animal, to subsist on. It is a place of darkness, where sun
light never enters. They are subject to all privations - cold, hunger, thirst. We, their friends, their relatives, their brethren, are the cause of their long sufferings and fearful woes. Their sighs and moans were unsupportable. I trembled in every limb; my hair stood erect on my head; I believed my lot fixed with theirs; when a kindly spirit touched my hand and said: ` Tchatka, return to the place which thou hast left; return to thy body, for it is not yet time for thee to enter the land of spirits. Return, and thou shalt be the bearer of good news to thy nation - the shades of thy deceased relations shall be avenged, and their deliverance is nigh. In thy lodge thou wilt find a drum, painted with fig
ures that soon thou shalt learn to know.' At this instant the
spirit left me. Coming forth from my dream, I found my drum, painted as you now behold it. When my body was restored to animation, I found that I had not changed position. During four days and four nights I had the same vision, varied sometimes, but always accompanied with complaints and reproaches concerning our recent defeats by our enemies, the Blackfeet. The fifth night, the manitou addressed me anew, and said: ` Tchatka, henceforth the tchantcheega-kabo shall be thy Wah-kon. Arise, follow without delay the war-path which leads to the Blackfeet. At the source of Milk river thirty lodges of the enemies are encamped. Set out instantly, and after five days' march thou
shalt reach the camp. On the sixth thou shalt make a fear ful carnage. Every head painted on the drum represents a scalp, and the taking of these scalps will appease the manes of thy deceased parents and friends. Then only will they be enabled to quit the frightful abode where thou beholdest them, to enter the beauteous plains where plenty reigns and where suffering and privation are unknown. At this moment a Blackfeet war-party is prowling around the camp. They sought a favorable moment, but not finding it, have gone in search of a weaker enemy. Set out, then, without delay; thou shalt find an easy victory; thou shalt find in 71