SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONBUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGYBULLETIN 125ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE FOXINDIANSBy WILLIAM JONESEDITED BY MARGARET WELPLEY FISHER

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONBUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGYBULLETIN 125ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE FOXINDIANSBy WILLIAM JONESEDITED BY MARGARET WELPLEY FISHER
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UNITED STATESGOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICEWASHINGTON: 1939
?For gale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., Price 25 cents

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Smithsonian Institution,Bureau of American Ethnology,Washington, D. C, December 10, 1988.Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled
"Ethnography of the Fox Indians", by William Jones, edited byMargaret Welpley Fisher, and to recommend that it be published asa bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology.Very respectfully yours, M. W. Stirling, Chief.Dr. C. G. Abbot,Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

CONTENTS
PagePreface vxiIntroduction 1Traditional history 7Cosmogony 10Manitou 10Nature beliefs 18Medicine .
.
23Color symbolism 24Witches, evil spirits, and ghosts 26Mythology 30Daily life.. 50Everyday life 50Costume 54Social observances 55Marriage 55Divorce 60Birth customs 61Menstrual customs 62Mortuary customs 64Social organization 72Fox gentes 72The dual division __ 80Political organization 82Crime and punishment 84Ceremonies and games 88The sacred feast .. 88Feasts of thanksgiving 91Notes on gens feast dances 93Other ceremonies 104Ceremonial paraphernalia and related data 106Games 109Bibliography of Jones' publications 115Appendix A.?Miscellaneous social data - - 117Appendix B.?Genealogies 138Appendix C.?Lists of gens names 140Appendix D.?Ceremonial data 144Index. _ 151v

PREFACEA few years ago the Smithsonian Institution received a letter froma lawyer in Oklahoma informing them that the ethnological notes ofWilliam Jones had come into his hands, and asking them if they wouldlike to have them. The Smithsonian Institution was very glad tohave them, for these notes had been written by one of the most colorfulfigures in American anthropology and had disappeared from sightsome 20 years before.William Jones was born March 28, 1871, on the Sauk and FoxReservation in Oklahoma, of an English mother. His father was theissue of a marriage between a Fox woman and a white man who hadgone west with Boone and had fought in the Black Hawk War.When William Jones was about a year old his mother died, and hewas given to his Indian grandmother for rearing. With her he livedthe life of an Indian boy until she died. He was then 9 years old.Then his father took him, but the child was lonely in his new surround-ings, and his father sent him to school. After 3 years of schooling hereturned to his father's house and became a cowboy.This life ended in 1889, when he went to Hampton Institute. Heproved to be a good student and ambitious for further schooling.From Hampton he went to Andover, and from Andover a scholarshipenabled him to go to Harvard.He went to Harvard planning to study medicine, but once there hefell into Putnam's hands, and Putnam suggested to him that he hadunusual qualifications for a career in anthropology. This idea didnot at first attract him, but in the end he was won over, an importantfactor in the decision being his uncertainty as to how a medicaleducation could be financed.He was graduated from Harvard in 1900, and finished his trainingat Columbia, receiving his M. A. there in 1901 and his Ph. D. in 1904.Jones had spent his summers ever since his first year at Harvard infield work with different Algonquian tribes. He became interested ina comparative study of Algonquian religions. He wanted to go toLabrador and work with the Naskapi. But he could find no perma-nent employment in Algonquian research. In 1906 the Field Museumgave him his choice of three expeditions?to Africa, the South Seas,or the Philippines. He finally consented to undertake the Philippinevn
VIII PKEFACE
expedition. In August 1907 he left Seattle for Luzon. In the springof 1909, when he was on his way out, he was murdered by the Ilongots.After his death his collection of Ojibwa and Kickapoo tales wasedited by Dr. Michelson. Dr. Boas found a few notes on the FoxIndians which he published in the Journal of American Folklore in1911. But the rest of his Fox papers were missing and their where-abouts remained undisclosed until the death of his father. Thenthrough the family lawyer the Smithsonian Institution learned thatJones Senior had felt that much of the information divulged to his sonhad been due to his own friendship with the Foxes, and had thereforebeen unwilling that this material should be published during hislifetime.After these manuscripts were turned over to the SmithsonianInstitution a sum of money was granted Dr. Michelson by the NationalResearch Council so that the material might be edited, and this taskwas entrusted to the writer.There would be little more to add except for an intriguing passagein Henry Rideout's little book, "William Jones":"The Iowa Foxes initiated him into many ancient mysteries of theirreligion, which have never been disclosed to a white man. Jonescommitted to paper an account of these, with sketches, diagrams, andthe full interpretation which probably no other man could havesupplied. The document he then sealed. It will not be opened untilthe older Indians have gone to their fathers, taking their lore withthem" (p. 47).This caught my attention at once, and since none of the materialturned over to me had required unsealing, I at once started a searchfor the sealed manuscript. Since this passage had previously at-tracted attention and is likely to attract others in the future, it seemsbest to give a brief account of attempts to solve the mystery, andconclusions reached.I first discussed the matter with Dr. Michelson. He said that Dr.Boas had noticed the reference, had tried to track down the material,and had concluded that there was no such manuscript.The next move was to write to the family lawyer, who was com-pletely cooperative, but expressed the belief that everything whichJones had written had been sent to the Smithsonian Institution.It did not yet seem time to give up. According to Rideout's state-ments, this sealed material had been gathered in the summer of 1897.It seemed possible that Professor Dixon of Harvard might have someknowledge of it. Dixon made a search of the Peabody Museum filesand safe, but could find nothing. He did corroborate the fact thatthis material once existed, and remembered that it had been sealed.
PREFACE IXThis letter caused the search to be carried on with renewed vigor.Three of Jones' most intimate friends, Henry Rideout, WilliamMorrow, and Raynold Boiling, who might have been able to throwsome light on the problem, were dead, but a number of his closefriends were left, and an effort was made to get in touch with allof them.E. W. Deming, the artist, remembered hearing Jones speak of thatparticular manuscript, and knew that it had been sealed and putaway, but could not say where. He went over some of Jones' letterswhich he had, but could find nothing that would help.Dr. Wissler, with whom Jones lived while he was a student atColumbia, could not recall his ever having mentioned a sealed manu-script and was inclined to consider it a myth.Miss Caroline Andrus, to whom Jones was engaged at the time ofhis death, could give no personal information as to the manuscript,but she got in touch with Miss Folsom, the woman who broughtJones from the west, and whom he looked upon as a second mother.Miss Folsom had read part of the manuscript and had seen thesketches. Miss Andrus and Miss Folsom were both very helpful, andwhat Miss Folsom was able to recall about the paper the manuscripthad been written on led me reluctantly to the belief that "the sealedmanuscript" was among the papers which I had?now appearing asThe Sacred Feast. For the benefit of any others who may be inter-ested, the correspondence on the matter is being filed with the originalmanuscripts in the care of the Smithsonian Institution.About the actual editing little need be said. The editor takesresponsibility for the arrangement of the material, chapter headings,the introduction, all footnotes except those initialed by Dr. Michelson,and appendices A and D. No liberties were taken with the originalmaterial except occasionally to relieve the grammar, or to harmonizethe phonetics with Jones' published Fox Texts.Acknowledgments are gratefully made to W. E. Wells, the lawyerwho rescued the manuscripts from oblivion, and to all those whoassisted in the search for the sealed manuscript. Particular acknowl-edgments are due to the National Research Council, whose fundsmade this work possible; to Mr. M. W. Stirling, Chief of the Bureauof American Ethnology, through whose courtesy the facilities of theBureau were afforded me; and above all to Dr. Truman Michelson,who gave generously of his time and the results of his experiencethroughout the process of editing the manuscript.Margaret Welpley Fisher.Washington, October 1, 1984-

ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE FOX INDIANSBy William JonesINTRODUCTIONThe Fox Indians are interesting to anthropologists for a number ofreasons. One reason is that culturally they are intermediate in anumber of respects between the tribes of the Eastern Woodlandsand those of the Great Plains. Then there is their language, which,being in some respects the most archaic of the Algonquian tongues,is of great importance to the Algonquian philologist. But the majorpoint of interest lies in the fact that they have earned the distinction,along with their kindred the Mexican Kickapoo, of being rankedamong the most conservative of all Indians. Up until fairly recentyears their rejection of white ways had been so nearly completethat it became natural to think of their culture as representing anarchaic Fox pattern, to consider them types of the "Central Algon-quian." To what extent this is actually the case we have no meansof knowing. A careful perusal of their history, however, shows thatthe normal processes of acculturation were carried to such extra-ordinary lengths in their case that it would be remarkable if manyspecifically Fox traits survived. Their turbulent career was responsi-ble for an unusually full documentation of their political history. 1These documents show the French waging war after war of extermina-tion against them. Charlevoix said of them that they "like thoseinsects that seem to have as many lives as parts of their body, sprangto life again, so as to say, after their defeat, and reduced almost to ahandful of brigands, appear everywhere ..."
1 The main sources of Fox history on which this sketch is based are:Kellogg, Louise P. The Fox Indians During the French Regime. Proc. Wis.State Hist. Soc, 1907, pp. 142-188, 1908.Thwaites, R. G., editor. The French Regime in Wisconsin. Collections StateHist. Soc. Wisconsin, vols. 16, 17, 18, 1902-1908.
. The British Regime in Wisconsin. Collections State Hist. Soc. Wis-consin, vol. 18, pp. 223-468, 1908.Houck, Louis. The Spanish Regime in Missouri. Chicago, 1909.Rebok, Horace M. The Last of the Mus-qua-kies, Dayton, Ohio, 1900. Re-printed in Iowa Hist. Record, 17, pp. 305-335, 1901.Handbook of American Indians. Articles "Fox" and "Sauk." Bull. 30,Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1907.Reports of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs. 1
2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN" ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125This regeneration was accomplished mainly in two ways, a sourceof nearly as much concern to the ethnologist as to the French. Forone way in which they were in the habit of recruiting their numberswas to go out after prisoners whom they adopted into the tribe.What new cultural influences this practice introduced there is noway of evaluating, though we do know that the Pawnee were frequentvictims of these raids. The Fox word for slave is pani.The other method was potentially an equally fruitful source ofculture change, for whenever the Foxes became seriously reduced innumbers their various western allies sent them back all Fox prisonerswho had come into their hands.Great as the influence of these practices must have been, therewere yet other means by which acculturation was accelerated.The following sketch of Fox history will indicate the scope of Foxactivity, which could not but have made serious inroads into anaboriginal culture pattern.Knowledge of Fox history begins in 1640, the year in which aHuron map was drawn up for the Jesuits. This document, contain-ing the first known mention of the Foxes, locates them around GreenBay, Wis., and gives them for neighbors the Sauk, Kickapoo, Mas-couten, Menominee, and Winnebago. They had come to the regionbut recently, being driven westward by the hostile Erie and Neuters.Such records as we have for the period indicate that the warfarewhich had been responsible for their migration in no wise abated intheir new home, for the next 20 years were filled with the hostilitiesof the hitherto dominant Winnebago and the newly arrived Algon-quian tribes.In 1665 a new series of conflicts was ushered in by the arrival ofthe French traders. From the beginning there was friction?antago-nism so great as to limit materially the success of the proselytizer,Father Allouez, who established a mission there in 1670. The Fatherfound the Foxes already hostile and remarked sadly that if thetraders had behaved as they should have, matters would have beenmuch easier for him. As it was, in the 9 arduous years he laboredamong them he could count no converts except among the sickand dying.However, a new continent was being opened to trade, and one ofthe most important of the early trade routes followed the Fox River,then after an easy portage, the Wisconsin River, to the Mississippi.There can be no doubt that the respective positions of various Indiantribes on the great trade routes played an important part in determin-ing the tribe's relations with white traders. The Foxes held a pecu-liarly strategic area. The Fox-Wisconsin waterway was a preferredroute, but it traversed a wilderness far from French forts, and tradingcanoes using it could easily be plundered. From the Fox point of
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 3view the depredation of French trading canoes was justified. TheFox tribe, noted for its warlike character, had two especially bittertribal enemies, the Ojibwa and the Sioux. The French had alreadyarmed the Ojibwa, and were using the route through Fox territory totake weapons to the Sioux.Expanding French commerce required that the various Indiantribes keep the peace. To secure such a peace French policy calledfor the establishment of a fort at Detroit as a concentration point forthe Indians of a wide area, who were to be bound to the French andto each other through treaties. The fort was established in 1699.In 1700 the French made peace with the Iroquois, removing what hadbeen a major threat to trade. The following spring a congress of thewestern tribes met at Montreal for the purpose of cementing thepeace. At this conference the Fox chief reaffirmed his friendshipwith the Iroquois, but reminded the assemblage that his tribe wasstill at war with the Sioux. Sioux trade, however, was indispensableto the French. They found the Fox statement embarrassing, butcontinued to send canoes loaded with arms to the Sioux. The Foxesplundered these canoes, and the French considered them treatybreakers. To the Foxes, however, it appeared that the French hadtaken the initiative in warlike acts, and they were less than everdisposed to go to Detroit and put themselves under French protection.By 1710, however, when the French were on the point of abandon-ing the concentration policy, a band of Fox and Mascouten Indians,some 1,000 strong, finally arrived at Detroit. Their presence madethe commanding officer uneasy. He found them unbearably insolent,and other Indian groups brought him rumors that the Foxes were inthe pay of the British and had only come there to wipe out the Frenchand their Indian alhes. The atmosphere grew more and more tense.Matters came to a head in 1712, when a Mascouten village on the St.Joseph River was wiped out by a band led by an Ottawa chief. Whenthe Fox and Mascouten band at Detroit heard of this, they promptlyselected an Ottawa cabin near the fort walls and set fire to it. Theworried post commander sent runners to friendly bands, most ofwhom were out on hunting trips, and prepared to withstand siege.His allies arrived in time to turn the tables, and it was the Foxes whowere besieged. Elevations were built within the French fort fromwhich it was possible to fire on the Fox position and to bar their wayto water. In spite of the inequality of the combat, the Foxes with-stood the siege for 18 days, and during the nineteenth day were able toevacuate under cover of a heavy storm. Pursuit came with the morn-ing, and siege was laid to the new Fox position. The arrival of Frenchfield pieces terminated the siege 4 days later.The defeat was a crushing one, and Fox losses were heavy. It wasthe French hope that this would permanently subdue the Foxes, but
4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
it merely infuriated the survivors, who harried both French tradingparties and Indian hunting parties so effectively as to bring trade to avirtual standstill.After some weeks of this the French sent out what was ostensiblya punitive expedition against the Foxes. The equipment carried,however, made it clear that it was actually a well-protected tradingexpedition. A peace was immediately concluded with the Foxes onexceedingly lenient terms.The Foxes kept the peace for a time, but not because their hatredfor the French had lessened. They sent messengers to all the morepowerful tribes known to be either disaffected or at most weaklybound to the French. They urged the Abenaki to come and settleamong them. They obtained from the Iroquois promises of asylumif needed. They patched up their old quarrel with the Sioux. Theygained the friendship of the Iowa and the Oto, and tried to win overthe Omaha and the Chickasaw. When they felt they were strongenough they began their raids once more, directing particular atten-tion to the Illinois, who were among the most faithful of the Frenchallies, breaking the Illinois confederacy completely.News of the widespread intrigue reached the French, and reportafter report was written, as French officials on both sides of the At-lantic pondered the Fox problem. They hesitated to send out amilitary expedition, realizing the difficulties of such a war, and theconsequences should they not be successful. Hoping Indian tribesunfriendly to the Foxes would solve their problem for them, they an-nounced that they had abandoned the Foxes to their enemies. Theenemies, however, were not minded to carry war into Fox territory.By 1726 matters had reached such a pass that the French could seeno solution short of extermination of the Fox tribe. To accomplishthis a threefold plan was devised. It was to consist first of blockingthe passage of the Foxes to the Iroquois; second, of establishing a fortin Sioux territory, thus keeping the Sioux quiet while cutting off Foxretreat in that direction; and lastly of giving aid and leadership to alltribes who could be persuaded to go to war against the Foxes.The Sioux fort was established in 1727, and in the spring of the fol-lowing year an expedition was launched against the Foxes. TheFrench arrived at the Fox village only to find it deserted. The bestthe invading army could do was to burn houses and lay waste fields.However, the Mascouten and Kickapoo were overawed into abandon-ing their Fox alliance for the time being.When the Foxes learned that they could expect no aid from thosewho had been their principal allies, they decided the time had cometo accept the Iroquois offer of asylum. The French were determinedto prevent this at all cost, and set out hastily to intercept them.When the Foxes became aware of pursuit, they fortified their position
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 5and once more stood siege. After 23 punishing days the Foxes soughtto evacuate during a storm. The crying of their children betrayedtheir flight. The French were in hot pursuit at once, and a massacreresulted which nearly destroyed the Fox tribe. Only 50 or 60 werebelieved to have escaped. The French records in this case are sus-tained by native tradition; in 1823 a Sauk, speaking of the wars withthe French, stated that once there were only 3 lodges of Fox Indiansleft.However, the winter following the massacre found the Fox tribenumbering about 250 members. This rapid increase was made possi-ble by their western allies. With the Foxes facing probable extinc-tion, friendly tribes gained the release of Fox tribesmen held as pris-oners of war and sent them back to augment the tribe. By this means,and by the capture and adoption by the Foxes of other Indians, the50 or 60 survivors were swelled in a year to between 200 and 300. Tocall all of these individuals Foxes is probably to be guilty of a seriouserror. Politically they were all members of the Fox tribe. Culturallythey had wide and various roots. Some of them had no Fox bloodat all; others had been a long time abroad. The effects of this influxof new members can scarcely be estimated, but it is safe to hazardthat significant changes occurred in the Fox culture pattern.In 1731, then, the Foxes were in existence by grace only of adoptedcaptives and returned Fox prisoners. These 200-odd persons whowere the Fox Nation took refuge at a Sauk village which had beenplaced under French protection. Although the Fox problem mightwell have been considered solved, the French would be satisfied withnothing less than complete extermination, and they called upon theSauk to deliver them up to be scattered in slavery. These conditionsseemed too hard to the Sauk, who refused to deliver them up. AFrench officer came after them with an insufficient force and washimself killed and his party routed. The Sauk felt implicated by thatevent, and the combined tribes fled to Iowa. The western Indianstook the side of the Foxes, and the wars with the French reopened.The French made one more attempt to settle the matter by forceof arms, sending an expedition in 1735. This expedition came tonothing. The Sioux came actively to the aid of the Foxes, andforced the abandonment of the Sioux fort.At the Montreal conference of 1737 all the Indians united in pleadingfor the Foxes. The governor, with great show of graciousness, granteda general pardon. The French then tried to persuade the Foxes tosettle quietly at Green Bay. They were naturally reluctant, butfinally, though some stayed on at their Rock River village, the Sauksand the Foxes did establish twin villages near Green Bay.Affairs might now have gone more smoothly if France had been theonly colonial power interested in Indian trade. France, however,
6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125
soon found herself in a bitter struggle with England for dominanceof the New World. In an attempt to relieve the strained Frenchtreasury, trading posts were leased to the highest bidder. The lesseesin their turn raised prices to an exorbitant level. The Indians, findingconditions unendurable, began trading secretly with the English.Gradually French trade was ruined, and as the struggle went on,outpost after outpost was evacuated.After 1750 the French documents have less and less to say aboutaffairs in the upper country. During the last years of French domin-ion the Foxes seem to have fought on the French side against theEnglish. But when the English finally took over the Green Bay postin 1761, they found the Sauk and Fox inclined to favor them.During Pontiac's conspiracy the Sauk, Fox, and Menominee pro-tected the British garrison at Green Bay, and rescued prisoners fromthe hostile Ottawa.During the British regime we hear little from the Fox in Wisconsin.When Carver passed through the twin Sauk and Fox villages in 1766he found the Fox village deserted because of an epidemic which hadjust carried off half their inhabitants. Fourteen years later, after adisastrous war with the Ojibwa, the Foxes left Wisconsin for good.In 1804 a band of Sauks wintering about St. Louis were drawn intonegotiations with the United States Government, by which they cededall their land east of the Mississippi. The two tribes indignantlyrepudiated the treaty, saying that the persons who signed it werewithout authority to do so. There is every reason to believe that thetreaty was fraudulent, but the government insisted on holding thetribes to it. This led directly to the Black Hawk war, which belongsrather to Sauk history than to Fox, as the Foxes participated in thiswar only as individuals, and not as a tribe.In 1842 the tribes sold their remaining territory and were given 3years to move to their new home in Kansas. This migration took itstoll. Pestilence further decreased their numbers, about 300 dyingof cholera in 1851, and another 300 of smallpox in 1852.In their Kansas home the Foxes were in a minority, and they weredissatisfied with the administration of their affairs. A rift grew andwidened with their traditional allies, the Sauk, which came to a cli-max over a treaty allotting lands in severalty. The Fox chief wasbitterly opposed and refused to allow an enrollment. For this hewas deposed by the Government. In 1856 he left for Iowa with asmall group of followers, among whom were a band of Potawatomi.Some 80 acres of land were purchased near Tama, Iowa. Groupafter group left Kansas to join the small colony. The Federal Gov-ernment, however, holding the migration to be unauthorized, refusedto pay them their annuities and so brought about a desperate financialsituation at Tama. For 11 years the Foxes managed as they could,
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 7
until in 1867, after the remaining Foxes in Kansas moved to Okla-homa, the Government resumed annuity payments. Part of thismoney was used to increase their landholdings until at present theyhold title to 3,000 acres, from which a mixed group of Fox, Sauk,Potawatomi, and Winnebago wrest a livelihood.In conclusion it is perhaps well to point out once more that the FoxIndians have been many times depleted and many times restocked.Although their resistance to the white culture with which they camein contact was pronounced, still their relations with other Indianswere many and intimate. How many full-blood Foxes there wereeven as early as 1731 cannot be estimated. It may be inferred, how-ever, that the massacres and plagues that attended Fox history havecaused a very considerable infiltration of alien blood and presumablyalien culture into the Fox Nation. In the face of these facts anyassumption of an archaic and original pattern at the time of the WilliamJones information is to be made at the maker's peril.TRADITIONAL HISTORY 2Oivnership of the land.?The white man was created on the otherside of the Ke'tci nepi or Kumi (ocean). The manitou put him thereand gave that part of the world to him. Here on this land was theIndian (Anenotawa' 1 ) created by Wisa'ka. This land was given himas his own. It is his by right of gift from the manitou long beforethe white man came.The white man came and the Indian received him kindly. TheIndian has permitted the white man to come on his land to live, andhas let him have the free use of the grass and trees that grew on it.Today the white man has forgotten the need and want of his fatherswho were befriended by the Indians.WdpAsaiya . s?This person is believed to be a son of the manitouthat reigns above. He lived about the time of the advent of the
2 A number of other Fox traditions collected by William Jones are to be found inJAFL, 1911, pp. 229-237, and in his Fox Texts. These traditions have certainepisodes which are obviously mythological, but in general outline they are reason-ably accurate. Michelson found their traditional history quite accurate as farback as 1790: Dubuque and the lead mines are well remembered, the substance ofthe treaty of 1804, the name of the chief who helped the British in 1812, the namesof interpreters going back a long way, the date of the Civil War, the purchase ofland in Iowa, and the location of old village sites.
* White Robe. Many semihistorical incidents are linked with his name. (Jones,Fox Texts, pp. 9-13; JAFL, 1911, pp. 230-233; Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 123; Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 3, footnote 7.) WapAsaiy* is aname belonging to the War Chief gens, and in addition to the condensed storiesabout him in general circulation among the tribe, Michelson has an elaborateesoteric version told by a prominent member of this gens.123399?39 2
8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125French among the Foxes. When a child he was disobedient and abusedother children. When a youth he accompanied war parties, much tothe displeasure of the elders. As a chief he was very cruel and in-flicted tortures on people that came to visit the Foxes. He dishonoredthe custom of hospitality to guests.War, for this reason, was made on the Foxes, and WapAsaiy* wascaptured by the Peorias and tortured and burned at the stake.He is believed to dwell now above and will return among the In-dians again. He is called TcaginAtow* and TcagacQ* in the placeabove. 4The Foxes and the French.?A party of Indians of the Fox clan wereonce on a hunt when they met up with men of another race?theFrench. The French asked who they were and the Indians repliedby giving the name of their clan, Wakohagi. They also called them-selves Wakucahagi, the plural of the word for fox. The French thennamed them les Renards, which the English later turned into Foxes.This meeting was north of the Great Lakes. The whole tribe wasthen known as Utagamiagi.5The Foxes and Keokuk and the Black Hawk war.?Only part of theIndians consented to sell the Rock River country in Illinois. Butnevertheless the Foxes moved over into Iowa and settled in theregion round about where Keokuk now stands. When the BlackHawk war was over the Foxes were asked to allow the Sauks to liveamong them, a request which was granted. It seems that no state-ment of this import was put into the treaty that was made betweenthe Sauks and Foxes and the Government.Keokuk was a leading man of the Sauks who joined the Foxes whiletheir people were at war with the United States on the eastern sideof the Mississippi. He was not a chief, but he was elevated to thatposition by the United States after the war. He was given prominentrecognition because his band kept with the peaceful Foxes during thewar. A few Foxes had joined Black Hawk in the war.Keokuk at the Treaty oj 1822.?A large delegation of Sauks and Foxeswent to Washington to make a treaty with the United States in regardto the territory now in the State of Iowa. Keokuk was the principalspokesman of the Sauk and Fox delegation. There were women andchildren in the party.It happened that the Menominees, Iowas, Otoes, Winnebagoes, andSioux were represented by delegations of headmen and chiefs who hadalso gone to Washington. The representatives of these different
4 TcagiriAtow a , according to one version (Jones, Fox Texts, pp. 9-31), wasWhite Robe's name in a previous incarnation. Then he was born again and wascalled Tcagacu". He was very naughty as a child. Later in life he went on awar party and slew an enemy, and was then given the name of White Robe.8 People of the other shore. A name given to the Foxes by the Ojibwa.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 9tribes had come to protest against the United States treating with theSauks and Foxes alone in regard to the territory in question. Theyall united in declaring that the Sauks and Foxes were not the solepossessors of the land; that the Sauks and Foxes had no right to theland in question, for they had robbed it from them; that the Sauksand Foxes continually harassed them with war parties ; that they hadlost many men in protecting and defending and in trying to hold theland in question; and many other things did the representatives sayagainst the Sauks. The various tribes had agents who whispered tothem what to say to the Commissioner.Keokuk gave answer after the speakers of each tribe had donetalking. This is what he said: "True the Iowas and Otoes andWinnebagoes once had some ownership to the land we now live on.True, also, that these Sioux once owned the land. I need not tellyou that my people owned the Rock River country. You know thatthere was a man among us who thought he could defeat you in war.In that war we lost many people, and that man was taken prisonerby you, and the land we once owned was taken from us and is heldby you as your own. Now the same thing happened between mypeople and these before me. As I said, they speak the truth whenthey tell you that they once owned the land. But they went to waragainst us. (Keokuk is making reference to the betrayal of theSauk and Fox chiefs by the Alenominee and Sioux, for which theSauks and Foxes took revenge.?W. J.) We beat them, and we tooktheir land away from them. Just as you claim Rock River countrynow is yours, so in like maimer we claim that Iowa belongs to us.You have to probe their ears with a stick before you can get anythinginto their heads."Much else was said, and while Keokuk was talking the room wassilent, and the Commissioner hung his head, smiling at every pointKeokuk brought forward to reenforce the validity of the claim hispeople had to the land. The outcome of it all was that the UnitedStates Government treated with the Sauks and Foxes alone.After the council the Sioux and others had retired to their lodgingplaces. After a time came the Sauks and Foxes. They came downthe street, out in the middle of it, and sang to the beat of their drum.The Sioux were watching them from the side of the street. One oftheir number ran out to the passing Sauks and Foxes, leaping as hecame, and extended his hand to one of the men. The Sauk or Foxstruck the man's hand with as hard a blow as he could strike andturned his back on him. The Sioux ran off as fast as he came.Keokuk's son made chief by the Government.?Old Keokuk had died,and a successor had to be appointed. His son Wunagkisaha was thena young man. One day a party of Sauk leaders told him to come
JO BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125
along to Washington with them. He did not know what the purposeof the trip was.In due time the party reached Washington, and it wasn't long beforethe Indians were in the Commissioner's office. The Indians began tomake their speeches. The drift of all their talk was to the effect thatWunagkisaha was a young man who had not yet done sowing his wildoats, i. e., he gambled, wasted his time with loose women, and was inevery way incapable of the chieftainship, and much else that wasderogatory to Wunagkisaha's character. And that Asamisaha, BlackHawk's son who was there present, was the proper man for the chief-tainship.Wunagkisaha was choked at first with surprise on hearing theIndians accuse him on account of bad behavior. He collected himselfafter a time and began to think what answer he would give. At lastan opportunity was given him to speak, and when he spoke it wassomething like this:
"True I am young and I have the faults that young men are ac-customed to fall into. I drink and sometimes get drunk; your youngmen do likewise. I have associated with women of loose morals; yourwhite young men do likewise."Now we people have this custom?when we go to war we sometimesmake prisoners; these prisoners we make our slaves. They do whatwe ask them, they are our property and they do what we tell them.Once we had a war with you, not many years ago. You beat us inthat war, and the man who led our people into that war you tookprisoner. You brought him out here, and shut him up. You did tohim just as we would do to our prisoners. Now that prisoner of yourswas the father of this young man here whom these men ask to be chief.Among us such a man wouldn't be allowed such a position, but withyou I don't know how it is."Black Hawk's son hung his head, and the other men did the same,and none could answer Wunagkisaha. Whether or not it was throughthe influence of his speech, Wunagkisaha was made chief by theGovernment through the Commissioner, and he has been chief to thisday. COSMOGONYManitou
It has thus been observed that there is an unsystematic belief in a cosmicmysterious power which is believed to be existing everywhere in nature; that theconception of the property can be thought of as impersonal, but that it becomesobscure and confused when the property becomes identified with objects in nature;that it manifests itself in various forms; and that its emotional effect awakens a
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 11
sense of mystery; that there is a lively appreciation of its miraculous efficacy; andthat its interpretation is not according to any regular rule, but is based on one'sfeelings rather than on one's knowledge. 9Conversations regarding manitou.?An Indian had been to a circusand had seen a parrot. He heard it talk. He remarked that it mustbe a manitou.I was walking along the railroad track with an Indian when we meta tram. I said, "Here comes a manitou." And he replied, "Yes, anda very great one at that." 7I was talking with some Indians about a certain man we all knew.The man was very intelligent and he had a way of learning thingsquickly. He spoke well, and he was quick at almost everything hedid. An Indian remarked that the man must be under the influenceof a manitou that enabled him to do so many things.There is a story which tells of Wisa'ka leaving parts of his body onthe bushes and along the trail where he ran. As he came back he sawsome of it hanging from a tree and thought that it had been left byhis uncles who had gone by. An Indian remarked that Wlsa'ka mustbe a very great manitou to do such a thing and not feel any the worsefor it.Manitou: its influence.?A man was in love with a woman. Theman went away and was gone for several days. While away a paincame in his finger. The pain went from the finger up the arm and toother parts of his body. The pain was intense, and the man felt asif he would die. On a certain day the pain began to ease up and thenit gradually went away. On his arrival home the man got word thatthe woman was dead, and that she had died on a certain day. Thatday, the man found, was when the pain began to leave him. Hisconclusion was that the woman had exercised a spell over him and ifshe had not died when she did he probably would have died, instead.It was the manitou in her that caused his pain.A man and a young woman came up to where an old woman was.The two women got to playing, and the old woman stumbled and6 This is Dr. Jones' summary of the manitou concept, taken from his paper"The Algonkin Manitou", JAFL 18, pp. 183-190, 1905, in which he has set forthwhat he considered to be the fundamentals of Fox religion. The question canbe raised whether Jones in writing this was not more influenced by the mana-concept prevalent at the time than by his own data. This conceptual abstractionis denied for the Menomini and Plains Ojibwa by Skinner ("The Menomini word
'Hawatuk' ", JAFL 28, pp. 258-261, 1915); for the Winnebago and Ojibwa byRadin ("Religion of the North American Indians", JAFL 27: 349, 1914); and forthe coastal Cree and Fort Hope Ojibwa by Father Cooper (The Northern Al-gonquian Supreme Being, Catholic University of America, Anthrop. Series No. 2,p. 38, 1934). It seems to the editor that in the case of the Foxes, also, the dataobtained by Michelson and that presented here by Jones argue for a belief in anindefinite number of definitely conceived supernatural beings, rather than for abelief in a mysterious cosmic power everywhere in nature.7 The same thing is said nowadays about the automobile (T. Michelson).
12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
fell. Just as the old woman fell, the man felt a pain in his leg. Theleg was swollen for some time. The man claimed that the sight of theold woman falling was what caused the pain. A manitou went fromthe woman into the man's leg and caused the pain and swelling.Loss of the manitou.?A man of the Bear clan had a manitou withinhim, at the place behind the pit of the stomach. He had the powerof curing the sick and of doing a good many supernatural things.One time a woman who was menstruating came into the lodge beforeher time was up, before she had bathed. The man was in the lodgeat the time, and from then his manitou left him. Now the man is outof sorts. He trembles by reason of old age. Yet he has the power oftelling if a sick person will live or not. He can tell by just merelylooking at him.Possession of the manitou after death.?It is a custom to blacken theface with charcoal and go forth to fast 4 days. It is done to gaincommunion with the manitou. One makes an offering of holy tobaccoto the manitou at the time of communion. It is then that one comesinto possession of a higher power than one had before. It helps oneto foretell and work magic. This power one keeps during the lengthof life and it even remains with one's soul after death. The power iseverlasting because the manitou granted it.The eating of dog.?The dog is a manitou the eating of which bythe people is highly pleasing to all the manitous. To eat a dog is thesame as offering a prayer for pity, for long life, for whatever onegreatly desires. It is not like eating common food. One eats in theusual way to satisfy hunger, to gain strength of body, and for merepleasure, but to eat dog is to get in touch with the manitous and toobtain things which cannot be got from ordinary food. It is but away of letting the manitou inside one's self impart some quality of itsnature. It makes one different in mind and body from what one wouldbe otherwise; one passes into a friendly relation with the manitous.Various manitous and their homes. 8?One great manitou lives in the
8 No complete list of Fox supernatural beings can be given, but in addition tothose described here may be mentioned:Supernatural buffaloes. (See T. Michelson, Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 45;and Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 2.)Wapanowi birds, four in number, residing at the four quarters. They have adual division like that of the Foxes. (See T. Michelson, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer.Ethn., pp. 12-13.)The snake, regarded with awe and never killed. (See W. Jones, JAFL, 24,pp. 214-215, 1911. For a boy's prayer to a snake see W. Jones, Fox Texts, p. 381.)Owls, foxes, and wolves, friendly manitous. (W. Jones, JAFL, 24, p. 215,1911.)Toads, friendly, able to heal the sick (ibid.).The spirit-bear, the most dreadful form of witch. (See p. 26.)
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 13
sky. His lodge is on the White River. 9 He is chief of the manitous inthat region. Under the earth is another great manitou who is chiefof the manitous there. At the north is Wisa*ka, at the west is Iyapa'ta,his younger brother. To the east is the Sun, and to the south isCawan*, 10 who is over the Thunderers.WisaKka.u?Wisa'ka made the earth and everything in it. He mademan. He now lives at the north and no one comes where he is exceptby his will. He can go and come wherever he wishes.Keca manitowa}2?Keca manitowa lives on high and rules over themanitous there. The right and the power have been granted him byWisa'ka to create some people. These became chiefs. Both aregreat manitous, but Wisa'ka is greater. Often Wlsa'ka invites Kecamanitowa to his lodge, and there they hold council about the affairsof men and manitous.KeHci manitowa} 3?Up above us is a river of the stars, called theWhite River. Manitous dwell along its banks. Some of these mani-tous are those whom Wlsa fka drove away from the earth, and othersare manitous who were once mortals here on earth. Those manitouswho were once mortals were partly manitous when they lived hereamong men. Ordinary mortals never ascend to the White River.The stars we see shining along the banks of the White River aremanitous. The wigwam of Ke'tci manitowa is there. He is chiefover the manitous there.The "Spirit of Fire" and "He-whose-eyes-bulge-in-the-smoke-hole." Inter-mediaries who convey messages to other deities. These two play an importantpart in all Fox ritual, and countless mention of them is made in T. Michelson'evarious bulletins. A good description of their duties and powers can be found inBull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 61-63.Da-we-te-si-wa, the smoky fog which stands over snow in spring, invoked toconceal one from the enemy (ibid., p. 159).He-who-goes-about-dispensing-warfare, a manitou who controls battle anddeath (ibid., pp. 160-161).Spirit of Sickness, to whom feasts were made. Doubtless derived from "Disease-Giver," a prominent Winnebago deity. (See p. 148, No. 8.)9 The Milky Way.10 The great manitou of the south, a friend of Cawana-anwi, the south wind.The Thunderers are sometimes said to dwell in Cawana's lodge, and at other timesare described as dwelling at the four quarters, among and beyond the clouds.(W. Jones, JAFL, 24, pp. 212-213, 1911.)11 A prominent member of the War Chief gens once told Dr. Michelson thatWlsa'ka was a member of that gens.13 "The gentle manitou," a concept probably due to European ideas (T. Michel-eon).13 "The great manitou." The Foxes identify Keca manitowa with Ke'tcimanitowa, but Michelson feels that the former was due to European ideas, whereasthe latter was not wholly European in origin, even though the present conceptshows European influence. (See Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 17-18; alsoThe Northern Algonquian Supreme Being, by Father Cooper, cited above.)
14 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125Far away up in the skies, beyond the distance we can see, is a placewhere there is a big lodge. No mortals dwell there; only the manitouslive there, and over them is a big chief. His name is Ke'tci manitowa.Ke'tci manitowa and a great many of these manitous live together inthat big lodge where they feast, dance, sing, and beat their drum. Oftenwhen the Thunderers are traveling in the clouds and keeping watch overthe people on earth, 14 they journey to this big lodge before returning totheir home in the south. Ke'tci manitowa is always happy to see theThunderers. He welcomes them to his lodge and places food beforethem to eat. But the Thunderers cannot tarry long, because theymust hurry back to the earth to see that no evildoers do any harm tothe people. Often people go to this lodge after they die, but theywho go there are those who were part manitous here on earth.The Thunderers}6?One night when the Thunderers were walkingabout in the heavens and were making a frightful noise as they werelooking out for the safety of their children, there came up from thewest two big manitous. These two manitous looked like two biglizards. They had no wings, and they traveled through the air as afrog swims through water. First they reached out with their forelegsand then kicked back with their hind legs, and at every lunge theymade they threw out from their mouths long sheets of flame, and thismade a hissing sound. They did not go far before they came down tothe earth, and when they arrived on the earth, they came with a heavythud. But it was not long before they were off again. And thusthey traveled toward the Great Water, coming down to the earth,and then into the air again. By and by they disappeared, and werenever seen again. These manitous belong in the world below, andthey and the Thunderers are not friends. When they came up fromthe world below, the Thunderers knew of it, and came out from thesouth in search of these manitous. And the only reason why theThunderers did not catch them was because they traveled out of thecourse of the Thunderers, and very near the earth. If the Thunderershad caught them they would have surely killed them.Once on a time two manitous came leaping out of the western sky.They looked like great lizards. They had no wings. They leapedlike a frog, and they went through the air like a frog through water,reaching out with the forelegs and kicking back with the hind legs.They moved with great speed, and made a hissing noise. At everylunge they belched out flames of fire. Every time they landed they
14 For a more detailed account of the relations between Indians and Thundererasee W. Jones, JAFL, 24, pp. 213-214, 1911.15 For a discussion of the conflict between Thunder Beings and various monsterssee T. Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 54-55.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 15hit the ground with a thud, and then they were off again. They wenttoward the Great Lakes, and they have never been seen since. Theyare manitous of the underworld, and they and the Thunderers arenot on good terms with each other. They fear the Thunderers; thatcould be seen by the way they kept out of the path of the Thmiderers.They went low, just a little above our heads. Well for them that theThunderers were not out at the time looking to see how their grand-children were faring. They would surely have slain the monsters.Underworld manitous.?There are a great many manitous down inthe world beneath the earth, and over them is one big manitou who ischief of them all. Wisa'ka put them there, in the world below, towatch over the fire. There is where all the fire we use comes from.Wlsa'ka has made these manitous the owners of the fire, so thatwhen any of the manitous from other places want fire, they have togo to these manitous under the earth, and ask them for it. Wisa'kahas made the Thunderers share owners of this fire, so that when theyneed it, as they travel up and down the earth, they need not ask themanitous for it, but can go at once and get it themselves. 18 This isthe fire we see in the clouds when the Thunderers are passing alongabove us in the skies.Matcikenapigwa manitowa.?The name of a manitou living in theearth under the ground. The home of it is said to be about springs,especially sulphur springs, or springs the water of which is unfit todrink. A child that in fasting dreams of this manitou and is thenpitied by it will become subject to fits, so it is said.ApaiydcihAg 1 17?They got the source of their life from the manitou.The manitou once fell ill and was about to die and the ApaiyacihAg'got their breath from him at the time when he was low and barelybreathing. He recovered by and by.
16 Another Fox belief has it that these manitous under the earth created the fireand it is theirs, even the Thunderers having to obtain it from them. (See W.Jones, JAFL, 24, p. 214, 1911.)17 Jones translates this "The Little-Creatures-of-Caprice" (Fox Texts, p. 79),and gives the episode of their snaring the sun, noting that there is a whole cycleof stories centering on them. Michelson was told by a Fox woman that the wordmeant "air bubbles following a crack in ice." Other Fox Indians compared themto the Katzenjammer Kids. There are two living Sauk Indians who are thoughtto be reincarnations of the ApaiyacIhAg 1 . Whatever their exact nature, they aremanitous, and are credited with having made the bird drawings found on rocksalong the Mississippi banks. Many of the stories told about them belong to thewell-known Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away cycle. A resume of three Fox versionsof their adventures can be found in Jones-Michelson, Kickapoo Tales, pp. 134-138.For a Kickapoo version see ibid., pp. 67-75. They are also known to the Peoria.(Michelson, unpublished, and the unpublished Mss. of Albert Gatschet, in posses-sion of the Bureau of American Ethnology.)
16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125IydpaHd and the spirit world.??Iyapa'ta is younger brother toWisa'ka and he dwells in a lodge in the spirit world. This place is atthe west and beyond where the sun goes down. Iyapa'ta remains inthe lodge most of the time where he sits beating on a drum. Thesoul 19 of one who has died lingers here on earth 4 days and 4 nightsand then goes to this lodge in the spirit world. The path is deep andnarrow and leads to a bridge that spans a swift foaming river. Thebridge is a log and it rises and falls. Over this the soul passes. Onthe other shore it hears a drum and the sound of that drum guides itto the lodge. The soul enters the door. Iyapa'ta sees it and rises.He takes it by the hand as a sign of welcome. He shows it where tosit down and then fetches food. And then he asks about the living.By and by the soul sees the shades of relatives who have gathered tolearn of those left in the mortal world. The soul sees other shades;some of them are seated, others are dancing. On going out of thelodge the soul sees the shades of a vast multitude. Some are theshades of people it knew in life. It finds the place pleasant and goodto be in.Mortals go beyond the setting sun when they die. They stay aboutthe earthly home 4 days, and then go west along a deep, narrow pathuntil they come to a river which flows along with great rapidity.Over this river is a bridge which continually moves up and down, and
18 The concept of the spirit-world has not been completely standardized amongthe Foxes. There is some evidence that certain individuals, at least, were skepti-cal concerning the existence of such a place. Cutting Marsh in a letter dated 1835(Wisconsin Hist. Soc. Colls., 15, pp. 140-141, 1900) records an interesting con-versation held with a Sauk chief in which the latter said, "My body is a substanceanimated in some way by the air, and at death the breath will go out of it and thatwill be the end of me and I shall be the same as before." A similar philosophywould seem to underlie the explanation made by an old woman to her daughter,that when a person died it was simply as if their tracks ceased (from anunpublished Fox myth collected by Dr. Michelson) . The weight of the evidence,however, indicates a rather common belief in a spirit world located beyondthe setting sun, a pleasant place where games and dances were always goingon, to get to which one had to cross a bridge over a river. Details varywidely, especially as to the nature and extent of difficulties which had to beovercome in getting there. For fairly detailed accounts see the following: T.Forsyth, in Blair, Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi, p. 209; W. Jones, FoxTexts, pp. 207-211; W. Jones, JAFL, 24, pp. 218, 224, 1911; C. Marsh, WisconsinHist. Soc. Colls., 15, pp. 133, 149-150, 1900; Marston, in J. Morse, Report to theSecretary of War, pp. 138-139; T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer.Ethn., pp. 358-359, 399-401, 413-417, 1918.19 This soul is located in the heart during life (W. Jones, JAFL, 24, p. 218, 1911).There are two souls: a small soul, within, given by the Great Manitou, and a largesoul, the shadow, given by Wisa'ka. Only the small soul goes westward at death.This small soul can be reborn four times; it will have a new large soul each time.If the large soul gets too big, the owner will become a murderer (T. Michelson,Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 357-358).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 17
a thick heavy foam is made in the river. Those who fall off this bridgebegin at once to eat this foam, and then they swim about and chewand chew, and their faces are white with the foam. Those who getacross safely come to the house of a big manitou who is a brother toWisa'ka. There he sits all the time, singing and beating on a drum.There the Indians go and dance, and in that place they live as they dohere. Wisa'ka and his brother each know what the other is doing.Wlsa'ka knows all the Indians who go to his brother's house, becauseWisa'ka and his brother are always holding a council.Corn.?Tamina 20 (corn) is a manitou, and every little grain is amortal. 21 The name of each grain is uripita. All these grains of cornhave feelings like you and me, and when they are taken from the coband wasted they feel sad and begin to weep. When Wisa'ka createdtamina, he made it a food for the people (Foxes). When they eattamina, the manitou goes into every part of the body, and that makesthe people strong. The people need not have anything else beforethem to eat but tamina, because it has everything in itself to makethem do what they wish. When they travel, they go much fartherafter eating tamina than after eating any other food. Tamina is amanitou, and that is why it has so much strength.Corn is a manitou. That it is a manitou is shown by an after-feeling of satisfaction, by so much added strength after having eatenit. It takes less to satisfy hunger with corn than with any other food.One can travel farther and do more work on corn than on any otherfood. It can be used in more ways than any other food. Corn doesall these things simply because it is a manitou. It was made sowhen the manitou gave it to the people in times long since gone by.Turtledove. 22?A turtledove is called a manitowa mimiwa for thereason that the sounds it makes are like the sound of the voices of themanitous.Wdpanowa Kyakya tkwaa . 23?This is the name of a bird believed tobe a manitou. It is looked upon as a teacher among birds, in that itis the first bird to awake in the morning and announce the comingof day; in that it is the last bird to fly to its roost in the eveningbecause it has first to start all other birds to their homes for the night;in that it knows what kind of weather is in store and warns other birdsof the approach of a storm so that they can flee for safety; in that itteaches birds the kind of food to eat, and how to sing their varioussongs.
20 AtaminA, "trade berry" (T. Michelson).21 Corn should be shelled from the cob with a clamshell, or if one has no shell,with a spoon. A knife should never be used (Annals of Iowa, 19, p. 117, 1933).22 The turtledove is regarded as uncanny by the Iroquois also (J. N. B. Hewitt,JAFL, 8, p. 115, 1895).28 This must represent an association, real or popular, with the stem ke'ki,
"teach," a reduplicated form of which is kegya'ki (T. Michelson).
18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Nature Beliefs 24The Sun.?The Sun is a man and lie is our grandfather. His lodgestands at the east, and from there he goes journeying across the sky.His path runs westward and off there, somewhere, it slants downwardand turns around by way of the north and back again to the east. It issaid that he makes but one stop in all this journey from and to hislodge. It is at noontime, and the stop is for only a little while. It iswell that it is so, for if he should tarry long all the earth would go upin a flame.The Sun is a great manitou. He gives us warmth and light. Yethe is not of a gentle nature, not sympathetic like the Moon, for hisbehavior is not pleasing when we gaze up at him. Just try looking athim. You will not be long looking, for you will at once need to coveryour eyes with your hands and bow your head toward the ground.Your eyes will be closed and yet you will see something strange passbefore your vision. At the same time a peculiar feeling will come overyou; you will act as if out of your wits; indeed for the moment you willlose all control of your mind. What you see and what you feel is theeffect of his mysterious power. We take it to be a sign that perhapsit angers him to be gazed at just merely for the sake of gazing. 25Far away toward the east, in the land of the dawn, there is a biglodge which resembles our flag-reed lodges in winter. This is thelodge of Sun, who is the big chief in the land of the dawn. Inside ofthis lodge, extending all the way around and a little above the ground,is a row of beautiful eagle feathers standing on the ends of their quillsagainst the wall. Sun uses these feathers to give light upon the earthbelow. In the morning he sticks one of these feathers in his hah' andwalks over the skies toward the west. And as he walks along, lightshines from the tip of his feather and falls upon the earth below.There is no blaze or fire up there, and when Sun is passing the sky isclear everywhere so that we cannot see a single cloud. Only the blueis above us.
24 The responsibility for the division of Dr. Jones' material into the chaptersManitou and Nature Beliefs is mine. Under the former caption have been groupedthe items which served to illustrate mystic power in general, or to describe thecharacteristics of definite manitous which from our point of view are wholly orlargely mythical. In this chapter will be found the items which illuminate theIndian attitude toward what we should consider concrete natural phenomena.Many of these items could have been placed under either heading. The sun, forinstance, is called both man and manitou. The division is arbitrary, and is notintended to carry any implications concerning the native point of view.15 Another Fox belief should be mentioned here. Northern lights are said to bethe ghosts of 6lain enemies trying to rise. The sight of them is a sign of war andpestilence (W. Jones, JAFL, 24, p. 214, 1911).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 19Now there are some people up there where Sun lives. These peopleused to live here among us, but after they died they went to live withhim. When they were here they were part manitous. Very oftenSun sends one of these people out to go in his place. When they arepassing over us it is usually cloudy or the day is not clear. It oftenhappens that these persons, who know they are going to the land ofthe dawn, will call their relatives about them before they die. Thenthey tell them that if they will watch on a certain day they will seetheir relative pass. When the day comes, the relatives assemble,and sure enough they see their kinsman passing over them with thefeather in his hair. The path over which Sun and these people passruns straight from the east, from the lodge of Sun to the lodge ofTcipaiyaposw* 26 in the west; and from there the path goes around bythe north, by the lodge of Wisa'ka, and then to the lodge of Sun again.The lodge of the Sun stands at a place in the east. Its form is likethe oval flag-reed lodge of the people. Inside the lodge where thewall meets the ground stands a line of eagle feathers, and they reachall the way around. Here the Sun lives and with him are many of ourpeople who once lived among us, but when they died went there tolive. When Sun starts out over the sky he sticks one of the feathersin his hair at the back of his head. The light of day shines down onearth from the tip of the feather. The days he goes forth can alwaysbe known for they are the clearest. The sky then is blue everywhere.Often the Sun remains at home and sends one of the people in his place.The light is not so bright on such days. Clouds overhang the sky.It often happens that a person knows he is going to dwell in the easternsky where the Sun is, and before he dies he tells his relatives that on acertain day he will pass across the sky. The relatives will watch forthe day. The path of the Sun is westward and down behind the west;then it turns north beneath the earth and back to the east.The Moon.?The Moon is our grandmother. She is always kind,and when we look up at her she never becomes angry as the Sun oftendoes when we look up at him. When she vanishes we say she dies,but we do not really mean that she is actually dead. Every time sheappears during a year we give her a name. The dark shadow we seein her is a Fox Indian pounding hominy in a wooden bowl. Hepounds this hominy by sitting down before the bowl, and working thelong-handled pounder up and down in the hollow of the bowl. Behindhim is another wooden bowl. Into this one he puts the hominy thathe has ground in the other bowl.
28 "The deity presiding over the spirit-world at the setting of the sun. Hisname while on earth was Iyapa'ta" or Kiyapa'ta8 , but in the spirit world it is ashere given. The meaning of the word refers to the caring for and the ruling overthe dead."?W. Jones, Fox Texts, footnote to p. 383.
20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125The Moon is a woman and she is our grandmother. She is of akindly nature and it never angers her to have us look at her. She isbeneficent and gives us good things. There are dark shady spots inthe Moon. One is a Fox Indian seated before a mortar. In his twohands is a pestle and he is busy pounding corn and making it intohominy. Behind him and as high as his shoulders is a vessel intowhich he puts the made hominy. We say the Moon dies every sooften, but we are aware of the fact that this is not really true. Shesimply absents herself for a short while and then she comes back again.The Earth.?The Earth is our grandmother. Even though theMoon is our grandmother, too, yet she and Earth are not sisters.We love our Grandmother Earth, because she loves us, and is kindand good toward us. She gives us all that we have. She feeds us,and lets us rest on her bosom. And when we die she watches overour bodies and lets our souls linger about the scenes of our formerhome for 4 days, and then lets them go on their journey to the home inthe land beyond the setting Sun. The grasses, reeds, flowers, andtrees that grow upon our grandmother are our grandfathers. 27 Andthese are also good and kind toward us. And this is because ourGrandmother Earth has made them so.The Earth on which we live is a woman, too. She is our grand-mother, and she is also a grandmother to Wisa'ka. She and thepeople regard each other with good feeling; she loves them and theylove her. She provides us with all the food we eat and lets us liveand dwell upon her. And when one dies she watches over one'ssoul; 4 days she watches and then the soul goes westward to the placewhere the Sun goes down. And the trees that grow upon her are ourgrandparents. They are kindly toward us, for without them wecould do but little.Trees.?Earth is our grandmother, and she is also the grandmotherof Wisa'ka. The trees that grow upon her are mortals and they areour grandfathers. They talk with each other just as you and Ispeak to each other, and they know all that is going on about them.Early in the spring the trees begin to woo. By and by wind comesalong and helps them meet. Then we see the trees bend their headsover toward each other until they almost touch, and presently theyhold their heads up straight again. Often the whole forest is makinglove. It is then when we hear from a distance the trees murmuringin low voices.When the trees are happy, we can hear their pleasant voices laugh-ing. Often the trees are sad, and that makes our hearts sad.
:7 Referred to frequently in songs and prayers as "Mother-of-all-the-Earth'shair." For one of many such instances see T. Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 163.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 21In the fall we see the nuts and fruit in the trees, and then we knowwhat trees were happiest in their love-making. For those that bearfruit are those that married, and the nuts, acorns, and fruit are thechildren born to them.We do not like to harm the trees. Whenever we can, we alwaysmake an offering of tobacco to the trees before we cut them down.We never waste the wood, but use all that we cut down. If we didnot think of their feelings, and did not offer them tobacco beforecutting them down, all the other trees in the forest would weep, andthat would make our hearts sad, too.Stars.?Some of the stars are great manitous. Most of the starsone sees are people who have died and gone to dwell in the sky.Wapisipow 1 28 is the river of the stars yonder in the sky. Along itsshores dwell manitous and people who once lived on earth.Maskulgwaw* (red-eyed) is the name of the highest star of theevening. He opens wide his eyes to look about over the earth to seehow things are doing there. Then he drops down behind the westand returns home. Wapanananagwa 29 is another of the big stars.One star is ever traveling from the north to the south and backagain. His path from north to south is by way of the sky, and backfrom south to north by way of the underworld. The star leaves thelodge of Wisa'ka and goes to that of Cawano*. At noon he meets upwith the Sun. Both stop for a little rest and gossip and then continuetheir journeys. It is well that they tarry for so short a time else theearth would rise in a flame from the heat of the Sun. The star makesthe lodge of Cawano* by evening. His journey through the under-world is at night.Far away in the north in the wigwam of Wisa'ka lives one of thestars, a great manitou. Every morning Wisa'ka sends him on a journeyto the wigwam of Cawano", far away to the south. This star travelsalong a road that leads in a straight line over the heavens from thewigwam of Wlsa'ka to the wigwam of Cawano*. When the star isdirectly above us he meets Sun, and they both stop to rest and talk.That is one reason why we also rest and talk at that time of day.Sun does not stop long because he does not like to have us look athim; and besides if he stopped too long, the light from his featherwould become so hot that it would burn everything up here on earth.When Sun starts on his way, the star continues his journey until hecomes to the wigwam of Cawano*, where the four Thunderers, ourguardians, also dwell. The star gives Cawano* the message sent byWisa'ka, and when night comes he returns to the north by way ofthe underworld. When morning comes he starts again on his journey
28 Literally "the white river," our Milky Way.M The morning star. The father of the legendary hero WapAsaiy*, accordingto a version of this myth collected by Dr. Michelson.
22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125
with a message to Cawano a from Wisa'ka. At midday he meets Sun,when they both stop for a very short time, and then he continues onhis way to the wigwam of Cawano* and back again to the north.This the star does every day and every night.The Big Dipper and autumn colors.30?The four stars together arenamed the bear, and the other three are hunters following after thebear. By the side of the second star is a tiny star; that one is apuppy. The star nearest the bear is named WapAneciwa. Thesecond one is Matapya* (Kiver-that-joins-another). The hunters fol-low the bear all winter, spring, and summer. In the fall they overtakeand slay it. The blood falling down flows out over everything onearth, reddening the leaves of some trees and fading the colors ofothers. But the bear comes to life again, and the pursuit is on oncemore. Every fall the bear is overtaken and slain, and every time hecomes back to life.Thunder.?Thunder is like a person. It moves often like a bird.It uses an arrow when it strikes.Mosquitoes and the Thunderers.?Mosquitoes take home the bloodthey suck from people. Their home is in the trees. Now and thenthe mosquitoes hold a kigano (clan feast) and it is to the Thunderers.The food in the feast is the blood they have fetched from people. Itso happens that the Thunderers have a special fondness for blood.They usually ask the mosquitoes where they obtained the blood. Thereply is vague; nothing more than that the blood was obtained.Thereupon the Thunderers begin striking the tree. That is thereason some trees are struck, the Thunderers are after the blood whichthe mosquitoes have fetched. (The narrator asked me if that wasreally the fact. He told the tale as if he believed it, yet he was notsure if it was true. He went on to say that it was something thatcould be found out; that mosquitoes could be watched and that theycould be followed after they had sucked blood; and then when thetree in which they lived was found, it could be watched to see if theThunderers would really strike it.)The land of rocks.?At the approach of winter all the birds that goaway go off into the air, far up above. Up there is a place wherethere are many rocks. There the birds dwell until it is time for themto return to earth again. In that place up there the pheasant is theruler. The place is between the earth and the place where the suntravels.Crows.?It is believed that crows know a good deal about herbs forhealing the sick. They are looked upon as wise birds and as knowing
80 For another version of this myth see W. Jones, Fox Texts, pp. 71-75. Thismyth is particularly interesting because of its similarity to certain Huron beliefs.See C. M. Barbeau, Huron and Wyandot Mythology.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 23about bidden secrets. Nevertheless people kill them wben they getto stealing tbe planted corn.Pecdwa (grand-daddy-long-legs)} 1?He is sometimes called manakucabecause of bis unpleasant smell. He and we are good friends. Weoften ask bim where his family is by saying:
"Pecawi tatepi tea kepecawagi?Pecawi tatepi tea kepecawagi?"which is "O grand-daddy-long-legs, where are they, grand-daddy-long-legs?" and he will answer by pointing with a leg.Flint.?It is believed that there is a thick layer of flint far downbeneath the surface of the earth. The Indians claim that all theflint they use comes from this source and that only they know whereto look for it. This flint is looked upon as a manitou. The first firein a new lodge is kindled with sparks from a flint. Men who do agood deal of deer hunting prefer a flaked flint to a knife for skinning.Lead.?Buffaloes are believed to be manitous. It is said that theyhave disappeared under the ground where they now live. Lead isspoken of as buffaloes. This was said of them even at the time whenthey were numerous.Medicine (Natawinona) 32Frog medicine (Kunivdskawi ndtawinon 1 ).?This is the name of amedicine used for raising an erection. The bones of the frog arepulverized into a powder and applied to the penis.Medicine in a ball game.?A Fox rubs medicine on his body and stickwith the idea that the medicine will give him power over his opponentand hence bring him victory. It is the belief that the medicine hasthe effect of weakening the opponent. When both sides are usingmedicine that one used by the victor is counted the stronger.Hunting medicine.33?The natawinona 34 wliich hunters use whenthey are hunting is a very bad thing. This is the reason. Suppose ahunter gets on the track of a deer. He at once takes the natawinona
81 Doubtless European. See, for example, H. G. Shearin, JAFL, 24, p. 319, 1911." For additional information on medicine bundles for aid in hunting, love,gambling, or injuring fellow tribesmen see M. R. Harrington, Sacred Bundlesof the Sac and Fox Indians. For an account of a man who had medicine bymeans of which he could kill his fellow tribesmen without being detected, see T.Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 85, 93-95, etc. Notethe Fox belief that the ground where a person possessing evil medicine has satwill smell bad.83 There is a legend which tells how this hunting medicine, along with powerover women and power to win in games, was asked for and obtained from Wisa'ka(W. Jones, JAFL, 24 pp. 209-211, 1911).14 Ordinary medicine is inanimate and is written natawinon' (T. Michelson).123399?39 3
24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
out of his bag, sprinkles the natawinona into the tracks made by thedeer, and keeps on doing this until he sees the deer. Now who knowshow many people will cross this trail after the hunter has sprinkledthe natawinona? All those who do will become weak and presentlywill die. Tins natawinona is very strong ; so strong indeed that a huntermust live far away from everybody else ; because if he had near neigh-bors they would be in danger of crossing his path while he was pursuinga deer, and then some one of them would die.Color SymbolismColor symbols for the jour seasons.?A parfleche made by JennieDavenport of buffalo skin in Kansas around 1850-1860 was obtained.She explained the colors as follows: green for spring; yellow forsummer, the season of ripening; red for autumn; black for winter.Green 35 and white.?White and green signify peace. When aproposal of peace is offered, a long red stone pipe is given to a groupof four or five young men to take. The warriors appoint the youngmen, and appoint one of the number as bearer of the pipe. Thered stone of the pipe remains as it is without decoration, but thewooden stem is decorated in white and green. Often the white andgreen are each represented in the colors of the ribbons which aretied to the stem.White. 36?White (obtained from white clay) is the color of theKicko phratry at a ball game [and other ceremonial occasions].
,5 Green paint is the special paint of the Bear gens, in which the chieftainshipis hereditary. (T. Michelson, Smith. Misc. Colls., 77, No. 2, 1924.) Green isthe color of the chief's family among the Sauk, also, although the leading gens isthe Sturgeon (Skinner, Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 36, 1923).Dorsey reports that the Winnebago associate green with the south (EleventhAnn. Rept. Bur. Ethn., p. 553). Such statements as we have on Fox asso-ciations of color with the cardinal points are fragmentary and somewhatcontradictory, but we are told that the green WapAnowA bird (p. 12) sits at thewest (T. Michelson, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 59, 69).36 White wampum belts were used to denote desire for peace and friendship(Forsyth, in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, p. 185).Members of the Kicko phratry sit on the south on ceremonial occasions, andthe association of white with south seems to be quite fixed among the Foxes(T. Michelson, Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 13; Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn.,p. 87, etc.), although an informant once located the white WapAnowA at theeast (Michelson, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 69). Since the same informanthad the white WapAnowA sitting at the south later in the narrative (p. 87) andhad previously described the WapAnowA in the east as red, this statement wasprobably a slip. According to Dorsey the Winnebago associate white with north(loc. cit.), but the Fox identification seems to be rather with daylight, life, andlight (T. Michelson, Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 13 and footnote).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 25Red? 1?Red signifies hostility. Red is put on just before battle.Red is used in the war dance. Warriors sometimes put it on incouncil. Red is used by women for decorative purposes.Blue. 3*?Blue is used mainly by the younger men for decorativepurposes. It is not used by women except at a ball game when thetwo phratries are divided.Black.?Black in the form of charcoal is used by the To'kanphratry at a ball game [and other ceremonial occasions].Black is used by a person fasting. Women paint merely the cheekbones, the paint being put on round ; the men paint, some thick, somejust a little all over the face.Dyes.?A inaTvotaskimota hI , 39 made about 1801 of the ravels fromtrade blankets, was obtained. The dyes used in obtaining the colorswere as follows: Black, from the roots of walnut trees. The root isboiled and then strained. Red, from the otopi, 40 a tree growing northand northeast of Iowa. The bark is dried, and when soaked in waterthe fluid becomes red. Blue, from the blue ravel of the originalblanket. Yellow, from the boiled root of asawasi'kani,41 a plantgrowing in Iowa.
37 A belt of blue wampum painted red was used to denote solicitation to joinin hostility against some other power (Forsyth, in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, p. 239).Red is the special paint of the War Chief gens (T. Michelson, Smith. Misc.Colls., 77, No. 2, 1924).In the scalp dance the scalp was tied to an oak stick painted red, and a womanheld it. "It must be painted red, for girls desire that when fasting" (T. Michel-son, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 579).Forsyth reports that young people use vermilion when they think of marrying(loc. cit., p. 236).The red WapAnowA sits at the east (T. Michelson, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 59). Dorsey obtained an association of red with west from the Win-nebago (Eleventh Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn., p. 553).One informant explained the symbolism in placing red feathers on the north sideof a ceremonial mound by the following chain of ideas: red??war??evil?>dark-ness-?north (T. Michelson, Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 13).38 In forming alliances wampum belts were made of white wampum inter-spersed with diamondlike figures of blue wampum, representing the nations withwhom they are in alliance (Forsyth, loc. cit., p. 185).30 1 have not been able to find a translation for this.40 Not in Huron Smith's Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki.n Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra L.), Huron Smith, loc. cit., p. 271.
26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Witches, Evil Spirits, and Ghosts 42Witches.*3?There are witches among us. We must never do any-thing to anger them. If we do, we shall surely suffer for it. Theytravel about at night, and as they pass along they emit large flashesof light from their mouths. Very often they light up the whole land-scape with these flashes of light. Often we can hear them pass by thehissing sound they make.It is impossible to kill a witch on the spot where it is shot, eventhough the witch were shot through the heart. It goes home, andon the fourth day its wound begins to pain, and then it is the witchbegins to feel its wound. Very often a person becomes suddenlyill, and in a very short time, dies. Sometimes a person dies withoutany illness at all ; simply drops down suddenly and is no more. Thecause of a person's dying this way is that he has been a witch.Witches do their evil deeds in a great many ways. Often a witch42 The unsystematic nature of Fox supernatural beliefs h very well brought outin the material contained in this chapter. Ghosts, evil spirits, witches, super-natural beings, and even living Indians carry on their nefarious practices in thesame guise, that of the spirit-bear. This spirit-bear is quite definitely conceivedand seems to be the core to which the other beliefs have been a3similated.43 Dr. Michelson has a note bearing on this subject (Bull. 105, Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 4), important enough to be reprinted here in full: "The ordinary Foxword for witch is manetowe'sitA, a participle of manetowe'sIwA, 'he, she is a witch.'This has exactly the same main stem as manetowiwA, 'he, she has the nature of amanitou'; the former has the animate copula -e'si-, the latter has the auxiliary
-i-. The same stem occurs in manetowA, 'supernatural spirit', etc., and manetowi,
'supernatural power.' Compare W. Jones, The Algonkin Manitou, JAFL,vol. 18, New York and Boston, 1905, p. 184 (inferentially) , and T. Michelson,Notes on the Great Sacred Pack of the Thunder Gens of the Fox Indians, Bull.95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., Washington, 1930, p. 55. Sauk has an exact equivalent ofmanetowe'sIwA and is also used in a malevolent sense. Compare A. Skinner,Observations on the Ethnology of the Sauk Indians, Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee,vol. 5, No. 1, Milwaukee, 1923, p. 55. Apparently Ojibwa also has, but themeaning is rather different. Algonkin has an exact equivalent also, but themeaning is rather 'he is a sorcerer,' etc., whether malevolent or not can not bedetermined from the published material. (It may be added that there are severalderivatives of the stem manetow- in several Algonquian languages, some withmalevolent ideas, some with beneficent. Note especially Fox maneto'ka'sowA,
'he conjures for a miracle,' has an exact equivalent in Plains Cree maneto'kasow;the Fox word literally means 'he, bhe pretends to be a manitou.' Fox nemanetomi,'my mystic power,' is, I think, used only in a malevolent sense. Fox maneto-wimigAtwi means 'it is laden with manitou power,' and applies only to what isinanimate; e. g., a sacred pack [micami]. Fox ml'ckawe'siwA means 'he, she iaphysically or mystically powerful'; from it is derived mi'ckawe'siweni, an abstractnoun, 'power.') A less common word in Fox for 'witch' is nana'kawe'sitA, nana-
'kawe'si'A, the former being a participle, the second an animate noun; both arederived from nAna'kawe'siwA, 'he, she is a witch.' This last is derived from thestem nAna'kawi-, 'make sport of, play a prank on,' with the animate copulamentioned above; nAna'kawi- rarely is found unreduplicated, and when thencombined with the instrumental participle -'w- (-a'w-), means 'to bewitch'; notethe compound nAna'kawinatawinoni, 'witch-medicine,' p. 5."
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 27
will come up to a person when he does not know it, and lay its handon his shoulder. By and by there comes a pain in that person'sshoulder where the witch touched him. Often a person has a swellingin the leg when there is no reason for it. 44 That swelling was causedby a witch touching his leg.The power of a witch to do harm is very strong, and a witch can doa wicked act upon a person very far away from it. A witch carriesa kind of natawinona around with it about the size of one of ourthumbs. When a witch wishes to do some wicked act upon a person,it speaks to the natawinona, tells it where to go, what person to strike,where upon the person's body to strike, and in what way to affectthe person. If the person is in a lodge, the natawinona always entersby way of the door.A great many of the Bears (gens of the Bear were meant.?W. J.) 45are witches. We sometimes see them in the path ahead of us throwingflashes of light from their mouths, and grunting with a low, deepvoice at every step they take.There are four manitous who watch over the graves of the dead.4644 See also p. 29.46 Compare the statement that there is no difference between a bear and amember of the Bear clan (W. Jones, JAFL, 24, p. 216, 1911). Compare alsothe statement by a Fox informant on the shamanistic tricks performed by mem-bers of the Bear gens, members of the WapAnOwiweni being the greatest adepts(T. Michelson, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 4-5). Note also the statementthat persons belonging to the WapAnowiweni had to be members of the Bear orWar Chief gentes (ibid., p. 5). The chieftainship was hereditary in the Bear gens.46 Graves are still watched, and the killing of the witch is not left to manitous.Dr. Michelson was one of the watchers on one occasion. A young girl had justdied, of pulmonary tuberculosis, but the family felt sure she had been witched.So a concealed pit was dug near the grave, and four Indians hid there to watch.But they got tired and gave it up before the night was over. A new group ofwatchers was recruited for the next night, and Dr. Michelson was asked to beone, on the grounds that witches wouldn't bother white people. He was led to thepit, already occupied by three Indians with double-barreled shotguns, and giveninstructions to shoot any owl, dog, or turkey that should appear near the grave.In the morning they asked if he had seen anything, and he replied that he hadheard an owl hooting, but that it was too far away to be connected with the case.They assured him that he should have shot at it, anyway.On the fourth night, somewhat after midnight, he heard a rustling sound, andit seemed to be coming right toward the grave. Then he felt certain that heheard a girl's voice, and jumped up, gun cocked. Then he heard a boy's voice,and uncocked the gun, using it to knock down the Indians, who had also jumpedup, guns ready. There were several anxious moments before the young couplegot out of the way, as the Indians were in a frame of mind to shoot.Another episode bears witness to the sincerity of their belief. A Fox Indiantold Dr. Michelson that once he was watching a grave, and a dog came up to thegrave and tapped four times. He shot and killed the dog. In the morning hediscovered that it was his own dog, one for which he had paid $10 only the weekbefore. Dr. Michelson asked if the family of the deceased had made good hisloss, but the Indian's point of view was quite different. "Oh, I was glad to be ridof a witch," he said.
