§ 65. In 1872 Big Grizzly Bear, a subordinate Ponka chief, told the following to the author: “One day Whip, a head chief, said, ‘I am going to make the sun blue.’ And he did so. Then he said, ‘I am going to pull out some of the hair of the man in the moon.’ He held up his hands to show that they had no hair in them. Then he began to sing. Suddenly he had some bloody hair in each hand. Ga-ʇi-de maⁿ-ȼiⁿ and a great many others were witnesses. Once, when the Ponka were destitute of food, Buffalo Bull, the father of Grizzly Bear’s Ear, said, ‘I will use magic.’ His wife replied, ‘Please do so.’ So he made a pile of earth about 2 feet high and shot four arrows into it. A large deer was slain, furnishing them with plenty to eat.” In 1871 the author saw an exhibition of the skill of Cramped Hand and Bent Horn, two Ponka shamans. One afternoon, near sunset, about two hundred persons, mostly Indians, stood in a large circle around a tent in which sat the shamans and their assistants. Presently the shamans and the aged chief, Antoine Primeau, came out of the tent and stood within the circle. One of the shamans, Cramped Hand, danced along the inner side of the circle, exhibiting a revolver (Allen’s patent), one chamber of which he seemed to load as the people looked on. After he had put on the cap, he handed the weapon to the chief, who fired at the shaman. Cramped Hand fell immediately, as if badly wounded. Bent Horn rushed to his relief and began to manipulate him. It was not long before Cramped Hand was able to crawl around on his hands and knees, though the bullet had apparently hit him in the mouth. He groaned and coughed incessantly, and after a tin basin was put down before him he coughed up a bullet which fell in the basin, and was shown in triumph to the crowd. This is told merely to show how the Indian juggler has adopted some of the tricks of his white brother. In a few moments Bent Horn danced around, showing to each of us an object which appeared to be a stone as large as a man’s fist, and too large to be forced into the mouth of the average man. Cramped Hand stood about 10 or 15 feet away and threw this stone toward Bent Horn, hitting the latter in the mouth and disappearing. Bent Horn fell and appeared in great pain, groaning and foaming at the mouth. When the basin was put down before him, there fell into it, not one large stone, but at least four small ones. We were told that the chief, Antoine, had to give a horse for the privilege of shooting at the shaman. It is probable that some of the Omaha shamans performed similar tricks, though the author has been unable to obtain any accounts of them.