Though less perhaps than in civilized countries, still the Indian camps also have their idlers and loafers, their good-for-nothings who kill time before the mirror, daubing their faces with colors and adorning themselves from head to foot.

On the other hand, upon the arrival of a person whom they desire to honor, everything is life and movement in the camp; everybody is on foot to celebrate their guest's visit. He passes through a long series of handshakes and later he is honored with a serenade accompanied with a dance.

The dances are extremely varied and animated, and if the visitor stays long enough, they give him the whole series. On each occasion a large circle of dancers is formed, all hideously painted. The musicians begin to beat their drums and tambourines and all accompany the music with a measured chant varied with piercing yells, grunts, and roars to accentuate the rhythm. When the women's voices are added, the vocal part of the performance is soft, plaintive, and melodious. The dance is often a combination of different dances. Here is a list of the principal ones: the Chief's dance, the Beggar's dance, the Buffalo and Corn dances, the dance of the Dead, the Marriage dance, and the dance of Return from War, accompanied with prisoners and sacrifices. The war dance is everywhere the most important and most varied; it is the faithful image

of an Indian battlefield. It represents the departure of the warriors, their arrival in the enemy's country, the attack, the scalping, their triumphal return to the tribe and the torture of the prisoners. They put a lively enthusiasm into these dances; their ardor and activity form a striking contrast to the stoical repose of their ordinary way of life.

After this explanatory preface, I propose to give you the details of the Grass dance instituted by the good chief Pananniapapi before his conversion to the faith. He is the head chief of the Yankton tribe, which consists of nearly three thousand souls and belongs to the Sioux nation.

Among the Indians each tribe has its societies or associations. The principal one among the Yanktons is called the Grass band. All the braves, or men of heart, as the Indians express it, belong to this fraternity. All the members enter into a solemn engagement: first to avoid quarrels among themselves and to submit any differences which may arise to the arbitration of two or three wise men.

That is their supreme court, improvised for the occasion, and there is no appeal from its decision: the result is generally happy, and they live in good understanding and great harmony: second, the society undertakes to give aid and assistance to the weak, to protect the widow and orphan, and to succor the sick and stranger in need.

At the ceremonial dance each member carries a long bunch of grass, which is among them the emblem of abundance and charity. It is the grass that nourishes their horses and domestic animals, and fattens the buffalo, the deer, the elk, the bighorn, and the antelope of the plains and mountains. Their horses carry all their belongings in their periodical migrations and they ride them on their travels to the chase. The flesh of the wild animals nourishes them and their skins serve them for winter and summer garments, for bed and blankets. The skin of the buffalo especially serves in the construction of their canoes and