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AMUSEMENTS.

  • 432 Ball-play Dance—Men and women dance around their
    respective stakes, at intervals during the night preceding
    the play—four conjurers sit all night and
    smoke to the Great Spirit, at the point where the
    ball is to be started—and stakeholders guard the
    goods staked.

  • 433 Ball-play of the Choctaws—ball up—one party painted
    white; each has two sticks with a web at their
    ends, in which they catch the ball and throw it—
    they all have tails of horse-hair or quills.

  • 434 Ball-play—same as 433, excepting that the ball is
    down, which changes the scene.

  • 435 Ball-play of the Women, Prairie Du Chien—calicoes
    and other presents are placed on a pole by the
    men—the women choose sides and play for them
    to the great amusement of the men.

  • 436 Game of Tchung-kee—Mandans—this is the principal
    and most valued game of that tribe.

  • 437 Horse Racing, Mandan.

  • 438 Foot Race, Mandans.

  • 439 Canoe Race—Chippeways in bark canoes, near the
    Sault De St. Marys.

  • 440 Archery of the Mandans—the strife is, to learn who
    can get the greatest number of arrows flying in
    the air at a time, before the first one reaches the
    ground.

  • 441 Dance of the Chiefs, Sioux—a very unusual thing, as
    the dancing is generally left to the young men.

  • 442 Dog Dance, Sioux—the dog's liver and heart are
    taken raw and bleeding, and placed upon a crotch,
    and being cut into slips, each man dances up to it,
    bites off and swallows a piece of it, boasting at the
    same time, that he has thus swallowed a piece of
    the heart of his enemy.


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  • 443 Scalp Dance, Sioux—women in the centre, holding
    the scalps on poles, and warriors dancing around,
    brandishing their war weapons.

  • 444 Begging Dance, Sacs and Foxes.

  • 445 Buffalo Dance, Mandans—with the mask of the buffalo
    on—danced to make buffalo come.

  • 416 Ball-play Dance, Choctaws.

  • 447 Dance to the Berdash, Sac and Fox.

  • 448 Beggar's Dance, Sioux.

  • 449 Dance to the Medicine Bag of the Brave, Sacs and
    Foxes.

  • 450 Brave's Dance, Sioux.

  • 451 Green Corn Dance, Minnatarree—sacrificing the first
    kettle full to the Great Spirit.

  • 452 Bear Dance, Sioux—preparing for a Bear Hunt.

  • 453 Discovery Dance, Sacs and Foxes—a pantomime.

  • 454 Eagle Dance, Choctaw—holding the eagle's tail in
    the hand, and bodies painted white.

  • 455 Slave Dance, Sacs and Foxes—a society who volunteer
    to be slaves for two years, and elect their
    chief or master.

  • 456 Snow Shoe Dance, Ojibbeway—danced at the first
    fall of snow, with snow shoes on the feet.

  • 457 Brave's Dance, Ojibbeway.

  • 458 Pipe Dance, Assinneboins.

  • 459 Straw Dance, Sioux—children made to dance with
    burning straws tied to their bodies, to make them
    tough and brave.

  • 460 Sham-fight, Mandan boys—school of practice.

  • 461 Sham Scalp-dance. do.