is resorted to, and the ceremonies of the hanmdepi become a part of the worship of the sun. A DAKOTA’S ACCOUNT OF THE SUN DANCE. § 143. Several accounts of the sun dance have been published within the past twenty years, but they have, without exception, been written by white persons. The following differs in one respect from all which have preceded it; it was written in the Teton dialect of the Dakota, by George Bushotter, a Teton. As he did not furnish his description of the dance in a single text, but in several, which were written on different occasions, it devolved on the present writer to undertake an arrangement of the material after translating it. The accompanying illustrations were made by Mr. Bushotter. § 144. _Object of the sun dance._--The Dakota name for the sun dance is “Wi waⁿ-yañg wa-tci-pi (Wi waŋyaŋg waćipi),” literally, “Sun looking-at they-dance.” The following are assigned as the reasons for celebrating this dance: During any winter when the people suffer from famine or an epidemic, or when they wish to kill any enemy, or they desire horses or an abundance of fruits and vegetables during the coming summer, different Indians pray mentally to the sun, and each one says, “Well, I will pray to Wakantanka early in the summer.” Throughout the winter all those men who have made such vows take frequent baths in sweat lodges. Each of these devotees or candidates invites persons to a feast, on which occasion he joins his guests in drinking great quantities of various kinds of herb teas. Then the host notifies the guests of his vow, and from that time forward the people treat him with great respect. § 145. _Rules observed by households._--The members of the households of the devotees always abstain from loud talking and from bad acts of various kinds. The following rules must be observed in the lodge of each devotee: A piece of the soil is cut off between the back of the lodge and the fireplace, and when virgin earth is reached vermilion is scattered over the exposed place. When the men smoke their pipes and have burned out all of the tobacco in their pipe bowls, they must not throw away the ashes as they would common refuse; they must be careful to empty the ashes on the exposed earth at the back of the lodge. No one ventures to step on that virgin earth, and not even a hand is ever stretched toward it. Only the man who expects to participate in the sun-dance can empty the ashes there, and after so doing he returns each pipe to its owner.