28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125They do not take their places directly beside the grave, but assembleat a place northwest and about 10 steps from it. Three of themanitous lie down to sleep, while one stands and watches. Nowwitches have a manner of visiting the graves of the dead by night.A witch is heard approaching a grave by a low whirring sound that itmakes. When it alights by the grave it wishes to visit, its feet makea sudden, heavy thud when they strike the ground. If the witchstamps upon the ground, the dead will rise from the grave, and walkabout with the witch. But before the witch stamps upon the ground,the manitou walks up to the witch and holds it tightly. Sometimesthe manitou asks a witch why it has come to the grave, and then sendsit away, telling it never to come again. But usually the manitouarouses the other manitous, and all four of them take the witch andcut its body into ever so many small pieces which they then scatterround about the grave. 47 As soon as it begins to grow light the fourmanitous depart. They return to their places when it begins to growdark again.Witches are abroad at dusk and again before daybreak or there-abouts. They flash as they go along. They can enter a lodge, butthis they do only at a time when the inmates are supposed to be asleepand it is dark inside the lodge. They cannot be seen, even if a lightis made as soon as it is known that a witch has entered, for a witchturns at once into a feather. 48A man walking along in the dark came to a secluded place wherehe suddenly felt his hair rise. He knew the rising of his hair wasdue to the presence of a spirit-bear. He knew also that it was notgood to run from it, so he kept straight on his way. Sure enough,he met the bear. The bear kept on his side of the road and theman on his. It can be known sometimes when these bears are out.This is by the flashes they make from their nostrils.A tkigdnepyawatcigi me*tosdneniwahi.*9?These are witches (men orwomen) that draw on the ground the picture of a man to be bewitched,and the person is bewitched at that part of the body where the pic-ture is pierced. A person thus bewitched is hard to cure. Thiskind of witch, like the others, is taught its mystery by another witch,
4T These beliefs do not square very well with the ordinary Fox beliefs regardingthe soul and what happens to it after death. It seems probable that we aredealing with beliefs taken over from the voyageurs and only partially assimilatedto native concepts.48 The belief that a witch can turn into a feather recurs again and again in themythology of more northern Indian tribes.48 " Those who draw human beings on the ground" (T. Michelson).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 29and then it is handed down. One witch transmits its medicine toanother, so a witch may be a young man, a young woman, an oldman, or an old woman; anyone, that is, who is old enough to be ableto keep a secret.Wamesinenihemita.?Mesineniha ("whole man") is a nitcdpa (a doll).50One that owns a doll is a Wamesinenihemita, and may be man orwoman. The Mesineniha is kept by a witch, kept in concealment.A witch wishing to do someone an injury goes off into hiding, andthere takes it out from its wrapping. The witch will pierce it withsomething sharp on some part, as in the chest, hip, temple, etc., andthus bewitch the person it has in mind. This kind of witch, like theothers, is killed. 51 Wherever the doll is pierced, at that part of thebody will the bewitched person be afflicted.Those who know about ghosts.?There have been certain personsamong us who have visited the place beyond where the sun fallsdown; they have gone to visit the folk who once lived but have longsince been dead. Such persons have told how souls revisit the scenesonce familiar in life. They are the ones who have told how souls come,how they take on various forms: as for instance, some are like bears;others are like a particular bird, as a turkey,52 for example; and stillothers are like dogs. The time of their coming is at night, and thenonly. They come without noise and with soft step. One does nothear them, even when suddenly face to face with them. It is onlywhen they are in haste that one hears them; the sound they make is along shrill whistle every so often.53 It often happens, however, that aghost in the form of a bear is heard. It swings slowly along with agrunt at every step of the foot, and with every grunt comes a flash offire from the mouth which lights up the path in front.
50 For a description and photograph of such a doll, see M. R. Harrington,Sacred Bundles of the Sac and Fox Indians. (The ordinary word for doll. SeeFortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 297, line 5.)51 For a song to be sung if one's child had been slain by a witch, see T. Michelson,Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 160. If the proper procedure was followed, thewitch would die. I take Jones' statement to mean, however, that if a personwere known to be a witch, the Indians did not wait for supernatural aid, but tookdirect and summary action.52 Marston (in J. Morse, Report to the Secretary of War, 1820) was told by aFox Indian that the spirit of a newly buried Indian had been seen near his gravein the shape of a turkey (p. 139). A. Skinner in discussing the Sauk belief inhuman beings who turn themselves into bears, fowls, dogs, wolves, turkeys, orowls in order to destroy their enemies, says that this belief is common among theCentral Algonquians, Southern Siouans, and even Iroquois and Algonquians of theeast (Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 55, 1923).53 An amplification of this statement is to be found in W. Jones, JAFL, 24, p.218,1911.
30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Such persons who know the life in the spirit world and the ways ofghosts have come into the world with a dark complexion of the skin/ 4They have power of vision. The power comes by virtue of the mani-tou nature within them. One with light complexion seldom, if ever,obtains such power. Yet not every dark individual has the power.It is granted only to a few.The combing of hair.65?Our women never comb their hair in thehouse. They always go off from the house and sit down under sometree where it is pleasant, and there comb their hair. No man goesout there with them. If a man goes where women are combing theirhair, he will get sick, or something bad will happen to him. Ourwomen never comb in the house, because if they did, they would not bewell and strong as they are. Some women are witches and it isn't goodfor them to comb in the house. Someone will be sick, sure. Mencan comb in the house or anywhere. They have nothing about themthat will give bad luck to other people.Evil spirits.?It is believed that an evil spirit is abroad at night,and so the entrance into the lodge must be closed to keep it out. Theevil spirit goes about with a spoon with which it pours into the mouthsof the sleepers an evil drug. The drug has evil effects.MYTHOLOGY 56Myths
1. wfsa*ka frightens the pokwiaki (quails) and is in turnfrightened by them 57One day when Wlsa'ka was walking through a meadow, he metsome young quails playing about in the grass and bushes. They atonce huddled together when they saw Wisa'ka, coming. When
54 Compare with the following: " 'He probably indeed has the nature of a mani-tou', the men said of him. And he indeed had brown eyes" (T. Michelson, Bull.105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 55).65 It is not clear here whether women are not to comb in the house because of theharmful consequences they themselves will suffer, or because of what will happento other people. It seems probable that there has been a fusion of two elements:fear of the effects of women's dandruff (this plays a part in the ApaiyacIhAg 1cych3?see Jones-Michelson, Kickapoo Tales, pp. 134-138); and the use of hair inwitchcraft. One of the bundles obtained by Harrington at Tama had love medi-cine tied with hair. (See M. R. Harrington, Sacred Bundles of the Sac and FoxIndians.)66 The bulk of the published Fox mythology is to be found in William Jones,Fox Texts, AES-P, I, 1907. His unpublished notes contained tales not previ-ously published. These are given in this collection. Comparative notes areto be found at the end of the chapter.57 Michelson could not find this tale among the Foxes, although he asked for itrepeatedly. He is therefore inclined to consider it individual rather than tribalknowledge.
Jones] ETHNOGKAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 31Wisa'ka came up to where they were he stooped down and began tocaress their little necks and backs. Wisa'ka smiled as he was doingthis. Then he asked one little quail, "What is your name, my youngerbrother?"
"I am little Pokwi," he replied.Wisa'ka asked the same question of every one, and each time camethe answer, "I am little Pokwi."Wlsa'ka was very much amused. When he was done laughing,he gathered them all underneath him as he squatted over them, andthen flatulated very loudly. This frightened the quails so badlythat they flew away in every direction. By and by Mother Quailreturned home and found that her little ones were gone. She wentout to look for them. She called and called for a long time, andafter a good deal of trouble she found all her children.Mother Quail began to scold because they had wandered from homewhile she was away. The little ones answered that Wisa*ka hadcome while she was gone and that when he had done asking themtheir names he laughed at them and frightened them away. Whenthe mother heard tins, she asked her children how it was that theirelder brother frightened them. They told her and she became veryangry.Mother Quail did not say anything. She began to think of theplaces she knew Wisa'ka was in the habit of visiting when he wasout on his walks. Off she went on a run, and all her young ones in aline behind her. Presently she saw Wlsa'ka coming toward herthrough the woods.Now the path along which Wisa'ka was coming led to a deep hollow,and over this hollow lay a big log. Mother Quail ran down underthis log, gathered her children closely about her, and whispered,"He is going to cross over on this log, and as soon as he steps on it,every one of us will suddenly fly out and imitate with our wings thenoise which he made when he frightened you."Wisa'ka came walking along with his head down. He walkedupon the log and stepped directly over the quails. Just at thatmoment out flew the quails, making a loud whirring with their wings.This was so sudden that it frightened Wisa*ka, and, losing his balance,he tumbled backward into the hollow. This fall hurt Wlsa'ka verymuch for a little while, and it angered him to have a trick like thatplayed on him. But when he got up to see who it might be who didit, he found that it was the quails which he himself had frightenednot very long before. He did not pimish them for it but went onhis way.Ever since that day quails have continued to make that whirringsound which those made when they frightened Wisa*ka.
32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
2. HOW SKUNK LOST MOST OF HIS STRENGTHOne day Skunk sat lazily in the entranceway of his dwelling placeamong the rocks, smoking his pipe. "I think I shall go huntingtoday," he said to himself, "because I think it is a good day to huntand perhaps I may kill something."So he put away his pipe, went down the rocks and out into themeadows, and then into some woods. As he walked quietly alonglooking this way and that way for game he met Wlsa'ka, who likewisewas out hunting.
"Hello, my younger brother!" said Wisa'ka as he took Skunk bythe hand. He then asked him, "Are you hunting, too?"
"Yes," replied Skunk, "I thought I would get out to see what Icould kill."Then the two sat down on the grass and talked for a long time ofdifferent things, for they had not seen each other for many days andthey were very happy to meet in this way alone.Wisa'ka always carried his bow and arrow wherever he went. Hehad them this day. Now Skunk had the name of being one of thegreatest marksmen in the world. Wisa'ka had heard of this, and so hechallenged Skunk to a shooting contest. The target was to be a treefar away on the side of a mountain.Skunk agreed to shoot with Wisa'ka. Wisa'ka shot first, and hisarrow pierced the center of the tree, splitting the tree from the groundto the branches. A big noise came down the mountain."That is a good shot!" exclaimed Skunk. "Now let me see what Ican do." So Skunk faced about in the opposite direction from thetree and shot.Wlsa'ka at once put his hand over his mouth and nose, and gave along-drawn-out groan and whistle. He was about to turn his backtoward Skunk to avoid the smell when Skunk began to be angry atwhat Wisa'ka was doing. Wisa'ka saw this and took his hand downfrom his nose and mouth. Then he changed the sound of his groanand whistle in such a manner that it sounded as if he was amazed atthe wonderful shot Skunk made."That is a wonderful shot !" exclaimed Wisa'ka. "That is even betterthan one can do with a bow and arrow. Yes, I believe it now, you area good shot!"Skunk felt so happy over the words Wisaeka said that he gaveWlsa*ka four anonani (the nearest English equivalent for this inani-mate plural in this place is Jour rounds of ammunition). "Takethem," said Skunk, as he handed them over to Wlsa'ka, "and use themwhen you go hunting next time."
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 33The two separated and each started homeward. When Wlsa'kaarrived home he showed his Grandmother Earth the anonani whichSkunk gave him."My grandson," she said, "you take those things out of this lodgeas quickly as you can and throw them away! They are not good foryou to carry around."Wisa ?ka went out of the lodge as his grandmother bade him but hedid not mean to throw them away without trying them on something.He saw a tree standing a long distance from him. Then he startedto throw these anonani at it. The first one made an awful smell.The second one was worse. When Wisa'ka threw the fourth one thesmell was so strong that the country for a great distance round aboutsmelled very bad. No living thing could stand its power.Skunk was sitting in the entranceway of his dwelling among therocks when Wisa'ka began throwing the anonani. Skunk heard themhit against the tree and exclaimed, "My elder brother must be hunting!Perhaps he is coming to see me and to bring me something of what hekills." But Wisa'ka did not come, and more than that, when Wisa'kathrew the fourth anona Skunk lost the great power of his strength forshooting.Before this time Skunk could kill at a long distance. Not so today.His power to do harm is only at short distance now. This all cameabout because Grandmother Earth told Wisa'ka to throw the anonaniaway. It was this throwing away of the anonani that took away thestrength of Skunk. If Wisa'ka had returned them, Skunk would haveretained his strength.
3. HOW TURTLE LOST HIS PLACE AMONG THE GREAT MANITOUSOne day when Wlsa'ka was walking alone, he saw Turtle comingtoward him. "There comes that creature! Going to see anotherwoman, I suppose," said Wlsa*ka to himself smilingly. Then he satdown on the grass to await Turtle.Turtle was walking along with his head down, seeming to be in deepthought. YvTien Wlsa'ka called, "Hello, Turtle! Going to seeanother woman I suppose?" Turtle threw his head up and stopped.
"Hello, elder brother. What are you doing here?" said Turtle, verymuch amazed to see Wisa'ka.
"Nothing," replied Wisa'ka. "I saw you coming toward me, so Isat here to wait for you. I thought perhaps you would tell me whothis woman is j'ou are going to see."
"Don't speak about that," said Turtle, looking very serious. "I amgoing to see no woman. I am out walking as you are." Then lookingat Wisa'ka he asked, "Would you do something if I ask you?"
"I don't know," replied Wisa'ka. "Tell me what it is and I willsee."
34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bdll. 125
"It is to join me in a shooting contest," replied Turtle. "See thattree far off yonder?"
"Yes," replied Wlsa'ka, perceiving Turtle's object in proposing thecontest.
"Well," said Turtle, "we will shoot at that to see who is the bettershot."
"All right," said Wlsa'ka. "You shoot first."Turtle's arrow only grazed the bark off one side of the tree. ThenWisa'ka shot, hitting the tree in the center and splitting it. And asusual after he has shot his arrow, and it has struck, there followed aheavy rumbling and the world shook."You have beaten me this time," said Turtle, starting to go, addingas he walked off, "I would shoot again with you, but I must go overhere to a dwelling."Wlsa'ka started off in the opposite direction, but stopped when hewas out of Turtle's view. Then taking a roundabout way so Turtlecould not see him, Wisa'ka arrived at the dwelling before him. WhenTurtle came he pulled away very gently the curtain over the entrance,and peeped in. He saw a beautiful young woman seated by the fire,busy at her needlework. "That is the prettiest woman I have everseen!" thought Turtle to himself. He withdrew his head, pulled thecurtain back over its place, and hurried over to the lodge of his brother.When the brother came in he noticed that Turtle had on his mostbeautiful clothes. He was painting his face when his brother said,
"She must be a very pretty woman you are going to see. I never sawyou dress so carefully as this. Who is she? What is her name?""Hush your mouth," replied Turtle. "Everyone who meets measks me what woman I am going to see, who she is, and what hername is, as though I spent all my time with women. I am dressing upbecause I wish to appear well."The brother made no reply. When Turtle got ready to go he asked,
"Brother, may I take the medicine bag out with me for a little while?""What for?" asked the brother.
"If I tell you will you let me take it?" begged Turtle."That is a hard question to answer, my brother," replied the brother."Then I will tell you why I want the medicine bag," said Turtle,who was now becoming impatient. "Over in that lodge is the mostbeautiful woman I ever saw. I don't know who she is, nor her name.I am going to woo her, and the only possible way for me to win her isto have this medicine bag with me.""Oh no!" said the brother. "You can't use this medicine bag forthat purpose. Wisa'ka gave us these medicine bags to hang in ourlodges to drive away Panani. (Personified death and evil, presentin battle, in time of sickness, hunger, famine, etc.?W. J.) They are
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 35to hang in our lodges until we move. No, you must not take thismedicine bag."The brother then went out of the lodge. Turtle watched him untilhe had disappeared from view. Then he put the medicine bag underhis robe and stole out of the lodge.Arriving at the lodge where the beautiful woman was, Turtle stoppedat the entrance to pull the robe over his head. Then he pulled theblanket aside gently, and walked in. He went by her without sayinganything to her, and sat down in a place where he could look into herface. She went on with her sewing without looking up or taking theleast notice of Turtle.By and by, when he had stared into her face for some time, hecoughed very gently. She raised her eyes and smiled softly. Turtlewas happy, and at once began to talk and ask questions. At first theyoung woman only smiled, but after a while became bolder and soreplied to his questions. Turtle stayed in the lodge a long time andwould not leave when the young woman told him. It was beginningto be dark when Turtle, thinking that the yoimg woman liked himvery much, asked her, "You and I are going to marry each other, arewe not?"
"No," she replied. "I am not going to marry you. I am youngyet, and I am not prepared. Are you not going home?"Turtle sat there, believing yet that the young woman liked him.Seeing that he was not preparing to leave, she rose, put away her sew-ing, and said, "I am going home now, before it gets too dark." Thenshe lifted the curtain and went out of the lodge.After a while Turtle followed after her and overtook her. He putone arm around her waist, and they walked side by side until the youngwoman said, "I am tired and sleepy; I will lie down here to rest."Turtle was very happy to hear the young woman say she wished tolie down. He hurried around to find a place for her to rest. He foundan anthill, but did not know at the time it was one, because the nightwas so dark.As the young woman lay down, Turtle put the medicine bag under-neath her head, then lay beside her. By and by Turtle put one ofhis arms under her head for the young woman to rest on, then placedthe other hand on the lower part of her body. In that position Turtlefell into a deep sleep. The young woman then quietly rose andWisa*ka resumed his own form again. He took up the medicine bagand started for his home in the north, leaving Turtle sound asleep.Turtle slept until the Sun began to show himself, when the antsbegan to come out of the hill and sting him. Turtle smiled with hiseyes yet closed, embraced the anthill, and whispered, "Don't tickleme that way, because you wake me."
36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125The ants ran all over Turtle and bit him so much and in so many-places that he opened his eyes. When he saw what he had been em-bracing and what awoke him, he jumped to his feet. The young womanwas gone?so was the medicine bag. Nowhere could he find hertracks, to find which way she had gone. Then Turtle was very muchalarmed because he thought that she must be a manitou.Turtle became very sad. He did not mind so much being fooledby a woman as he did to lose the medicine bag on account of a woman.He went to his brother's lodge, told him everything that had happened,and showed him how badly he felt because he had taken the medicinebag without his consent. Turtle then set out in search of the lostmedicine bag. He went everywhere in this world, but could not findit anywhere. He went to the east, where Sun lives. It was not there.Then he went to the south, where Shawana and the Thunderers live.It was not to be found there. He went to the west, where Tcipaiya-posw a lives. He did not find it there. Then he visited the placesunder the earth where manitous live. He could not find it there.Then he went up to the White Kiver where the Great Manitou andother manitous live, but he did not find the medicine bag there. ThenTurtle felt very sad. He was tired traveling so long and so far. Hesat down and thought to himself thus: "There is just one place whereI have not gone?That is where Wisa'ka lives, and that will be thehardest journey. I wonder if he could have been that young woman!He was the last one I saw before I saw her the first time. I will goto his lodge. If I don't find the medicine bag there, then I don'tknow where else to go to find it."Then Turtle rose and started toward the north where Wisa'kalives. The journey was so long and hard that when Turtle arrivedat Wisa'ka's lodge he was so weary that he could scarcely walk any-farther. He entered the lodge and found Wlsa*ka seated by the fireand Grandmother Earth seated upon the raised platform.
"Hello, my younger brother!" said Wisa*ka, welcoming Turtle."Come sit down here by me. You look tired."Turtle did as Wlsa'ka told him. Wisa'ka then rose and fetched foodand placed it upon a mat before Turtle. Turtle ate until he couldeat no more. Then while he was admiring the beautiful things in thelodge from the place where he sat, Wlsa*ka asked, "My youngerbrother, why have you come to my lodge? I never asked you tocome."Turtle replied, "My elder brother, I lost my brother's medicinebag. I have been everywhere in the world, and everywhere elsewhere the manitous live, and I can't find it. This is the only placewhere I have not gone to, and that is why I came here, so as to findmy brother's medicine bag."
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 37
"It is here," replied Wlsa'ka. "Come, and I will show it to you."Turtle followed Wisa'ka out of the lodge. They went into anotherlodge where there were ever so many medicine bags. In among thesewas the one belonging to Turtle's brother. Wlsa'ka returned it tohim and Turtle set out for home with it. When he arrived there, hegave it to his brother.It happened one day when Turtle was walking alone along the bankof a river that he met Wisa*ka. "You are just the one I wish to see,"said Wisa'ka to Turtle. "You took your brother's medicine bag oneday from his lodge when he told you not to do it. Then you went towoo a young woman and lost the medicine bag. You came to mylodge to find it, and I returned it. Now listen to what I tell you.You can no longer be a great manitou because of what you have done.Hereafter your home will be in the water. But I give this one greatpower: You will know the medicine which can head off Nokanowabefore it crosses the river. (Nokanowa, probably akin to "breath oflife"?personified as living in the breast of man during life. Whenman is ill Nokanowa crosses the river to the land of Tdpaiyaposw*.If it remains there, the man dies. Hence the power of this medicinewhich Turtle knows is capable of keeping back Nokanowa on this sideof the river. Since Nokanoioa can only live in the breast of man orin the land beyond the river, it will come back into the breast of manif prevented from crossing the river. Hence Turtle, by knowing themedicine which has this power is able to give man long life.?W. J.)When men come to you and ask you for this medicine, tell them whereto find it."Then Wisa'ka threw Turtle into the water of the river. There Turtlelives to this day. He is yet a manitou, but not the great manitouhe used to be.
4. THE FIGHT BETWEEN LONG CLAWS AND SKUNKFar off in the north there used to be an entrance to a cave deep downin the earth. In this deep cave lived a manitou which the people wholived in that day called Long Claws. This was because his claws werereally very long. No other creature lived in this cave but Long Claws.Long Claws looked like a bear. He was also as big as a bear. Hecould run very fast. He could climb a tree as fast as he could runalong the ground. Only one thing he could not do, that is, he couldnot swim. So the only way people or animals had of escaping himwas to jump into a river or pond, and then they were safe. He usedto like to have the creatures which he chased climb trees because itwas then easy for him to overtake them. His claws were made justfor climbing. While he walked along on the ground his claws rappedagainst each other and made a kind of rattling noise. No one sees
38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Long Claws now. Even when he was seen long ago by the people itwas indeed very, very seldom.One day this Long Claws and Skunk happened to meet in the woods.Long Claws had heard a great deal about Skunk as a fighter, and thepeculiar way he fought. Long Claws did not like Skunk at all.Skunk had also heard what a dangerous creature Long Claws was,and how everything was afraid of him. But Skunk was not afraid ofLong Claws. That was the time when Skunk was really a greatmanitou.Long Claws sat upon his haunches and Skunk sat upon his, andeach looked at the other for some time without saying a word. By andby Long Claws thought that if he talked very big to Skunk he wouldmake a great impression upon hin. And so he began, "You littleblack smelling creature, don't you know that I have you now, andthat I am going to kill you! You little coward! Why don't youstand up face to face with the one you fight, instead of fighting withyour face turned the other way! How you run like a coward andmake everything smell so no one can catch hold of you!"Long Claws did not mean all he was saying. He wished to frightenSkunk, and also to make sport of him.Skunk did not say anything. He simply sat still and looked atLong Claws. Long Claws spoke another time, "Now, Skunk, I amgoing to strike at you four times with my forepaws. The fourth timeI strike at you I am going to kill you dead, unless you say you areafraid of me. If you say you are afraid of me, then I shall let youlive. Now look out, here is the first one!"Thereupon Long Claws gave forth a loud roar and shook the clawsof his two front feet very close over Skunk's head, so as to makeSkunk think he was surely going to die. He took his paws down,looked at Skunk for a moment, and asked, "Are you afraid of me?"Skunk shook his head and said, "I am not afraid of you."Long Claws roared and shook his claws over Skunk's head anothertime and then another, and then the fourth time, and at the end ofeach time he asked the same question. Always the same reply came,
"I am not afraid of you."Long Claws was in the habit of frightening everything, so that heexpected every creature to be afraid of him. Of course he thoughtSkunk would be afraid of him, but when he saw Skunk was not afraid,he looked at Skunk for a while and said, "Skunk, you are a bravefellow!"Skunk replied by saying, "It is my turn now to see if I can frightenyou. Long Claws, you sit as quietly as I did while I walk aroundyou four times."
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 39Long Claws had made himself very tired shaking his paws androaring over Skunk's head, and when he heard what Skunk said helaughed so that it made him all the more tired. Long Claws couldnot understand why Skunk should say such foolish words to see if hecould frighten him. "All right, go ahead," said Long Claws as helay on his side resting his head on one of his paws."Remember," said Skunk, "I am going around you four times.The fourth time I go around you, I shall kill you."
"All right, go ahead," replied Long Claws.At the end of the first time Skunk went around he stopped and askedLong Claws, "Are you afraid of me?" "No, I am not afraid of you,"replied Long Claws lazily.Skunk went around three times and asked the same question eachtime, and after each question came the same answer, "No I am notafraid of you." Skunk did not make any noise while he was walkingaround Long Claws. He walked around very quietly, and lookedfor a good place to shoot Long Claws. When Skunk had gone aroundthe fourth time he asked the same question, and as soon as LongClaws had given the same reply he had given to the other threequestions, Skunk turned his back upon Long Claws' sleeping face andshot his bad smell into the eyes of Long Claws.Long Claws jumped up at once and there was a big fight. Hetried to reach for Skunk but could not see where he was, while Skunkwas filling Long Claws' eyes fuller and fuller of that bad smell. LongClaws had a chance to run up a tree and get away from Skunk, buthe was not a coward so he stood and fought, although he could notsee. At last Long Claws fell dead, worn out by the shots from Skunkand the weight of his own heavy body.Then Skunk was very happy. He sat a while upon the dead bodyof Long Claws until along came another Skunk who saw what hisfriend had done. Both at once went to work to skin Long Claws.Them they cut off his claws and made themselves each a necklace.Both went to Skunk's home and told all the other Skunks about thebig fight. Everywhere they went they wore those necklaces.One day the people saw Skunk wearing this big necklace. Sofrom that time on, they took to wearing this kind of necklace. Whenthey could not get any claws from Long Claws they used the clawsof the bear.
5. RACCOON PLAYS A TRICK UPON THE PEOPLE HE VISITSOne time Raccoon went on a journey to see the different countriesof the world and the people that lived in them. One evening hearrived in a village of a very strange people, that is, they seemed123398?39 i
40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125
strange because as he passed along the road everybody stood staringat him. The men left whatever they were doing to stare at him, andthe women held their mouths wide open. Children ran before himand behind him. This made Raccoon feel very uncomfortable, andhe did not know what to make of himself. He had never thoughthe was such a curious creature as to bring forth so much curiosity.Raccoon wished to get out of this as soon as he could, and so walkedup to a group of men and said to them, "How do you do, my friends,where does 3Tour chief live? I come from another country, and I amone of the leading men of my people, so if I could see your chief andtalk with him, my chief would be very much pleased. Besides, too,you see I am a traveler and I want something to eat and a place torest."The men motioned to Raccoon to follow them, which he did.Oh, but the people did crowd around Raccoon as he followed afterthe men leading him to the chief's lodge! The chief came out fromhis lodge to see what all this commotion of the people meant. Hehad not gone far when lie met the men who were leading Raccoon,and they told him who the stranger was."Get away! Let him pass by!" shouted the chief to the crowdsas he went forward to meet Raccoon.You must have seen Raccoon smile when he is happy and feelinggood. Well, that was the way he smiled when he and the chief shookhands. The chief took Raccoon with him to his wigwam. Whenthey got in, they sat down together on a mat. The chief's wife putfood before Raccoon, which he ate heartily. When he was doneeating the chief filled a pipe, lighted it, and gave it to Raccoon tosmoke. Then Raccoon began to talk.
"I am my chief's head councilor," he began. "He sent me totravel among the nations of the world, and see the different kinds ofpeople. My chief wants me to see all the chiefs and their councilmen.He will be pleased when he hears that I have seen you. Now I wishto know if I may see your councilmen so I may talk with them. Ifpossible, I should like to see them tomorrow, because you know I havea long journey and I must be on rrry way if I am to see all the countriesand their people."
"Yes," replied the chief with a nod. "You may see my council-men, but I can't call them together tomorrow. I can send the runnerstomorrow to tell the councilmen to meet, and 4 days from that timethey will come together. That is our custom."
"All right," said Raccoon, "I will wait 4 days. I have one moreword to say, and that is, in my country the councilmen assemble withno clothing on them but their breechclouts and moccasins. But theypaint themselves in their favorite colors and have fine eagle feathersin their hair. Now if your councilmen will come to the council
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 41dressed in that way, I should be very glad to see them, so I can com-pare them with our councilmen, and see if your men are as handsomeas ours. Tell them to leave their blankets at home, too."
"I will do everything you asked," replied the chief. "You canlive here in my lodge, visit the people in my village, and come and gowhenever you wish."
"All right," said Raccoon, nodding and smiling at the same time.The chief was pleased to have Raccoon ask him what he did, becausehe felt that there were no finer looking men anywhere than were hiscouncilors.In the meanwhile Raccoon went from lodge to lodge and saw thepeople as they lived, but the people were curious to know why hespent the greater part of his time in the woods. They could notunderstand what this great traveler and councilman could be doingthere all alone.The fourth day came and the councilmen assembled in a large roundwigwam, exactly like one of our flag-reed lodges. The chief and thecouncilors sat in a circle in the lodge and waited for the arrival ofRaccoon. When they began to think he was not going to come, thechief went out to look for him, thinking perhaps he was over in hislodge and did not know the council had met. On his way over tohis lodge the chief met Raccoon coming out of the woods, and at oncetold him that the councilmen were assembled and were waiting for him.Raccoon knew all the while that the council had met and waited inthe woods, knowing that they would grow impatient over his delayand that the chief would surely come out to look for him. And itpleased Raccoon to feel that it turned out as he wished. Now hewould have a chance to speak to the chief all alone with no one aroundto hear what he said. Raccoon began in a whisper, "I have some veryimportant things to tell you and your council. I do not want thesepeople standing around the council lodge to hear what I say. Sodon't you think it would be a good thing to close the entrancewaywhen we have entered and also the opening in the top of the lodge? "
"Yes," replied the chief. "I think it would be a good thing toclose those openings." Then the two walked in and seated them-selves side by side in a circle.The chief did not ask why Raccoon had come into the councillodge with his blanket about him when he had asked that the coun-cilors should leave theirs at home. The chief and some of the council-men noticed that there was something under Raccoon's blanket whichhe took care to conceal, but they said nothing to Raccoon about thesethings.The councilmen were rising in turn to make a short speech and thento shake Raccoon by the hand as a sign that they welcomed him.
42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125All the while the men smoking were filling the lodge full of tobaccosmoke. The men continued smoking and there was no opening forthe smoke to go out. By and by the clouds of smoke became sothick that even men who sat next to each other could no longer seeeach other.Then Raccoon quietly loosened the folds of his blanket and let outslowly the bees from a hive which he had hidden in the blanket. Hecould hardly restrain from laughing right out loud when he began tohear the men slapping themselves on their naked bodies. Thenturning the whole hive loose, he slipped out of the lodge. Then heclosed it more securely than ever and hurried away. He left themen slapping themselves and it was not until Raccoon had gone faraway that they could stand it no longer. They broke out of the lodge,but Raccoon was not there with them. The chief and the council-men now knew why it was that Raccoon was so anxious to have themleave their blankets at home and close the lodge up tight.When Raccoon had come to a hiding place to rest he had a verygood laugh all to himself. This is how Raccoon once fooled a chiefand his councilmen.
6. HOW BEAR CAUSED RABBIT TO LOSE HIS TAILOne evening when the sun was going down Bear walked among thebriars and bushes looking for food, and as he walked along he mumbledto himself, "It will not be long before it will be night forever." Thenhe would grunt four times and say again, "It will not be long before itwill be night forever."At the same time when Bear went out to look for food, Rabbitcame out of his dwelling on the hillside. After stretching himselfhe sat up and looked all around to see which way he had better go tofind food. He noticed down there under the hill the tops of the bushesswaying to and fro. Presently he heard a low deep voice down there,and in a little while Bear appeared where he could see him. Rabbitlaughed to himself and said, "If there isn't that clumsy old creaturehunting food too! Before I go to look for mine I will go down thereand have some fun with him by making him angry. He will try tograb me as usual, and all I will have to do is to jump to one side veryquickly and easily, and I will then be out of his reach."Then first to the right, and then to the left sprang Rabbit as hewent down the hill, at the same time piping out at the top of hisscreeching voice, "It will not be long before it will be daylight forever!"Bear hushed and stopped when he heard and saw Rabbit. Bearwatched him very closely as he came jumping down the hill. Rabbitwas pretending he did not know that Bear was anywhere around, sothat when Bear called to him, "Hello, Rabbit!" Rabbit stopped very
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 43quickly and looked at Bear as if he had just seen him, and exclaimed,"Why, hello Bear! I didn't know you were here!"
"I don't like what you are saying, Rabbit," said Bear again."You don't like what I am saying?" asked Rabbit."No," replied Bear, "because you always lie. You knew very wellthat I was here, or you would not be saying what you have just said.I speak the truth when I say that it will soon be night forever becauseSun is going to be angry with this world and burn everything up in it,so that whenever anyone wishes to look for food he will have to go inthe night when it will be cool and pleasant."
"Oh, Bear, but you can lie!" piped Rabbit. "I never heard anyonelie like that before. Now listen to me. I will tell you the truth.You say it is going to be night forever because you want it that way.That is the time when you like to prowl around when no one is likelyto see you, and then frighten everybody. Now you know yourselfthat this is the best time of day, just when Sun is going down. Itis very pretty then. It is cool and everyone can see where he isgoing. That is the way I want to see it, and that is why I say it isgoing to be daylight forever."Bear looked very serious and really did mean all he said. Hethought very hard over the affairs of this world. On the other handRabbit did not mean a single word he said. All he wished was toanger Bear.
"I will make a bet with you, Rabbit," growled Bear. "We willsay our prophecies together. The one who says his the longer with-out a break or mistake will be telling the truth." "All right," saidRabbit. "You begin first, and then I will begin."Bear began his prophecy slowly and earnestly, and said each wordvery carefully. Rabbit began his by yelling at the top of his voice,and as fast as he could. Then Rabbit began saying his prophecyevery which way so as to confuse Bear. Then he tried jumping upand down and rolling about on the grass, until at last he succeeded inconfusing Bear. This pleased him so much that he fell over on hisback and laughed so that he closed his eyes.Then Bear sidled very quietly over and grabbed for Rabbit. BeforeRabbit could pull himself together in time to leap away Bear hadhold of his long beautiful tail. Bear was so angry that he did notknow what he was doing. He swung Rabbit round and round hishead until the tail pulled out, and away went Rabbit turning overin the air, until he fell in the thicket."You will mock me and make sport of me, will you?" growledBear, as he pitched the tail in another direction. "See that long-eared creature peeping out of the bushes? Look at him cry! Whydon't you screech and jump around now?"
44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Rabbit blubbered out a number of ugly names at Bear. Bearwalked over to him and slapped him as hard as he could in the face.Then he raked his claws down Rabbit's face, and one of these clawsdug a gash over Rabbit's mouth. Then Bear said to him, "Nowshut your mouth, Rabbit! Don't you live anywhere but in thatthicket! And don't make fun of me or call me any more ugly names!"That is how Rabbit lost his beautiful tail, and that is how he gotthat mark running over his mouth. Rabbit used to be a beautifulcreature when he had his long pretty tail.
7. THE FIGHT BETWEEN BULLHEAD AND ELKLittle Bullhead one time became very hungry. He happened toknow of a place where Elk was accustomed to go for water. It wasa very shallow place, and very stony. Thither ran Bullhead. Whenhe got to this place he was very happy to find that Elk was feedingamong the trees and bushes not very far from the bank. Bullheadcould not see Elk, but he saw the branches and bushes shake to andfro. Once in a while he could see the end of Elk's nose and parts ofhis horn.Bullhead sat up out of the water on a stone with his back restingagainst another stone. His breast looked very white with the sunshining upon it. Then with a mocking smile on his face as he lookedover where Elk was feeding, Bullhead began to sing a song with thesewords:Oh those worthless horns which Elk carries about on his head!Oh those worthless horns which Elk carries about on his head
!
