the annual "feast of Maidens." One was given at
Fort Ellis, Manitoba, some thirty years ago, in a natural amphitheatre,
surrounded by groves, fully one thousand feet above the Assiniboine
River.

It was observed at a reunion of the Sioux, and of the Assiniboines and
the Crees, three friendly tribes.

In his "Indian Boyhood," that brilliant Sioux author, Dr. Charles
Alexander Eastman, great-grandson of Cloudman or Man-of-the-sky, that
potential friend of the missionaries in pioneer days at Lake Calhoun,
graphically describes it thus:--

"One bright summer morning, while we were still at our meal of jerked
buffalo meat, we heard the herald of the Wahpeton band upon his calico
pony as he rode round our circle.

"White Eagle's daughter, the maiden Red Star, invites all the maidens
of all the tribes to come and partake of her feast. It will be in the
Wahpeton Camp, before the sun reaches the middle of the sky. All pure
maidens are invited. Red Star, also, invites the young men to be
present, to see that no unworthy maiden should join in the feast."

The herald soon completed the rounds of the different camps, and it was
not long before the girls began to gather. It was regarded as a
semi-sacred feast.

It would be desecration for any to attend, who was not perfectly
virtuous. Hence it was regarded as an opportune time for the young men
to satisfy themselves as to who were the virtuous maids of the tribe.

There were apt to be surprises before the end of the day. Any young man
was permitted to challenge any maiden, whom he knew to be untrue. But
woe to him, who could not prove his case. It meant little short of
death to the man, who endeavored to disgrace a woman without cause.

From the various camps, the girls came singly or in groups, dressed in
bright colored calicoes or in heavily fringed and beaded buckskin.
Their smooth cheeks and the center of their glossy hair was touched
with vermillion. All brought with them wooden basins to eat from. Some
who came from a considerable distance were mounted upon ponies; a few
for company or novelty's sake rode double.

The maidens' circle was formed about a cone-shaped rock, which stood
upon its base. This was painted red. Beside it, two new arrows were
lightly stuck into the ground. This is a sort of altar, to which each
maiden comes before taking her assigned place in the circle, and
lightly touches first the stone and then the arrows. By this oath, she
declares her pu