Woman’s husband. He fought bravely and 