How much better than these horns are those of Bullhead!How much better than these horns are those of Bullhead!Bullhead sang this song over and over again in a low voice, but justloud enough so that Elk could hear it. Arid Elk did hear it. At firsthe paid no attention to it, because it sounded like a song which any-one would sing for pleasure. By and by he began to hear somethingabout horns and then about Elk, and then about Elk's horns. Elkstopped feeding for a moment to listen to the song. He heard itthrough once, then walked straight to the place where the soundcame from.Bullhead saw him coming, but kept right on singing as if there wereno Elks anywhere near. Bullhead continued to sing even until Elkcame to the edge of the water, when Elk yelled to him at the top ofhis voice so as to frighten him, "Stop your singing, Bullhead! Stopyour singing, Bullhead!"Bullhead stopped, and he and Elk looked at each other for a littlewhile. Then Elk stepped into the water as if he was going to walkover to Bullhead, but stopped when he saw that Bullhead did not move.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 45
"You little fish," began Elk, "what do you think you are? I don'tthink I should brag about my horns if I were a creature who could notgo anywhere but in the water! Look at my horns! They are likethe branches of those trees you see yonder! And where are thosehorns you boast of? I myself can't see them. Now, Bullhead, don'tyou make fun of my horns again by singing that song! If you do Iwill kick you clear out of this water!"Bullhead smiled at Elk all the time he was talking. And whenElk had finished Bullhead sat up straighter against the little stoneand showed his white breast more boldly to Elk. Then he winked atthe Elk so as to make him all the more angry. Seeing that Elk wouldnot do anything more, to urge on a fight Bullhead then began, "Youdon't have to tell me how big you are and what large horns you have.I am going to sing as much as I wish, and you can't stop me. Youjust kick me and then see what I will do. You will get hurt, eventhough I am smaller than you."No sooner had Bullhead done speaking when Elk wheeled aboutand began to kick at Bullhead. Bullhead was so nimble and quickthat it was easy for him to keep awaj^ from Elk's heels. He sang hissong all the more, and laughed at Elk because he could not kick himout of the water. Elk became so angry that he tired himself allout trying to kick Bullhead. Elk began to be weaker and weakeruntil he hardly had strength to kick even a little.Then Bullhead dove head first at Elk's kicking legs and stuck his littlehorns into them so deep and quickly that Elk fell on his haunches.Bullhead did the same thing with his forelegs. Down fell Elk intothe water, and Bullhead pricked him everywhere he could until hekilled him.Then Bullhead called all the other Bullheads that lived in the riverto feast with him on Elk. And they all sang:Oh those worthless horns which Elk carries about on his head!Oh those worthless horns which Elk carries about on his head!How much better than these horns are those of Bullhead
!
How much better than these horns are those of Bullhead!8 HOW MOUSE SLEW DEERMouse is a very bad little creature. One day when he was downby the river he saw Deer feeding not far away from him. "I amhungry for deer meat," he said to himself. "I will pretend I wish toget across the river. Deer will help me across, and then I will killhim."So Mouse went and sat on the bank. He looked longingly over tothe other side of the river, and he seemed very sad. Then he begana plaintive song with these words:Oh, I wish I could get across this river!Oh, I wish I could get across this river!
46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN- ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125In the meanwhile Deer had gone down to the water to drink, andhearing a sad little voice on the bank, went up there to see who itwas in trouble. He found Mouse looking as sad as he could be.
"Don't cry, my little friend," said Deer, comforting him, "I will carryyou across."Deer then got down on his haunches. Mouse crawled into Deer'sanus instead of climbing upon his back. Deer thought, of course,that he would come out as soon as he got across the river. Whenthey got over there, Mouse refused to come out, but crawled fartherinto Deer, until he came to the heart and began gnawing upon it.Deer could do nothing, so he fell down and died.Then Mouse came out and invited all the other mice to come andfeast with him. While the mice were very happy, along came Wolf,and they all ran away. Wolf at this time happened to be veryhungry, so he sat down there and ate and ate until he could eat nomore.Mouse in the meanwhile had gone to the home of his friend Owland complained to him that Wolf had driven him away from a deerwhich he had killed, and took all of his meat from him. Owl liked hisfriend Mouse very much, and so he flew away from his hole in thetree and hunted for a long time in the forest for Wolf until he foundhim. Wolf was lying on the flat of his back, stuffed as full as he couldbe, and sound asleep. He was resting his head on one of Deer'shams, and the other ham he hugged, holding the meaty end tightlyto his mouth. Owl flew quietly down beside Wolf, pulled the hamout from his mouth and paws, and put in its place a large stick thesize of the ham. Then Owl flew away with the two hams to his homewhere Mouse was awaiting him.When Wolf awoke he was too sleepy to open his eyes very wide.Thinking it was the ham he had yet in his mouth, he bit on it, butfound it very hard chewing. Biting it as hard as he could, it hurthis jaws and teeth. He opened his eyes and found himself hugging ahard stick. He got up to look around to see who could have playedthis trick, but found no tracks or signs of anyone. He concluded itmust have been Owl because he knew Owl and Mouse were very closefriends.So Wolf started off to the place where Owl lived, hoping to get histwo deer hams back. He stopped at the foot of the tree and calledout, "Hello, Owl, hello!" No reply came. Again Wolf called, "Hello,Owl, my friend!" Mouse came to the hole and said, "Why hello,Wolf, won't ycu come up?"Wolf did not like to be talked to that way. Mouse knew perfectlywell he could not go up that tree. Mouse then called Owl to comeout to the hole and see Wolf. Owl came and put his head beside
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 47Mouse's head, and both sat together looking for a long time at Wolfwithout saying a word to him. At last Owl asked with a low heavy-voice, "Hello, Wolf, what do you want?""Someone stole my deer hams, and I have come thinking you mightknow what became of them," replied Wolf.Owl did not answer him, but Mouse shouted down at Wolf with hislittle voice, "Those were not your deer hams, but mine. I killed thatdeer myself, and you came and took it away from me."Wolf did not answer. He sat there looking up at Owl and Mouse.Then he began to beg for food. Owl did not say anything, butpresently he pulled the deer ham out of the hole so Wolf could see it.This made Wolf very anxious to eat. He begged and begged for meat.At last Owl began throwing down pieces of bark that looked like meat,and Owl and Mouse had fun watching Wolf jump around for them.Thinking they had teased Wolf enough, Owl and Mouse threw somemeat down to him that was spoiled and smelled badly, and then with-drew into the hole. Wolf did not like it, nor could he eat it. He satout there all alone, looking up at the hole, thinking Owl might givehim something to eat. Seeing that they were paying no more atten-tion to him, he went away very angry to his home.By and by Mouse peeped out of the hole, saw that Wolf was gone,and so came down the tree and hurried to his home.
9. THE ANIMALS' QUARRELA man was once passing along through a wood, when he heard anoise off to one side in the brush. He stopped and listened, andfound that a quarrel was going on about something. He went overthere and found a tarantula, an eagle, a panther, and one other stand-ing about a slain deer.They were quarreling over the division of the deer. One wanted thispart, another wanted that, and they had not yet come to an agreementwhen the man appeared in their midst.Then they suddenly fell into silence. Presently the man put ques-tions to them. "Tarantula, did you kill it?" "No." "Eagle, didyou kill it?" "No." "Panther, did you kill it?" "No." "Andyou, did you kill it?" "No."He found on further questioning that they had found the deeralready dead, but he did not learn who had found it first. Then heupbraided them for their quarreling. At the same time he began tocut up the deer in four equal shares. The way he did was to split thedeer in half from the head to the tail, then each half was cut in two again.He gave a part to each of the four, and they went their several waysfeeling kindly toward one another and to the man who had settledtheir dispute.
48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125Comparative NotesThese notes make no claim to being exhaustive. The few mythsand tales presented here would not justify exhaustive searching.With the exception of the version of the Little Startlers, these talesare not among the best known Algonquian lore, and the LittleStartlers itself is not commonly known among the Foxes. Presum-ably these tales were available when Jones made his selection for hisFox Texts. Why they were not included we do not know?perhapsjust lack of space, or perhaps because they were felt to be less typical.1
.
Wlsa *ka frightens the Quails.?As has already been said, Michelsontried repeatedly to obtain this story among the Foxes, but failed, andis therefore inclined to put it down as individual and not tribalknowledge. The tale has a very wide distribution. Algonquin(Speck, pp. 12-14); Assiniboine (Lowie, p. 110); Cree (Bloomfield,Davidson, Michelson, Russell; see Welpley for analysis); Kickapoo(Michelson); Menomini (Bloomfield, 1928, pp. 215, 231; Skinner andSatterlee, p. 298); Ojibwa (Jones-Michelson, I, pp. 41-43, 187-191,415; Radin, p. 7; Speck, pp. 32-33) ; Sauk (Skinner 1928, pp. 149-150).2. How Skunk lost most of his strength.?No exact parallel to thistale was found. The episode of wasting power given by the skunkoccurs fairly frequently, alone, or as part of a "Bungling Host" cycle.See Assiniboine (Lowie, p. 128); Menomini (Bloomfield 1928, pp.193-197; Skinner and Satterlee, pp. 286-288, 288-289); Ojibwa(Speck, pp. 43-44 ; Jones-Michelson, 1917, 1, p. 321). There is anotherAssiniboine tale which differs in detail, but accounts for the smallsize of the present-day skunk (Lowie, p. 204).3. How Turtle lost his place among the great manitous.?This isanother version of a published Fox story, included here because ithas the "complete ending" referred to by Jones on page 314 of his FoxTexts. For similar tales see Assiniboine (Lowie, p. 125); Iowa(Skinner, 1925, p. 490); Kickapoo (Jones-Michelson, 1915, p. 23);Menomini (Bloomfield, 1928, pp. 159-173, 179-183; Skinner andSatterlee, pp. 263-266, 303).4. The fight between Long Claws and Skunk.?The Kutenai havetwo tales about a fight between a skunk and a panther. In the firstthe panther won, in the second the skunk. These versions differfrom the Fox in that the panther was in a tree and the skunk wasshooting at his reflection. A third Kutenai version, containing thereflection element, is about a fight between a fox and a skunk (Boas,pp. 23-25, 41). There is an Arapaho story about a dispute betweena bear and a skunk, won by the skunk (Dorsey and Kroeber, p. 228).5. Raccoon plays a trick upon the people he visits.?Many tales aretold of the tricks played by Raccoon, but none was found resemblingthis one.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 496. How Bear caused Rabbit to lose his tail.?See Cree (Russell, p.217); and Menomini (Bloomfield, 1928, pp. 315-317, 335; Hoffman, p.200; Skinner and Satterlee, p. 408).7. The fight between Bullhead and Elk.?A similar tale has beenfound among the Cree (Russell) and Menomini (Skinner and Satterlee,pp. 412, 413). For another published Fox version see Steward, p. 57.8. How Mouse slew Deer.?The closest parallels to this story areKutenai (Boas, p. 21) and Pawnee (Dorsey, p. 453) versions, in whicha chickadee kills an elk and a turtle kills a buffalo, respectively, afterbeing carried across a river. For the method of killing see also Cree(Skinner, 1916, and Michelson, unpublished) and Assiniboine (Lowie,p. 128).9. The animals' quarrel.?This is undoubtedly a European tale.Note the anonymous "one other" resorted to, to make the number ofanimals equal the Fox sacred number, four. This tale has also beenfound among the Kickapoo (Jones-Michelson, 1915, p. 45?part of along garbled tale); and the Ojibwa (Radin, p. 72).References Used for Comparative Purposes[Abbreviations follow the usage of the American Anthropologist]1. F. Boas. Kutenai Tales. BAE-B 59; 1918.2. L. Bloomfield. Menomini Texts. AES-P 12; 1928.3. L. Bloomfield. Sacred Stories of the Sweet Grass Cree. CGS-PAS 11;1930.4. D. S. Davidson. Some Tete-de-Boule Tales. JAFL 41: 262-274; 1928.5. G. A. Dorsey. The Pawnee. Part I, Pawnee Mythology. CI, 1906.6. G. A. Dorsey and A. L. Kroeber. Traditions of the Arapaho, FCM 5; 1903.7. W.J. Hoffman. The Menomini Indians. BAE-R 14, Part 1.8. W. Jones. Fox Texts. AES-P 1; 1907.9. W. Jones and T. Michelson. Ojibwa Texts. AES-P 7, 2 vols; 1917.10. W. Jones and T. Michelson. Kickapoo Tales. AES-P 9; 1915.11. R. H. Lowie. The Assiniboine. AMNH-AP 4.12. T. Michelson. Unpublished manuscripts.13. P. Radin. Some Myths and Tales of the Ojibwa of S. E. Ontario. CGS-M48; 1914.14. P. Radin and A. B. Reagan. Ojibwa Myths and Tales, JAFL 41: 51-146;1928.15. F. Russell. Explorations in the Far North. Iowa Univ. Press, 1898.16. A. B. Skinner. Plains Cree Tales, JAFL 29: 341-367; 1916.17. A. B. Skinner. Traditions of the Iowa Indians, JAFL 38: 425-506; 1925.18. A. B. Skinner. Sauk Tales, JAFL 41: 147-159; 1928.19. A. B. Skinner and J. V. Satterlee. Folklore of the Menomini Indians.AMNH-AP 13: 217-546; 1915.20. F. G. Speck. Myths and Folklore of the Timiskaming Algonquin.CGS-M 71; 1915.21. F. G. Speck. Myths and Folklore of the Timagami Ojibwa. CGS-M 71;1915.22. J. F. Steward. Lost Maramech and Earliest Chicago. N. Y. 1903.23. M. Welpley. Concordance to Cree Mythology. M. A. Thesis. Geo. Wash.Univ., 1932.
50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125DAILY LIFEEveryday Life 68Sleeping.?During winter the whole family sleeps in the flag-reedwigwam. This has one room. During the warmer months the familysleeps in the bark house, and this, too, has but one room. 59 Thesehave raised platforms over which are booths which are often usedto sleep on. In these bark houses the women and children sleep onone side and the men on the other. This is the general rule. Largeboys whose ages are from 8 to 12 years usually go with the men. Duringthe normal everyday life, the time for retiring is early, usually earlierthan 8 and very seldom later than 10 in the evening. As a rule mostare asleep by 9. Children go to bed at dusk or just as soon as theycan no longer see to play. Older boys and girls do not retire until theolder folk have gone; some stay up until 10 or later. The men, as arule, are the last to retire.The first to rise are the old women, and then come the youngerwomen. The old men rise earlier than the younger men. Children,
18 In the late nineteenth century. For good supplementary accounts see thefollowing: A. B. Busby, Two Summers Among the Musquakies, Annals of Iowa,19, pp. 116-125, 1933; T. Michelson, Autobiography of a Fox Indian Woman,Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn.; H. Rebok, The Last of the Musquakies;and the Reports of the Comm. Ind. Affairs, especially 1896, pp. 158-163; 1897,pp. 149-150; 1898, pp. 160-173.69 Atwater described a Fox house of white elm bark which he saw in 1829(Indians of the Northwest, Columbus, 1850). This house was 40 feet long by 20feet wide. Platforms, raised 4 feet, and resting on poles, served as beds. Barkwas laid on the poles, and the bark covered with blankets and skins. Six feet oneach of the sides was taken up with the beds. Between the beds was an openspace, 6 to 8 feet wide, running the length of the wigwam. Here fires werekindled, and the family warmed themselves in cold and wet weather; and herethe cooking and eating was done (p. 70) . Rebok says that Atwater's descriptionwould in 1897 still be an accurate picture of a summer wigwam in Tama, exceptthat for skins should be substituted blankets and mats of their own weaving, andin some instances boards for poles and bark (Comm. Ind. Aff., Rept. for 1897,p. 149). For a photograph of an elm bark house see T. Michelson, Smith. Misc.Colls., 77, No. 2, 1924, p. 136.Rebok has given a good description of the winter lodge (Rept. Comm. Ind. Aff.,1897). These were oval, 10 to 20 feet long, 8 to 10 feet high in center, and coveredwith matting woven from rushes. The houses were too small to have platforms, andthe Indian ate, slept, and lived on the ground, upon which mats had been spread.The household belongings were placed about the sides of the lodge. A photographof this winter dwelling is to be found opposite page 39 of Rebok's Last of theMusquakies.Many additional references could be given on Fox dwellings. The moreimportant are: A. Busby, Two Summers among the Musquakies, p. 95; T. Forsyth,in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, pp. 227-228; A. Fulton, Red Men of Iowa, p. 442;Rebok, Reports, Comm. Ind. Aff., 1896, p. 162; 1897, p. 148; 1898, p. 171.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 51and the older boys and girls, take their time in rising. Rising is asearly as 4 in the morning; many rise at 6, and most of the rest at 7,very few rising later.There is nothing that corresponds to a bed and mattress. On thehard and level platforms are spread two or three blankets or quilts.A small pillow or a folded blanket is used to rest the head on. Thecovering is usually a blanket which the person rolls up in, coveringup the whole body, head and foot; impure air is the result. All goto bed in the dark. The women are more modest, so the men actaccordingly to them. The women generally sleep within a kind ofmosquito netting. This hangs from four corners, each of which issuspended from the roof of the summer bark house; it is over theraised platform and makes a convenient room of 5 by 5 feet. Underthis the women dress and undress; as many as four can get into one;four children can easily get into one. A blanket or shawl often is putup to serve as means of shutting off all view. Men dress and imdressunder the blanket when there is any dressing that requires seclusion.Putting on a shirt or a pair of leggins needs no privacy. There is,however, a propriety shown in dressing and undressing. No one issupposed to look unless circumstances are such that it cannot behelped. This rule, like many of its kind, is not kept rigidly by theyounger people.Food.60?Corn (red, white, blue, and yellow), beans (bush and pole),pumpkins, squash, lily root, lily seed, potatoes, acorns (post oak),honey, maple sugar, milkweed, and various kinds of berries, fruits, andnuts.Meals.?The women rise first in the morning, make the fire andcook the breakfast, and then they wake the men to eat. The timeof rising varies, but it is usually between the hours of 5 and 6, andbreakfast follows soon after.Coffee, tea, water, bacon, boiled corn or potatoes, and fried breador a kind of baked bread constitute the breakfast. This is always alight meal, and very little time is taken to prepare it.The midday meal comes at any time between 11 and 2, and is verymuch like the breakfast.The last meal of the day comes about 7 or 8 in the evening, and isthe meal of the day. The same things are eaten as at breakfast,with additions. This meal usually lasts longer than any other.
80 Forsyth remarks (in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, pp. 228-230) that while thereare few animals a hungry Indian will not eat, preference is given to venison orbear. He also says that the Foxes used little wild rice except when they got itfrom the Winnebagoes or Menominis. They ate fish only from necessity. Theyliked their meat well done, and made most things into soup. Corn they alwayshad to have, and they also liked beans, pumpkins, ducks, and turkeys, sometimesusing wild potatoes, etc.
52 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125Meals are served either on the ground or on the raised platformsof the bark houses. No chairs are used. The men sit cross-legged,and the women sit either with their legs under them or stretched outto one side.No knives or forks are used by the separate individuals, but eachone may have a spoon to be used separately. 61 One or two forks areused in common. A mat or cloth is spread out, and on it are put theeatables. Everything is put in a convenient place for all to reach.When you can't reach anything, and the only way possible for you toget it is by getting up, then you can point to what you want, and itwill be passed to you. Each one uses a big spoon, and with this veryuseful agent you dip out what you want from the supply before you;you use it to eat with when you find you can't make your hands dothe work better. One may eat out of one plate, but for two andthree to eat out of the same plate is just as common. You can savetime by simply eating out of the bowl or dish containing the supplyfor all. There is no ceremony whatever. The thing you want is tobe natural and fall into a comfortable attitude. Conversation isjust as free on one subject as another. There is no distinction madebetween what is vulgar and what is not during mealtime. All goesthe same. If the vulgar enlivens the meal, then that is kept up. Aman may come up and eat, and at the same time pull off his moccasinswithout in the least bothering anyone in his or her meal. If a man'sfoot is sore he can show that sore to all before him, and the eatinggoes on just the same.When a family is eating, men, women, and children eat together;but when there are more men, the men eat first. A man is supposedto take his place first at the meal. You can do as you please aboutwashing your hands and face before eating. It is always more con-venient and it saves time to wash after mealtime.Cooking.?The fireplace, or what may be called the hearth, ismade in the center of the summer bark house and in the center of thewinter flag-reed wigwam. The smoke goes up and out through anopening in the top. Chains hang from cross-poles over the fireplace.From these chains hang the kettles and pots on hooks. Baking andfrying is done on hot coals or slow-burning wood.The woman, before proceeding to cook, first arranges all her cookingmaterial down by the fireplace where it can be reached handily. Herlard, salt, pepper, meat, flour, water, and whatever else she has areall by her. There she sits until her cooking is done; then she getsup and spreads her cloth to put the food on to be eaten.A hand-made wooden bowl turned upside down is used to roll the
81 Forsyth says (1826) that everyone has his own wooden dish and spoon(loc. cit., p. 230).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 53bread on. The more usual kind of bread is fried in pieces about 8inches in diameter and half an inch thick. When well done thisbread is very delicious. Another kind of bread of the same shape isput into a pan and slowly baked until it is hard enough to holdtogether when a stick is run through it, and held up before hot livecoals. This is the rarest kind of bread made, and it is the best andmost healthful made by them. It has no grease in it and so is notused very much.Fresh meat is usually boiled because of the soup, as it is not only acheap and easy way of cooking it, but it is liked best that way, andthere is more bulk. The prevailing idea seems to be that to have alarge amount to eat is more important than to have that which ismost healthful. Fresh meat when not used at once is hung out on apole or a limb of a tree; in time blowflies often make a mark, but themeat is thoroughly cleansed before cooking. Bacon is highly relished,not only for its meat but also for the grease. The same idea in regardto soup holds for grease: quantity rather than quality is the idea.Boiled sweet corn is the most nourishing and healthful food used.Boiled beans and corn are used a great deal. Often beans are boiledwith a poorly made dumpling. Onions are almost always cooked ingrease with stewed potatoes. "Only white men eat raw onions."The amount of grease used to fry these onions would very naturallydrive almost anyone to raw onions.Strong tea and coffee are made ; the stronger the better it seems tobe liked. When both are to be had, both are made.There is a marked cleanliness shown in cooking, while it is lackingat the mealtime. There is an attempt to clean everything used to cookwith, and the things cooked. The cooking seems to be far betteramong those women who know least, or have least knowledge ofcivilized methods of cooking. The reason they excel is probably dueto the circumstances that follow their mode of cooking. Thesewomen fit into this kind of cooking because they are not hampered bythoughts of better ways of cooking. They know how to cook a fewthings, and they cook these things well. The poorer cooks are foundmore among those who have had experience with better ways. Theytry to vary and change the same everyday diet. Some succeed,while others fail simply because their means of cooking better arevery much limited. A good cook is hard to find. Many men arefound who can cook as well as most women, and some who can cookas well as the best women cooks. Circumstances and lack of meansseem to be the reason why better and more varied cooking is notmore often found.Age.?There were several who claimed to be 60 and 70 years old.One old woman was said to be between 105 and 110. Her eyesightwas failing.
54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Costume 62Dress of the men and boys.?On account of the cheapness of thewhite man's clothing, and the scarcity of buckskin for leggins andmoccasins, most of the Indians dress in a half-civilized garb; but theymake their clothes as nearly like the primitive dress as they can.When at home the older men discard as much clothing as they can dowithout, retaining only their breechcloth and blanket. The youngermen go almost entirely in half-civilized garb. Their shirts are fixedoff with ribbons and gay-colored trimmings, and are often neatlymade; few if any of these have collars, and in place of attached cuffsare ruffled cuffs. All who can use moccasins. These are made eitherwith strong sackcloth for uppers and soft strong leather for the soles,or else they are the old-time buckskin moccasins; these are moreexpensive because of the scarcity of buckskin. Instead of a coat ashawl is used. Beaded work is worn about the neck for ornaments.63Rings, wristlets, armlets, and earrings are made by them from Germansilver.In warm weather small boys go in nothing but a long loose shirtthat reaches down as far as or below their knees.No one wears his hair very short unless it is the old men who wearthe moconi [roached headdress], which is a tuft of hair left in themiddle front part of the head while all the rest of the head is shornclosely to the scalp. These men are comparatively few. The rest,young men and boys, wear the hair fairly long with a diminutive
"Chinese pigtail" hanging down the back, from which are suspendedornaments of German silver and beaded work.Only a few use paint all the time. All use paint at a feast or anykind of dance in which they take part. Everyone who can carries ashawl or blanket. Some wear hats and others go bareheaded.Dress of the women and girls.?The dress of the women is moreuncivilized than that of the men, yet it is comfortable and healthful.The women go in a loose waist that buttons in front, and which has nocollar. Usually two of these are worn. Their skirts, made of calico,hang from their bodies above the hips, and reach, with the older womenabove the ankles, and with the young women and girls below theM For descriptions of Fox costumes see Annals of Iowa, 19, pp. 118-119, 1933;Busby, Two Summers, pp. 96, 97, 112, 113; Catlin, Manners, Customs, etc., II,pp. 23-24, 207-217; Forsyth, in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, p. 235; Fulton, RedMen of Iowa, pp. 443, 445-446; Maximilian, Travels, 1843, pp. 102-106; Rebok,Repts. Comm. Ind. Aff., 1897, p. 149; Schoolcraft, Thirty Years, pp. 215-216.For published sketches of Fox Indians see Catlin, loc. cit. ; J. O. Lewis, TheAboriginal Portfolio; Maximilian, vol. of Ills, accompanying Travels; McKenneyand Hall, Indian Tribes of North America.63 The gens cannot be told by these ornaments. Each gens has a mark whichis used on the grave of the dead, but these symbols are sacred and it is not properto use them on the clothes of the living. Annals of Iowa, 19, p. 120, 1933.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 55
ankles. Two of these skirts are the fewest worn at any one time. Allwear sackcloth or buckskin moccasins. All wear beads about theirnecks and have earrings, finger rings, and wristlets made of Germansilver. All go bareheaded, part their hair in the middle, and havethe back part of their hair done up in a roll almost a foot long and aninch or two in diameter. This roll is ornamented with beaded work;at the other end are suspended also beaded hangings. The womenwear short woollen leggins that reach as far as the knees. All prefershawls to blankets and wear them if they can afford them. Theyornament their shawls and waists with German-silver clasps. Womendo not use as much paint as men, even during a dance or feast.Dress of the children.?Babies are put onto the small ornamentedboards when they are being nursed. Girls are more carefully dressedthan boys. Before they are able to walk almost any land of loosegarment is put upon them, but after they can walk they are dressedmuch after the fashion of the older ones. In summer boys wear fewergarments than girls, or at least girls wear garments that protect theirbodies more than those of the boys do. In summer all go bareheadedand barefooted. SOCIAL OBSERVANCESMarriageA man obtains a wife in various ways. One of them is this: Hetakes a liking to a certain woman. In an unobserved way he learnswhen she goes to the spring for water (or when she goes to fetch wood.He watches for her goings in and comings out through a peek hole inthe lodge or from a good viewpoint.?W. J.), and he plans by happycoincidence to be there unexpectedly while she is dipping water intoher pail. His one object is to speak perhaps only a word, and on theanswer to that word depends the character of his future maneuvers.He may not so much even as speak, for only a glance of the eye willtell him all that he needs to know. 64 Whether he speaks or not andshe but smiles, in either instance then he goes on his way glad of heartfor he is perfectly sure what next to do.In the night at the time of silence when all are asleep he steals intoher lodge and finds the place where she lies (if she did not tell himwhere she sleeps he has found it out from those who know). 65 Thefire burns low at this hour, often under smoldering coals, and heresorts frequently to a flash of light to be sure where she is. OnM If the girl looks steadily at her moccasins the lad has to consider himselfdismissed; but if she runs away he knows that he is to follow.?T. Michelson.95 Fox women always sleep next to the wall. A youth instead of entering thelodge will sometimes call the girl out by thrusting a stick through a chink in thatpart of the wall beside which she sleeps.?T. Michelson.123399?39 5
56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125finding her he lies beside her, he wrapped in his own blanket and shein hers. There they converse in low whisper. He does not tarrylong, for she early bids him to depart with the familiar phrase oflovers, "nahe', nagwa'nu!" and it means, "Now you must be going!"He obeys, for in the phrase goes the assurance that she will give himan opportunity to come again, perhaps also to meet her during theday at the spring or somewhere thereabouts, and for a longer period.It is all plain sailing for the man if he meets the approval of theother members of the family, above all if he stands well in the goodesteem of the older women. An unconvinced mother and an over-watchful grandmother can be of the greatest annoyance. They havelearned when lovers are wont to be abroad, and so about that hour theycontrive to find that the fire needs looking to, for they know full wellthat no lover enters a lodge in the flare of a blaze. Seldom, veryseldom, they go so far as to lie in wait for him to do him bodily harm.They find great relief and mirth, however, in the fact of having drivenhim off in a gale of unbecoming epithets.If he is successful in his suit he goes to his mother and tells Ler of awoman he will bring some night with him to the lodge. Usually thesister is let into the secret with the mother. And if there should beno mother and no sister, then it would be the nearest feminine rela-tive to know of the coming marriage. But who the woman is, whenand whence she will come, he does not reveal in the secret. Some-times the mother and sister happen to know and the chances are fewwhen they are in doubt.And so on a morning when the members of the family awake, theybehold the man and woman lying together. The act of thus beingseen together in the same bed makes them man and wife.The husband's relatives set to work early in the day to clothe theyoung wife in new garments and to adorn her with beautiful orna-ments. The husband fetches forth a pony, the best that he is able toown. He puts on it his own bridle and saddle, and after other giftsare loaded on the pony he lets his wife mount. Then she starts forthe home of her own family. She can go alone, but usually a sister-in-law accompanies her.At the arrival home her relatives relieve her of the presents andtake them for their own. The pony and bridle and saddle all go tothe brother, or to a near masculine relative if there is no brother.In due time the wife is on her way back to the lodge of her husband.This time she rides the best pony that her brother owns, and she sitsin his saddle, and the pony has on his bridle. All these things are inreturn a present for her husband. She has with her other presents,gifts from her family to that of her husband. Should the season bethe ripening time of corn and of beans and of pumpkins, then thesethings become a part of the presents that she brings. Added to these
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 57
are mats and buckskins and clothing. All the presents are for herhusband's family.68Then later, when the husband comes in from his first successfulhunt, the first to receive the game?the whole of it?is the familyof his wife. 67 He remembers them on the return from other hunts,not necessarily on every one; it is only on the first occasion that hegives them all that he has killed.68The wife in turn is of a generous feeling toward her husband's folk.As soon as it is lawful to eat of the newly ripened corn she preparesa delicious dish, a kind of bread with maple sugar sprinkled over it.This she sends to her husband's family for them to eat.This woman that the man selects for his wife is from another clan.If the man has not a home of his own he can live now with his ownfamily and now with his wife's. 69Men and women meet each other in another way. It is in a customwhere music plays part, particularly the music of the flute. The mantakes a position in the neighborhood of the woman's lodge, andproceeds to entice her out by means of his flute. The time is at nightand the man's place is near enough for the woman to hear the notesof the song; the love song if it may be so called.The burden of the song has one central theme. The theme maybe expressed specifically in so many words, it may be partly expressedin words and partly suggested, and again, especially in the wordlesssongs, its obvious meaning follows as a matter of course. Thattheme is a cry, a longing for the gratification of physical desire.What gives the custom its character is in such facts as these:It is highly probable that the woman knows who the player is, andit is equally certain that she knows perfectly well what the object ofhis desire is. And so when she goes to meet him it is likely to bewith the full intent of yielding herself and body for a mutual physicalpleasure.It is not quite correct to say that the custom is unlawful, for menand women have married satisfactorily by courting in accordance
?6 This method of courtship, followed by an exchange of gifts, has been reportedas typical by all writers on the Foxes, from Perrot, who refers to the last half ofthe seventeenth century, to the present day.flT Marston says (in Morse, Report to the Secretary of War, 1822) that Foxlads often served for their wives, hunting for the girl's parents until she had achild (p. 134).68 According to Perrot, this custom explains why Fox men who have more thanone wife prefer sisters, saying they are more likely to agree, as wives who are notsisters quarrel about the presents of food made to each other's parents. (InBlair, Indian Tribes, I, p. 72.)60 Practically all writers agree that the couple could live with the parents ofeither, or alone, as they preferred. But Perrot reports (loc. cit., p. 70) that thecouple lived with his mother until the marriage was consummated, then with hermother for 2 years, after which they returned to his mother.
58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125
with it. But the chances are that those men and women will preferto have a daughter of theirs wooed by a man who comes to the lodgeby night to see her, rather than by one who lures her out to him bythe music of his flute. Ladykillers and harlots resort to the customof the flute, and it is at night during the time of the social dancesand gatherings that the custom runs rampant.The flute is for convivial company also, and the time for its musicis in the spring on occasions when young men go in groups to a socialdance and gathering, playing on the flute and singing as they go.It sometimes happens that a man has a tender feeling in his heartfor a certain woman but he has not within him a way of winning herby actual wooing. If such a man is positive enough in his determina-tion, it is quite likely that he will go to the woman's family and make aplain straightforward statement concerning the object of his desire.Should the parents and relatives look favorably on his request, theywill set to work to persuade the woman, either in a friendly way or byintimidation, to become wife to the man.When he has gained the woman he requites his helpers with abountiful gift, the principal element of which is ponies. He takes hiswife home in the same manner as if he had won her by courtship.His feminine relatives clothe her with new garments and adorn herwith decorations. And he furnishes the best pony he has for her toride back home and for a present to her brother. Then follows anexchange of presents like that when a man marries a woman after hehas wooed and won her.Again, a warrior can get a wife by gift. A father, for example, mayfeel that a great service has been done him by the warrior. The war-rior may have rescued a son alive from the enemy; he may have de-fended the dead body of the son and prevented the enemy from takingthe scalp; and then he may have given the son a warrior's burial, thatof setting him upright on the prostrate form of a slain enemy. Torequite such and other services a father will give an unmarried daughterto be the wife of a warrior.A warrior who has been valiant in war, whose deeds are on the lipsof his tribesmen, has the right and privilege to go to a family wherethere are several daughters and demand the one of his choice for hiswife. He can take to himself a wife in this way, even though healready has one who is ever so faithful.70 Marriage in either wayis accompanied by the usual exchange of gifts.
70 This is the only mention of polygamy in Jones' notes, and the implicationseems to be that it was exclusively a privilege of the warrior class. Allouez (Jes.Rel., 54, p. 219) reports that each man commonly had 4 wives, while some had 6and others 10. But he does not account for the tremendous surplus of womenover men which this would imply, and it seems likely that only a limited number of
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 59Another kind of marriage, probably the most unusual of them all, isone that is sometimes contracted through the mutual understandingof two families. 71 One family may form a special interest in a youngman of another, and so will endeavor to bring about a union betweenhim and an unmarried daughter of theirs. Or it may be the other wayaround and one family may wish for a daughter-in-law a girl fromanother. Often there is a motive on the one hand or on the other andsometimes both play into the hands of each other. The motive maylie in the hope of social or political advancement, more likely ofthe former.And then again, the family with the daughter may see a good hunterin the young man. They may see how he keeps his family suppliedwith food and with other goods. These things the family like, andfeel that the young man will make the right kind of husband for thedaughter. The other family may see bodily health and domesticindustry and stability of character in the person of the girl, and so seethe chance and the possible probability of a good wife for the son.Where the feeling is mutual on the part of both families then everyencouragement is given the young people to carry on their courtshipabsolutely uninterrupted and with a view to ending it in a marriagesure and certain. An abuse of the faith and good will of one is takenat once as an insult by the family that is wronged. Here is an inci-dent illustrating the point.There were two families. One had several daughters and stood highsocially, and the other had a son and was specially known for itswealth in ponies. The family with the daughters thought it worthwhile to try and capture the young man for one of the girls. So farwere they successful that in due time the other family became of thesame mind in regard to one of the girls, the one already intended forthe young man. And the marriage followed as an inevitable result.In the interchange of presents the husband sent to the lodge of hiswife's family a horse that was held to be the best in the nation. Oneindividuals had this plurality of wives. That the Foxes practiced the sororate isattested by Perrot, Marston, and Forsyth, and it is interesting that the explana-tion, no doubt a rationalization, given to all three (from the late seventeenthto the early nineteenth centuries) was that sisters were more likely to agree.71 According to Skinner (Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 31, 1923), Saukmarriages were generally arranged by the parents. References to arrangedmarriages can be found in Fox ritual myths. In the origin myth for the WhiteBuffalo dance a chief arranges a marriage between his younger sister and a manwhom he wants for a brother-in-law (T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 185); and in the origin myth for the Singing Around Rite (ibid.,p. 583) a woman approached the hero's mother in an attempt to arrange a mar-riage with her daughter; and the Fox woman whose autobiography we have(ibid., pp. 311-315) was not allowed to marry the youth of her choice, but marriedone selected for her by her parents.
