422. "My turn now;" Bàtiste and I, and a Buffalo Bull, Upper Missouri. 423. Dying Bull in a snow drift. 424. Buffalo Bulls fighting, in _running season_, Upper Missouri. 425. Buffalo Bulls in their "_wallow_;" origin of the "_fairie circles_" on the prairie. 426. Grouse shooting--on the Missouri prairies. AMUSEMENTS AND CUSTOMS. 427. Ball-play Dance, Choctaw.--Men and women dance around their respective stakes, at intervals, during the night preceding the play--four conjurors sit all night and smoke to the Great Spirit, at the point where the ball is to be started--and stakeholders guard the goods staked. 428. Ball-play of the Choctaws--_ball up_--one party painted white; each has two sticks with a web at their ends, in which they catch the ball and throw it--they all have tails of horse-hair or quills attached to their girdles or belts. Each party has a limit or bye, beyond which it is their object to force the ball, which, if done, counts them one for game. 429. Ball-play--same as 428, excepting that the ball is _down_, which changes the scene. 430. Ball-play of the women, Prairie du Chien.--Calicoes and other presents are placed on a pole by the men--the women choose sides and play for them, to the great amusement of the men. In this play there are two balls attached to the ends of a string eighteen inches in length: the women have a stick in each hand, on which they catch the string and throw it. #/ 431. Game of "_Tchung-kee_" of the Mandans, the principal and most valued game of that tribe. A beautiful athletic exercise, and one on which they often bet and risk all their personal goods and chattels. 432. Horse-Racing, Mandan, on a Race-Course back of the Village, in use on every fair-day. 433. Foot-Race, Mandans, on the same ground, and as often run. 434. Canoe-Race--Chippeways in Bark Canoes, near the Sault de St. Mary's; an Indian _Regatta_, a thrilling scene. 435. Archery of the Mandans. The strife is to prove who can get the greatest number of arrows flying in the air at a time, before the first one reaches the ground. The most of these are _portraits_ closely studied from nature. I have seen some of them get eight arrows in the air at one time. 436. Dance of the Chiefs, Sioux. A very unusual thing, as the dancing is generally left to the young men; given to me expressly as a compliment by the chiefs, that I might make a painting of it. 437. Dog Dance, Sioux. The dog's liver and heart are taken raw and bleeding, and placed upon a crotch; and, being cut into slips, each man dances up to it, bites off and swallows a piece of it, boasting, at the same time, that he has thus swallowed a piece of the heart of his enemy, whom he has slain in battle.