[ PREPARATORY INSTRUCTION.]
When the candidate’s application for reception into the Midē´wiwin has been received by one of the officiating priests, he calls upon the three assisting Midē´, inviting them to visit him at his own wig´iwam at a specified time. When the conference takes place, tobacco, which has been previously furnished by the candidate, is distributed and a smoke offering made to Ki´tshi Man´idō, to propitiate his favor in the deliberations about to be undertaken. The host then explains the object of the meeting, and presents to his auditors an account of the candidate’s previous life; he recounts the circumstances of his fast and dreams, and if the candidate is to take the place of a lately deceased son who had been prepared to receive the degree, the fact is mentioned, as under such circumstances the forms would be different from the ordinary method of reception into the society. The subject of presents and gifts to the individual members of the society, as well as those intended to be given as a fee to the officiating priests, is also discussed; and lastly, if all things are favorable to the applicant, the selection of an instructor or preceptor is made, this person being usually appointed from among these four priests.
When the conference is ended the favorable decision is announced to the applicant, who acknowledges his pleasure by remitting to each of the four priests gifts of tobacco. He is told what instructor would be most acceptable to them, when he repairs to the wig´iwam of the person designated and informs him of his wish and the decision of the Midē´ council.
The designated preceptor arranges with his pupil to have certain days upon which the latter is to call and receive instruction and acquire
information. The question of remuneration being settled, tobacco is furnished at each sitting, as the Midē´ never begins his lecture until after having made a smoke-offering, which is done by taking a whiff and pointing the stem to the east; then a whiff, directing the stem to the south; another whiff, directing the stem to the west; then a whiff and a similar gesture with the stem to the north; another whiff is taken slowly and with an expression of reverence, when the stem is pointed forward and upward as an offering to Ki´tshi Man´idō; and finally, after taking a similar whiff, the stem is pointed forward and downward toward the earth as an offering to Nokō´mis, the grandmother of the universe, and to those who have passed before. After these preliminaries, the candidate receives at each meeting only a small amount of information, because the longer the instruction is continued daring the season before the meeting at which it is hoped the candidate may be admitted the greater will be the fees; and also, in order that the instruction may be looked upon with awe and reverence, most of the information imparted is frequently a mere repetition, the ideas being clothed in ambiguous phraseology. The Midē´ drum ([Fig. 12 a]) differs from the drum commonly used in dances ([Fig. 12 b]) in the fact that it is cylindrical, consisting of an elongated kettle or wooden vessel, or perhaps a section of the hollow trunk of a tree about 10 inches in diameter and from 18 to 20 inches in length, over both ends of which rawhide is stretched while wet, so that upon drying the membrane becomes hard and tense, producing, when beaten, a very hard, loud tone, which may be heard at a great distance.
Fig. 12.—Ojibwa drums.
Frequently, however, water is put into the bottom of the drum and the drum-head stretched across the top in a wet state, which appears to intensify the sound very considerably.
The peculiar and special properties of the drum are described to the applicant; that it was at first the gift of Ki´tshi Man´idō, who gave it through the intercession of Mi´nabō´zho; that it is used to invoke the presence of the Midē´ Man´idōs, or sacred spirits, when seeking