60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125day the young wife went to her father's lodge and never again returnedto her husband. Now the tribal law holds when a man and womancease as husband and wife that all presents revert to the originalgivers. The principal gift in the marriage contract is usually in theform of a pony, and it, or an equivalent, shall be returned when themarriage is dissolved.The young woman and her family not only failed to give back thefamous horse but they showed also no disposition or intention of everreturning the same. They went even further. While out on theplains hunting buffalo they chanced to pass Fort Riley where thehorse fell into the admiration of an Army officer. The officer set aprice and it was accepted, and so the horse came into the soldier'spossession.The point at issue was this. As long as the girl's family insisted onholding the horse just so long did the young man have the right ofdemanding that her family return him his wife. But he made nosuch demand and he did nothing to persuade the girl to return to him.His act of waiving the right of demand and desiring the girl no longerfor wife put the girl's family, so long as they held the horse, in theposition of thieves. And when they sold the horse they disposed ofstolen property.The young man could have taken the horse by force, killing theholders of it if necessary ; and the tribe and clan would have sided withhim in the attempt, for the sympathy of the tribe and clan was alreadywith him. But there was a feeling within him which prevented himfrom resorting to violence. He had entered into the marriage with afeeling of confidence and trust that was shared by his family. Thatconfidence and trust had been violated and the act pricked his pride.It would have been humiliating to betray even a sign that he wished hispony back, to say nothing of asking for it. And so he resorted to theseverest punishment he could inflict, that of treating the girl and herfamily with the bitterest contempt, and having nothing whatever todo with them. And the punishment was taken up and emphasizedby clan and tribe, and the family wilted beneath it into disgrace.DivorceMen and women separate for reasons of jealousy, bad tempera-ment on the part of one or both, ill treatment, etc.The woman takes all the property belonging to her.The man sometimes leaves and is gone for a long time. His absenceis often taken as a hint and the woman is left free to marry whom shewill. Sometimes the two will agree to live together again, and so theman comes back to his wife.If a woman is deserted by her husband within a period of 1 or 2 or3 days after marriage she is placed in a pitiable position. Women
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 61whisper one to another that she had relations with men before hermarriage and so is not the virgin she had pretended to be, hence herdesertion. Men then look upon her as of a free, yielding nature andon the way of becoming a woman of loose morals.The shortest way out of such odium is for the woman to be taken backby the man who flung her away. A woman can live down the infamy,a thing which has often been done. It is a grueling experience, andit takes a woman of strong character to pull through. When shereaches a point in the ordeal, a point up to which it is believed she haskept herself unstained and her name is then spoken of in good repute,she is likely to be wooed again as a virgin and her chances for a satis-factory marriage are as good as the best.Birth CustomsDelivery.?The woman kneels with legs apart. She leans forward,held up by a rawhide strap that passes under her chest and is sus-pended from above.72 She further supports herself by holding onwith both hands to another strap suspended from above. The strapthat passes under her chest is the kind that the women use in carryingwood. The flat part that goes over the forehead is the part thatpasses under her chest.In her labor the woman is forbidden to cry, no matter how great
72 Dr. Galland describes (Annals of Iowa, 7, pp. 359-360, 1869) a swing of thissort which he saw in use. Other details which he mentions are worth noting. In1828 he was called to a very difficult case. Several doctors were in attendance.When he arrived they still had one more important operation to try. They got 3or 4 feet of grapevine, one end of which was fashioned in the likeness of a snake'shead. The patient lay on her back, and the operator, imitating the movementsof a snake, slowly passed the artificial serpent over her abdomen, from the breasttoward the feet. They said the foetus, on seeing the snake approaching in thatdirection, would endeavor to escape from its confinement in order to avoid thedangerous reptile. This is like the swift-lizard treatment known to the Menomini.Skinner reports that as a last resort the midwife sang the swift-lizard song, whichgave the mother strength and frightened the child, and then administered thepowdered flesh of the "swift" in a draught which caused the child to see what itthought was a snake coming, and made it fly out of her body into the world.This was a very dangerous remedy, as the child in its terror might tear its mother(Songs of the Menomini Medicine Ceremony, Amer. Anthrop., 27,. pp. 307-308,1925).The Fox woman whose autobiography Dr. Michelson obtained was a lessdifficult case and received milder treatment. Her mother-in-law took Indiantobacco to a woman skilled in obstetrics. This woman made her sit up, spat onher head, and gave her medicine to drink. Then the woman danced around theoutside of the little wickiup four times, singing. She knocked on the side wherethe girl was, saying 6rst, "Come out if you are a boy," and the next time, "Comeout if you are a girl," etc. Then she went in and gave her more medicine todrink, laid her down carefully, and held her knees straight up. The treatmentwas successful (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 319).
62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125her pain is. If she cries she is ridiculed by the phrase "ini ya pe acimai yo yo ni wape mo n6 negkine!"Post-natal restrictions.??A woman gives birth to a child in a lodgeset up for her away from the main dwelling. She stays in this lodge10 days after the birth of her child. 74 All this while she is waited onby women. After the tenth day she goes to a water and bathes.She is then permitted to sleep in the main lodge, alone with her child.For 20 days more she must eat her food in the lodge away from themain dwelling. After the 30 days she goes back into the main lodgeand dwells there as before.During the birth of her child and all the while she is away from themain lodge she is waited on by other women. Men have nothingwhatever to do with her.Beliefs concerning conception and birth.?A harlot meets many menin coition. From each she may conceive a child, a very tiny thing.After a time there is a great number of the tiny foeti. Instead ofbeing born they get all squashed up and are thrown from the body inthis mixed-up mass. To conceive, become pregnant, and bear a child,a woman must lie with but one man. 75Menstrual CustomsWhen the period of a woman is at hand she leaves the lodge andgoes to live in a small wigwam that she herself has made. 76 Thetime that she stays there is usually about 6 days, when she is thenclean again.During the 6 days she lives entirely alone, visited only now and thenby women who bring her food and other necessaries. She cooks herown food, and the things that she cooks with, and the things from
73 The Fox woman in her autobiography mentioned a large number of restrictionsplaced on her during her pregnancy (T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., pp. 315-317). She was not to eat anything burned, so the after-birth would not adhere; not to eat nuts, so the baby could break through thecaul; not to warm her feet in winter, so the baby would not adhere to the caul;not to join her feet to her husband's, nor eat animals' feet, nor touch crawfish,so the baby would not be born feet foremost; not to touch a corpse, or the babywould die after it was born; not to stare at a dead person, or the baby would becross-eyed; not to touch a crane, or the baby would always look upward; to ceaseintercourse, or the baby would be born filthy. On the other hand, if she carriedwood on her back, the baby would be born easily.Men were afraid of killing dogs for ceremonies, as if their wives were pregnantthe child might be crippled (T. Michelson, Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 4).74 In her autobiography the woman mentions living outside for 33 days. (For-tieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 321.)75 According to Fox belief a single coitus will not produce pregnancy (T. Michel-son).70 Or that her mother made, if this is her first period (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 305).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 63which she eats, are left in the lodge when she gets ready to leave. 77Sometimes and more often the cooking utensils and eating utensilsare put in a sack and, if in winter, are hung to a tree. In summerthey are kept in the little bark house which the woman erects for theperiod of her menses.The dwelling in winter is made of grass and flag reed. It is small,as is also the small bark lodge used in summer. The dwelling isaway from the lodge, and far away from the village.During the period the woman does not visit the main lodge. Shewears old clothes which she rolls away in a bundle when her time isup and leaves in a tree by the lodge or in the lodge itself. Theseclothes she uses again on another occasion. During all this time thewoman is considered unclean. She can be visited by women and bygirls, but not by men or boys. It sometimes happens that a youngwoman is visited by a young man wishing to woo her. 78 This is con-sidered ill for the man, for it is believed he will become weak in bodyand will be unable to stand endurance. 79The woman must first bathe in a brook, or river, or pond, or lakebefore she returns to the main lodge. She must do this whether insummer or in winter. She must bathe even if she has to break openthe ice to do it. 80A young woman who is having her menses for the first time must liveout of the sight of men for 10 days. Her dwelling place is usually ina dense growth of bushes where she is likely to be hid from the view ofanyone, and the place is likely one that is least frequented. Thedwelling place must be far from the village. During this time theyoung woman has for companion some old woman. 81After 10 days she moves nearer to and in sight of the main lodge.She dwells here for 20 days, and then after she has taken her secondbath?the first was after the 10 days?she is permitted to enter themain lodge.
77 Marston says that not even the steel and flint for making fire are ever usedelsewhere (in Morse, Rept. to the Secretary of War, pp. 136-137).78 The Fox woman whose autobiography we have was so visited (FortiethAnn. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 309). This is all the more interesting in thatthe custom was quite general among the Winnebago, where parents kept watchof the menstrual lodges, but only to keep out undesirable men (Radin, Thirty-seventh Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 137-138).79 Marston reports (loc. cit., pp. 136-137) that no Indian ever approaches thelodge, and if a white man should try to light his pipe from the woman's fire shewould refuse, saying it would "make his nose bleed, his head ache, and will makehim sick."80 A Fox girl was congratulated by her mother on having her first menses in thesummer, saying, "Had it happened to you in winter you would have had a hardtime. You would be cold when you bathed, as you would have to jump into thewater four times" (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 305).81 During this period the old woman gave the girl instructions concerningproper behavior (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 305, 307, 309).
64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Her food during the first 10 days is pounded corn made into hominy.The food after the first menses is usually about the same as that eatenin the main lodge. In the case of the young woman, her food afterthe first 10 days is about the same as that in the main lodge.Beliefs connected with menstruation.82?If a woman kills a centipede,she will have an overflow at menstruation.Mortuary Customssummary of dr. jones' published paper on fox mortuaryobservances 83The Foxes had four methods of disposal of the bodies of the dead:1. Tree or scaffold burial. (Not now practiced.)2. Seated on the open ground, if possible on the body of a slainenemy, back supported, no covering. (Victorious warparty's disposal of a slain comrade.)3. Body seated, head peering out from ground, shed above.(Still practiced.)
82 Menstruating women are, of course, dangerous to others, but they have totake certain precautions to insure their own well-being. If a menstruating girlshould touch her hair, it might all come off; if she should eat sweet things or sourthings, her teeth would come out. At the time of her first menstruation herthighs were pecked and made to bleed, so that her menstruation should not beexcessive (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 307). But most of herdangerous power is directed outward. A girl menstruating for the first timebelongs in the same category with widows or widowers unreleased from deathceremonies and those who have had still-born children (ibid., pp. 489-491).Menstruating women, along with widows and widowers unreleased from deathceremonies, will cause crops to fail if they run through a garden; will kill a treeif they touch it; will cause a horse to die if they bridle or hitch it (ibid., p. 339).The manitous hate menstruation, so that if a man to whom a blessing had beengiven should eat with a menstruating woman, the blessing would be of no moreuse (ibid., p. 303; see also p. 12). Medicine must not be taken inside a menstrua-tion lodge (ibid., p. 161). Menstruating women might "spoil" a youth in trainingfor special blessings (ibid., p. 571) and be the ruin of a ceremonial runner if somuch as seen by him (Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 15, 25).Women in general were under various disabilities in the sacred feasts, but afterthey had passed their climacteric they were considered to be like men (FortiethAnn. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 231).For a myth concerning the origin of menstruation, see W. Jones, Fox Texts,pp. 289-295.83 We have considerable information on Fox mortuary customs. Dr. Michelsonhas published several important narratives and texts on the subject in the FortiethAnn. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., and gives there (pp. 355-356) a bibliography ofthe most important earlier sources of information. The most outstanding ofthese was William Jones' Mortuary Observances and the Adoption Rites of theAlgonkin Foxes of Iowa (Congres Inter, des Amer., XVI e sess., 1906, vol. I,pp. 263-277). A summary of this is given here, to serve as background for thesupplementary notes found among his unpublished papers, but the completearticle should be consulted.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 654. Coffin or matting burial underground. (Got from the whites,they say.)In any case the feet are toward the west. The grave is dug theday of burial, in an east-west line. 84 Some graves are covered withrocks;85 others have sheds over them. Corpses are not kept long.Burial takes place at noon, or between noon and sunset.Relatives do not ordinarily bury their own dead, unless death occurson a far-off hunt and they are forced to. Funeral arrangements areusually put in the hands of a chief attendant, who selects his ownassistants. If the deceased was a woman, women attendants arechosen to dress the body, though men carry it to the grave. Thecorpse is usually dressed in festive garb, though if the person made apoint of dressing simply, the grave clothes will also be simple.Weapons are seldom buried with the dead, for fear of the soul'susing them against the living.86A formal farewell is said, and tobacco is sprinkled over the body byeveryone present. Food and water are placed beside the body, whichis then wrapped up. The coffin is closed and lowered. A shed iserected over the grave, and a stake is driven at the foot. Dogs arestrangled and put in front of the stake, facing west. The dogs areto serve as guides, companions, and protectors.The property of the dead is distributed by the chief attendant to hisassistants. Intimate friends of the relatives feast the chief attendantand his assistants. The immediate relatives then go into mourning.Mourning is characterized by neglect of personal appearance.Ragged clothes are worn, the hair is not combed, the body notwashed, etc. This continues until the adoption ceremony. Unlessthis ceremony is held within 4 years, the soul of the dead will be denieda happy existence in the spirit world, and will instead turn into an owl.The bereaved family adopts an individual to take the place leftvacant by death. The adopted has to be of the same sex and of thesame approximate age as the dead, and the two should have been
84 Among the Sauk, women excavate the grave, using wooden bowls (Skinner,Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 37, 1923). The Fox say that women used tobury the dead (see also Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 409), but nolonger do so, as the holes they dug were too shallow, and small animals ate thedead (ibid., p. 423). This reason cannot, of course, be taken too seriously, asin a common form of burial, performed by men, the head was left to peer out fromthe ground.85 As was also done among the Iowa, Kansa, and Osage (Skinner, Bull. Pub.Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 254, 1926).86 Marston (1820) says that knives and hatchets were placed in the coffins (inMorse, Rept. to Sec. War, p. 137). Galland, a doctor who presumably witnessedmore than one death, referring to much the same period, says that when a personlay dying, all weapons were carried away and concealed (Ann. Iowa, 7, pp. 363-365,1869). He said this was to show their nonresistance to divine will, but fear ofthe dead would seem a more likely motive.
(36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125companions in life. The adopted person, though still a member ofhis own gens and subject to its rules, takes over the duties and privi-leges of the deceased, including property rights; he is also preventedfrom marrying any woman related to him by adoption.The prevailing tone of the adoption ceremony is that of gladness. 87The favorite game of the deceased is played. 88 Anyone who wishes
?
except the adopted?can join in. Then a feast 89 is given to the ac-companiment of kettle drum and gourd rattles, and the bereavedgive the adopted many presents. The adopted then sets out forhome, and the music gradually dies down.A somewhat different ceremony is given for a warrior who died anatural death. Warriors only are invited to this, and instead ofgames, each in turn gives in pantomime the story of a raid he onceparticipated in. This is called the Crow dance, 90 from the crow-skinbelt worn by the warriors.If the warrior was slain in battle, the rites take on a more seriousaspect, and consume more time. The one to be adopted fasts andseeks a dream, with the intention of avenging the dead. The lasttime this form of adoption was held was in Kansas in 1854, but thememory of it is still thoroughly alive.Sometime after the last rites of adoption, the person adopted takesgifts in person to his sponsor. After this there is an intimate socialintercourse between sponsor and adopted and their near blood rela-tives.If the sponsor gets hold of some particularly nice kind of food atany future time, a quiet little feast is made ready for the dead, atwhich the adopted is present. The fire is allowed to die down, theashes are taken out, and the hearth swept clean. The food is placedby the hearth, the lodge put in order and closed up. Everything ishushed. Those few who are invited come in quietly, and after an
87 For descriptions of adoption ceremonies see: Annals of Iowa, 17, p. 59 (heldin 1928); A. Busby, Two Summers among the Musquakies, pp. 188-190; W.Jones, JAFL, 1911, pp. 220-221; T. Michelson, Am. J. Sociology, 34, pp. 890-892,1928-29; Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 333, 359-360, 361-364, 385,397, 411-413, 425-429; Rebok, Last of the Musquakies, p. 46, Rept. Comm. Ind.Affairs, 1896, p. 162.88 The two moieties play against each other (Jones, JAFL, 1911, pp. 220-221;Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 363, 385). If the deceasedwas a Tokan, then the Kickos cannot win, and vice versa (ibid., p. 385). Thisreminds one of the Winnebago fast-eating contest, which good form demands thatthe host's phratry be allowed to win (Radin, Thirty-seventh Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn, p. 487).89 There seems to be a feeling that it is bad to have too much food at these (easts(Michelson, Am. J. Soc, 34, pp. 890-892; Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer.Ethn., pp. 411-413). But another informant justifies the large amount of foodwhich actually is provided by saying that the food is for the ghosts (ibid., p. 397).go For a description of an actual Crow dance see ibid., p. 383.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 67invocation by the sponsor to the departed, the guests eat up all thefood?except some which was dropped on the hearth?and depart assilently as they came.Death? 1?In the day and in the night of the day of the burial every-thing must be quiet. There must be no gaiety of any kind.Burial?2?The grave is dug east and west and 4 to 5 feet deep. Itis dug 93 the morning of the burial.Relatives of the dead appoint a certain man to see to the burial.This chief attendant has others to help him. These aids dig thegrave.A man is appointed to speak to the dead. The speech is a fare-well. 94 In the course of the farewell the man sprinkles tobacco at thefeet of the dead. His position is at the foot of the body. At theconclusion of the talk the face is uncovered and the people look uponthe dead. As one comes up to view, one sprinkles a bit of tobacco.Then at the end of the view, the speaker says a few more words andsprinkles some more tobacco upon the body. Then the body iscovered and lowered into the grave.The chief attendant arranges the gifts as the assistants cover thegrave. When they finish, their presents are given them by the chiefattendant. The gifts were the property of the dead. 95
81 People die for this reason: Unfriendly manitous once managed to kill Wlsa'ka'syounger brother. Wlsa'ka went into mourning. The manitous were so touchedthat they allowed the little brother to return, but Wis&'ka thought that he wasbeing mocked, and though by the fourth night the little brother had managed toget his nails inside the door, still Wlsa'ka could not believe it was really he, andrefused to let him in. If it had not been for that, the dead would return after 4days (T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 364-368, 387-393,473-481).92 For specific accounts of burials see A. Busby, Two Summers Among theMusquakies, pp. 120-121, 122, 127-128; W. Jones, JAFL, 1911, pp. 224-225;T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 369-372; Rebok, TheLast of the Musquakies, pp. 52-55; Rept. Coram. Ind. Affairs, 1898, pp. 165-166.For a mythical account of the first burial see T. Michelson, loc. cit., pp. 405, 407,409.9S Not just anywhere, but near dead relatives (T. Michelson, loc. cit., p. 421).94 For example? of farewell speeches to the dead see W. Jones, Fox Texts, p. 383;T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 367, 368, 381, 393-395,401, 409-411, 417-421, 481. Certain formulas tend to reappear in these speeches,but the phraseology can nevertheless be varied considerably. The message maybe formal and repetitious, or it may be short and very simple, but the substance ofit is usually much like this: "Don't feel too badly that you are dead, as everyonedies sooner or later. However, don't look backward at your friends and wishthat they join you, but go quietly to Iyapata (Wisa'ka's younger brother, the firstperson to die, and the ruler of the spirit world) with this tobacco, and ask him togrant long life (perhaps also blankets) to those who sent it."98 Even the toys of children are given to those who buried them (Fortieth Ann.Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 455).
68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bou, 125Before the gifts are distributed e6 a stake is driven in at the westend of the grave. 97 The stake is peeled of its bark. A pup is chokedand put west of the stake. It faces the west and lies as if travelingwestward. Bands of calico are tied round the lower part of the legs.The pup is to accompany the dead 98 in order that Po'kwitepahuwa wmay not harm the dead.The chief attendant and his associates are invited to eat immediatelyafter the burial. 1 The chief attendant serves the notice immediatelyafter he distributes the gifts. Each one takes his presents away withhim. 2
88 The Foxes say that once there used to be fights over these goods (For*tieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 423).97 This stick indicates the gens of the dead (A. Busby, Two Summers, pp. 117-118; T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 358, 371). War-riors' exploits may be depicted on it (Galland, Ann. Iowa, 7, pp. 363-365, 1869;Marston in Morse, Rept. Sec. War, p. 137; Rebok, Last of Musquakies, pp. 52-55,Rept. Comm. Ind. Aff., 1898, pp. 165-166).98 Other companions were sometimes furnished the dead. Warriors sometimesmade brief recital of their deeds, giving the spirit of the slain enemy to their deadfriend (Busby, loc. cit., p. 122; Marston, loc. cit., p. 137, etc.). This spirit was toprotect the dead from "the one who destroys people" (Michelson, Fortieth Ann.Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 381), take care of the dead and guide him to thespirit land (ibid., p. 383), and do errands and take care of the food which wascarried along (ibid., p. 427).99 "Head-Piercer." Beliefs concerning this mythological personage are ratherconfused, even the question of sex not being beyond doubt. One man who visitedthe spirit world in a delirium reported that he saw nothing of the old hag (W. Jones,Fox Texts, pp. 207-211). Another individual who visited the spirit world waspursued by Head-Piercer, and only escaped at the expense of his horse (T. Michel-son, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 399-401). Another confusedreference is to be found (ibid., p. 393). Probably "the one who destroys people"(ibid., p. 381), from whom the dead were to be protected, was "Head-Piercer."In Sauk mythology he guards the bridge to the spirit world, helped by a watch-dog, and tries to dash out the brains of passing souls. If he is successful, the soulis lost (A. Skinner, Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 36, 1923).Marston mentions a mythical eagle sent to take little children's brains andbury them, to keep the evil manitou from getting their brains and thus acquiringa permanent hold on them. The brains are to be given back when the childrenget old enough to travel, and with their newly acquired sense, they then walkaway from the evil manitou (in Morse, Rept. Sec. War, p. 139). This sounds likea rather Christianized rationalization of Po'kwitepahuwa' s habit of taking outa fingerful of brain, after cracking the skull (W. Jones, Mortuary Observances andthe Adoption Rites of the Algonkin Foxes of Iowa) . This latter concept is prob-ably to be connected with the belief that a hole was bored in the small soul'shead and charcoal put in, to make it forget the people on earth (T. Michelson,Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 358).1 They are fed for 4 successive days (T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., pp. 371, 395, 423, etc.).2 But he leaves them out of doors for 4 days (ibid., p. 371), undoubtedly becausethe soul doesn't depart before that time.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 69Mourning??At the death of a person there is a kigano [sacredfeast] by the clan. A dog is killed in the evening. The hair is singedoff by fire brought from the lodge of the dead. Four firebrands arebrought; they are brought by four persons, each carrying one.The clan holds its kigano all night long. The gourd rattles are used.The songs are of mourning. 4 The mourners eat at midnight.When one of a married pair dies, the other is spoken of as cigawiwa.6This person must not go to any gaiety, must refrain from all pleasures,must dress plainly, unostentatiously, even at times in rags. Theperson must be as inconspicuous as possible. 6A time comes 7 when this person adopts another, or has anotheradopted to take the place of the departed. After the event the personthen is spoken of as pa*niwa. 8 The person then comes out of mourning,
3 The Fox explain the origin of their mourning customs as dating back to a timewhen two brothers had an only sister who was ill-treated by her husband, andfinally died. In their indignation they forced their brother-in-law to wear theirold clothing. It finally occurred to them to adopt another woman to be a sisterto them, and then they released their brother-in-law and gave him fresh clothing<T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 429-433).4 Practically every gens and society has its own mourning songs (T. Michelson,Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 35S; Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p.153). For the wailing songs of the Feathered or Thunder gens see Bull. 95,Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 154-176.6 Widow or widower unreleased from death ceremonies. A person in this statecould profoundly affect the course of nature: dry up brooks by wading across them,ruin the harvest by walking through a garden, crack the ground and bring hotweather by going barefoot, and kill a horse or tree by touching it, etc. (Michelson,Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 437, 439, 485, 487).6 For the mourning rules parents should observe when a child dies, see Michelson,Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 453-463; Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn.,pp. 75-79. For a detailed discussion of the way a man should behave when hiswife dies, see Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 435-451. For properbehavior for widows see ibid., pp. 331-333, 485-491; Perrot, in Blair, Indian Tribes,I, pp. 70-71. Rules are slightly stricter for women (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 360). It is interesting to note that women were mocked andinsulted if they wept for their husbands (Perrot, loc. cit., pp. 70-71), and althoughthe woman of the Autobiography felt terribly when her husband died, she wentfar off to mourn, so that people wouldn't say, "Heavens! she must be very sorry,even as if she were related to him" (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn.,p. 331); but a widower, on the other hand, was supposed to show more grief thanhis wife's relatives (ibid., p. 437).7 Two years seems to have been the orthodox period (Perrot, loc. cit., pp. 70-71,73; Michelson, Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 79; Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 447). According to Perrot a chief had to mourn only 6 months, becauseto show the proper hospitality to visitors it was necessary that he have women tocultivate the land; but a war chief had to mourn like anybody else. According toMarston, a woman should mourn her husband at least 12 months (in Morse,Rept. Sec. War, p. 137). Sauk mourning customs as described by Skinner (Bull.Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 32, 1923) are very similar to Fox, with the notableexception that the mourning period was from 30 to 40 days.8 Widow (or widower) released from death ceremonies.
70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125dresses according to his or her taste, and can woo or be wooed. 9 Whenan adoption is held for a woman's dead husband, then she dresses inholiday attire, Ina'panitci is the phrase used in reference to hercoming out of mourning.The adoption ceremony.?An old man is chosen to take the place ofanother old man who has died. The selection may be made by theson. The person chosen is usually one who was a close friend tothe one who is dead.Two may be adopted at one time to take the place of the one thathas died.A man and woman were adopted. The woman accompanied theman to the place where the men played ball. There she stayeduntil the game was over. Then the woman followed the man to theplace where she was adopted.Two men sat down west of and in front of the place where the pres-ents were hanging. They began singing. Presently the man andwoman began to dance, the man leading. The man's step was but awalk which kept time to the song and the drum. The woman's dancewas more of a dance. Each foot went out and back before it touchedground. The man and the woman danced around the pole where hungthe presents.One time a man died. A period of 4 years went by and no ceremonywas held for him. At the end of that time he turned into an owl. 10A bucket hung from a branch in the tree, and on the bucket hootedthe owl. A person must have an adoption ceremony held for himafter death. It must be before the third year after his death becausein that year he begins to become an owl.The Klwagamohagi adoption. 11?This society is a military organiza-tion composed of both men and women. The members hold the dance
9 If a man or woman would wait 4 years after the death of the mate, he or sheacquired mystic power. If a man's sisters-in-law disliked him, they would try tobring it about that he broke some of the mourning rules. If he did not yield, itwas dangerous for a woman to refuse him (T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept.Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 441, 443).10 A frequently reiterated belief. See, for example, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., pp. 385, 411, 425, 433.11 Rendered by Jones "The ones who do the righting for us" (JAFL, 1911, p.222). Some additional information on their adoption feast is given there, also.Michelson translates it "They who go about singing" (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 545). For the origin myth of this society see ibid., pp. 551-611;see also p. 356.Different societies have their own particular adoption rites. Michelson men-tions several types about which little is known (ibid., p. 357). Jones discussesbriefly the Mide adoption rite (Mortuary Observances and the Adoption Rites ofthe Algonkin Foxes of Iowa), but says the custom is really Sauk, and is importantto the Fox only as certain individuals are adopted into the Sauk society.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 71
at a time when a person is adopted to take the place of a dead member. 12The members stand while singing for the dance. Some of the menhave small gourd rattles and certain ones have hand drums. Alldance and sing at the same time. The men dance in a circle, movingsidewise and facing the center. The women stand side by side anddance without moving from their places. Their dance is a rhythmicalrise and fall of the whole body. The women face the men and a widespace intervenes between them and the men.Feeding the dead. 13?I was once stopping in a lodge where an oldwidow lived. With her lived a married daughter and son-in-lawand three grandchildren. Early in the day she went to the field andgathered some corn that was just ripening. She fetched it to the lodgeand prepared it carefully. She placed none of it on the mat at themidday meal. In the afternoon she cleaned up the lodge and removedthe ashes of the old fire, and rearranged the same spot but did notkindle a fire there.An hour or so before sunset a young woman appeared at the lodge.She was in gay holiday dress. When it was growing dusk, I was calledwith others to come into the lodge. In a place between the fireplaceand the western door sat the young woman on a mat. Before herwas the bowl of boiled corn. We took our places round about thevessel and sat waiting in silence.On the platform at the side sat the old woman. She spoke to therelatives that had died, and when she was done we began eating. Weate until the corn was all gone. The old woman remained silent whereshe sat and ate nothing.The young woman was her adopted daughter. She had taken theplace of a daughter that had died, and had come to eat with the spiritof the departed. The hour of dusk was chosen because such is thetime when the spirits of the dead are abroad. The invited guestswere nearly all relatives of the old woman.One evening I was asked to come to a lodge. It was after sunsetand when it was growing dusk. On entering, I saw people old andyoung seated about a large bowl of prepared green corn. The cornhad been boiled. It was still; not a voice or whisper was heard. Onthe platform at the side sat an old man and his wife. Presently the
12 The person adopted becomes a member of the society. This is corroboratedby statements in JAFL, 1911, pp. 222-223. In the Mide adoption this is not thecase; entrance into the society can only be gained through the usual elaboraterituals.13 For an early account of the custom among Algonquian tribes in general seePerrot, in Blair, Indian Tribes, I, pp. 86-88. Another feast that Jones witnessedis described, JAFL, 1911, pp. 225-226. For a woman's prayer on the occasionof offering first-fruits to the souls of the dead, see Jones, Fox texts, p. 383. Seealso Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 483.123399?39 6
72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125woman began to murmur the names of relatives that had died, address-ing them and speaking to them as if present in body and in life.When she ended, with the name of the last she raised her voice a littleand said: "tcipaiyagi nicamawagi," which means "I am going to feedthe dead." This was followed by "hau ! hau !" from the invited guestswho then began eating. The exclamation means something like "Allright, very well." The guests ate until not a grain was left in thevessel. SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONFox GentesThe Foxes are divided into exogamous gentes in which descent isreckoned through the male line. With few exceptions individuals aregiven names belonging to the gens of the father. (See Appendix Cfor names belonging to the various gentes.)Tablk 1.
?
Lists of Fox Gentes x
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 73REMARKS CONCERNING FOX GENTES1. Bear (makwakisowa, Bear name; ma'kwisutcigi, Bear names, i. e.those that go by the name of Bear; from ma'kwagi, black bears). 14?This is the royal gens from which the chief is chosen. A big gens.2. Fox (wakuca'agi, Foxes, both animal and gens; wakocahisowa,Fox name; wakucahisutcigi, Fox names; wako'agi, Foxes, nameof the gens but not the animal; wakohi'kwawagi, the women ofthe gens). This gens is also known as the War Chief gens(manesenogimawagi; manesenuwi means anything that has to dowith the department of war; manesenuwinawa, one that has beenkilled in battle). The Kindly Chief gens is also said to belong to theFox gens 15 (kecaogimawa). There is a subgens called meskwaposa. 1*No one man is necessarily looked up to as the official head of thegens. When there is a head it is usually a man who has ability forlarge affairs. When the tribe was big and the gens large there wereusually several men who were looked up to as heads of the gens. Abig gens.
14 The gens is divided into Black Bears and Brown Bears. The tribal chieftain-ship belongs in the Black Bear division. Dr. Michelson's membership listsindicate that the Black and Brown Bears have separate ceremonies, for the mostpart. (See Bull. 89, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 5-7, and Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn.,p. 16.) Another name for the Bear gens is ki'ckitlyateigkl , "Those Who HaveShort Tails." This corresponds with "Short Tails," a ceremonial term for theBear gens among the Sauk. (See Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 2,9; and Skinner, Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, V, p. 14, 1923.)15 It is somewhat puzzling at first that the Kindly Chief gens and the WarChief gens should both belong to the Fox gens. Among the Menomini, however,the Peace Chief was a hereditary leader of the warrior police. The Fox KindlyChief gens might be a similar lineage group, in which case their being closelyrelated to the War Chief gens is easily understood.16 Michelson suggests that this should be meskwapuswa, Red Rabbit. If thisis so, this undoubtedly represents a lineage group stemming from Joseph Tesson,whose Indian name was Meskwapuswa. He was born in 1841, the son of aquarter-blood Menomini with considerable French blood, and said to belong tothe War Chief gens. Why he should be a member of this gens is not clear, but itis easy to understand that his descendants might be set apart and given anidentifying designation as a group.Amer. Ethn.. p. 122).) In referring to any specific gens, terms are used which can be translated "Bear name,"or "Those named after the Bear," for example. The Buffalo Society sits as a group at the Buffalo-HeadDance of the Thunder gens (Michelson, Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 21), exactly as if it were a gens, andit is called niinu'swA"ckw& 'Agidtca'i, translated "The Society of Those Named After the Buffalo." Thusit will be seen that confusion could arise only too easily.? A list of gentes for the confederated Sauk and Fox, given in his Ancient Society (p. 170) . As MichelsoDlias pointed out (Amer. Anthrop. (n. s.) 26, p. 96), this list, the most discordant one of all, must be takenas Sauk rather than Fox. For when Morgan got his list in Kansas in 1869, the main body of the Foxes hadalready gone back to Iowa.
* Indian Tribes of the West, in Annals of Iowa for 1S09. The Ringed Perch entry is based on Galland'sPau-kau-hau-moi, left untranslated. Michelson has discussed this in Fortieth Ann. B.ept. Bur. Amer.Ethn., pp. 501-502. He is inclined to consider the whole list Sauk rather than Fox.
? In Blair, Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes Region. II, p. V2. His paper showsthat he was a very trustworthy observer. His list should carry more weight than Galland's.6 Jesuit Relation, Thwaites ed., vol. 58. p. 41. In a list of the various Jesuit missions (1672-73) we find thefollowing: "The mission of St. Marc to the Outagami [the usual French term for the Fox tribe, derived fromthe Ojibwa Utugamig, 'people of the other shore'] where are the Ouagoussak [Fox people], Makoua [Bear],Makoucoue [Beaver], and Mikissioua [Eagle]." With the exception of the Foxes, these groups then disap-pear from history. Since all 4 are names of Fox gentes. and they are described as speaking the same dialect,the probability is that they were not separate tribes, but strong gentile groups.
74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bdll. 125
3. Eagle (megesiwagi, megesiwisutcigi, from megesiwa, the baldeagle, which is white-headed, with tail feathers wholly white, andlives mostly on fish; included in this gens are the ketiwagi, dark-colored eagles, with white-tipped tail feathers. These live on turkey,prairie chickens, rabbits, etc.)-
?
Raccoons belong to this gens. Mem-bers of this gens can be chief, can lead war parties, can be councilmen.Not an especially big gens.4. Thunder (nenemekiwagi).?Also known as the Feathered gens u(wamikohisutcigi, wamikohagi, shortened from wamikonenut, thosethat have feathers). In the minds of some, Eagle and Thunder wereoriginally the same. 18 A member of this gens can be chief, can be acouncilman, and can lead a war party, although it is said that aThunder man is likely to be unsuccessful in leading a war partybecause a member of the gens once refused aid to a Thunder Being inthe latter's conflict with a water-monster. 10 A large gens, probablythe largest.5. Wolf (mahwawagi; mahwawisutcigi ; mawhawisowa, Wolf name;from mawhawa, wolf; also called mamecihagi, servants or waiters).
?
These are a lower grade of people. They cannot be chiefs. Theycan be councilmen, and can be warriors, but they must be of a lowerclass, and they cannot rise to distinction. The chief gentes or royalgentes call them their waiters. It is said that the Wolf gens wasonce divided into a Big Wolf and a Coyote, the former holding thehigher position politically and socially, almost on a par with thechiefs. 20 A big gens.6. Pheasant (pa'kiwagi; pa'kiwisutcigi ; from pakiwa, pheasant;these are also mamicihagi, waiters).?Members of this gens can becouncilmen but not chiefs. The gens is small and has been smallfor a long time. 217. Elk (mecawawisutcigi, Elk names, from meshawawa, elk).Members of this gens can be councilmen but not chiefs. The gens issmall and has been small for a long time. 21
"Among the Sauk the Thunder gens was also called the Feathered gens, andthe ceremonial designation was "You Who Have Feathers" (Skinner, Bull. Pub.Mus. Milwaukee, V, pp. 13-14, 1923).18 They are the same among the Iowa. (See Skinner, Bull. Pub. Mus. Mil-waukee, V, p. 193, 1926.)19 See W. Jones, Fox Texts, pp. 203-207. Other versions of this myth exist inwhich the Thunder Being was given human help (T. Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur.Amer. Ethn., pp. 119-123, 128-129). This latter form of the myth has a widedistribution. Michelson has discussed the conflict between Thunder Beings andwater monsters (ibid., pp. 51-56).20 Among the Iowa each gen6 has four subgentes. The Wolf gens is sub-divided into Black Wolf, Big Wolf, Half Coyote, and Coyote (Skinner, Bull.Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, V, p. 194, 1926).21 The last member is now dead (T. Michelson).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 758. Bear Potato (ma'gopenyagi, Bear potatoes; ma'gopenwisutcigi,Bear Potato Names).?Members of this gens can be chiefs andcouncilmen. Not an especially large gens.9. Bass (aciganwisutcigi; aciganagi).?Members of this gens can becouncilmen but not chiefs. Not a large gens.10. Big Lynx (paciwisutcigi, from pecipeciwa, a mythical animallike a lion, believed to live under the water). 22?Members of this genscan be councilmen but not chiefs. Beavers and Otters are included inthis gens.11. Sturgeon (namawisutcigi, Sturgeon names, from nemawagi,sturgeons).?Members of this gens can be chief. This is the royalgens among the Sauks. It is not a big gens.12. Swan (hahawisutcigi, from hahawagi.z2a?Members of this genscan be councilmen but not chiefs. It is a small gens.13. Sea (Ke'tci Kumiwisutcigi; Ketcigamisoa ; from Ke'tci Kumiwi,sea). Table 2.
