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Show 402 THE MANITARIES----THE SUDATORY-TRADITIONS. the provisions, dips the twig in each, and throws a portion of the contents in the direction of the four cardinal points, for the lord of life, the fire, and the divers supernatural powers, of which he makes open proclamation. The provisions are then distributed among the men, women, and children who are present. The older men go into the sudatory, the women carefully cover it, and water is sprinkled with bunches of wormwood, from vessels standing ready without upon the hot stones, which throws the persons present into a profuse perspiration; the men, meanwhile, all singing at once to the rattling of the schischikue. When they are satisfied they call to the women on the outside to remove the hides. After this, a buffalo head, with the snout foremost, is carried over the row of shoes to the heap of turfs, where it is placed in the same direction. The ceremony is now complete. The robes with which the hut was covered, often sixty or eighty in number, are given by the young man to the magician for his trouble, who distributes some of them among the spectators. The persons who have submitted to the operation put on their robes, and remain in the open air till their bodies are dry, this medicine being generally performed in the summer. In the winter they prepare such steam baths in their own huts, but at that season they are not medicine, and the men and women assemble together. The grand ceremony just described is instituted especially when they wish to ask success for a military expedition, or for some other important enterprise. They then purchase a red blanket or a piece of blue cloth, which they offer to the divinity, hanging it on a pole behind the sudatory, where it is left to be destroyed by the wind and weather. The Manitaries likewise make offerings at times to the great serpent which lives in the Missouri, by placing in the river poles, to which robes or coloured blankets are attached. This practice is founded on a story like that which is current among the Mandans, but with some differences. A war party was on its way to the Upper Missouri to meet the enemy: when they had proceeded a considerable distance two young men turned back, and found, at a certain spot, a large serpent coiled up. After looking at the animal for some time, one of them kindled a fire, in which they burnt the serpent. The man who had made the fire took up the remains, smelt them, and affirmed that the smell was so inviting, he could not refrain from eating a part, and, though his comrade dissuaded him, he ate a small portion of the roasted flesh. In the evening, when they were going to lie down to rest for the night, he took off his shoes, and, to his great astonishment, found that his feet were striped like the serpent which they had killed. He told his friend, and said, " This is delightful; when I go home, I will pull off my shoes, and everybody will look at my feet." On the following day his legs were striped up to the knees. He said, laughing, " This is admirable; I shall no longer have occasion to mark my exploits by stripes, for nature herself furnishes me with them." On the third day he was striped up to his hips. They slept on the evening of that day, and on the fourth day he was completely converted into a serpent. " Be not afraid of me," said he to his friend, " I have neither arms nor legs, and cannot move from the spot; carry me |