When a warrior desires to make up a war party he visits his friends and offers them a filled pipe, as an invitation to follow him, and those who are willing to go accept the invitation by lighting and smoking it. Any man whose courage has been proved may become the leader of a war party. Among the Arapahos the would-be leader does not invite any one to accompany him, but publicly announces his intention of going to war. He fixes the day for his departure and states where he will camp the first night, naming some place not far off. The morning on which he starts, and before leaving the village, he invokes the aid of the sun, his guardian by day, and often, to propitiate him, secretly vows to undergo penance, or offer a sacrifice on his return. He rides off alone, carrying his bare pipe in his hand, with the bowl carefully tied to the stem to prevent it from slipping off. If the bowl should at any time accidentally fall to the ground, he considers it an evil omen, and immediately returns to the village, and nothing could induce him to proceed, as he thinks that only misfortune would attend him if he did. Sometimes he ties eagle or hawk plumes to the stem of his pipe, and, after quitting the village, repairs to the top of some hill and makes an offering of them to the sun, taking them from his pipe and tying them to a pole, which he erects in a pile of stones. (Some of the stone-heaps seen on the hills in the Arapaho country originated in this way, but most of them were made by dreamers, who withdraw from their people to devote themselves in solitude to contemplation, fasting, and prayer, in order to work themselves into a state of rapture, hoping to have visions and receive messages from spirits.) Those who intend to follow him usually join him at the first camp, equipped for the expedition; but often there are some who do not join him until he has gone further on. He eats nothing before leaving the village, nor as long as the sun is up; but breaks his fast at his first camp, after the sun sets. The next morning he begins another fast, to be continued until sunset. He counts his party, saddles his horse, names some place six or seven miles ahead, where he says he will halt for awhile, and again rides off alone with his pipe in his hand. After awhile the party follow him in single file. When they have reached his halting place he tells them to dismount and let their horses graze. They all then seat themselves on the ground on the left of the leader, forming a semicircle, facing the sun. The leader fills his pipe, all bow their heads, and, pointing the stem of the pipe upward, he prays to the sun, asking that they may find an abundance of game, that dead-shots may be made, so that their ammunition will not be wasted, but reserved for their enemies; that they may easily find their enemies and kill them; that they may be preserved from wounds and death. He makes his petition four times, then lights his pipe, and after sending a few whiffs of