?
Analysis of population by gens. 1
Gens
76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125ORIGINAL GENTESAccording to Pacitonigwa (the last chief of the Fox Indians to berecognized by the United States Government) the original gentes ofthe Meskwaki were Bear, Fox (including War Chief and Meskwaposa),Eagle, Wolf, and Thunder. 23
23 Except for Meskwaposa, which seems to be very recent indeed (see p. 73), andEagle, the rest of the gentes mentioned are on Forsyth's list (1826). If the JesuitRelation for 1672 was referring to gentes, Bear, Fox, and Eagle go back to thatdate. It should be mentioned, however, that Pacitonigwa was himself a Bear,that he was talking to William Jones, who was an Eagle (the Eagle and Bear gentesalso have reciprocal ceremonial functions), and that the four large gentes amongthe Foxes were Bear, Fox (or War Chief), Wolf, and Thunder.We have another native statement as to the original gentes, this time from aprominent member of the War Chief gens (Fox) . In a long account of the culturehero which this man gave to Dr. Michelson (this account has not yet been pub-lished, but it can be said that it seems to be a very recent attempt at systematiza-tion, and may even represent the viewpoint of a single, though highly giftedindividual), the origin of Fox gentes is explained as follows: the Great Spirit madethe War Chiefs; then the culture hero made the Bears, and they were to be chiefs,
"because once a bear was the husband of our grandmother" (a reference to thewell-known Bear Paramour myth) ; then the Great Spirit made the Kindly Chiefs;and the culture hero made the War Chief-Bear. Elsewhere in the same account hestates that the War Chiefs were the first to be made, the Bears next, then theKindly Chiefs; that these three were to be chiefs; that the Bald Eagles were toserve the chiefs, and that the other gentes were to come in any order, and doservice for any gens; Wolves were to serve War Chiefs.In the account of Fox ceremonial runners (T. Michelson, Bull. 85, Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 7, 1927), the original and leading gentes are given as Bear, War Chief(Fox), Feathered (Thunder), and Eagle; and when they gathered, one "name"(gens) was on the east side, one on the south, one on the west, and one on thenorth. This stressing of four gentes (four is the Fox sacred number) recallsBeltrami's statement that the Foxes "like the Saukis, are distributed into fourtribes" (A Pilgrimage, vol. II, p. 169). Beltrami gave no names. His letter wasdated 1823. Forsyth's account, written in 1826, lists eight gentes, and throwsno light on the subject.Miss Busby's account only adds to the confusion (Two Summers among theMusquakies, pp. 106-109, 1886). She says "Four clans, or bands, formerlyconstituted this branch of the Indians. The Wolf, Bear, Buffalo, and Elk, eachof whom have the right to a chief, but three alone are now represented." In noother account is the Wolf gens placed among those having the right to a chief.The existence of a Buffalo gens is doubtful, and she makes no mention of theFox or War Chief gens. We have evidence that the Fox gens was one of theleading gentes from the time of first French contact. La Potherie says that theOutagamies are of two lineages, Renards and Red Earth (a translation of Mes-kwaki, the native name of the tribe). Then he goes on to describe dealings thatPerrot had with them. The Rcnard chief refused the calumet, but the Red Earthchief followed Perrot around and tried to smooth out everything (in Blair, IndianTribes, I, pp. 360-361). This was the conventional behavior for peace and warchiefs.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 77EXOGAMYTable 3.
?
Marriages as shown by Jones' genealogies. 1
Gens
78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
It will be seen that in table 3 there is only one possible breach ofgens exogamy, the marriage between a Kindly Chief and a War Chief.Table 4 shows seven breaches of gens exogamy, but there is somequestion whether all seven are actually breaches from the Fox pointof view. The data on these seven cases follow:
Name
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 79RECIPROCAL FUNCTION AND THE MOIETY QUESTIONIn the feasts and ceremonials the gentes pair off thus:Bear?EagleWolf?Thunder
24 Although little is known of the theoretical or actual reciprocal functions ofthe numerically weak gentes, for the stronger ones there is considerable additionalinformation:Gens pairs Source of informationBear?Eagle Michelson, unpublished; Bull. 87, Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 7; Proc. 23d Cong. Amer., pp. 545-546,1928; Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 3.Bear?Thunder Michelson, unpublished; Amer. Anthrop. (n. s.)15, pp. 691-693, 1913; Proc. 23d Cong. Amer.,pp. 545-546, 1928; Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn.,pp. 7, 49.Bear?War Chief (Fox) Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 3, 9.Wolf?War Chief (Fox) Michelson, unpublished; 23d Cong. Amer., pp.545-546, 1928; Bull 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 3.From accounts of specific ceremonies we obtain the following:
Gens givingfestival
80 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125The Dual DivisionThe whole Fox tribe is divided into two classes: (1) To'kana(Oskaciha) 25 and (2) Kicko.A To'kana paints himself black with charcoal and a Kicko paintshimself white with white clay.made by the culture hero, for ceremonial purposes, into chieftains and waiters(Annals of Iowa, p. 350 et seq., 1869). These three moiety groupings are putside by side in table 5. Table 5.
?
Dichotomy of Fox gentes
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 81A person is appointed to one or the other division while a younginfant. 26 The appointment is made by the father and mother, thefather usually having more voice in the matter. The regular way isto put the first-born in one class and the second-born in the other.The rest of the children follow in the same alternation. The father islikely to put the first-born in the class of which he is a member, butit is not necessary for him to do so. He can, if he wishes, make all hischildren members of one class.There is a family where the father is of the Thunder gens and themother is of the Wolf gens. The father is a Kicko and the motheris a To'kana. They have a boy and he is a To'kana. He was madeso by the mother. 27When a child is once put into one or the other phratry he stays thereall his life.28 The gens cuts no figure whatever in the phratry. 29The two parties divide off in ball games, 30 each side having the samenumber of players as the other.The two sides take sport in bantering each other; one side extols itsown prowess and deprecates that of the other, and brags of its ownbrave feats while speaking disparagingly of those of the other.It is a disgrace for a To*kana to die running from any enemy, butnot so for a Kicko. 3128 An important part of the Sauk naming feast, according to Skinner (BullPub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 16, 1923).27 According to Michelson (Amer. Anthrop. 15 (n. s.), pp. 691-693, 1913) thisis the regular rule by which children are assigned to one or the other of the twomajor divisions. It is not that the mother made the boy a To'kana, but the ruleis that the first child, whether boy or girl, is assigned to the division to whichthe father does not belong, and the second child, boy or girl, belongs to the oneto which the father does, and so on alternately. Marston reports (1820) thatthe first male child was always a Kiscoquah, the second an Oskosh, etc. (inJ. Morse, Rept. to Secretary of War, p. 130), but his accompanying remarksmake it seem likely that he was referring to the Sauk.The same diversity exists in the membership rules reported for the Sauk.Skinner's rules agree with those of Michelson for the Fox (Skinner, loc. cit., p. 12).As has just been stated, Marston reported the first child to be a Kiscoquah;Harrington (Univ. Pa. Mus. Anthrop. Pub., 4, No. 2, p. 131, 1914) says that thefirst child was an Ackaca, the second a Kicko, etc. ; and Forsyth said that the firstchild belonged to the same division as the father (in Blair, Indian Tribes, II,pp. 193-194).2S Among the Sauk, according to Skinner, an adopted person sometimes changeshis moiety (loc. cit., p. 15).29 And the dual division has nothing to do with marriage. Pedigrees back thestatements of informants on this point (T. Michelson, Amer. Anthrop. 15 (n. s.),pp. 691-693, 1913).20 The two major divisions were prominent in the festivals, adoption feasts,buffalo hunt, and camp police, as well as in the ball games. (See T. Michelson,Amer. Anthrop. 15 (n. s.), pp. 691-693, 1913.)21 According to Sauk tradition an Oshkosh must complete anything he under-takes, but a Kisko may give up if he pleases (M. R. Harrington, loc. cit., p. 131;A. Skinner, loc. cit., p. 13).
82 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125Political OrganizationThe tribal council.?The head chief is the one who is at the head ofthe tribe. He is the man who calls the council together, and meetsthe chief men sent from other people.There is an old chief who has no authority, but he comes to see howthings are conducted. He was chief until he got too old to be asmuch good to the people as the present head chief is. The old chiefcomes and helps to give his voice in council because he is old and heknows what is good and best for his people.Another chief who comes to council is the Quiet Chief, and he putsin his voice once in a while. He talks when affairs are for peace andquiet. He talks when there is harmony in the council. Just as soonas the man who meets the council gets angry, then he closes hismouth, is quiet, and says nothing more.At this point the War Chief puts in his voice, and this is the manwho is for the moment the principal man of the council. Whenaffairs are peaceful then he is quiet and says no more until things takea hostile turn.There is a councilman, who, so to speak, sits near the chief andkeeps his ear open. He is to support the chief in his arguments, andif need be, take his place in the deliberations that are going on.There is a man who takes down and keeps track of the doings ofthe council. He has a voice in the council. He knows everyone inthe tribe and so is often called upon to do much in the council.There are two men whose duty it is to announce to councilmen andchiefs the place where the next meeting is to be held. Usually one ofthe two does this unless the importance of the council demandsdignity enough for the two to do it together.Members of the tribe come and hear what is being done, but do notenter into any discussion.Election of the chief.?The chief is chosen from the Bear gens. 32Usually the eldest son takes the father's place. If the eldest son isnot competent, the younger brother takes the father's place. 33 If thechief has no son, then his brother takes his place. If the chief has norelatives left, then someone in the Bear family is chosen. The manchosen does not necessarily have to be a warrior. He should be asafe man who will have the interests of the people at heart. Electionof the chief is made by the councilmen. No vote is cast. The matteris talked about and a conclusion is come to by a general discussion.32 Specifically from the Black Bear division. Pacitonigwa was a Brown Bearand therefore not acceptable to all members of the tribe (Michelson, unpublished).33 There is an interesting item in Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 181.It is remarked that whoever could step over the sacred pack was to become chief.Only the chief's son was able to. Does this indicate the existence of some sort ofpsychological or magico-religious test of fitness for the position?
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 83Anyone dissenting is gradually persuaded until there is a generalagreement all around.Native point of view on Fox government.?According to Pacitonigwa 34and Nasapipyata, 35 there are two ruling gentes among the Meskwaki,the Bear and Sacred 36 gentes. They have equal power. The twohead chiefs sit face to face in council. The Bear chief is the chief ofthe people as they exist among themselves, and the Sacred chief is thenation's representative in matters outside. The Sacred chief is thenation's spokesman in council with another nation. The Bear chiefconducts himself according to public opinion. The Sacred chief cantake the initiative. As a matter of fact the Bear chief is but a figure-head, while the Sacred chief is a very real kind of official.Next in position, politically, is the War Chief gens. This is theFox gens. 37
34 A Brown Bear, recognized as chief by the United States Government, andby a large part of the tribe.35 A noted warrior and councilor, a member of the Bass gens, and the brother ofPacitonigwa's wife.36 This is the only mention on record of a Sacred gens. I have no idea what isreferred to, unless possibly the Kindly Chief gens. Even if this is so we arelittle better off, as we have practically no information about the latter.37 There is no adequate account of Fox political organization. Jones' materialis incoherent and raises more questions than it answers. Forsyth has little tooffer. He says that the chieftainship was hereditary, the power descending tothe oldest male, and on refusal extending to brothers or nephews of the chief, andso on through male relatives of the family. There were no female chiefs. Chiefsdirected the principal brave of the nation to plant sentinels. If relatives refusedgifts offered in commutation of murder the chiefs settled the business. Councilswere occasionally secret. Decisions had to be unanimous (in Blair, Indian Tribes,II, pp. 186-187). Putting this with Jones' material there are still many lacunae.In the past there were ceremonial runners, so called. This was a very difficultand honorable office, and took especially severe preparation in the way of fasting.The principal source of information about them is Michelson's paper?Notes onthe Ceremonial Runners of the Fox Indians, Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 1-50,1927. Much about this is obscure. They no longer have ceremonial runners,but in the past they seem to have been important in publicizing and enforcingthe decrees of the council. They are said to have been part of the council, andit was their duty to call the members of the council together. They carriedmessages to neighboring tribes, carried important news from house to house,controlled the weather. They could not marry, use bad words, or mock theirfellow-tribesmen. Because of their restrictions and powers they were very highlyesteemed, and their opinion was important enough to break a deadlock in thecouncil.The council appears to have had considerable power. They chose the chief,within the specified blood lines. This chief, according to Jones, had little actualpower. He seems to have been a sort of executive officer for the council. Howdid the other councilors get their positions? About this we can only speculate.The peace chief, the war chief, the emeritus chief, and the executive chief were
84 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125-Crime and PunishmentLaw respecting strangers.? If a stranger from another tribe comes ona visit and asks for the dwelling of the chief, he is led to the chief'slodge. The chief entertains him. This is a sign that he can moveabout among the people with freedom and safety. If he is slain
?
that is, murdered?the people can make no complaint if the man'sfriends murder the chief. But if the stranger stops first with any-other member of the tribe and is murdered before he is received by thechief, then there is no reparation to be had for him.Control by ridicule.?In the battle between the Foxes and the PlainIndians there was one Indian who betook himself down the bluff be-hind which he sought shelter. This one Fox went far down where hewas out of range of the bullets, and took his gun apart so that he mightnot have to take part in the fight. While the battle was going on theman was down there fixing his gun. Ever after the battle the manwas called the gunsmith, not as a term of commendation but as a termof ridicule. It was thrown up at him on all occasions, and he had totake it without showing resentment.Breaking of contractual obligations.?See data given for marriage,pp. 59-60.Violation of mourning taboos.?It is held unlawful for a widower tocohabit with women during the period that he is in mourning for hisdeceased wife, or to marry again before an adoption ceremony hasbeen held for her. A violation of the law brings upon him no directpunishment from tribe or gens or kin. His punishment is meted out tohim in this form:If he marries again before the adoption ceremony, women relativesof his former wife and other women go to his lodge and proceed to ripex officio member^ of the council, but how did they get their office in the firstplace? Direct evidence is lacking here, but inferential material points consis-tently in one direction. The situation is probably to be linked up with the strongritualization of Fox gentes. Michelson obtained some data bearing on this point.He was told that the kindly chief was not allowed to speak a cross word, nor washe permitted to kill anything, even an insect, while the war chief was licensed tobehave arrogantly.Perhaps the word "chief" has been too loosely used. It is highly probable thatthere were several chiefs differing in function and in ritualistic restrictions. Therestrictions which the kindly chief had to observe, for instance, may be the ex-planation for the "refusal" of the chieftainship mentioned by Forsyth.The nebulous material begins to take on a certain shape if considered in connec-tion with social integration. It seems reasonably clear that each gens had certainresponsibilities toward the tribe as a whole, certain services to be performed throughdefinite ritual. It is hard to believe that each gens, or at least each gens of nu-merical importance, was not represented on the council. And it seems likelythat these representatives would be picked in some way by the gens in question.In the case of the war gens and the sacred gens these representatives would alsoBerve the tribe as a whole in a capacity related to the general gens function.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 85
off the clothes from the person of his wife and to smash to pieces all thedomestic property they can get at. Women enough go to overpowerand pummel the husband the moment he tries to take his wife's part.The effect of such punishment is abject humiliation. To be set uponby a pack of angry women and to be thoroughly trounced by themmake a stain which a man can never wipe out, however much he maythereafter conform to all the laws.The law of the tribe lays down that a widow shall not have anyrelations whatever with men while she is in mourning for her deadhusband. In the more innocent violations of the law, the penalty is aclip of flesh from off her ear; and should she cohabit or marry, thepenalty can be death both for her and for the man with whom shebroke the law.Adultery. 38?A woman's husband had died, and so according to cus-tom she went into mourning for him. In due time came the ceremonyof adoption which set free the soul of her husband and gave her theprivilege of manying again. No sooner was the ceremony done thanthere came to her father's lodge an unmarried brother-in-law of hers.He had come according to the spirit of the tribal law that gave himthe right to take unto himself for wife a sister-in-law who had beenmade widow by the death of the brother. Nothing was left for thefather but to give up his daughter for marriage, and nothing was leftfor the daughter but to take the brother-in-law for her husband.A time was then set when the man would take the woman for wife,and the occasion was to be at her father's lodge. Accordingly came theman at the appointed time, and when he entered the lodge and tookhis seat at the place that had already been prepared for him he beheldgood things to eat. The food was yet in the cooking vessels, andwaiting only for the arrival of the prospective groom to be served out invessels and eaten. The vessels?wooden bowls and wooden spoons
?
were in their places on the mat that was spread for the eating.But he beheld no woman, not even a sign of her presence anywhereabout. He waited and waited, and the longer he waited the moreanxious for her he became. At last he inquired after her, and thefather replied that she and her small brother had gone into the field,probably to fetch new corn, and that she had left word she wouldreturn anon.The woman's absence became so heavy on his mind that at last hedecided to go down to the field and find her if he could. He followedthe tracks of the two people until he came upon the little brother.
,8 Formerly adultery on the part of the woman was punished by cutting off herears, nose, or even killing her. A husband might kill her lover if the latter wascaught red-handed. This is plentifully attested. See Forsyth, pp. 214-215;Cutting Marsh (1835), Wisconsin Hist. Soc. Colls., 15, p. 118, 1900; Wm. Jones,Fox Texts, Pub Am. Ethn. Soc, vol. I, pp. 142-144; T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann.Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 343.
86 BUREAU OF AMERICAN" ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125The man asked the child where his sister was, and the reply was thatshe had gone off in a certain direction which was indicated by pointingwith the finger.He followed the direction for only a short distance when he cameupon the woman cohabiting with a man. The woman's favoriteescaped with his life only because he happened to be swifter of foot.And as for her she was shot with arrows until she was dead. The manslew her after the return from his pursuit.Then up to the lodge he went and there told the father what he sawand what he had done. The father said nothing, but called for anotherdaughter, the only one he had left, and really much too young tomarry. He bade her rearrange the bed that the elder sister had made,and for her to brush it clean.The little girl did as her father told her.Then he commanded her once more, and this time it was for her to sitbeside the man and in the place where the elder sister would have sat.In this, too, she also obeyed, and by the act she was made wife to the man.The penalty for biting another's nose.?The penalty is death for aman to bite another's nose. The bitten has the privilege of metingout death to the biter. The privilege is not questioned, for it receivesthe sanction of gens and tribe. The biter may save himself from deathif the ponies which he offers to the bitten are accepted by him. Theponies are considered as payment for the injury done the person. Arefusal to accept the payment is a sign for the biter to be on guardfor his life, for the bitten will slay him at the first opportune occasion.In case the biter in defense slays the bitten then the relatives of thelatter take up the feud; and then nothing short of death to the biteris likely to end the affair.Murder. i9?There are two ways of treating a murderer. One is tohave death meted out to him by the relatives of the person he killed.Should the relative be unable to slay him, then the gens of the mur-dered comes forward and sees that the murderer is slain. The secondis to have him satisfy the relatives of the murdered with a gift ofpresents. The gift shall be considered of great value, and must con-tain ponies, for they are the principal element in the gift.A man has killed his wife. The woman was of the Fox gens and itat once took up the feud. The gens informed the murderer to appearin the morning at their big lodge. The lodge was a summer bark
39 Forsyth says that murder was usually commuted with gifts; if the relativesrefused gifts, the chiefs ordinarily settled the matter. The murderer in someinstances married the widow of the person he killed (in Blair, vol. 2, p. 187).Cutting Marsh remarked that they had no laws for the punishment of any crime,"even murder may be expiated by money or presents" (loc. cit., p. 118).The belief existed that anyone who had committed murder would have anosebleed when he came in where a sacred pack was. (See Michelson, FortiethAnn. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 241.)
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 87lodge large enough for three or four fires. It was there that the gensheld its sacred observances and deposited its religious keepsakes.In the morning the murderer came as he was bidden. He took hisplace before the fire nearest the front entryway and there he squatted,silent and with head bowed.By and by the lodge began to fill up with men of the Fox gens,many of them relatives of the slain woman. They were painted redover the face and body. 40 Two raised platforms ran the length of thelodge, one on each side. Upon one of these sat the men side by side,forming an unbroken line from the front entryway to the rear entry-way. At the far end of the line and within the rear entryway stoodone of the men with a small "squaw-ax" in his hand. He was theexecutioner, and he was to kill the man by caving in the back of hishead with the ax. The ax, too, was painted red.The men never spoke and all was silent in the lodge. Presentlythe man at the head of the line, the one nearest the front entryway,nudged his thumb into the hip of the man at his side. The next manpassed the nudge on to the man beyond and then on and on it wentuntil suddenly it stopped somewhere. While the men glanced in-quiringly into the faces of one another, one of them slid off the plat-form. This man's place was about the center of the line and he wasthe last man nudged.He walked over to the place where the murderer sat squatting andplaced a new blanket over his shoulders. Then taking the murdererby the hand he led him to the vacant platform opposite the one thatwas lined with men, and there left him.The murderer sat down there on the platform. Presently the gensbegan to break up and it was not long before they were all departinghomeward. In a little while came relatives of the murderer bringingwith them ponies and presents for the relatives of the murdered woman.Passing the nudge from man to man was as good as saying, "I thinkthe man ought to be killed for the murder of his wife. If you agreewith me nudge the other man." Only a unanimous vote could bringabout the death of the man and so the act of one man in stopping thepassing nudge was the same as saying, "The man shall not be killedfor the murder of his wife." And the putting of the new blanket overhis shoulders and raising him up on his feet and leading him over to theraised platform where he could sit down and face the gens all meantthat the murderer would be allowed to pay for his crime with a gift.And the acceptance of the ponies and other presents on the part of themurdered woman's relatives put an end to the blood feud between themurderer and the gens of the murdered. 41
40 Red was the special paint of the Fox gens.41 It is not possible to make an analysis of social control among the Foxes fromthe available data. Not only are the data on crime and punishment scanty, but we123399?39 7
88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125CEREMONIES AND GAMESThe Sacred Feastgeneral description of the kigano, or sacred feastOne kind is held during the fall, winter, or spring. A man kills adeer and he decides to pray. Say he is an Eagle. He makes it knownto a number of other Eagles that he is going to pray. These otherhave no adequate knowledge of the political situation, basic to the problem.Some additional information bearing on the general question, and particularlysome interesting notes on their ethical standards, are to be found scattered throughthe literature, and that material is presented here.From information scattered through Michelson's publications, notably Bull.85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., and Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 81, 307, 311,and 607, we find that Fox girls were to be industrious, Fox boys to fast earnestly,and the young people of both standards were enjoined to live quietly, treat theaged well, be generous, not steal, not say things against other people, and not becross. A special point is made that a man who knows nothing of the nature of awoman, and a woman who knows nothing of the nature of a man, are the ones themanitou thinks most highly of; but only those ambitious for unusual spiritualpowers heeded this.Keating has recorded a very interesting conversation on ethical standards whichhe had with his guide, a Sauk, in his book Narrative of an Expedition to the Sourceof St. Peter's River, etc., Phila., 1824, pp. 219-224. Keating asked his guide,Wennebea, the son of a Sauk chief, what constituted a good man. Wennebea saida good man was mild, affable (particularly to his squaw) , hospitable, not quarrel-some when intoxicated; he should divide presents given him, and should keep asmany wives as he could support, as this would mean he could extend more hos-pitality. (Keating questioned him about the kind of hospitality he had in mindand found that he definitely did not mean offering squaws to strangers.) Thegood man should also give frequent feasts and sacrifices, and should expose theskins of white deer on trees. In these cases the man himself should never eat, buthis friends should eat everything up with the exception of a small part which wasthrown in the fire. It was the duty of men to hunt, fight, build lodges, dig canoes,take care of the horses, make wooden spoons, etc. The women were to hew wood,carry water, plant and raise corn, take care of their families, and in the absence ofthe men, attend to the horses, build the lodges, etc. Women should be obedientand affectionate to their husbands, kind to all children and partial to none, affableand courteous to all men, though avoiding familiarity. They should be inviolablychaste and industrious. In selecting wives beauty was less important than good-ness.A statement on ethical standards was recently obtained from Young Bear,eldest son of the late Fox chief (Annals of Iowa, 19, pp. 221-234, 1934):"As I remember in early childhood, the right and wrong was taught to me bymy parents. They showed me what was right and what was wrong. Theytaught me not to do what was bad, and so one of these things was not to take thethings that belonged to someone else. Stealing has been taught to us as being oneof the worst evils to be done by anyone, and the life that is taught to us is that ifanyone takes the road that is not right he will not have life?he will not live long
?
but the one who keeps his life clean will live long and will be looked upon by theGreat Spirit.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 89Eagles bring food, some maple sugar, some pumpkin, some corn, etc.The prayer is held during the day, beginning in the morning.Mamecihagi, waiters, come to the lodge of the Eagle who is gettingup the Klgano, and prepare the food for the invited. This Eagle thensends out one mameciha to invite members outside of the Eagle gensto come to the feast. If there are eight pieces of meat in one wooden
"Kindness is another thing that is taught to us?to be kind to all living things;to be kind to the poor, and to be kind to everyone, and so if we see anyone who isold and feeble and tottering along we should not laugh, we should not mock him;if we see anyone crippled, we should not say anything, but favor him and feel kindtoward him."To make friends wherever we go is another thing. We were taught to respecteveryone and to be friendly, and so one of the things that is taught to us is to be freewith everything that we have. In those days food was regarded as one of thegreatest gifts anyone could give; and so the food, if we have food, if we have plentywe should not think only of ourselves, but of our people first, and so we shouldgive, give, and always give as much as we can. If we see anyone, if we see oldpeople in a lodge by themselves, having a hard time, we should go over with foodand enter their lodge. We should give them the things that will make them com-fortable. And so the custom was, in the old days, that whenever a family is sickand cannot get their own food and cannot make their own things, that it was upto the people to help them, not for pay, but just kindness, to help one another. Ifthe old people live in a house by themselves, they should be helped. And so itwas the duty of every young man who was able to do anything, it was to help theold people and give them food or whatever they needed. In this way the GreatSpirit blesses the young people, and it is because of this they live long. Why is itthat a young man helps his old people? It is because the thing that has beentaught to us is that the Great Spirit blesses and makes those young people livelong, those who help the old people. The old people when they live to be of oldage, they do not live to an old age because they have taken care of themselves, butthey are blessed by the Great Spirit, and so the young men who help them arethose blessed by the Great Spirit."We should not say things that are not so. To lie to one another is an evil thing,and we should not lie to one another, and when we say the things that are true weshould not be ashamed to tell one another the truth. Be true to one another,be true to your friends, be true to everyone, because the one who lies is not theone who is looked upon by the Great Spirit, but truth is the thing that the GreatSpirit wishes to have, and he blesses the children who tell the truth."Michelson found that the Foxes distinguish between vice (mAdtcimInA'kyaweni)and sin (ne 'ciwAnatAnO 'kyaweni). See Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 56, andBull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 17.Vices: Beating a woman, poisoning, murder. Sins: Incest, giving girls strongdrink, child abandonment, stealing, desecrating a sacred pack, singing sacredsongs flippantly, courting women unreleased from death ceremonies, violation ofpregnancy taboos, refusal by a woman to marry the widower of her deceased sister.Rape and adultery, though not mentioned, would undoubtedly come under theheading of vice, since there was no concept of supernatural punishment. Rape6eems to have been very nearly nonexistent.Wife beating is not common among the Foxes, but occurs sporadically. Rela-tives do not interfere, but take the attitude that if the couple are left alone theywill come out all right (Forsyth, in Blair, Indian Tribes, vol. 2, p. 215; Michelson,Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 242-243, 1924).
90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125bowl, the mameciha holds eight stems in his hand. He invites untileight persons have been invited to the feast.When the invited appear they find the Eagles waiting for them. Ifthe kigano is held in a winter lodge the Eagles are seated at one end.In front of them are spread out the medicine rolls or bags, calledmicamani. The Eagles sit and drum the air slowly with cicikwanani,gourd rattles, and chant songs.Before the first singing and while the food is cooking in the kettles,the Eagles say to themselves to which spirit the food is sacrificed.One will take a pinch of tobacco from a knot and say: "This maplesugar and this pumpkin are for the Buffalo. This dog is for Wlsa'ka.This food is for Night, and this is for Sun." The sprinkling of tobaccoaccompanies the mentioning of each spirit's name. Then six or eightsongs are sung. This is followed by a period of silence. Again thereis another singing of the same songs as before. About this time thefood in the kettles begins to be done. As the food gets done thekettles are raised. The Eagle who is in charge of the kigan5 then tellsa waiter that there are so many sticks for that kettle and that he go outand invite as many people as there are sticks. The same thing is donefor the other kettles. As the second song begins the people then beginto eat.All the food must be eaten before the fourth singing begins. Beforethis singing begins someone of the invited rises to his feet and praysthankfulness for the food. After the fourth singing the people dis-perse to their lodges. Then the Eagles go and eat of food that iscooked for them by their families at their homes. It is their firstmeal since the one they had in the morning before going to the feast.In the summer time the kigano is held in the summer bark lodges.
Restrictions against intragens marriages have now relaxed but were formerlyrigid. Whoever even thinks of marrying within the gens "is indeed shattering hislife" (Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 149).Stealing is rare. Michelson has heard of but one case in the last 20 years.Forsyth remarked that the Indians were not thievish, except in the case of horses(loc. cit., p. 187). Stealing horses, particularly picketed horses, counted amongthe war honors. Otherwise the Fox attitude toward stealing was that if anyonewere to take to stealing he would always be in want (Michelson, Fortieth Ann.Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 571, 1924)."In the case of civil injuries appeal is made to the old people of both partieswho are generally acceded to" (Forsyth, loc. cit., p. 186).Children were carefully watched, and if they did anything that was not right, orbroke any rules, they were made to fast from one to several days. Children wereinstructed by their parents, but it was recognized that certain men knew more thanthe rest about some subjects, like hunting or religion, and these men would callall the children together for an evening and instruct them (Annals of Iowa, 19, pp.120-125, 1933).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 91This kigiino is very much the same as the other except that in thiscase there is dancing. 42A leader is chosen for the dance. He is given certain things froma micami to decorate himself with. He is given a fife and certainother things from the roll.He selects usually a young woman to follow him in the dance. Thewoman must be of his gens. She also wears something from themicami.It is unlawful to walk across the place where the medicine rolls lie.Some singings take 2 hours. Each gens has its own songs, and amember of one gens may not know the ceremonial songs of another.It may be improper for him to ask information regarding songs ofanother gens.All the dances are pretty much the same.The leader blows a fife at the change from an old to a new song.There are four dances, and all the food must be eaten before thelast dance begins. Feasts of ThanksgivingJust as soon as the corn is ripe enough to eat the different gentesbegin to hold gatherings to which members of other gentes are invited.These services are religious, preparatory to the thanksgiving dance.Each gens holds two services (??W. J.) and when every gens hasfinished the dance is held.New corn is gathered and prepared during the day. A dog iskilled and also fixed up for eating. They now use dog to make upfor the lack of deer, turkey, and other wild game.43 Invitations are
42 Michelson has repeatedly called attention to the essential uniformity of Foxgens festivals. (See particularly his Note on Fox Gens Festivals, Proc. 23d Int.Cong. Amer., pp. 545-546, 1928.) It seems probable that with more completeinformation significant differences in festivals would also appear. Even nowseparate threads can be disentangled. For example, Michelson's accounts ofFox gens festivals (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., and Bulls. 72, 85, 87,89, 95, and 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn.) show that the feature of eating sugar frombowls without using the hands, and overturning the bowls with the nose occursin all the gens festivals in worship of the buffalo, and in no others. Also, althoughpositive information is sometimes lacking, the fast-eating contest is not a constantfeature, and it is noteworthy that it is not reported for any of the buffalo festivals.(See Appendix D.)43 This is interesting if it can be relied on. Rideout's little book, WilliamJones, brings out that Jones had a horror of eating dog, and his informants mayhave felt a need of explaining away the custom. On the other hand there is goodreason to believe that the eating of dog was not always associated with all typesof Algonquian sacred feasts. Perrot describes bundle feasts at which dog was eaten(tribe not specified, although presumably the Ottawa; the time was between1665 and 1699), of which he says: "Feasts of this sort are usually made only on
92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
sent out to a few to come and eat, not for their bodies' good, but toplease Manetowa. No one comes except the invited. The invitinggens does not eat, but does the praying of thanksgiving to the manitoufor his goodness in giving them corn, etc. These men who pray siton the south side on the raised platform, and with gourd rattles intheir hands begin to sing in monotone a prayer or lamentation toinvoke the presence of the manitou.Between the fire and the west center pole of the house is spreadthe manetowa. This is the medicine bag, opened only during religiousservices. Often a To*kan and Kicko stand one on the south and oneon the north side of this manetowa. They stand there all night, andtheir only walking is a step or two toward the fire or to pots wherethe food for feasting is.The invited guests assemble about the corn and dog down on theground in the center of the bark house. The Kickos are seated onone side and the To'kans on the other. When the singing is done thenthe invited eat until the singing begins again. The feasting is oftena rivalry between the To*kans and Kickos, who endeavor to outdo eachother in rapidity, completeness, and skill in putting away what isplaced before them to eat.These services are purely religious and no one ought to come unlessinvited. Should a member of the gens that is inviting accompanyanyone else to the eating he would be stopped and compelled to comeup where his gens is praying.Sometimes this service begins early in the morning and lasts untillate in the evening. Often it begins after sundown and lasts until latein the night. There is first the song of lamentation to invoke thepresence of manetowa, then the eating, and then the song again.There is smoking when there are intervals for song. Tobacco ispleasing to the manetowa, and so it is used. These services are similarin character to the feeding of the dead at evening.the occasion of a war, or of other enterprises in which they engage when on expedi-tions against their enemies" (in Blair, Indian Tribes, I, p. 54).Dog feasts in connection with sacred packs are known to have occurred amongthe Iowa, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Winnebago. (See Michel-son, Bull. 89, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 8.) The Arikara, Cree, Dakota, Huron,Illinois, Iroquois, Miami, and Skidi Pawnee are known to have dog feasts, butwhether or not in connection with sacred bundles is not known. The Omahaand Osage had bundle feasts at which dog was not eaten. From this Michelsonconcludes that "Owing to the geographical distributions of dog feasts and feastsconnected with the sacred packs it is plausible that the Fox gens festivals (andsimilarly the Iowa, etc.) are essentially fusions of both of these." (For discussionsee Bull. 89, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 8-9.)
