The best early description is given by Brainerd,[28] who, in May 1745, while on the Susquehanna above the English settlements, saw a masked Indian who must have been an impersonator of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn. It runs: “But of all the sights I saw among them, or indeed anywhere else, none appeared so frightful ... as the appearance of one who was a devout and zealous Reformer, or rather, restorer of what he supposed was the ancient religion of the Indians. He made his appearance in his _pontifical garb_, which was a coat of _bear skins_, dressed with the hair on, and hanging down to his toes; a pair of bear skin stockings; and a great _wooden_ face painted, the one half black, the other half tawny, about the color of an Indian’s skin, with an extravagant mouth, cut very much awry; the face fastened to a bear skin cap, which was drawn over his head. He advanced toward me with the instrument in his hand, which he used for music, in his idolatrous worship, which was a dry _tortoise shell_ with some corn in it, and the neck of it drawn on to a piece of wood, which made a very convenient handle. As he came forward, he beat his tune with the rattle, and danced with all his might, but he did not suffer any part of his body, not so much as his fingers, to be seen.” With the exception of one minor point, the “wry mouth,” this would be a good description of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ outfit used until recently by the Lenape in Oklahoma (pl. II). On the following page, Brainerd mentions “images” which seem to be the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ faces carved on the posts of the Big House. [Illustration: PL. IV STONE HEAD OR MĬSIʹNGʷ‛, FROM STATEN ISLAND, N. Y. (Staten Island Institute of Art and Science)] Zeisberger[29] also refers to the masks in these words: “The only idol which the Indians have, and which may properly be called an idol, is their _Wsinkhoalican_, that is image. It is an image cut in wood, representing a human head in miniature, which they always carry about them either on a string around their neck or in a bag. They often bring offerings to it. In their houses of sacrifice they have a head of this idol as large as life put upon a pole in the middle of the room.” In his Dictionary, Zeisberger gives the word for “idol” as _mĕsinkʹ_, so it seems probable that the _W_ in “Wsinkhoalikan” is a misprint for _M_. MOTHER CORN