or secret lodge, or some other private place,
and with all the skill of the priest's, the medicine man's, or the
juggler's art. The mode of applying it in these cases is by smearing
the hand of the operator with white or coloured clay, and impressing it
on the breast, the shoulder, or other part of the body. The idea is
thus conveyed, that a secret influence, a charm, a mystic power is
given to the dancer, arising from his sanctity or his proficiency in
the occult arts. This use of the hand is not confined to a single tribe
or people. I have noticed it alike among the Dacotahs, the Winnebagoes,
and other Western tribes, as among the numerous branches of the red
race still located east of the Mississippi River, above the latitude of
42 deg., who speak dialects of the Algonquin language.

A single additional fact appears to me to be pertinent to your inquiry.
In an excursion which I made in the year 1831 into the more
unfrequented and interior parts of the Chippewa country, lying between
the group of the Twelve Apostles' Islands in Lake Superior and the
Falls of St. Anthony, I came to a curious edifice, situated in the edge
of the forest, on the elevated banks of a fine lake, which was
exclusively used as the village temple. It was built of stout posts,
describing a circle, firmly and well sheathed with thick bark, fastened
on transverse pieces. It constituted a peculiarity in this structure
that there was a circular building within, or, rather, it was arranged
after the manner of the whorls of a sea-shell, so that a person could,
as it were, involve himself in a labyrinth. It had a single door,
subject to the entrance of the priest only. As this person was the
political chief of the band, and a man of more than ordinary intellect,
he appeared to have adopted this mode of exhibiting his skill and
securing and extending his power. He permitted me to inspect the
building. Drums, rattles, and other insignia of the priest's art, were
hung up on the wall. Heads of men were rudely carved or inscribed, and
numerous marks of the hand, as in the case of naked dancers, were
impressed on the involutions of the inner walls.

I have expressed the opinion that the human hand denotes strength, or
power, or mastery arising from devotional acts. The want or absence of
the hand or arm, therefore, in these symbolical figures, should imply
impotence, weakness, or cowardice, arising from fright, subjugation, or
other causes; and such is foun