The central post is ornamented near the ground with the robes of buffalo calves, their heads up, as if in the act of climbing it. Each of the branches above the fork is ornamented in a similar manner, with the addition of shawls, calico, scarfs, etc., and covered at the top with black muslin. Attached to the fork is a bundle of cottonwood and willow limbs, firmly bound together and covered with a buffalo robe, with head and horns, so as to form a rude image of a buffalo, to which were hung strips of new calico, muslin, strouding, both blue and scarlet, feathers, shawls, etc., of various lengths and qualities. The longer and more showy articles were placed near the ends. This image was so placed as to face the east. The lodges of the encampment are arranged in circles around the medicine house, having their entrances toward it, the nearest circle being some 10 rods distant.... The ground inside the inclosure had been carefully cleared of grass, sticks, and roots, and covered several inches deep with clean white sand. A screen had been constructed on the side opposite the entrance by sticking small cottonwoods and cedars deep into the ground, so as to preserve them fresh as long as possible. A space was left, 2 or 3 feet wide, between it and the inclosing wall, in which the dancers prepared themselves for the dance, and in front of which was the medicine. This consisted of an image lying on the ground, but so concealed from view in the screen as to render its form indistinguishable; above it was a large fan made of eagle quills, with the quill part lengthened out nearly a foot by inserting a stick into it and securing it there. These were held in a spread form by means of a willow rod or wire bent in a circular form; above this was a mass of feathers, concealing an image, on each side of which were several shields highly decorated with feathers and paint. Various other paraphernalia of heathen worship were suspended in the screen, among these shields or over them, impossible for me to describe so as to be comprehended. A mound had also been thrown up around the central post of the building, 2 feet high and perhaps 5 feet in diameter. [Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXX ARAPAHO SUN-DANCE LODGE, 1893] [Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXXI PHOTO BY JACKSON, 1872 PACER (PESO), FORMER HEAD-CHIEF OF THE KIOWA APACHE] THE NADIISHA-DENA OR KIOWA APACHE TRIBAL SYNONYMY _Apaches_--Agent Thomas Fitzpatrick, Ind. Report, 52, 1850. This has been their official popular name for the last fifty years. _Apaches of Arkansas river_--Agent J. W. Whitfield, Report, 255, 1855. _Apaches of the Plains_--Pope, 1854, in Pacific Railroad Survey, 17, 1855.