it, and not, like the _taíme_, at tribal gatherings. It is briefly mentioned by Clark in his work on the sign language (_Clark, 7_). [Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ENTHOLOGY SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXVII THE PORCUPINE IN THE TREE, AND FLIGHT OF THE SUN WOMAN (FROM THE NATIVE DRAWING.)] The _Gadómbítsoñhi_, "Old-woman-under-the-ground," belonged to the Kiñep band of the Kiowa. It was a small image, less than a foot high, representing a woman with flowing hair. It was exposed in front of the _taíme_ at the great sun-dance ceremony, and by some unexplained jugglery the priest in charge of it caused it to rise out of the ground, dance in the sight of the people, and then again sink into the earth. A few years ago it was stolen by a crazy Indian from the priest who guarded it and has never since been recovered, although there are stories in the tribe of hunters belated in the mountains, or beside unfrequented streams, who have caught glimpses of a wailing dwarf with disheveled hair who vanished as soon as discovered, and is believed to have been the lost _gadómbítsoñhi_. The _Señi_, "prickly fruit," the peyote or mescal plant, is a small species of cactus of the genus _Lophophora_ (Coulter), which grows in the stony hill country along the Mexican border. On account of its medical properties and its wonderful effect upon the imagination, it is regarded by the Indians as the vegetal incarnation of a deity, and a whole system of myth and ritual has grown up in connection with its use. The rite originated among the more southern tribes, and has come through the Mescalero and Comanche to the Kiowa within about fifty years. The ceremony was first brought to public notice by the author and may be the subject of a more extended monograph at some future time. Another ritual, pertaining more particularly to women, was dedicated to the Star Girls, or Pleiades (_Dä´-mä´tán_). Its last priestess died a few years ago.