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Show HOFFMAN.] INITIATION CEREMONIES. 225 at the Indian traders' stores. Friends may be called upon to advance goods to effect the accomplishment of his desire, but such loans must be returned in kind later on, unless otherwise agreed. When a candidate feels convinced that he has gathered sufficient material to pay for his advancement, he announces to those members ' of the society who are of a higher grade than the first degree that he wishes to present himself at the proper time for initiation. This communication is made to eight of the highest or officiating priests, in his own wig'iwam, to which they have been specially invited. A feast is prepared and partaken of, after which he presents to each some tobacco, and smoking is indulged in for the purpose of making proper offerings, as already described. The candidate then informs his auditors of his desire and enumerates the various goods and presents which he has procured to offer at the proper time. The Mide' priests sit in silence and meditate; but as they have already been informally aware of the applicant's wish, they are prepared as to the answer they will give, and are governed according to the estimated value of the gifts. Should the decision of the Mide' priests be favorable, the candidate procures the services of one of those present to assume the office of instructor or preceptor, to whom, as well as to the officiating priests, he displays his ability in his adopted specialties in medical magic, etc. He seeks, furthermore, to acquire additional information upon the preparation of certain secret remedies, and to this end he selects a preceptor who has the reputation of possessing it. For acting in the capacity of instructor, a Mide' priest receives blankets, horses, and whatever may be mutually agreed upon between himself and his pupil. The meetings take place at the instructor's wig'iwam at intervals of a week or two; and sometimes during the autumn months, preceding the summer in which the initiation is to be conferred, the candidate is compelled to resort to a sudatory and take a vapor bath, as a means of purgation preparatory to his serious consideration of the sacred rites and teachings with which his mind " and heart" must henceforth be occupied, to the exclusion of everything that might tend to divert his thoughts. What the special peculiarities and ceremonials of initiation into the second degree may have been in former times, it is impossible to ascertain at this late day. The only special claims for benefits to be derived through this advancement, as well as into the third and fourth degrees, are, that a Mide' upon his admission into a new degree receives the protection of that Man'ido alleged and believed to be the special guardian of such degree, and that the repetition of initiation adds to the magic powers previously received by the initiate. In the first degree the sacred migis was " shot" into the two sides, the heart, and head of the candidate, whereas in the second degree this sacred, or magic, influence, is directed by the priests 7 ETH 15 |