locomotion.
No two human beings, says Mr. Catlin, can ever present a more striking group
than is presented by those two individuals, with their fierce eyes fixed in well-
simulated hatred on each other; both contending for the supremacy, both relying
on the potency of their mystery or medicine; the one, with dismal black body,
pretending to be O-ku-hu-de, the Evil Spirit, and pouring everlasting vengeance
on the other, who sternly gazes back with a look of contemptuous exultation, as
he holds him bound by the influence of his sacred mystery-pipe. Truly, these
Red-skinned Mandans are accomplished actors and pantomimists.
A repetition of this performance takes place until the power of the mystery-pipe
has been sufficiently proved; and the women, gaining confidence in it, proceed
to turn the tables on their persecutor, jeering him, and overwhelming him with
shrieks of laughter. At last, one of the boldest dashes a handful of sand in his
face; an insult which completely overwhelms him, so that he begins to weep
abundantly. Another woman takes courage to seize his magic staff, and snaps it
across her knee. Other women pick up the broken halves and break them into
fragments, which they fling at O-ku-hu-de’s head. Bereft of all his power, he
incontinently turns tail, and dashes across the prairie, followed for half a mile or
so by volleys of mud and stones and slates.
Thus ends the battle of Armageddon. The Evil Spirit has come, and fought, and
been conquered. The next step is to remove the little altar and its mysterious
deposit from the centre of the great medicine-lodge, and pass the hide ropes
through openings in the roof to men stationed without. Then the master of the
ceremonies and his assistants, together with the chiefs and bravos of the tribe, re-
enter the lodge, and take up their positions.
Worn and wasted by four days of abstinence from food, drink, and sleep, the
first neophyte enters the lodge, when called, and takes his stand in front of two
of the executioners. One of them, with a blunt and jagged double-edged knife,
pinches up an inch or so of the flesh of the breast or shoulder, inserts the knife,
and through the incision thus accomplished, forces a wooden skewer; repeating
the process on the other shoulder or breast, on each arm just below the shoulder
and below the elbow, upon each thigh, and upon each leg just below the knee.
Painful as the operation must be, the neophyte bears it unflinchingly; not a sigh
escapes him; his countenance remains as calm and unruffled as if he were
wrapped in a pleasant dream.