THE BUFFALO GAME MEDICINE. 375 
the gods of the heavens, that we gave you the sticks and rings, and then 
we will hold the spirit in the sticks. Then give a whiff to the base of the 
tree, dump the ashes and bury them. After the smoke offering, cut the 
tree down. Repeat the ceremony before a second tree, then cut it. 
Trim the trees, and from them cut two sticks the length of your body, for 
they shall represent men. Then go to two other trees, perform the same 
rites and cut down the trees, trim them, and cut two sticks shorter than 
the first two, for they shall represent buffalo with one horn. Although 
the sticks shall represent men, they shall have the spirit of a buffalo with 
one horn who is in the west. Shave the sticks down, splice them, take 
sinew that you took from the buffalo and bind them. Kill a cow; do not 
eat the flesh; but take the skin from about the vulva. You must lay 
her head toward the east, so that when the buffalo come from the west 
they will note the absence and follow your camp. Be sure and play in 
the west always. Now go home and do these things. I will be there to 
teach you further.” 
The man went home, called his friends together, and they went to 
the timber and did as he directed. He kept the sticks together, and when 
they went on a hunt he killed the two young bulls and made sinew. The 
sticks were then spliced together and tied with sinews. On the head 
parts were made marks for ears; marks were made for the hands and legs 
and one horn. Then the thin sticks, four in number, were placed across 
them where the hands and legs were to be. They were tied at the top 
and the other ends were spread open. The front part represented the 
Sun, and the hind portion the Spider-Woman or the Moon. They were 
the ones who first played in the heavens, and, as the Sun lost, the Moon 
gave the game to man. A smoke offering was made and everything 
received a whiff. Then the wrapping was done; the front leg was put 
with the thing on it, then one of the hind sticks was put on for legs; and 
last of all the hind stick was put on for the horn. The front part was 
then fixed with some dried hide to represent ears, and the two notches 
were eyes. One stick was burnt at the head to make it black, to repre- 
sent darkness or north; the other was white, to represent day or south. 
The people then went on another hunt and the man who had had the 
dream killed a buffalo cow. He cut the ring from her and then left her 
lying with her head toward the east. Hetookthering home. He dried 
it and rubbed it, then bound it about with strips of tanned buffalo. 
One night he had another dream, and the strange man who appeared 
in his dreams gave him a white bead, which was to be put on the ring 
and which was to represent the star itself. He fastened the bead to the 
ring and the next day he invited some of his friends to go to the west 
