and if the visitor stays long enough, they give him the whole series. On each occasion a large circle of dancers is formed, all hideously painted. The musicians begin to beat their drums and tambourines and all accompany the music with a measured chant varied with piercing yells, grunts and roars to accentuate the rhythm. When the women's voices are added, the vocal part of the performance is soft, plaintive and melodious. The dance is often a combination of different dances. Here is a list of the principal ones: the Chief's dance, the Beggar's dance, the Buffalo and Corn dances, the dance of the Dead, the Marriage dance, and the dance of Return from War, accompanied with prisoners and sacrifices. The war dance is everywhere the most important and most varied; it is the faithful image of an Indian battle-field. It represents the departure of the warriors, their arrival in the enemy's country, the attack, the scalping, their triumphal return to the tribe and the torture of the prisoners. They put a lively enthusiasm into these dances; their ardor and activity form a striking contrast to the stoical repose of their ordinary way of life.
After this explanatory preface, I propose to give you the details of the Grass dance instituted by the good chief Pananniapapi before his conversion to the faith. He is the head chief of the Yankton tribe, which consists of nearly 3,000 souls and belongs to the Sioux nation.
Among the Indians each tribe has its societies or associations. The principal one among the Yanktons is called the Grass band or Pejimakinnanka. All the braves, or men of heart, as the Indians express it, belong to this fraternity. All the members enter into a solemn engagement: first, co avoid quarrels among themselves and to submit any differences which may arise to the arbitration of two or three wise men. That is their supreme court, improvised for the occasion, and there is no appeal from its decision: the result is generally happy and they live in good understanding and great harmony: second, the society undertakes to