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 93Notes on Gens Feast Dances 4*bear feast dance 45North
94 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125The dancing closes by two men untying the sticks that keep thedrumhead tight, the drummer keeping up his beating until the drumis carried away.Then incense is taken from a wrapped piece of deer hide and putover a few live coals. When the smoke rises and the incense is aboutgone, the dance breaks up.The people?men, women, boys, and girls?are dressed in thorough-ly Indian costume. Nothing is worn that savors of white man'sclothing. FOX FEAST DANCE 48North
II -f + ++ + +4- +4 I X XXXX X X XX X + + +-r + ++A A v A A vVW?ST ?f> S* i>\\**|l* <=r> ?*sr
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 95There is first a slow time kept with the gourd rattles, then in about10 minutes a low monotone singing starts up which lasts about 10minutes. Then the singing becomes louder and then the drum begins.In about 5 minutes they begin dancing, each side whooping. Thewomen sing and dance (??W. J.). The dancing lasts about half anhour. Then during a 10-minute intermission, through most of whichthe low monotone singing continues, the Indians feast. At this feastthey eat turkey, chicken, pork, and everything that a fox likes.No dog is eaten , 47No one enters except those who are invited. White people are notwanted to look in through the door and cracks during dancing andfeasting. Dancing and feasting begins about 7 a. m. and closes atabout 6 p. m. WOLF FEAST DANCEThis dance is danced within doors, that is in the summer bark house.Those come who are invited, and dance and feast all day long. Thedance begins about 9 a. m. and ends about 6 or 7 p. m. During thistime there are four dances. Each dance is followed by an intermissionduring which the feasting takes place. Dog is the principal thingeaten. 48 It is the offering made to Manetowa to invoke his pleasureand presence at the dance. There is also the boiled corn which is alsofood pleasing to Manetowa. The feasting lasts as long as the dancing.Everyone brings his wooden bowl and wooden spoon to eat with.The people sit about on the raised platforms to eat as in the Bear,Fox, and Buffalo dances. As in those feast dances, the food is servedfrom the east end, and passed along to the south, then to the west, andthen to those on the north, and finally to those on the east end northof the entrance.No one comes in the dance, or at least no one is expected to come inunless he comes with the thought of coming into the presence ofManetowa. There is an atmosphere of sacredness to the dancing andfeasting. There may be smiles but there is no hilarious laughing.There is no rushing in and out. All enter slowly and silently. Eachone comes into the house with the thought of feeling the presence ofsome divine being. The wawaneskaichig (a word used with variousshades of meaning denoting something that may be slightly wrong tosomething that may be extremely bad ; but in this case it is used witha meaning that approaches the English word "wicked." There is anidea in it that very strongly approaches the word "sinners." It maybe understood more clearly by showing what its opposite means, that47 Dog is mentioned as one of the foods at the Owl Sacred Pack ceremony.43 This is contrary to Michelson's findings. He says dog is not eaten at Wolffestivals, nor at the War Chief (Fox) dance in worship of the wolf, the Indianssaying that the dog and wolf are too closely allied physically (Bull. 89, Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 9 and footnote).
96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
is, those who enter. Those who go in are those who don't show orfeel any repentance for some evil deed they have done, but they enterfeeling that they must do nothing wrong or feel an evil intent towardanother. They go in feeling the presence of a being whom they mustin no way anger, hence nothing is done that would bring violence orfear to anyone) do not enter. 49The dancing is done in an oblong ring, the dancers going to theeast, then north, then west, then south, then east again. There isa man leader who carries in his hand a sort of fife which he blows atcertain stages in the dance, and he also uses it to announce to thosefeasting that they should get ready to put away their spoons andbowls, for the dancing is soon to begin. Behind him comes a woman;then behind her another man with a fife; behind these the dancers goin pairs or one by one as they please. Behind the second man withthe fife come other men, and behind these men come the women, whoare divided into two groups. The woman who heads the secondgroup joins in the singing once in a while. Everybody dresses inpurely Indian costume. The women dress more beautifully than themen. It seems to be a dance more for women than for men.The music is made by the one drummer seated on the south sideof the summer house. On each side of him are four or five who sing
49 Scattered through Michelson's Mythical Origin of the White Buffalo Dance(Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 37-289) are comments on how sacredpacks were worshipped in the past, from which we gather that men were to goswimming before sunrise on the day of the festival. The singing should beginat sunrise, and the festival should be over before the sun went down. Thoseattending must have only kind thoughts about others. There should be nolaughing or flirtatious conduct.Dancing was to be kept up as long as the dancing songs were sung. Dancerswere to look straight ahead, and were not allowed to fan themselves, to smoke,or to drink water while dancing.The drummer was not to go out all day long. He could not speak or be spokento.Songs were to be sung wailingly, not sportively; they were always to be sungin the same order, and they must be sung loudly so the manitou would hear.Food must be eaten carefully, and not dropped.Men were to sit quietly upright; leaning was not allowed, nor could they movetheir feet, even if their feet went to sleep. If this should happen, only membersof the gens giving the festival could rub their muscles down (this did not applyto dancers) . It was the sign of an evil heart if a man went to sleep or had to getup while the festival was going on. No one was to touch his hair, particularlyceremonial attendants.Ceremonial attendants should wear only breechcloths, and go barefooted.They were to stand while eating. If one sat down to eat he was considered aberdache. They were not to turn burning wood, but to stir the fire slowly andcarefully.The sacred pack was to be hung half the height of the wickiup. In the housewhere it was hung fire was to be handled gently, never spat upon, nor shouldbones be burned there, only Indian tobacco and evergreen-tree wood.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 97with him with gourd rattles in their hands. In front of them to theright of the drummer are two or three who sing and use the gourdrattles.The two men announce with their fifes that the dance is to begin.The men with the gourds then start up a prayer slowly sung in mono-tone, and keeping time with the gourds. This lasts for fully 5 minutesand often longer. The song is pathetic: it comes near to being alamentation. When the singers and all in the house are thoroughlytaken with this feeling that the prayer calls for, then the drum startsup and soon after the dancing. The men dancing often send up awhoop. The men who do not dance, and who remain on the plat-forms, seated, either smoke or chew tobacco. Some of the womenchew tobacco, but do not smoke. The use of tobacco forms part ofthe rites to invoke Manetowa.The men dance by simply raising one foot about 3 inches at themost from the ground, and then following with the other, keepingtime with the slow singing of the prayer. The dancing of the womenis prettier, and really attractive when well done. It is very much likethe little jumps birds make when on the ground. The little jumpsare but a few inches (3 at the most ??W. J.) and there are usuallyabout two leaps to the raising of a man's foot. Men hold their armsas one would when running, i. e., elbows at the waist and fists out,and they shoot out alternately. The women hold their arms straightdown in front, but the hands do not touch each other.EAGLE FEAST DANCEThe arrangement of the bark house is east and west. On the southand north sides of the interior are the raised platforms. On the southside sit the Eagles, who sing their songs of prayer. They number about10 or 12. On the north side sit the invited guests, who smoke or lookon during the dancing, and eat of the feast when the dancing stops.The space between the north and south platforms is where the dancingtakes place. A little way in from the east entrance are the kettlescontaining what is to be eaten at the feast. Farther in is a vesselholding two pipes with long stems from which hang eagle feathers, theemblem of the Eagles. Beyond these pipes are spread the micami(medicine bags of the Eagle in whose house the dance is held). Foursmall dogs lie dead about the micami ; one lies on the east, one on thewest, one on the south, and one on the north sides of the micami.Beyond this stands a fullgrown stalk of Indian corn. The Eagles donot dance ; the invited guests do that.About 7 o'clock in the morning the Eagles who are to sing and praymeet in the house where the dance is to be held and begin to shaketheir gourd rattles in slow unison for almost an hour; then they begin
98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 125to sing their songs of prayer. This lasts for almost an hour, duringwhich time the feasting goes on. After this comes the dancing, forwhich a different kind of song is sung. The drum starts up when thedancing begins. There is a man who leads the dancing, dressed inbreechcloth and moccasins, painted, and with a fife in his hand whichhe uses' to announce when the dancing is to begin. In place of afeather in his head he has a corn tassel. This man leads the dancing.
x x x x x x xx xXXX X XXX > X >The Feast Wtsr *x r \ }{jii ^ o0 ?astX < X X X X XXX XXX O XX X X X XSouth
North
T"* Danc? Msr | ^ t ^ Q^V, EastAAA Jj ** iAMM ^ >k AAA AAA AA AA MXX X X XXX XX X X X XSouthAfter him comes a woman, beautifully dressed. After her is anotherman who dances alone. After him come men dancing in twos, andthen come women and children, and then women again, who usuallydance in twos, though some of them come along singly.This program?rattling of gourds, singing and feasting, and thendancing?is repeated four times during the day.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 99THUNDER FEAST DANCE 50Their feast is a fair representation of the feasts of other gentes. Theservice is held in the bark house of some Thunder about the time of theripening of corn. Here the Thunder gens assembles and feasts allday long, inviting as many as they want to come and eat with them.On the south side of the interior of the bark house and on the raisedplatforms sit members of other gentes who sing and pray and use thegourd rattles all the day long while the Thunders feast. There arefour periods of the use of the gourds followed by songs of prayer, afterwhich comes the feasting of the Thunders.61Their dance is similar to that of the other gentes in general. Onecharacteristic is the clear short whooping. More women than usualdance. A member of the Fox gens sent out the invitation, and amember of the same gens led the dance at the feast. This man worea buffalo headdress over his head.FEAST TO THE SPIRIT OF SICKNESSA sacred feast is often held for him so that he may not bring sick-ness. He has the power of granting long life. He stays aroundwhere sickness is prevalent. He is a manitou.Once a Winnebago 52 is said to have had the power of driving himout of the lodges when the people were dying with smallpox. Herode a white horse, painted it green, and decked it out gaily. Hewould run toward a house, yell at the spirit within, and strike againstthe lodge. This he did to drive out the spirit. For this he got manygifts.
80 Michelson has published on the following festivals owned by the Thundergens: Xighthawk ceremony (Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 97-116).Buffalo-head dance (Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn.).Worship of the Thunderers (Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 43-183).Kwiyamaa's war bundle. Sauk in origin. This bundle was taken to waragainst the Comanches in 1854 (Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 51-96).Lucy Lasley's pack. Potawatomi in origin (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 504).61 If this feast is representative of sacred feasts in general, this account isslightly inaccurate. Probably the guests sit on the north rather than on thesouth, and the Thunder gens members do not themselves eat until the ceremony isover. Michelson's account of the Buffalo-head dance bears this out.6J Disease-giver or Disease-maker was the most sacred of all the Winnebagospirits. (See Radin, Thirty-seventh Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 530-534.)
100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125BUFFALO FEASTS 53Before the run?Before a run is made on the buffalo all the campsmake each a sacred feast to the buffalo. The food sacrificed to thebuffalo must be pumpkin or corn or maple sugar; always sugar to-gether with the other two if possible.64 Dog or any other kind ofmeat is not used in the sacrifice. 65 This feast is made as soon as thehunters know they are in the vicinity of buffalo.Nenuswika'tcikawagi, they give a sacred feast to the buffalo; aterm used of a gens that is giving a feast to the buffalo.In the dance the men and women imitate the run and movementof the buffalo when in flight.
" The Foxes have a number of different buffalo feasts, concerning the originand function of which we can say little at present. There can be no doubt,however, that Siouan influence was important.In the Buffalo Dance of the Bear gens the women whose husbands were Bearswere invited as a group, and one of these women addressed the Bear men asfollows: "Take a good look at us, for you surely have been in love with us."(T. Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 23.) This makes it appear prob-able that this particular feast was for the magical reproduction of the buffaloherds. The Winnebago have a buffalo dance which they give in the spring forthe magical calling of buffalo. (See Radin, Thirty-seventh Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn.)Michelson has published on the following buffalo feasts:White Buffalo Dance. Held by the War Chief gens (Fortieth Ann. Rept.Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 37-289, 1925).Worship of the spotted Buffalo Calf. See also Dance of the Mowitihagi(Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 497-539, 1925).Buffalo Rite, owned by the Society of Those Named after the Buffalo.Membership in this society cut across gens lines, in which it resembledthe spring buffalo dance of the Winnebago (brief mention in Bull. 87,Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 6, 21, 1928).Buffalo-Head Dance of the Thunder Gens (Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn.,1928).Buffalo Dance of the Bear Gens (Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 1-41,1930).Worship of Buffalo and Wapanowi Birds. Held by Swan gens (Bull. 105,Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 5-12, 1932>.54 The white buffalo was particularly fond of pumpkins and corn dumplings(Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 251).65 This is unusual, and should probably be taken as applying only to the feastsmade while the hunt was in progress. At any rate, in the description of thebuffalo dance, just below, Jones says dog was eaten, and no prohibition of dogor other meat is to be found in Michelson's publications. In the account of thefood cooked for the white buffalo worship we find: "Then simply any kind ofmeat; then ducks, turkeys, prairie hens, grouse, and all different kinds of thosethat fly. * * * deer, bears, elks, badgers and skunks; * * * now dogs* * * (Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 25).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 101buffalo dance 66NorthX X X X + + +xxx ++ + +XXX + + +A AAA A AWest %z> v-^ _*?. A <z:> ?ast4 ^> 7/\~ A
, AAAA
X xxxox x X X X X XSouth
XX MEN SEAT?D+ + WOMEH SSATEOThe singing is done by the man who beats the drum and the 10 or12 men seated about him who rattle their gourds. The women attimes join in the singing.The leader in the dance has his head covered with a buffalo mane.Behind is a woman, and behind her are men, and then come women.Dog, corn, and pumpkin are eaten at this dance. Over the firehang the kettles with dog and other things to eat in them. West ofthe fire is a dead dog whose head is pointed to the west. The dogs arekilled during the evening before the dance. They are usually strangled,87and a big fire is made over which the hair of the dogs is singed off.When dancing is going on, the entrance is opened, but during theM Forsyth says, "In dancing the buffalow-dance, they are dressed with the pateof a buffalow skin with the horns, they imitate the buffalow by throwing themselvesinto different postures, also by mimicking his groans, attempting to horn eachother, keeping exact time with the drum, the women often join in these dances, butremain nearly in the same spot (while dancing) and singing in a shrill voice abovethe men" (in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, pp. 230-231).87 Dogs were sometimes clubbed to death instead of being strangled. SeeFortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 39-40, for the experience of one ofMichelson's informants in killing dogs ceremonially. Dogs should not be hurtnor bloodied in the killing. But in the old days when there were warriors to killthe dogs, those restrictions did not hold. "Surely they [warriors] must havesmashed the heads of their foes. And that is why they were not restricted frommaking them yelp when they struck them, and it is why they were not restrictedfrom making them very bloody" (Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 11).
102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125intermission when eating is going on the entrance is closed to thosewho are looking in. White men are not admitted.DANCE OF THE MOWITIHAGI 58Account A.?A small buffalo is kept in a medicine bag. It looksexactly like a real buffalo. It is like stone as if made of earth. Itsexistence came about in this manner.A certain man, one of the Blacks [a TVkan], went out to fast. Hefasted 4 days, and on the fourth day he had a dream. In the dreamappeared the vision of the buffalo. When the dream was all over, thefirst thing he saw was this animal. It may have been wounded andso was left in his way, for one of its hind legs was broken up near thejoint in the hip.The Black took the animal home. He wrapped it in the medicine bag,and there it has been to this day. All of this happened long ago. Nowthe strangest part of it all is that the crippled hip is now all healed.How it came so no one knows, for a manitou brought about the healing.The buffalo is brought out now at the dance. It is placed betweentwo fires, halfway between them.Account B.?A distinguishing feature of this dance is the presenceof a red-stone buffalo bull. It is small, being probably about 8 or10 inches long and 6 or 7 inches high. It has horns, tail, legs, tes-ticles?in every way the image of a buffalo bull. It is said to be alive,and to be a manitou. It is kept in a medicine bag and is the propertyof the Mowitihagi. In the dance tobacco is offered to it.58 "Dirty Little Ani." Otherwise known as "Those Who Worship the SpottedBuffalo Calf" (KatAginenu'so *Ani Mamatoma d tcigk"). This is their name for thedomestic cattle. Many but by no means all of the members of this society belongto the Thunder gens. Analysis of the membership list A given by Michelson(Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 505) produces the following result:Gens not known 4Thunder 12Bear 4Wolf 3War Chief 2Fish 1Total _ 26This is an important society, and it ranks with the gentes in some of the buffaloceremonies, at least. (See specifically Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 29, 53;Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 3, 19.)Skinner mentions a buffalo dance (Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, pp. 48-49,1923) from which it would appear that a similar society occurs among the Sauk.As a matter of fact, the ownership of the sacred pack belonging to this society canbe traced back in the Peters family (who are of Sauk descent) to a time before thoyjoined forces with the Foxes. Other indications of Sauk origin can be found:one of the gentes given a place of honor is presumably Sauk and not Fox; and someof the songs are identical with those occurring among the Sauk of Oklahoma in adifferent ceremony. (See Notes on the Fox Society Known as Those Who Worship
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 103It is said that once its neck was broken. 69 The two pieces wereput together and the thing placed back into a medicine bag. Whenthis bag was again opened there were no signs of where the break hadbeen. The image was as if whole and unbroken. It is for this reasonheld to be very manitou.It is brought out twice a year in the sacred feast of the MowitihagLNorth
104 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Other Ceremoniesthe midewiwin 60Account A.?We no longer practice the midewiwin. We do not likeit because it is not real. Take for instance when one shoots magic intoanother. The one who is shot falls and acts as if he is made powerless.It is all a sham ; there is nothing in it, and the man who is shot withmagic simply feigns. Among us are three or four old people who aremembers of the society. All the others are dead.Account B.?Long ago when the Foxes used to dance the Mita,many people would die. Those who would die so fast were the big-gest men in the tribe,61 and only the unworthy would live. The Foxesknew then that Manetowa was not pleased with this Mita, so they gotall the Mitawog together one time in their lodge, and men were placedabout the house so that none could get away. The Foxes told theseMitawog that this dance must not go on any more because Manetowawas not pleased with it, and that every time they danced, not only
B0 Forsyth has this to say about the Midewiwin as celebrated in 1826: "Themedicine dance or Mit-tee-wee, all those who belong to that fraternity, are madeacquainted by some of the head persons, that on a certain day, the whole will as-semble at a particular place; on the day appointed they make a 6hade, both malesand females make their best appearance, they have two drums on the occasion,the business is opened with a prayer from one of the members, after which thedrummers sing a doleful ditty, beating at same time on their drums, each personmale and female are provided with a sac or pouch of the whole skin of some animalas the raccoon, mink, marten, fisher, and otter, but generally of the last mentioned;one of the elders gets up and commences dancing round the inside of the lodge,another follows, and so on until they are all in motion, as they pass by each other,they point the nose of the sacs or pouches at each other blowing a whiff at thesame time, the person so pointed at, will fall down on the ground apparently inpain, and immediately get up again and touch some other one in turn, who will dothe same in succession, etc.*' (in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, pp. 230-231).Forsyth also mentions another society of Great Medicine men, about which hecould find out practically nothing, except that there were four roads or degrees,that "it requires to do something to gain the first road, and so on to the second,third, fourth roads or degrees. It costs an Indian from 40 to 50 dollars in goods,or other articles to be initiated or admitted into this society, and am told thereare but few of them who can gain the end of the fourth road." To gain admit-tance an Indian had a friend who was a member vouch for him. If the societydecided to admit him, this friend was directed to prepare him "but what the prepa-ration, etc., is, I never could find out, but no Indian can be admitted until theexpiration of 1 year, after application is made" (ibid., pp. 223-225).81 Michelson was also told that the Foxes gave up the Midewiwin because theyfound that their ablest men were dying off. One of his informants went into moredetail and explained that the Giant Mosquito had presented them originally withthis dance, ostensibly as a blessing, but actually to supply himself with blood.The culture hero finally opened their eyes to what was happening, and theyabandoned the midewiwin. This account brings to mind the "great musquito"
.of Iroquois tradition. (See for example Beauchamp, JAFL, 2, p. 284, 1889.)
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 105
one, but two and three very big men of the Foxes died. The Mitawogwere told to go free but they must dance no more.Ever since that day to this, the Mita dance has not been danced bythe Foxes. When the Kickapoos saw that the Foxes got along sowell, and how pleased Manetowa was with the Foxes, they went towork and stopped the Mita dance among them in the same way thatthe Foxes did.Account C.?The Foxes have not danced the Mitawini for 50 years.Members of the society yet living keep their gourd rattles and theirbags. They believe them to have yet the mysterious power that theyhad at the time when the dance was kept up.WITCH SOCIETYWa'katcihagi,62 witches, from o'katci, foot. This was an organ-ization of witches, both men and women, when the Indians were eastof the Mississippi River, and probably for a while after they movedto the western side. These witches held their ceremony like themitawagi, the difference being in the throwing of charcoal at oneanother instead of shooting each other with the otterskin pouches.The charcoal was thrown with the hand. A newly elected memberwhen shot would fall more readily than an old member.THE 8WAN DANCEHahawikawagi, the swan dance. This is a social dance, in no wayreligious. It is danced in the daytime. Women begin dancing first,and after a while when there are a good many, then the men join in.They dance in an oval ring. Music is furnished by men who are thedrummers; these men sing. Some of the women dancers join in thesinging. The drummers sit at the end on the outside.The dance is got up by some one band and the other bands go to it
.and join in. The Swan gens has nothing to do with the getting up ofthe dance. Women go to the dance in couples. Later men join inand select women to dance with.Men fan themselves with the wings of hawks, turkeys, and with thetails of eagles. The fanning is with the edge of the fan toward thebosom. Women use the same kind of fans, fanning themselves withthe flat side toward the face.
82 This corresponds in name to Skinner's Waxkajihuk, a Sauk society of doctorswho could slap their hands on the earth and shoot evil into a person. They hadpublic contests and did shamanistic tricks like running through fire and throwinghot ashes on each other (Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, p. 55). These trickswould seem to link the Sauk society with the Fox WapAnowiweni. (See T.Michelson, Notes on the Fox WapAnowiweni, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn.)What connection, if any, there is between the WapAnOwiweni and the Wa'kat-clhagi, it is impossible to say.
106 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Now and then a warrior rides up and tells about an incident thattook place on some raid. The drumming and singing cease while theman talks. Applause comes in now and then by the drummerstapping the drum and whooping with the flat of the hand over themouth. A talk costs the warrior food for the drummers and dancers.The gift may be a pony. This pony is sold and food is bought withwhat the pony sold for. A dog may be given. The food is taken towhatever family will cook it. Everybody is invited to eat.Ceremonial Paraphernalia 63 and Related Datainvitation sticksWhen a sacred feast is given a ceremonial attendant is sent out withinvitation sticks, or w^kutia'koni. For each stem he is to invite aperson. The attendant holds them in one hand. At every invitationhe takes out a stick and places it in the other hand. This he keepsup until he has used up all the sticks from one hand. The bundle isthen taken back to the feast and placed either by the sacred bundleor in the place between the two fires. The sacred bundle may or maynot be opened. the sacred bundle 6iA sacred bundle, or micami, does not contain anything that is evil;it has no witch medicine in it. 65 It is a protecting power from evil.66INCENSEPapagatagwa is the name of an evergreen tree the leaves of whichare used in smoking a sacred bundle. A smudge is made of theseleaves at the time of a sacred feast. This is the time when a sacredbundle is opened. The various things in the sacred bundle are takenout one at a time and held in the smoke of the smudge. This is doneprobably to keep insects from eating into the things of the roll andinto the roll itself.
6?
- Along with the ceremonial properties listed here should be mentioned rattles,flutes or whistles, and drums. Rattles were made of deer hoofs or of gourds, theformer being probably the older type. For hoof rattles there are Sauk andWinnebago parallels (T. Michelson, Bull. 89, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 8). Thewhistles were "made of the bamboo-like cane found growing along streams inmany parts of the south, both east and west of the Mississippi. * * * Thewhistles were blown in battle, after having been treated with magic herbs, toweaken the power of the enemy and bewilder his senses, and are also sounded inthe dances enacted at the war bundle feasts" (M. R. Harrington, U. Penn. Mus.,Anthrop. Pub., vol. 4, p. 170, 1914).64 For detailed descriptions and excellent photographs of sacred bundles andtheir contents see M. R. Harrington, Sacred Bundles of the Sac and Fox Indians(U. Penn., Univ. Mus. Anthrop. Pub., vol. 4, No. 2, 1914).Skinner in a review of Harrington (Amer. Anthrop., vol. 17, pp. 577-579,1915) makes some valuable generalizations. He states that the Central Algon-
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 107SACRED TOBACCOIt happened once upon a time that the people could raise no moretobacco, and what they had left was soon used up. There was aman among the people who was a kind of manetouwisita. (This wordhas no exact English equivalent. It sometimes means witch; at othertimes one who communes with Wlsa*ka and the manitous.?W. J. ) Hequian type of bundle is found among the Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, Menomini,Ottawa, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Winnebago, Iowa, and Otoe, with perhaps thePonca and Omaha; that among the Menomini all bundles are private and per-sonal, with hunting and witchcraft bundles more elaborately developed thanamong the Sauk and Fox; and that the contrast between Sauk and Iowa andMenomini bundles is greater in the traditional origin accounts than in use, ritual,or contents.65 Harrington obtained a hunting bundle from a Fox woman about which"enough was said or hinted, however, to show that this 'medicine' involvedpractices even nearer witchcraft then the last bundle, for the supposed powers ofthis one were actually turned against human beings with malevolent intent"(Harrington, op. cit., p. 246).88 Other evidences of the Fox attitude toward the sacred bundle:
"All gentes, it is said, indeed own sacred packs. They are the same, but thestories (appertaining to them) are a little different. And the contents of thesacred packs are a little different, and the songs are, indeed, a little different, soit is said" (Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 123)."Moreover, when you lead a war party, then you must carry this sacred packon your back. But not all the time: only after they have told you, you can go.Do not go aimlessly. And your fellow-clansmen may carry it only when theyhave a vision of it. This is the way you must do with your sacred pack here,"he was told in his dream (Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn.,p. 115).A successful war raid was proof that the manitous knew the sacred pack. Itwas considered gens and not individual property. Killing the enemy was spokenof as "feeding" the sacred pack (Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 157).The micami was held very sacred. Desecration of it was a terrible sin. Itcould never be laid on the ground, but was suspended from a tree, or hung halfthe height of the wickiup. Menstruating women were not to go near one. Inthe house in which one was hung the fire was to receive especial consideration;no one was to spit on this fire, nor burn bones in it, but only Indian tobacco andevergreen-tree wood.Wennebea, the Sauk who acted as guide to Keating, of his own accord discussedwith the latter how the Sauks regarded their medicine bags (1823) : They alwayscarried them; they administered the contents to relatives when sick; these bagswere transmitted from their forefathers, who got them from the "Great Masterof Life, himself"; they never went to war without them unless the chiefs had pre-viously had visions. The reason for valuing them so highly was that theyimparted the faculty, when near the enemy, of beholding fires in the heavens,passing from one cloud to another; if the fires were numerous and long-continued,the enemies were numerous and should be avoided; if the fires were few, theyshould attack. He ascribed the serious losses which the Sauks had sustained tothe fact that some had thrown their medicine bags away at the instigation of theShawnee prophet (Tecumseh's brother) (W. H. Keating, Narrative of an Expedi-tion to the Source of St. Peter's River, etc., I, pp. 229-230. Philadelphia, 1824).
108 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
often heard the Ke'tci manitowa when he spoke. One night whenthis man was asleep KeHci manitowa came to him and whispered inhis ear, "I want you to rise and go toward the north in the directionof the Great Water. You will arrive at the place I direct you on thefourth day. Do not trouble yourself about the way for I shall guideyou. And this will be the sign for you to stop. On the fourth day youwill come into a thick grove where you will see a large tree whose topbends veiy far over so that it points down to the ground. Go to thistree, and to the spot where you see the tree top points, because youwill see there a small, tender plant. I want you to watch over thatplant, and tend it carefully until it is fully grown, and then bring ithome to the people."The man rose, and did what Ke'tci manit5wa told him. He arrivedat the grove on the fourth day and found the tree with the bendingtop which pointed to the ground. He got down on his hands andknees at the spot where the treetop bent over, and found, sure enough,a small, tender tobacco plant. He pulled up the other plants andgrass about it, and watched over the tobacco plant and tended ituntil it was fully grown. Then he pulled it up and brought it home.He showed the tobacco to the people and told them how he got it.Then he took the little seeds of the tobacco and put them in theground in an unfrequented place. In that place other plants oftobacco grew up. Then this man took the old men of the people tothe place where he was growing the tobacco and gave them each someplants to take care of. By and by there was tobacco for all the peopleto use. This is the tobacco that we use for an offering to Wlsa'kaand to the Four Thunderers when they come to visit us.THE SWEAT LODGEThe sweat lodge should be made in this manner. It should be inform like the flag-reed lodge. It should be not more than 3 paceslong, 3 paces wide, and not higher than a man's head. One poleshould stand at the north, one at the south, one at the east, and oneat the west. The opposite poles should then bend and meet, formingarches. Over this frame of crossed arches flag-reed mats should belaid; they should shut out the outside air. In the center shouldbe a cleared space for a stone. This stone is heated outside in livecoals, and is fetched inside when the people are ready for the sweat.A pail of water is set beside the stone, and in the pail is a switchof grass.A man enters naked under a blanket and when within he shoves theblanket outside immediately behind him. He kneels facing the stonein the middle. As many can go in as can find a place to kneel. Aman leads in prayer and song. He first passes around the holy tobaccoto be used. After this he offers a prayer to the manitou in the stone.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 109Four times he prays and four times he sings, the others joining in thesong. During the first prayer he sprinkles holy tobacco and the othersfollow his example. After the prayer comes the first song. Afterthe singing the leader drops a little water on the stone. After thesecond prayer and the second song more water is added, and so on upto the end of the fourth song, when more water than ever is put on.Then they all come out.Often one will cut oneself over the arms and legs, slitting oneselfonly beneath the skin. It is done to open up many passages for themanitou to pass into the body. The manitou comes from its place ofabode in the stone. It becomes roused by the heat of the fire, andproceeds out of the stone when the water is sprinkled on. It comesout in the steam and in the steam it enters the body wherever it findsentrance. It moves up and down and all over inside the body, drivingout everything that inflicts and brings on pain. Before the manitoureturns to the stone it imparts some of its nature to the body. Thatis why one often feels so well after having been in the sweat lodge.TELLING OF STORIESSometimes a man goes into a fast to tell stories. He paints all hisface black. This is at night, and when he begins to tell stories it isto be for all the night.Often he does not eat in the morning, nor for the whole day. Hiseating is at midnight. He shells off two rows of white corn from acob of eight rows. The corn he makes into tagwahani, and cooks ina small kettle. The amount he eats at this time is very small.All this is that he may have good health and that he may have longlife. TABOOED FOODOld men only are permitted to eat the gut of a deer, beef, buffalo,or any animal. Old men who have not joined in coition with a womanare also not permitted to eat this. No boys are permitted to eat ofit because they have not cohabited. The gut is turned inside outand boiled. GamesLacrosse.67?Long ago our people were living eastward from here.
97 The rackets and ball collected by Dr. Jones at Tama are illustrated in StewartCulin's monograph, Games of the North American Indians, Twenty-fourth Ann.Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 572-573. The game is called bagahatuwitni, thestick, otchi, and the ball pekwaki. Twenty pieces of reed were used as messagesticks for the game. Forsyth mentions it as their most active game, and 6ays thewomen also played it (in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, p. 230). Lacrosse was usuallyplayed at adoption feasts for men. If the man for whom the feast was givenhad been a Tokan, then the Kickos could not win, and vice versa. (See T.Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 385.)
HO BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
It was somewhere beyond the Great Lakes. It was there that themanitou came among them and gave them the knowledge and skill ofplaying lacrosse. He came with a lacrosse stick in one hand and aball covered with buckskin in the other. The ball was painted red.He gave the stick and ball to them and taught them how to play. Hetold them that the game would belong to them, even though otherpeople should learn the game from them.Ice hockey.m?This is played on the ice. The goals may be any dis-tance apart up to 200 yards. A line or mark is often the goal, and agoal is made when the ball passes over the line. Men can play aloneand so can women. Often both men and women play, both sexesmixed on a side.Na nis kwaputftwa, "he throws with a sling." 69Topdgdhagi, hoops made of bark and covered with bark.??The gameis played thus: Boys take sides, each side with bows and a definitenumber of arrows. One side rolls the wheels to the other side to beshot at. Should side 2 miss all the hoops then it rolls them back forside 1 to shoot at. Should side 1 hit a hoop it retains that hoop androlls the other three back for side 2 to shoot at. Should side 2 hit ahoop, then the other side must throw back the hoop that had beenhit by it. This shooting is kept up until one side hits all four hoops.Should side 1 hit all four hoops first, then side 2 sets up all its arrows.If four hoops were used, then side 1 rolls the four hoops at the arrows,and all the arrows hit by the hoops go into the possession of side 1.The game is played while the bark is yet green on the topakahi. Thebark must be pierced before the point can count. The point is notcounted if the arrow drops off the topakahi. The game is playedabout the lodges, and is encouraged because it keeps away apenaweni,sickness.Atowahi.11?This game is played with a bow and arrow. The arrowis sharp. The atowahi is placed over the part of the hand which
68 The stick and ball collected by Dr. Jones are illustrated in Culin (p. 623)
'
The ball was leather-covered, with median seam, flattened, and 5 inches indiameter; the stick was a sapling, curved at the striking end, 41 inches in length.69 This apparently refers to the summer dart game. Slinging darts and stickfor a game called naneskwapuchuweni, collected by Dr. Jones, are illustrated inCulin (p. 408). Similar darts for playing on the frozen ground or ice are alsopictured there, along with various types of darts and sliders, some carved toresemble snakes, and several of them marked in a way to indicate that they wereundoubtedly meant for use in Kicko-Tokan contests.70 See Culin, Twenty-fourth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 448, for illus-trations. The largest ring pictured is Z}{ inches in diameter.71 See ibid., fig. 585, for an atowahi collected by Dr. Jones at Tama. It is alittle bundle of elm bark 3 inches long. Culin remarks, "In another form ofthe game the bundle of elm bark or rings are buried in the sand and shot at witharrows. The game is to hit the concealed bundle or ring so that the arrow shallbe held by it" (ibid., p. 449).
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 111holds the bow, and where the arrow crosses. The atowahi is tossedinto the air and shot at while in the air. A bark ring is often usedfor an atowahi, or often only a piece of bark. The atowahi must bepierced before the point will count; merely hitting it is not enough.Only green bark is used.Mdma*kesahiweni, moccasin game.72?Four moccasins are used.Twelve sticks are used for counters on each side. A lead bullet isthe object hidden.Agitcikanahamogi, they play the counting game. 73?An ancient gamenot played now and mentioned only in story (agitasowa, he counts;agitasoweni, counting).
73 The counting sticks and pointer for this game are illustrated in Culin (p. 345).Moccasin was a man's game and was played as a gambling game to the accompa-niment of singing and drumming (ibid., p. 339). This game was frequentlyplayed at adoption feasts for men (T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 385).73 Dr. Jones told Culin (loc. cit., p. 232) that although the game is no longerplayed, from the constant reference to it in story the people were familiar withit, and made a set of implements (a bundle of peeled willow sticks of the samelength, and a dividing stick) according to their tradition. Two such sticks areillustrated. One bundle contained 102 sticks, and the other 51. In playing theentire bundle is held together and then allowed to fall in a pile which is thendivided with the pointer. The object is to separate a pile which will fall into oneof the following categories:nagitlwa 11 or 21 or 31 or 41, etc.nasiwa 13 or 23 or 33 or 43, etc.nyananiwa 15 or 25 or 35 or 45, etc.nuhigawa 17 or 27 or 37 or 47, etc.cagawa 19 or 29 or 39 or 49, etc.The player must give the pile the correct name before putting down the dividingstick. If he succeeds he scores one point, but if he fails the turn goes to anotherplayer. Game l
White-facedcopper
112 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125SHAM FIGHTSMackotdkwanoni, bow and blue-joint arrows.?Used in sham fights.Boys take sides and play war. This is one of the ways in which boysare taught to fight.Nawipaskwdhiwagi, they fight a corncob fight.?The fight is a sham,and is fought at the time when people are drying corn. Boys fightas they do with blue-joint grass (uwipaskwi, corncob). The cob isthrown with the hand.Aiyaciskindhiwagi, they fight with clay.?Another sham fight,played like the ones with blue-joint grass and cobs. The clay isrolled into a ball and thrown from the end of a stick (K5ga'kiwiwi, itis boggy; agwiska'kiwiwi, it is muddy).OTHER GAMES KNOWN AT TAMACat's cradle.?See Culin (p. 762) for figures.Dolls.?Fox girls had corn-husk dolls, furnished with muskrat and squirrel skinclothes. They played the same kind of imitative games with them that whitechildren do. They learned how to sew by making clothes for these dolls. (SeeT. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 297, 338.)Double-ball, or "the women's ball game."?For a description of this game and thekidney-shaped balls with which it was played, see Culin (pp. 654-655). Thegame was played only by women, Kickos against Tokans. This game was some-times played at a woman's adoption feast instead of platter, depending on whatthe woman was in the habit of playing when alive. As in the ceremonial lacrosse,if the woman for whom the feast was given was a Kicko, then the Tokans couldnot win, and vice versa (T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn.,p. 385).Racing.?"Running foot races and horses they are very fond of" (Forsyth, inBlair, Indian Tribes, II, p. 230).Ring and pin game.?Strings of wooden cones used for playing this, game,collected by both Culin and Jones, are illustrated in Culin (pp. 541-542). Jonesgives the name of the game as nibiquihok, elm-tree eyes. Culin was told that thegame was played by a boy and a girl together. This is interesting, as among thePenobscot a boy called upon a girl to play it with her. "If his company is agree-able to her, she continues the game to the end; but if, on her first successful thrust,instead of continuing, she hands the ah-dii-is to him, it means that his companyis not acceptable" (Willoughby, cited by Culin, pp. 541-542). And among theGrosventres it was "a game and favorite pastime among young men and women,and so often called the matrimonial game" (G. A. Dorsey, cited by Culin, p. 537).Sham battles.?"They frequently in the summer season have sham battles. Aparty of footmen undertake to conduct to their village some friends, they on theirjourney are attacked by a party of horsemen who rush on them from the woodsand surround them, the footmen throw themselves into the form of a hollow square,the horsemen are armed with pistols, the footmen receive them with a volley, andbeat them off, and are again attacked from another quarter, and so on alternatelyuntil they succeed in bringing their friends safe to their village. In those en-
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIAN'S 113
counters many get thrown from their horses and sometimes the footmen gettrampled on by the horses, but during the whole of the transaction nothing likeanger makes its appearance; they all retire on the best terms with each other, andit would be considered as shameful and too much like a woman for a man tobecome angry in play" (Forsyth, in Blair, Indian Tribes, II, pp. 231-232).Tag.?Fox children have a game of tag quite similar to a game frequentlyplayed by white children. Sticks are drawn from a bundle to determine whichchild is to be "It." To be caught, a child must be hit squarely on the head, afterwhich he becomes the chaser's partner, and the game continues until all are caught;or if a swift runner is left uncaught, he may be made the chaser for the next game.(See T. Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 339.)Tops.?A stone whip top and a whip having two leather lashes, collected byDr. Jones at Tama, are illustrated in Culin. The game was played on the ice."The top is called nimitcihi, dancer" (Culin, p. 735).

