After this song is ended the drum is handed to one of the members sitting near by, when the fourth and last of the officiating priests says to the candidate, who is now placed upon his knees:
| Mĭs-sa´-a-shi´-gwa | ki-bo´-gĭs-sē-na-min | tshi´-ma-mâd |
| Now is the time | that I hope of you | that you shall |
| bi-mâ´-di-sĭ-wĭn, | mĭ-nē´-sĭd. |
| take life | the bead [mi´gis shell.] |
This priest then grasps his Midē´ sack as if holding a gun, and, clutching it near the top with the left hand extended, while with the right he clutches it below the middle or near the base, he aims it toward the candidate’s left breast and makes a thrust forward toward that target uttering the syllables “yâ, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´,” rapidly, rising to a higher key. He recovers his first position and repeats this movement three times, becoming more and more animated, the last time making a vigorous gesture toward the kneeling man’s breast as if shooting him. (See [Fig. 15], page 192.) While this is going on, the preceptor and his assistants place their hands upon the candidate’s shoulders and cause his body to tremble.
Then the next Midē´, the third of the quartette, goes through a similar series of forward movements and thrusts with his Midē´ sack, uttering similar sounds and shooting the sacred mī´gis—life—into the right breast of the candidate, who is agitated still more strongly than before. When the third Midē´, the second in order of precedence, goes through similar gestures and pretends to shoot the mī´gis into the candidate’s heart, the preceptors assist him to be violently agitated.
The leading priest now places himself in a threatening attitude and says to the Midē´; “Mī´-dzhi-de´-a-mi-shĭk´”—“put your helping heart with me”—, when he imitates his predecessors by saying, “yâ, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´, hŏ´,” at the fourth time aiming the Midē´ sack at the candidate’s head, and as the mī´gis is supposed to be shot into it, he falls forward upon the ground, apparently lifeless.
Then the four Midē´ priests, the preceptor and the assistant, lay their Midē´ sacks upon his back and after a few moments a mī´gis shell drops from his mouth—where he had been instructed to retain it. The chief Midē´ picks up the mī´gis and, holding it between the thumb and index finger of the right hand, extending his arm toward the candidate’s mouth says “wâ! wâ! hĕ hĕ hĕ hĕ,” the last syllable being uttered in a high key and rapidly dropped to a low note; then the same words are uttered while the mī´gis is held toward the east, and in regular succession to the south, to the west, to the north, then toward the sky. During this time the candidate has begun to partially revive and endeavor to get upon his knees, but when the Midē´ finally places the mī´gis into his mouth again, he instantly falls upon the ground, as before. The Midē´ then take up the sacks, each grasping his own as before, and as they pass around the inanimate body they touch it at various points, which causes the
candidate to “return to life.” The chief priest then says to him, “Ō´mishga‘n”[A]—“get up”—which he does; then indicating to the holder of the Midē´ drum to bring that to him, he begins tapping and presently sings the following song:
