d in front of the sacred stem. Then, while every one joined in
singing a chant, a song of the buffalo (without words), she took a bunch of
dried sweet grass, and, raising and lowering her hand in time to the music,
finally placed the grass on the burning coals. As the thin column of
perfumed smoke rose from the burning herb, both she and the medicine man
grasped handfuls of it and rubbed it over their persons, to purify
themselves before touching the sacred roll. They also took each a small
piece of some root from a little pouch, and ate it, signifying that they
purified themselves without and within.

"The man and woman now faced each other and again began the buffalo song,
keeping time by touching with the clenched hands--the right and left
alternately--the wrappings of the pipe, occasionally making the sign for
buffalo. Now, too, one could occasionally hear the word _Nai-ai'_[1] in
the song. After singing this song for about ten minutes, it was changed to
the antelope song, and, instead of touching the roll with the clenched
hands, which represented the heavy tread of buffalo, they closed the hands,
leaving the index finger extended and the thumbs partly open, and in time
to the music, as in the previous song, alternately touched the wrappers
with the tips of the left and right forefinger, the motions being quick and
firm, and occasionally brought the hands to the side of the head, making
the sign for antelope, and at the same time uttering a loud '_Kuh'_ to
represent the whistling or snorting of that animal.

[Footnote 1: My shelter; my covering; my robe.]

"At the conclusion of this song, the woman put another bunch of sweet grass
on a coal, and carefully undid the wrappings of the pipe, holding each one
over the smoke to keep it pure. When the last wrapping was removed, the man
gently grasped the stem and, every one beginning the pipe song, he raised
and lowered it several times, shaking it as he did so, until every feather
and bit of fur and scalp hung loose and could be plainly seen.

"At this moment the sick woman entered the lodge, and with great
difficulty, for she was very weak, walked over to the medicine woman and
knelt down before her. The medicine woman then produced a small bag of red
paint, and painted a broad band across the sick woman's forehead, a stripe
down the nose, and a number of round dots on each cheek. Then picking up
the pipe stem, which the man had laid down, she held it up toward the sky