Rise on your feet, rise on your feet, My tonwan is for sport, Rise on your feet, rise on your feet. Such, it is believed, was the origin of the medicine dance. There are no officers, or superiority of rank, except that of age and experience, known in this pagan institution. The dance is celebrated; 1st, on account of the death of one of its members whose sack is given to a near relative of the deceased; 2nd, when a new sack is to be conferred on one who desires to become a member and who has proved himself worthy of the honor by making medicine feasts, and rendering due honor to the members; and 3rd, in the performance of a vow. It is required of a candidate for admission, that he go through the ceremony of the “vapor bath” once each day, four days in succession. In the meantime some of the aged members instruct him in the mysteries of the institution, in imitation of the course of its author as already related. Besides, he is provided with a dish and spoon both of wood. On the side of the dish is often carved the head of some voracious animal, in which resides the spirit of the IYA—the god of gluttony. The dish will contain eight to ten quarts, or more, and is always carried by its owner to the medicine feast, and he is bound to eat all that is put in it, or pay a fine to the maker of the feast. A woman came to the writer on one occasion to ask for calico to make a short gown. She said she had lately had seven new ones, but had lost them all at medicine feasts, where she was unable to empty her dish. GREY IRON, of the _Black Dog_ band, used to possess a dish on which was carved a bear entire, indicating that he could eat as much as a bear. The candidate is also instructed in the matter of painting his body for the dance. This paint is nearly all the covering that he wears on the occasion. He must always paint in the same manner for the ceremony of the dance. There is said to be wakan virtue in this paint, and the manner of its application, and those who have not been furnished with a better, by a war prophet, wear it into battle. The candidate being thus prepared, and having made the requisite offerings for the benefit of the institution, on the evening of the day which precedes the dance, is taken in charge by ten or more of the more substantial brothers, who pass the night in devotional exercises, such as chanting, dancing, exhorting, eating, and smoking. Early in the morning the tent, in form like that which the god first erected for the purposes, is thrown open for the dance. The members assemble painted and ornamented, each bringing his medicine-sack.