NOTE.  —  The  medicine  dance  is  not  a  worship  or  devotion ;  it  is  an
act  of  divination ;  a  means  of  ascertaining  the  relative  position  of  the
two  Gods  towards  the  tribe.  An  image  representing  both  Gods  (one
side  being  painted  white,  the  other  black),  is  hung  up  in  the  centre  of
the  lodge  above  the  dancers.
CHAPTEE  X.
INDIAN  METHODS   OF   SELF-TORTURE  —  ENDURANCE
AND   DEFIANCE   OF   PAIN.
The  Warrior's  Ordeal  —Panting  for  the  Knife  —  How  Suffering  is  Courted

—  Stalwart  Endurance  of  Pain  —  The  Greatest  of  Indian  Virtues  —
Remarkable  Religious  Fervor  —  Indian  Pride  in  Self-Torture  —  Prep
arations  for  the  Trying  Ordeal  —  Fasting,  Silence,  and  Meditation  —
The  Candidates  Brought  before  the  Medicine  Chief  —  Deciding  on
the  Kind  and  Amount  of  Torture  —  The  Merciless  Thrust  of  the  Knife

—  Inserting   Horsehair  Ropes  —  The  Wounded  Devotee  —  Muscles
Torn  from  the  Breast  —  Incredible  Suffering  —  The  Victim's  Tragic
Efforts  to  Break  Loose  —  Suspended  in  Mid-air  —  Indescribable  Ago
nies  —  Lips  that  Never  Murmur  —  Dressing  the  Wounds  —  The  Con
sequences  of  Flinching  under  the  Knife  —  The  "  Sun  Dance  "  of  the
Sioux  —  Expiation  of  Crime  —  Exasperating  Forms  of  Torture.
the  dance  has  ended,  and  many
times  when  it  is  yet  in  progress,  the
tortures  take  place.
