| OCR Text |
Show 388 MODE OF ACQUIRING THE RANK OF LEADER, OR PARTISAN. the prisoners ere they can reach the village, and kill them; this is especially an act of revenge for their husbands or sons who may have fallen in the battle. When a young man desires to become a leader, or partisan, he first gains, by gifts, the favour of the other young men, and then dedicates a medicine pipe, which is a plain, unornamented tube. This ceremony is accomplished by a four days' fast, and supplications for assistance to the lord of life, the first man, &c. &c, and other supernatural beings. He then addresses the young men, and calls upon them to give him their support in his undertakings. If a sufficient number testify their readiness to accompany him in a warlike expedition, and such an expedition is determined upon, they dance and feast in the medicine lodge for several successive nights, from whence, too, they generally march off by night. The women never accompany these expeditions. On setting out the men are badly clothed, and not painted. They do not depart in a body, but, for the most part, singly, or in small detatched parties. At a certain distance from the village they halt upon an isolated hill, open their medicine bags, and, after the men have sat down in a circle, the partisan produces his medicine pipe, which all present smoke ; the person who smokes last, then spreads his medicines on the ground, or hangs them up, and from them foretels the fate of the expedition. The Indians manifest much gravity and decorum on solemn occasions like these. When the warriors return from their expedition, the scalps are carried on in advance, on high poles : if they have performed any exploits, they paint their faces black; very frequently the whole body is thus disfigured. The women and children go out to meet them, and they enter the village performing the scalp dance. This dance is then repeated four successive nights in the medicine lodge, and is subsequently danced in the open space, in the centre of the village. If the campaign took place in the spring, it is danced, at intervals, till the fall of the leaf in autumn; if in the autumn, it is danced till spring, but should any of the nation be killed in the interim all festivities immediately cease. In the scalp dance the Indians paint themselves in various ways, form a semicircle, advance, and retreat amid the din of singing, the beating of the drum and schischikue. The wives of those men who have obtained the scalps carry them on long rods. All the distinguished deeds performed by a war party are placed to the account of the partisan. All the scalps that are taken belong to him, and also the horses that they have captured. He who has killed an enemy is a brave man, and reckons one exploit; but the partisan rises the highest on that account, even though he had not seen any of the enemies who have been slain. When he returns home, the old men and women meet, and sing the scalp song, on which he must make them all presents of value. He gives away all the captured horses, and valuable articles, and is afterwards a poor man, but his reputation is great Successful partisans afterwards become chiefs, and are highly respected by their nation. The Indian youths go to war when they are only fourteen or fifteen years of age. Sometimes they make excursions on horseback in the winter. |