BIBLIOGRAPHYNo general Fox bibliography is given here because of the easily accessible an-notated bibliography published by Dr. Truman Michelson in the Fortieth AnnualReport of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pages 30 to 36. The followingadditional titles should be noted.An Original Study of Mesquakie (Fox) Life. (Interviews arranged by E. R.Harlan.) In Annals of Iowa, vol. 19, pp. 115-125, 221-234, 352-362, DesMoines, Iowa, 1933-34.Culin, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians. Twenty-fourthAnn. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., Washington, 1907.Michelson, Truman. Contributions to Fox Ethnology. Bull. 85, Bur. Amer.Ethn., 1927.Notes on the Buffalo-head Dance of the Thunder Gens of the Fox Indians.Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1928.Note on the Fox Gens Festivals. Proc. 23d Int. Cong. Americanists,New York, 1928, pp. 545-546, New York, 1930.Observations on the Thunder Dance of the Bear Gens of the Fox Indians.Bull. 89, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1929.Contributions to Fox Ethnology?II. Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1930.Notes on the Fox WApanowiweni. Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1932.Fox Miscellany. Bull. 114, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1937.Bibliography of Jones PublicationsOsakie Legend of the Ghost Dance. Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. 12, pp.284-286, Boston and New York, 1899.In the Name of his Ancestor. Harvard Monthly, vol. 29, No. 3, Cambridge,1899.The Heart of the Brave. Ibid. vol. 30, No. 3, 1900.Episodes of the Culture-Hero Myth of the Sauks and Foxes. Journ. Amer.Folk-Lore, vol. 14, pp. 225-239, Boston and New York, 1901.Some Principles of Algonquian Word-Formation. Amer. Anthrop., vol. vi,pp. 369-411, Lancaster, Pa., 1904. (Ph. D. diss.)The Algonkin Manitou. Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. 18, pp. 183-190, Bostonand New York, 1905.Central Algonkin. Ann. Arch. Rept. for 1905, pp. 136-146 (App. Rept.Minister of Education, Ontario), Toronto, Canada, 1906.An Algonquin Syllabary. Boas Anniversary Volume, pp. 88-93, New York,1906.Mortuary Observances and the Adoption Rites of the Algonkin Foxes of Iowa.Int. Cong. Amer., xv sess., Quebec, 1906, pp. 263-277, Quebec, 1907.Fox Texts. Pubis. Amer. Ethn. Soc, vol. I, Leyden, 1907.Notes on the Fox Indians. Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. 24, pp. 209-237,Lancaster, Pa., and New York, 1911.Algonquian (Fox). (Revised by Truman Michelson.) In Handbook of Ameri-can Indian Languages, by Franz Boas. Bull. 40, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 735-873,1911.Kickapoo Tales. Collected by William Jones and translated by TrumanMichelson. Pubis. Amer. Ethn. Soc, vol. 9, Leyden, 1915.Ojibwa Tales from the North Shore of Lake Superior. Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. 29, pp. 368-391, Lancaster and New York, 1916.Ojibwa Texts. Edited by Truman Michelson. Pubis. Amer. Ethn. Soc,vol. 7, 2 pts., New York and Leyden, 1917-1919. 115

Appendix A?MISCELLANEOUS SOCIAL DATAThe base for these work sheets is a tribal roll published in 1906 byDuren Ward under the title "The Meskwaki People of Today," IowaJournal of History and Politics, vol. 4, pp. 190-219, 1906.There were several reasons for selecting this roll as a base. First,my data came from two main sources?Jones' notes, undated, col-lected between 1897 and 1906, and Michelson's unpublished data ongens affiliation and dual division, obtained in 1917. Ward's roll thushad the same date as Jones' latest work, and was midway betweenJones' earliest work and Michelson's membership lists. It seemedprobable that it would serve to link the two sets of data. Further, itwas not just a Government census, which frequently enough does notcoincide with a tribe's own notions of membership, but rather was alist of those Indians at Tama who were considered members of thetribe by both tribe and Government.However, many of the individuals named in Jones' genealogies couldnot be located on the 1906 roll. Accordingly the 1897 Governmentannuity roll was searched, with little better result. The 1882 annuityroll was also tried, unsuccessfully.In consequence the Jones genealogies are given separately asAppendix B. Some facts contained there have been incorporatedinto this roll, and some dates from this roll have been inserted into thegenealogical diagrams, but the overlapping of the two sets of data isless extensive than could be desired. 117
118 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 1251s?oa's
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Jones J ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 131
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Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 137
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Appendix B ?GENEALOGIES JAbbreviations used: WC, War Chief; KC, Kindly Chief; Th, Thunder; Ph,Pheasant; Bv, Beaver; BP, Bear Potato; Winn, Winnebago. Numbers inbrackets refer to Appendix A.Sagimaacf = Jennie 9(Th) | [235] (Ph) (b. 1840)NotenuskagacP(Th) MeckwSna'kwia 9[242] (Th) (b. 1869) Wasa'konaad"[236] (Th) (b. 1873)
II.
m.
IV.
W^^aac? = Agotcima'kwa 9(KC) | (WC)NawSglgla 9[207] (KC) (b. 1857)Po'kitepatadn = 9(WC) | (?)Nanacia'kwa9 =Kepah6nacf(Th) | (WC)Ma'kagad1(WC)Cegahoacf= 9(BP) I (?)Mecipageso'kwa 9 = Macanwapitfiad1 = Mahiyaa 9(BP, 1st wife) I (or Ma'kanwia) (Wolf, 2nd wife)(Bear)Nihicitaa 9(Bear)Ponwataa 9 = Wapanasiac?1[111] (Th) (b. 1848) | (Bear)Pepyanaa 9[52 [(b. 1878) Nipausa'kwaa 9[114] (Bear) (b. 1884) Ma'gisopyaa 9[112] (Bear) (b. 1889)o"=9(KC) I (?) d" = 9 - d"(Elk) I (?)d" = Pemisa'kw&to'kwaa 9(Wolf) 1 (KC)Anago'kwaa9 =Naciweskaae?'(Ph) I (Wolf)Mecimica'kwad' KagenosSacf[37] (Wolf) (b. 1880) [36] (Wolf) (b. 1889)
Tcigoskakad1 = Kata'kawaa 9(KC) (Elk)AnSmiad1(KC)A'ki'kaacf = Winoa 9 = Capw&tagac? = Pe'kwitepa 9(WC) | (Winn) (Th) | (Wolf)Tatap&goacf Kipaiwa'kwacf[7] (WC) (b. 1865) [127] (Th) (b. 1867)Pesecaciacf='Pemi'kawI ,kwa9 (?)(Th) [56] (Elk) (b. 1863)
(Th)
cf=9(Bass) I (?)(Th)
SSginagapaa(Th)Pamusaa(Th)
Kickecwaa 9 = Koko'etcao"
I (Bass)
A'kiniganisatacf >(Swan) (?)WSpigaga'kuacf = KiwSgwitcia 9(Bass) (Swan)NanagIad, =TeIgame'kwaa9(Th) (Bass) NasSpipyatacf = Natawacikwfta 9 = PucitSnI'kwad1[11] (Bass) (b. 1839) [300] (Bass) (b. 1847) [299] (Bear) (b. 1842)
1 These few genealogies are unfortunately all that Jones recorded,been determined from Appendix A.138 The dates of birth given here have
Jones]
VI.
ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 139Pyamickwlta 9(Th) <?(KC)Aeahiwfiad1
VII.
UwicuwSa 9(Wolf)
Anawatad"
NahfipSno "kwa9 "Mamawad1(KC) I (Nanegutiwa, 1st name)Pani'tohad1 (Bear)(Ani'kawa. 1st name)(KC) Askwasapltacf(Bear)Wicogi'kwSa? = A'koslac?[333] (KC) (b. 1837] [334] (Sea) (b. 1833) I (1st husband)Nenyaskunaa 9 'Kagia'kenagad"(Bear)
cf(?)Kickfttapiw(WC) acf)
Tonowawad"(Bear) Kahatcacf(Bear)Wawapaso'kwa 9(Bear) SSgitoac?(Th)
WigimStaacf NagSpi'kwa 9Tcago'kawad1 Anapamakwa 9MamSnawacf(Ma'kadaanemwa1st name)(Wolf) Nahapama'kwa $(WC)
Wagosineni c? = Matcin5'2a 9
I (Sea)Wawatosaac?1Tkwahinlha 9 = Wapanugahad1 Nlma'kyahad"= Ponawapl'kwa 9(Eagle) (Th) (Th) (Bear)
VIII. Ma'kadaanemwad, =Meckoa'kwa9 Wapanugahad1 9 = KunepSgahae?(Wolf) (WC) (Th) (?) (Th) Pami'kawahad"(Th)
Pasecaad1 = Wawagoa 9(1st husband) (Wolf) WlskenSad"(Th) Ponowfiad"(Th)
<? = 9(KC) | (?)Kiskinenuswad1= Manomini'kwa 9(Bear) (KC)Nanawagaad1 =KIpaia'kwa 9(Th) (Wolf) 9 =Penawad1(KC)Matowacia 9 = Pami'kahitad1(Bv) (Bear)
IX.
Mena'kwaa9 = Prtaugimawad, =Natugaha9(Th) (WC) (Th)Tcagamaad'= PyatwatSa(Wolf) (Th)Kicegwad' =Pahatcikwaa9 = MIcomanihad'1[231] (Th) (b. 1835) I (Bear) (Wolf)
(Bear)
Sasaginokwa 9 Wanitlac?[326] (Th) (b. 1867) [55] (Th) (b. 1862)
Asawesiha 9(WC)Nima'kyaad1 =I'kwaa'koha$(WC, but Th name) I (Bear)Tclmand"(WC)
Appendix C?LISTS OF GENS NAMESGens names from Jones' genealogiesBEAR GENSName '
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 141Gens names from Jones' genealogies?ContinuedFOX GENSA. KINDLY CHIEFSName
142 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125Gens names from Jones' genealogies?ContinuedELK GENSName
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 143Gens names from Jones' genealogies?ContinuedTHUNDER GENSName Sex Translation
1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20.21.22.23.24.25.26.27.28.29.
CapwatagaKlcegwaKlpaiwa'kwaKunepagahaMamackwineciaMeckwana'kwiaMena'kwaaNanacia'kwaNanagiaNanawagaaNatugahaNlma'kyahaNotenogaaNotenuskagaPami'kawahaPamusaaPesecaclaP5nowaaPonwataaPyamickwitaPyatwataaSagimaaSaginagapaaSagit5aSasagin5kwaWanitlaWapanugahaWasa'konaaWiskenoa
MMFMMFFFMMFMMMMMFFFFMMFMMMM
Sounds it Out Through Space.Day.Swaying Wings.Red Cloud in Storm (Skinner)
.
Fine Cloud.Caresses a Feather.Goes Anywhere, Anyhow.Flies Around Wasting Time.Raises the Earth by Hitting It.Windy.Takes the Wind Through.Walks Along.Quits Saying It.Quits Shouting.Cornea Hallooing (Jones).Mosquito.
He Who is Busy with the Morning (Jones).Has Lights on His Back.Bird.BEAR POTATO GENS
Appendix D.?CEREMONIAL DATAWith regard to ceremonialism among the Foxes we have much dataas to procedure and little as to motivation. The ceremonial calendaris unknown to us, and we have but scant information as to the occasionfor holding the ceremonies dealt with in detail in the table below.From such fragments of information as we have, the following occa-sions can be distinguished:Buffalo worship early in spring (Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer.Ethn., p. 281).Corn planting (Busby, Two Summers among the Musquakies, p. 110).Corn ripening (Busby, loc. cit., pp. 110-113; Jones).Before the buffalo run in the fall (Jones).Preparation for the winter hunt (Busby, loc. cit., pp. 66-67).When a young man killed his first game (Marston in Morse, Rept. to Sec. ofWar, p. 136).After slaying game (Jones)
.
When fasting sticks were put away or brought out for 6-year-old children(in preparation for a special career for these children?) (Michelson, op. cit.,pp. 557-559).Preparation for war (Marston, op. cit., p. 130).Atonement for wrongdoing (Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 58).The functional significance of these ceremonies must, however,remain inferential. Since it is thus impossible to discuss the innermeaning of Fox ceremonialism, we must be content for the present toconfine ourselves to ceremonial procedure, for which we have abundantdata. This data, collected by Michelson, including some hithertounpublished material, is presented in tabular form below.Michelson has frequently remarked on the essential uniformity ofFox gens festivals. (See Internat. Cong. Americanists, 23, pp.545-546, 1928.) In general it can be said that they will all conformto the following pattern.They will be held from sunrise to sunset (except for a few held atnight). Dogs will be ceremonially killed the night before (except inthe ceremonial worship of the wolf, in which dog is forbidden as beingtoo closely related). These dogs will be laid on a scaffold overnight.They will be carefully put in kettles in the order in which they werekilled (in the wolf ceremony chickens were treated in identical fashion).Special invitation sticks will be used to invite members of other gentesto the ceremony. Smokers will sit on the north side of the building;singers will sit on the south. There will also be a drummer on thesouth, except in the winter, when there is no dancing and no drum.144
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 145The sacred bundle will be placed in a central position on the west sideof the building, usually on a mound of fresh earth. A flute will besounded in the four directions to attract the attention of the manitous.Ceremonial attendants of specified gentes will officiate. Fire andSky (specifically He-whose-face-bulges-at-the-smokehole) will be givenofferings for which they are to serve as intermediaries to the manitous.There will be four dances and three eatings, with the main feast afterthe third dance. (Only the invited guests will eat during the cere-mony.) The bones left over from the feast will be ceremonially dis-posed of. The story of the origin of the ceremony will be recounted.Prayers will be offered for long life, freedom from disease, the securityof the entire village, the well-being of all gens members, the confusionof the foe, and success in war. When the ceremony is over and theguests have gone, the members of the gens giving the ceremony willbreak their fast.Within this basic framework, however, details can vary. Some ofthese differences appear clearly in the table, but the table is by nomeans complete. Blanks cannot be taken as evidence that a givenfeature is lacking. The plus signs indicate that the feature is reportedin the published source, crosses that Michelson can vouch for it fromhis personal information, and minus signs that the feature is knownnot to occur. Other pertinent information which could not be put intabular form, including the source of information, remarks on theinformant, etc., follows the table.
146 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125
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snoSI89g gqi joeonep japunqj, '} + 1 XX+ :+!!!::::! :++i + ++ :++++++jiobj peaoBg + 1 XX+ +++ ++++ +++ 1++:+: :+++ +++spajg BAioired
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Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 147
1. Wapanowiweni Dance of the Bear Gens.Michelson, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 109-141, 1932. Informant ananonymous member of the Bear gens. This account is a description of a particu-lar ceremony observed by the informant, largely in the form of an explanation of adiagram. Persons belonging to this rite had to be members of the Bear or WarChief gentes, and were adept at shamanistic tricks. The individual first blessedwas Mama's&'a (Bear name). The ceremonial attendants were an Eagle and aWar Chief. The leading female dancer was a Bear woman. The rain crow(cuckoo) was imitated. Those taking part in the ceremony painted themselvesred. There was also a red headdress.2. Worship of Buffaloes and Wapanowa Birds.Michelson, Bull. 105, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 5-12, 1932. Text written out byAlfred Kiyana, War Chief gens; it was not translated until after his death, and nofurther information is available. The ceremony belonged to the Swan gens (nowpart of the "Fish" gens). The leading female dancer was a virgin who had justbegun to menstruate. Of the four dances, two imitated buffaloes and two birds.The leading male dancer wore a buffalo headdress. The virgin stooped and atesugar without a spoon (imitation of buffalo).3. Sagimakwawa Sacred Pack.Michelson, Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 117-159, 1927. The same inform-ant as for (1), a Bear, and a minor singer. This is the great gens festival of theBear gens, and the sacred pack was formerly in the keeping of Chief Pacitonigwa.The account is a description of a specific ceremony, given in explanation of adiagram. Sagima'kwawA means "Chieftain Woman," and is said to refer to anotter. The individual first blessed was "Black Bear," a chief. The pack isuntied only once every 5 years. The ceremonial attendants were an Eagle and aWar Chief. The rain crow (cuckoo) was imitated with a flute.4. Thunder Dance of the Bear Gens.For this we have two accounts, Michelson, Bull. 89, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1929.The first is by the same informant as for (1) and (3) , a Bear, whose account was of aspecific ceremony in the nature of an explanation of a diagram. The second is byJim Peters, a Thunder member of Sauk descent, and is fragmentary, being betterfor songs and prayers than for procedure. Both agree that the individuals firstblessed were "the Twins," and that the distinguished guests were Wolf, Fox,Eagle, and Thunder.5. Buffalo Dance of the Bear Gens.Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 1-41, 1930. The same informant asfor (1), (3), and (4), a Bear. A description of a specific ceremony, with diagram.Ceremonial attendants were Thunder and War Chief. Berries were offered inturn to representatives of the Wolf, War Chief, Eagle, and Thunder gentes, and theDirty Ani Society. The leading female dancer was a member of the Thunder gens.6. The Buffalo-Head Dance of the Thunder Gens.For this ceremony we have three accounts.(a) The same informant as for (1), (3), (4) and (5), a Bear. This account isfullest for procedure, and is an explanation of a diagram. He remarks that theleading female dancer was a War Chief member. They imitate the buffalo herdin the dance, and take sugar with their tongues.(6) This account was by Sam Peters, a Peyote man of Sauk descent who has nottaken an active part in Fox ceremonial activity for many years. It was challenged
148 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 125by Harry Lincoln, a Bear of Winnebago descent, as being partly confused with theorthodox myth of the Dirty Little Ani Society.(c) An origin myth, including the instructions given to the one first blessed asto holding the ceremony, by Alfred Kiyana, War Chief member.7. Worship of the Thunderers by the Thunder Gens.We have three accounts for this ceremony also (Michelson, Bull. 95, Bur.Amer. Ethn., 1930).(a) By the same informant as for (1), (3), (4), (5), and (6), a Bear, and asinger in the ceremony. Diagram and accompanying explanation.(b) By Alfred Kiyana, War Chief member. A theoretical account as given tothe one blessed at the time of his vision.(c) By an anonymous member of the Thunder gens. An account of a specificceremony.
8.' A'penawana'a Sacred Pack.Michelson, Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 97-116, 1927. By the same inform-ant as for (1), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7), a Bear, and a singer in the ceremony.A diagram of a specific ceremony with accompanying explanation. A'panawana'ameans "Night-Hawk," and is also the name of the Spirit of Sickness. This cere-mony was held at night. The one first blessed was "Smooth Belly." Ceremonialattendants were Wolf and Bear; they were unpainted, and naked except forbreechclouts.9. KwiyamaVs Sacred Pack.Michelson, Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 51-96, 1927. This is a fragmentaryaccount by Sam Peters, Peyote man, grandson of the owner of the pack, in whichhe tells what he remembers from witnessing the ceremony held long before whenhis grandfather was living. KwivAma'A * was a Sauk, and took this pack to waragainst the Comanches in 1854. Apparently a deer's head was supposed to besacrificed, but dog was used on the last occasion.10. Lucy Lasley's Sacred Pack.Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 504. Lucy Lasley is amember of the Thunder gens. She got this pack from her father, Buck Green, aPotawatomi. The Winnebago of Nebraska are said to have the bear hidebelonging to this pack, and to perform the same ceremony. A buffalo-fur head-dress was worn.11. Dirty Little Ani Society.Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 497-539, 1925. In-formant was Sam Peters, Thunder man of Sauk descent, referred to above. Thispack belongs to Sam's brother Joe, and Sam has also served as ceremonial attend-ant, but he said "I do not know this very well." Another name for members of thissociety is "Those Who Worship the Spotted Buffalo Calf." This is the wayIndians refer to the domestic cattle. The ceremony is held both spring and fall.Women are pursued symbolically in the dance.12. Owl Sacred Pack.Michelson, Bull. 72, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 9-67, 1921. The pack belonged toKiyana, and Kiyana wrote the text. This ceremony could be held at night.Black Rainbow and his niece, Deer Horn, were the ones first blessed.
Jones] ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 149
13. The White Buffalo Dance.Michelson, Fortieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 37-289, 1925. AlfredKiyana, War Chief member, was the informant. The pack belonged to the WarChief gens. There was one major pack, and four minor packs, one for each hoofof the buffalo. Steppaients of children of the War Chief gens served as ceremonialattendants. They carried fans of eagle wings and eagle feathers in the hair.After the ceremony the bones were taken 99 steps and thrown away. Duringthe dance bowls of sugar were overturned.14. The War Chiefs Worship the Wolf.Michelson, to appear in Fox Miscellany, a forthcoming bulletin of the Bureauof American Ethnology. We have three accounts.(a) By an anonymous member of the War Chief gens. An explanation of adiagram. Kepayomawa, a member of the War Chief gens, was the one firstblessed. Michelson remarks that the key positions in the ceremony belong inone family. No dog could be used, and the sacred pack was not placed on amound of earth, as was usually done. When held in winter women do notattend, there is no drum, and the pack is not untied.(6) An explanation of a diagram. The sacred pack has a white wolf hide.Chickens were the main food, and they were cremonially treated the eveningbefore exactly as dogs usually were.(c) Description of a particular ceremony held June 4, 1924. The ceremony isgiven twice a year, once when leaves aie large in the spring, and once after harvest.Ducks were mentioned as the main food.15. The War Chiefs Raise the British Flag.Michelson, unpublished manuscript. There are two accounts by the 6ameinformant, the anonymous member of the War Chief gens mentioned in (14).The first is an explanation of a diagram, and the second is a long origin myth.This ceremony is never held in winter. The origin myth accounts for receivingthe British flag, which takes the place of a sacred pack. The flag is always takendown before sunset. The hero was a quarter-blood Fox whose grandfatherwas a white trader. Sick people who attend this ceremony will get better. Thosewho hold the ceremony can make it rain or be fair as they choose on the day of theceremony.16. Green Buffalo Dance of the Wolf Gens.Michelson, to appear in Fox Miscellany. It is some time since this ceremonywras held, and we have only the myth connected with it. Those blessed weretwins, members of the Wolf gens. Ceremonial attendants were War Chief andThunder.17. Red Stone Pipe Dance of the Eagle Gens.Michelson, unpublished manuscripts. The text was written out by AlfredKiyana, War Chief gens member, and is an origin myth with few details ofprocedure. The ceremonial attendants were Bear and War Chief.

INDEX
PageAbenakis, mention of 4Adoption:belief concerning 70custom of 65-66Adoption ceremonies, descrip-tion of 66, 70Adultery, punishment for 85, 86Allouez, Father, work of 2Andrus, Miss Caroline, assist-ance rendered by IXApaiyacihagi, the mischievousmanitous 15Atowahi, game of 110-111Atwater, Caleb, cited 50Authorities:cited 49,54on Fox history 1Ball game:medicine used in 23women's 112Barbeau, C. M., cited 22Bass gens:names of members of 142remarks on 75Bear feast dance, descriptionof 93-94Bear gens:account of dance of 147names of members of 140position of, in tribe 83remarks on 73supernatural power in 27Bear Potato gens:names of members of 143remarks on 75Beaver gens, name of memberof 143Beliefs:concerning adoption 70concerning buffaloes 23concerning conception andbirth 62concerning crows 22-23concerning flint 23123399?39 11
Beliefs?Continued. Pa&*concerning ghosts 29-30concerning the earth 20concerning the moon 19-20concerning the mosquitoes.. 22concerning the stars 21concerning the sun 18-19concerning trees 20-21concerning witches 26-29connected with menstrua-tion 63,64regarding evil spirits 30regarding hair-combing 30Bibliography:Fox, additions to 115of Jones publications 115Big Dipper, myth of 22Big Lynx, the evil manitou 75Big Lynx gens, remarks on 75Birth, customs connected with. 61-62Black Hawk war, origin of 6Boas, Franz, notes published by vmBolling, Raynold, mention of._ ixBow and arrow, game playedwith 110-111Brains, children's, belief con-cerning 68Buffalo, sacred image of 102-103Buffalo dance:costume worn in 101description of 101of Bear gens 147Buffalo feasts, description of.. 100Buffalo-head dance, three ac-counts of 147-148Buffalo hunt, feast preceding- _ 100Buffaloes, belief concerning? 23Burials:description of 67-68four methods used in 64-65orientation in 65Busby, A. B., cited 50Cat's cradle, mention of gameof... H2151
152 INDEXPageCeremonial procedure, com-parative table for 146Ceremonial runners, office of__ 83Ceremonies:data concerning 144-145description of 88-106general pattern of 144-145paraphernalia of 106-109Chickasaws, mention of 4Chiefs:functions of, at council 82selection of 82, 83use of the word 84Chieftainship, discussion of 83Childbirth. See Birth.Children, training of 90Clothing:of babies 55of girls and women 54-55of men and boys 54Colors, symbolism of 24-25Cooking, Fox method of 52-53Cooper, Father John M., cited. 11, 13Corn, the manitou 17Costume. See Clothing.Council, tribal, organization of 82Councilors, office of 83Counting game, description of. . IllCourtship, customs of 55-56Cowardice, ridicule of 84Crime and punishment, discus-sion of 84-87Crow dance, warriors honoredwith 66Crows, belief concerning 22-23Culin, Stewart, cited 109,110, 112, 113Dances:at adoption ceremony 70, 71feast, notes on 93-95of the Bear gens 93-94of the Eagle gens 97-99of the Fox gens 94-95of the MowitihagL 102-103of the Thunder gens 99of the Wolf gens 95-97swan 105-106WApanowiweni 147Davenport, Jennie, colors ex-plained by 24Delivery in childbirth 61Deming, E. W., mention of ixDetroit, Fort established at 3
PageDirty Little Ani Society, cere-mony of 148Divorce, customs of 60-61Dixon, Professor, reference to
_
viiiDog feasts, tribes holding 92Dogs:as manitous 12ceremonial killing of 101discussion of eating of _ 12, 91-92, 95killed to accompany thedead 65,68Dolls:of Fox girls 112use of in witchcraft 29Dorsey, J. O., cited 24Dual divisions:appointment to 80discussion of 80separation of, in ball games. 81Dwellings. See Houses.Dyes, use of.. 25Eagle, mythical, discussion of. 68Eagle feast dance, descriptionof 97-98Eagle gens:names of members of 142remarks on 74Earth, beliefs concerning 20Elk gens:names of members of 142remarks on 74English, relations of, withFoxes 6Erie, mention of 2Ethical standards, discussionof 88-89Exogamy, statistics on 77-78Family life, description of 50-53Feast dances, notes on 93-95Feasts:Buffalo 100of thanksgiving 9 1-92of the Bear gens 93-94of the Eagle gens 97-99of the Fox gens 94-95of the Thunder gens 99of the Wolf gens _ 95-97order of 93sacred, description of 88-91to the Spirit of Sickness 99Feathered gens, remarks on 74Feeding the dead, ceremony of. 71-72Fights, sham, games of 112
INDEX 153
1417383
11
Pag*Flint, belief concerning 23Flute, use of, to entice women.. 57Folsom, Miss, assistance ren-dered by ixFood:discussion of 51-53preparation of, for the dead. 71taboos concerning 109Forsyth, Thomas, cited 25, 51, 52, 113Fox feast dance, description of. 94-95Fox gens:names of members ofremarks onFox government, native pointof view onFox Indians:conservatism ofcultural status ofhistory of 2-7list of members of, and dataconcerning each 118-137location of 2origin of name of 8Fox language, reference to 1French, the:first meeting of, with Foxes. 8plan of, to exterminate theFoxes 4relations of, with the Foxes. 3-4Frog medicine, use of 23Games, description of 109-1 1
3
Genealogies of some Fox In-dians 138-139Gens festivals, uniformity in. 91, 144Gens names, with translations 140-143Gentes:dichotomy of 80indicated by symbols 54lists of 72original, discussion of 76reciprocal functions of _ 79remarks on 73-75responsibilities of 846acred packs of 1076tory of origin of 76Ghosts, beliefs concerning 29-30Grand-daddy-long-legs, be-lief concerning 23Graves:guarding of, by manitous... 27-28orientation of 67Great Medicine men, society of 104
PageGreen Buffalo dance, mentionof --- 149Hair-combing, belief regarding.. 30Hairdressing:of men 54of women. 55Harrington, M. R., cited 29,30, 81, 106"Head-Piercer," beliefs con-cerning 68Hewitt, J. N. B., cited. 17History, Fox 2-7authorities on 1Hoops, bark, game played with. 110Houses, description of 50Hunting, medicine used in 23-24Ice hockey, brief descriptionof 110Illinois, raids on 4Incense, use of 106Invitation sticks, use of 106Iowas, mention of 4Iroquois, Fox relations with 3, 4Iyapa'ta, account of 16-17Jones, William:biography of vii-viiiethnological notes of vnKeca Manitowa, the gentlemanitou 13Keokuk:and the Black Hawk war 8at the Treaty of 1822 86on of, made chief 9-10speech of 9Ke'tci manitowa, the greatmanitou 13-14Kickapoo:mention of 2,4tribal dual division of 80Lacrosse, game of:customs concerning 109tale of origin of 109-1 10Land, traditional ownership of.. 7Land of rocks, belief in 22Lead, referred to as buffaloes? 23Lodges. See Houses.Manitous:concept of 10-11conversations regarding 11homes of 12-17influence of 11list of 12-17
154 INDEXManitous?Continued. Pageloss of 12possession of, after death 12underworld 15Manuscript, sealed, search for. vmMarriage customs, discussionof 55-60, 90Marsh, Cutting, cited 16Marston, M., cited 29,63,68Mascoutens, mention of 2, 3, 4Massacre of the Foxes 5Matcikenapigwa manitowa,the manitou of the springs 15Meals:customs connected with 52serving of 51-52Medical practices in child-birth 61Medicine, Fox use of 23-24Medicine bundles:discussion of 23-24See also Sacred bundles.Menominee, mention of 2Menstrual customs, discussionof 62-64Michelson, Truman:acknowledgment to ixadventure of, in guardinggrave 27cited 7,11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24, 25,26, 30, 50, 55, 59, 62, 68, 73,74, 102, 106.Jones manuscripts editedby vmmention of ixMidewiwin:accounts of 104-105Forsyth's description of 104mythical origin of 104Migration:Fox, result of 2Fox, to Detroit 3of Sauk and Foxes 6Moccasin game, brief accountof 111Moon, beliefs concerning 19-20Morrow, William, mention of.. ixMortuary customs, discussionof 64-72Mosquitoes, myth concerning.. 22Mourning customs:discussion of 65-66, 69-70origin of 69
PageMowitihagi, dance of 102-103Murder, punishment for 86-87Murderer, belief concerning 86Myths:comparative notes on 48-49of Bear and the Rabbit 42-44of Bullhead and the Elk 44-45of Long Claws and theSkunk 37-39of Mouse and the Deer 45-47of Raccoon and the Chief. . 39-42of the animals' quarrel 47of Wisa'ka and the Quails.. 30-31of Wisa'ka and the Skunk.. 32-33of Wisa'ka and the Turtle.. 33-37Names:gens, with translations 140-143ordinal 140Naming customs 140Nasapipyata, a warrior andcouncilor 83National Research Council,acknowledgment to ixNeuters, mention of 2Northern lights, belief con-cerning 18Ojibwa, mention of 3,6Oklahoma, removal of Foxes to. 7Omahas, mention of 4Ornaments, use of 54Otoes, mention of 4Ottawas, hostilities with 3Owen, M. A., cited 72Pacitonigwa, Chief, cited 76,83Painting, facial 25Pawnee, raids on, b}r the Fox 2Peace Congress at Montreal. . 3Pheasant gens:names of members of 142remarks on 74Political organization, discussionof 82-83Polygamy, among the Foxes 58-59Pontiac's conspiracy, Fox at-titude in 6Population, Fox:analysis of, by gens 75discussion of 7Potawatomies, mixed withFoxes 7Prairie Potawatomi, tribal dualdivision of 80
INDEX 155Prisoners: Pa^eadoption of 2return of, to Foxes 2, 5Property, of the dead, disposalof 65,67Punishment:for adultery 85,86for biting a nose 86for murder 86-87for violation of taboos 84-85Racing, mention of 112Rebok, H., cited 50Red Stone Pipe dance, men-tion of 149Rideout, Henry:mention of ixquoted on Wm. Jones vmRing and pin game, descriptionof 112Sacred bundles:desecration of 107discussion of 106-107evil power of 107Sauk regard for 107tribes owning 107See also Sacred pack.Sacred feast (Kigan5), descrip-tion of 88-91Sacred gens, position of, intribe 83Sacred pack:A'penawana'a, account of__ 148Kwiyama'a's, account of 148Lucy Lasley's, account of 148Owl, ceremony of 148Sagimakwawa 147Sagimakwawa sacred pack, ac-count of ceremony of 147Sauks:burial custom of 65cession of land of 6Fox separation from 6mention of 2reference to naming feast of? 81tribal dual division of 80union of, with the Foxes 5Sea gens:names of members of 142remarks on 75Sham battles, played by men. 112-113Sham fights, as games for boys. 112Sioux, relations of, with the Fox. 3, 5
PageSkinner, A., cited 11,24, 26, 29, 59, 68, 74, 81, 102,104, 105, 106Sleeping arrangements of Foxfamily 50-51Smith, Huron, cited 25Smithsonian Institution:correspondence filed with ivmanuscripts received by vmSocial data, miscellaneous 117-137Social organization, discussionof 72-87Soul, beliefs concerning 16-17Speech, to the dead 67Spirit of Sickness, feast to 99Spirit world:concept of 16deity of 19Spirits, evil, belief regarding... 30Stars, beliefs concerning 21Stealing, Fox attitude toward.. 88, 90Stirling, M. W., acknowledg-ment to IXStory-telling 109Strangers, law respecting 84Sturgeon gens, remarks on 75Sun, beliefs concerning 18-19Supernatural beings, list of... 12-17Swan dance, description of.. 105-106Swan gens:names of members of 142remarks on 75Sweat lodge:description of 108use of 108-109Symbolism of colors 24-25Symbols, indicating gens 54Taboos:concerning sacred bundles. . 107for menstruating women 63, 64for pregnant women 62of food 109post-natal 62punishment for violation of.984-985Tag, game of 113Tama, Iowa, Fox settlement at. 6"Those Who Worship theSpotted Buffalo Calf,"society of.... 102-103Thunder, belief concerning 22Thunder dance of Bear gens,two accounts of 147
156 INDEXPageThunder feast dance, descrip-tion of. 99Thunder gens:names of members of ._ 143remarks on 74Thunderers, the, account of _ _ 14-15Tobacco, sacred, legend of. . 107-108Topaqahagi, game of 110Tops, game played with 113Traders, conflict with _ 2Trading posts, French policyregarding 6Tradition. See Traditionalhistory.Traditional history of theFox Indians 7-10Trees, belief concerning 20-21Turtledove, a manitou 17Visitors, law respecting 84WApanowiweni dance, accountof... 147WApasaiy*, traditional historyof 7-8War Chief gens, position of, inthe tribe 83War Chiefs Raise the BritishFlag, account of ceremony of. 149War Chiefs Worship theWolf, three accounts of cere-mony of 149Ward, Duren, cited 75Warriors, ceremonies at deathof _ 66
Weapons, burial of, with thedead