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Show CEREMONY OF THE OKIPPE. 375 animals, the front of the body yellowish ; a black line is drawn from each eye down the cheeks, and in each hand they carry a bunch of wormwood. 4. One man represents the evil spirit; he is conducted by two men of the village to the river, where he is dressed and painted; his entire body is painted black, and, as soon as this is done, he is not permitted to speak a word. They put on his head a cap, with a black cock's-comb ; he likewise wears a mask, with white wooden rings left for the opening round the eyes. They then make for him large teeth of cotton yarn, paint the sun upon his stomach, the crescent upon his back, and on each joint of the arms and legs, a white circle; they then put on a buffalo's tail, and place a small stick in his hand, with a ball, made of skin, at the end, to which a scalp, painted red on the under side, is fastened. The ball represents the head of an enemy. When this monster is completed, they let him loose, and he runs, like one possessed, about the prairie, comes into the village, gets upon the huts, one after the other, and prys into every corner, while the inhabitants throw out to him all kinds of valuable articles as presents. As soon as he perceives this he turns towards the sun, and intimates to it, by signs, how well he is treated, and that it is foolish of it (the sun) to keep at so great a distance. He goes about and looks on the people's heads for vermin, and, if he finds any, he pretends to be very happy, ahd runs about with great rapidity. The Indians are very much afraid of the deviL for which reason this part cannot be assigned to anybody; but he who wishes to perform it must offer himselft My informant added that this medicine feast was once celebrated on the banks of Heart River, where the Mandans then resided, and the man who had undertaken this part was conducted into the river. When his clothes were taken off, in order to paint and dress him, he appeared very uneasy, and required to be let loose; and when this was done he seemed as one possessed by the evil spirit, and ran, with the velocity of an arrow, on the hills and about the plain. His two attendants were alarmed, and pursued him to the village, but the new demon darted past them, leaped over the high fence of the village, jumped down into the huts, and again made his egress, and then ran to the river; this now convinced them that he was possessed. It cost the inhabitants much trouble to catch and wash him, but he trembled like an aspen leaf, wrapped himself in his robe, and continued in this condition for the remainder of his life without ever speaking a word.* While the devil is walking about, the other masks continue dancing, and * When these Indians fast for three or four days together, they dream very frequently of the devil, and, in this case, they believe that they have not long to live. The narrator had once fasted for a long time at this festival, and suffered himself to be hung up by the back. During the night he dreamed of the devil, who appeared, far more frightful and taller than he could ever be represented. His plume of feathers reached to the clouds, and he ran about as quick as lightning. On several other occasions he dreamed of this devil, but now he is resolved not to fast any more, that he might not die prematurely. He added, that he had often looked without apprehension, and with pleasure, on the mask representing the devil; but he now regarded the matter in a different light, for, the more he thought of him, the taller and the more frightful did he appear to him, and, under these circumstances, the spirit had been very near him, and, if he had but once touched him, he certainly should have been dead already. |