they would do in
their dances without their drums I do not know, for you hear them
continually. Their rattles are of different kinds, some much larger
than others; but the principle on which they are formed is the same,
that is, of enclosing stones of different sizes in hard, dry, raw
hide.

_Austin._ Have they no trumpets and cymbals, and clarionets and
violins?

_Hunter._ No, nothing of the kind. They have a deer-skin flute, on
which very tolerable music is sometimes made; but, after all, it must
be admitted that Indians are much better buffalo hunters than
musicians.

_Austin._ Ay; they are quite at home in hunting buffaloes.

_Hunter._ Yes; and they are at home, too, in dancing, being extremely
nimble of foot. Some of their dances are so hideous that you would be
disgusted with them, while others would keep you laughing in spite of
yourselves.

_Brian._ You must please to tell us about these dances.

_Hunter._ Dancing is a very favourite amusement of the Indians; though
it is, for the most part, of a character so different from that of
dancing in civilized life, that few people, ignorant of its meaning
and allusions, would like it. The body is so continually in a stooping
attitude, and the gestures and grimaces appear to be so unmeaning,
that at first it leaves an impression that they are ridiculing the art
of dancing, rather than entering into it in right earnest. There is
such creeping and jumping and starting, that a spectator can make but
little of it.

_Austin._ I can fancy that I see a party joining in the buffalo dance
now, with their masks over their faces. Please to tell us of the bear
dance.

_Hunter._ By and by. I will describe a few other dances first. The
beggars' dance is undertaken to prevail on such of the spectators as
abound in comforts to give alms to those who are more scantily
provided with them. It is danced by the young men who stand high in
the tribe. These shake their rattles, hold up their pipes and brandish
their lances, while they dance; chanting in an odd strain, at the top
of their voices, in praise of the Great Spirit, and imploring him to
dispose the lookers on to give freely. The dancers are all naked, with
the exception of a sort of kilt formed of quills and feathers; and a
medicine man keeps on all the time beating furiously on a drum with a
rattle, and hallooing out as loud as he can raise his voice.

_Austin._ That ought to be called the begging dance, and not the
b