as been said, regarded thereafter as
his secret helper, his medicine, and is usually called his dream
_(Nits-o'-kan)_.

The most important religious occasion of the year is the ceremony of the
Medicine Lodge. This is a sacrifice, which, among the Blackfeet, is offered
invariably by women. If a woman has a son or husband away at war, and is
anxious about him, or if she has a dangerously sick child, she may make to
the Sun a vow in the following words:--

"Listen, Sun. Pity me. You have seen my life. You know that I am pure. I
have never committed adultery with any man. Now, therefore, I ask you to
pity me. I will build you a lodge. Let my son survive. Bring him back to
health, so that I may build this lodge for you."

The vow to build the Medicine Lodge is repeated in a loud voice, outside
her lodge, so that all the people may hear it, and if any man can impeach
the woman, he is obliged to speak out, in which case she could be punished
according to the law. The Medicine Lodge is always built in summer, at the
season of the ripening of the sarvis berries, and if, before this time, the
person for whom the vow is made dies, the woman is not obliged to fulfil
her vow. She is regarded with suspicion, and it is generally believed that
she has been guilty of the crime she disavowed. As this cannot be proved,
however, she is not punished.

When the time approaches for the building of the lodge, a suitable locality
is selected, and all the people move to it, putting up their lodges in a
circle about it. In the meantime, at least a hundred buffalo tongues have
been collected, cut, and dried by the woman who may be called the Medicine
Lodge woman. No one but she is allowed to take part in this work.

Before the tongues are cut and dried, they are laid in a pile in the
medicine woman's lodge. She then gives a feast to the old men, and one of
them, noted for his honesty, and well liked by all, repeats a very long
prayer, asking in substance that the coming Medicine Lodge may be
acceptable to the Sun, and that he will look with favor on the people, and
will give them good health, plenty of food, and success in war. A hundred
songs are then sung, each one different from the others. The feast and
singing of these songs lasts a day and a half.[Illustration: MEDICINE
LODGE]

Before the Medicine Lodge is erected, four large sweat lodges are built,
all in a line, fronting to the east or toward the rising sun. Two stand in
front of the