er.

The drum beats to signal the close of the intermission. The clowns are
becoming too impudent, too troublesome, so that an end must be made to
their pranks. The society of the Koshare will appear now for the last
time, as after the next dance they retire. While this is at its height,
Topanashka rises and returns to his former place.

Walking slowly past his daughter, he looks at her. She meets his gaze
cheerfully, and with a slight nod of approbation he moves onward.

The dance is over, and the Koshare depart to scatter beyond the large
house and to rest. On the disappearance of the last of their number,
including the jesters, whoops and shouts fill the air again from
without, and a second procession similar to the former marches into the
court-yard. It is composed of different persons similarly costumed,
except that their paint is bluish instead of white. No clowns accompany
them. They go through a similar performance, and sing the same songs;
but everything is done with gravity and even solemnity. This band is
more numerous by at least ten couples, and as a consequence the
spectacle is more striking on account of a greater variety of dress and
finery. A tall, slender young man opens the march. It is Hayoue. His
partner is a buxom lass from the Bear clan, Kohayo hanutsh, a strong,
thick-waisted creature, not so good-looking for a girl as he is for a
man, yet of such proportion and figure as strike the Indian fancy. They
pay each other little attention. During the pauses each one follows his
own bent, and when the time calls they meet again.

In an Indian dance there is no need of engaging partners, though it is
not unusual for such as fancy one another to seize the opportunity of so
doing. The mere fact of a certain boy stamping the earth beside a
certain girl on a certain occasion, or a certain maiden tripping by the
side of a particular youth, does not call for that active gossiping
which would result if a couple were to dance with one another alone at
one of our balls. A civilized ball is professedly for enjoyment alone;
an Indian dance is a religious act, a public duty.

The society who are now exercising their calisthenics in the court has
much similarity to the Koshare, yet their main functions are distinct.
They are called the Cuirana.

If, during the conversation in which Topanashka informed his daughter
as to the origin of the Koshare and the ideas underlying their role in
Indian society, Say Koitza