Two of the hide ropes are now let down from the roof, and twisted round the
skewers on the breast or shoulders. To the others are hung the neophyte’s
weapons, while the skulls of bisons depend from those of the lower arm or leg.
At a given signal the neophyte is hauled aloft, and allowed to swing, at a height
of six or eight feet from the ground, suspended only by the two skewers, while
he sustains, not only his own weight, but that of the heavy skulls. With almost
incredible fortitude, he endures this protracted agony, until exhausted nature
gives way, and he falls into a swoon.
The bystanders seem no longer men, but demons intent on increasing his
tortures. They surround him, a dozen or more at a time, and consider what new
inventions can be adopted. At length, one advances towards the poor wretch, and
begins to turn him round with a pole, which he has brought for the purpose. This
is done very gently at first, but by degrees with more rapidity and increasing
violence, until the neophyte breaks down in his self-control, and bursts forth into
“the most lamentable and heart-rending cries that the human voice is capable of
producing,” imploring the Great Spirit to support and protect him in his agony,
and repeatedly expressing his belief in that protection.
In this condition he revolves faster and faster, without the least hope of escape or
relief, until he again falls into a swoon; his voice falters, his strugglings cease; he
hangs a still and apparently lifeless thing. “When he is by turning gradually
brought to this condition, which is generally done within ten or fifteen minutes,
there is a close scrutiny passed upon him among his tormentors, who are
checking and holding each other back as long as the least struggling or tremor
can be discovered; lest he should be removed, before he is, as they term it,
dead.”
Having satisfied themselves that their victim is not feigning, they give a signal;
he is lowered to the ground; the skewers which passed through his breast are
removed, and the ropes attached to another candidate. He is allowed to lie where
he fell; none dare to touch him; to do so would be a sacrilege, because he has
placed himself under the protection of the Great Spirit.
After awhile he partially recovers, and crawls to another part of the lodge,
where, with gleaming axe in hand and a bison’s skull before him, sits a
medicine-man. Holding up the little finger of his left hand as a sacrifice to the
Great Spirit, the neophyte lays it upon the skull, and, in a moment, the medicine-
man’s axe severs it. Sometimes the fore-finger of the same hand is also offered,
and only the thumb and two middle fingers, which are necessary in holding the