§ 337. The “medicine of one man consists in making a snow ball, which he rolls a long time between his hands, so that at length it becomes hard and is changed into a white stone, which, when struck, emits a fire. Many persons, even whites, pretended they had seen this, and they can not be convinced to the contrary. The same man pretends that, during a dance, he plucked white feathers from a certain small bird, which he rolled between his hands, and formed of them in a short time a similar white stone. * * * A great many Mandan and Hidatsa believe that they have wild animals in their bodies; one, for instance, affirmed that he had a buffalo calf, the kicking of which he often felt; others said that they had tortoises, frogs, lizards, birds, etc. * * * Among the Hidatsa were seen medicine dances of the women, where one claimed to have an ear of corn in her body, which she ejected from her mouth during the dance, and then ate, after it had been mixed with Artemisia. * * * Another female dancer caused blood to gush from her mouth at will.”[251]
GHOST LORE.
§ 338. The Mandan believe that each person has several spirits dwelling within him; one of which is black, another brown, and a third light-colored, the last alone returning to the Lord of Life. They think that after death they go to the south, to several villages which are visited by the gods; that their existence there is dependent on their course of life while in this world; that the brave and kind-hearted carry on the same occupation, eat similar food, have wives, and enjoy the pleasures of war and the chase. Some of the Mandan are said not to believe all these particulars, but to suppose that after death their spirits will dwell in the sun or in certain stars.
THE FUTURE LIFE.
§ 339. The Mandan belief in a future state is connected with the tradition of their origin: The whole nation resided in one large village under ground, near a subterraneous lake. Some of the people climbed up to this earth by means of a grape-vine, which broke when a corpulent woman essayed to climb it. Therefore the rest of the people remained in the subterranean village. When the Mandan die they expect to return to the original seats of their forefathers, the good reaching the ancient village by means of the lake, which the burden of the sins of the wicked will not enable them to cross.[252] The concluding clause of the last sentence can hardly be of Indian origin; it is very probably due to white influence.
FOUR AS A MYSTIC NUMBER AMONG THE MANDAN.
§ 340. According to Catlin:[253]
The Okipa invariably lasts four days; four men are selected by the first man to cleanse out and prepare the mystic lodge for the occasion; one of these men is called from the north part of the village, another from the east, a third from the south, and the fourth from the west (see § 373). The four sacks of water, in the forms of large tortoises, resting on the floor of the lodge, seem to typify the four cardinal points. The four buffalo skulls and as many human skulls on the floor of the lodge, the four couples of dancers in the buffalo dance and the four intervening dancers in the same dance, deserve our study. The buffalo dance in front of the mystic lodge, repeated on the four days, is danced four times on the first day, eight times on the second, twelve times on the third, and sixteen times on the fourth. There are four sacrifices of black and blue cloths erected over the entrance of the mystic lodge. The visits of the Evil Spirit were paid to four of the buffalo in the buffalo dance. In every instance the young man who submitted to torture in the Okipa had four splints or skewers run through the flesh on his leg, four through his arms, and four through his body.