leaps and yelps and thrusts every man distorts his face to the utmost of his muscles, darting about his glaring eyeballs, and snapping his teeth as if he were in the heat, and actually breathing through the inflated nostrils the very hissing death, of battle. In former years the Sioux Indians, if they had time, cut off the heads of their slain enemies and took them to their first camp after the fight, where the entire scalp was taken off. To make it particularly fine, they kept on the ears with the rings and ornaIn case a woman had lost some of her kin by death, and her heart was, as they say, "bad," she was at times allowed to go with the war-party, remaining in the camp made near the point of attack. The head of a slain foe would be given her, and, after removing the scalp, she would make her heart "good" by smashing the skull with a war-club. ments. CHAPTER XIX. THE SWEAT-LODGE. Captain W. P. Clark, U. S. A., gives a most interesting account of a bath which he took in a Sweat-Lodge, in August, 1881, at a Cheyenne Camp, near Fort Keogh, Montana. He says: "I spoke to the chief and made an appointment. I had no interpreter, and could only talk with the Indians in the sign language, but about two o'clock one afternoon, I rode to the camp. The tepees were located on the banks of the Yellowstone river, in the midst of some stately cottonwood trees. The atmosphere was smoky, and a filmy vail of blue mantled the not distant bluffs of the Bad Lands. A lazy hush had settled on this struggling little Indian village on this hazy day, which so gently heralded the near approach of autumn. I arrived before the preparations were made, and so had the benefit of witnessing all that was done. The squaws turned out to cut some wood, and soon a pile was ready near the Sweat-Lodge, which in the meantime was covered, first with some untanned buffalo skins, leaving only a small entrance, and then with canvas and blankets. This lodge was made of twelve willows, four on each side and two at each end, placed in the ground nearly in the shape of an ellipse, then bent over and fastened, so that the frame was not quite four feet high. The ground inside had been smoothed off and strewn with leaves and grass. In the center was a circular hole about eighteen inches in diameter and twelve deep; this was carefully cleaned out, so that only fresh dirt remained. The squaws laid down a row of sticks a few feet outside the entrance to the lodge, and then placed a row of small stones, about six inches in diameter, on these sticks, then some more wood and then stones, till a crib about two feet high and three feet wide and four long, was made, which was then set on fire. "In the meantime I had gone into some tall weeds and thick bushes near at hand, which formed a perfect screen, and arrayed myself, by means of a borrowed strap and towel, in a breech cloth, and stepped forth for the bath. The chief brought his pipe, tobacco, medicine-rattle and much of his war outfit, which were first placed inside. He, with the little stick used for cleaning the Indian pipe, drew the figure of a man without arms or legs in the dirt at the bottom of the hole. A buffalo-skull white with age was placed just in front of the little door. We had crowded in, and were seated tailor-fashion on the ground. The chief filled the pipe, putting a little tobacco in the hole, and mixing with the tobacco some sweet-smelling dry grass. He lighted the pipe and pointed the stem to the zenith, to the figure in the hole, to the painted buffalo skull outside, and to the four winds, at the same time muttering a prayer. After taking a few puffs, or rather inhalations, he passed the pipe to me. When we had finished smoking, the stones had reached a red heat, and about this time we were joined by five other Indians, so that we were pretty closely packed in. "The squaw passed in one of the stones, using a forked stick, which was placed in the center of the hole, and upon it the chief dropped a few bits of sweet smelling grass, which, as it burned, gave out a pleasant fragrance. His rattle and other trappings were then handed outside. One of the medicine bags was placed on the buffalo skull, and the rest were laid on the roof of our little house. The other stones were then handed in, and when carefully piled in the hole reached about a foot above the surface of the ground. The skins and canvas were then let down over the door, and we were suddenly in total darkness. The heat became intense. There was a report like a pistol shot, but from the sounds I knew the chief had taken some water in his mouth and spouted it out upon the stones. Waves of hot air and steam passed over me, which seemed more like liquid fire than steam and air. A hand touched my right arm and moved down to my hand, and I then felt a wooden bowl of water handed me. I supposed it was intended that I should take a swallow, which I did, and passed it to the Indian at my left. I was sitting upright, and my head touched the roof of the little house. My hair was so hot that I could hardly touch my hand to it. I was becoming dazed and dizzy with the heat. The perspiration ran off my body in huge drops. I could not talk to the Indians, as I did not understand half a dozen words of their vocal language, and in the intense darkness signs could not be used. Of course with a slight effort I could have raised some of the skins which formed the covering to the lodge, as they were only fastened to the ground by a few stones, but my pride would not let me do this. I felt that I was physically and mentally cooked. The chief, who was also a medicine-man, from time to time sang in a weird chanting way. Suddenly the covering of the lodge was raised at the door and opposite it, and the sunshine blasted in, and the cool air swept gratefully over me. The copper colored form of the Indians were all bowed, the heads near the ground, on their bended knees. "This was not in worship, but merely to avoid the extreme heat of the top of the little lodge; it brought their heads nearer the hot stones, but still the heat was not nearly |