Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-14


| out with the pipe
| BY means of forked stick one of the sauaws
now commences to rake the red-hot stones
from the pyre-iike crib In front and TO shove
them, one by one, into the lodge With the
| assistance of ten bucks they are put into tie n
circular holes in the middle. where each falls
| apart into several chunks radiating a red-hot
| temperature in all directions. A bucket of
water ana TIN bowl are showed in with them.
The BOWL 8 filed from the bucket and passe d
| to the medicine man, who takes some Of the
water In his mouth and
sPIrs 1T INTO THE OPEN PALMS
/ of the man on his right. The latter anoints
| the upper part of his body and neck with it
and makes rapid signs with his moistened
| hands in front of his face. These signs were
| the same for all. but | am unfamiliar with any
| OF those used. Each man whose palms had
| rece wed the holy water seems endowed thereby
with the sacred spirit and elects a similar
| supply from his mouth to the hands of his
| neighbor.
| While this is going on squad pushes through
| the opening to me a bunch of ordinary green
| sage brush. had noticed like bundle in tho
hands of one or two of the bucks. [ find it is
| to be used fan and a screen against the
| heat. and | am grateful for it later. The
| bathers are now ali amounted, the heat. even
with the lodge door open, is getting to most
| Indian degree of cheerfulness. and nothing
! remains but to close the furnace. But stop.
Place aux dames Two squaws leave the group
| of women that are chatting outside and appear
| in the door There is no ladies day" and
| these two women. in costume, however. some
what less scant than our own. are actually to
! be stewed with us. Tbs is a managerial sur
| prise that have not counted on. and when
| one OF the squaws, about thirty years of age,
| sat socially down beside me my bushes must
| have shown painfully through the drops of
| vapor trucking down my cheeks. l found after
ward that 1t is very common for the men and
| women to battle together in this way, III the
case of married women and very young girls,
but only in the sweat bath.
THE TORTURE COMMENCES.
| At last the chief orders the flap to be drawn
| over the door and our torture commences
| Rayiess darkness and intense heat surround U.S.
l cannot see anything that is done. but my
other senses and explanations given by the In
| dlans afterward enable me to describe opera
| tions.
| First some OF the green aromatic grass is
| crumbled in the fingers of the medicine man
| and sprinkled on the hot stones. This imme-
| dately fills the Itnerior with delicious odor
| and il may be here said that this exists during
| the whole time of our immersion. When it
| becomes faint 1t is renewed by more grass or
| by the medicine mans throwing some of the
beaver musk into the center.
| Next. the tin bowl is filled with water and
passed to the chief-he takes a drink and then
blows several mouthfuls upon the stones. In
stanty
| THE LODGE Is FILLED WITH vAPoR.
'Everhard's' in NewYor and the .Hammam''
| in Paris are never hotter at their hottest
have spent minutes not uncomfortably in the
highest temperature of both. but in this low
| lodge filed with human beings the heat is tor
| ture. bend my head as low as possible the
| attitude always maintained by the Indians )and
| put up my sage brush screen. but all is power
| less to keep away the waves of red hot steam
| that follow each dash of water on the rocks
mi n mil 10
clude that either d, nth or a retreat devoid of
honor to me as an G ic"r is to be my fate. 1t
| does not encourage me that my Indian COM
| panlons, led by the medicine man. now COM
mence to sing one of those weird. low tuneless
| chants that accompany alike their rites of war
and peace. That they sing under these
distressing circumstances makes me feel very
| like the hard-spent racer who hears his adver-
| sary galloping lightly and with easy-coming
| breath just behind him, with the home stake
| fG away.
1 can hear the Indians washing their Slip
perry bodies during all this and i'll few min
| utes the squaw on my right feels for my hand
and puts the bowl of water within it. | have
| been posted on this by Clark, 30 l drink some
| OF the contents and then wet nv hair neck
! ana shoulders plentifully. No relief was ever
| sweeter and nothing but a strong sense OF fair
play induces me to pass the precious vessel to
| my left-hand neighbor.
THE DOOR OPENED AT LAST.
More water. more singing and more steam
until, just as believe l am losing conscious
ness and am thinking of springlng up and
throwing off some of the coverings of the
lodge, the singing stops and the chief orders
the door opened. Gods free air, pure and
cool. PUSHES in-and it was never so pure and
| cool. We had been shut up just ten minutes
The Indians were streaming with moisture
but looked depressingly healthy and able /
knew that the actual steaming process Was to
last about thirty minutes and that | was now
but one-third through. | am on the point of
| swallowing pride and going out right here.
| but sight of the endurance displayed by the
squaws restraints me. In about three minutes
| the blanket flap Is again dropped over the
door. Instead of being seasoned by my first
experience the heat now seems worse than be-
| fore. This time the bowl of water is passed
me but once. Oh! that [ were truly a sala-
mander, Meshach or Shadrach. or the other
gentleman who detied the furnace kh them
| Louder and louder grows the singing; hotter
and hotter grows the steam. and dizzer and
| dzzier do l become. The minutes are hours.
| | try. but in vain, to find a hole or seam
| through which may seek a little air. Ten
more minutes or so and the lodge is again
opened. An Indian asks me how l feel |
| smile feebly at him L stagger out of the
lodge and seek the creek. 1t is several min
| utes before cross the thirty yards between
the lodge and stream. severe nausea over
| takes me and l sit down a moment on a
grassy bank before taking the usual plunge
into water.
SUDDEN DASH INTO THE STREAM
and repeated immersion of my head clears m v
| brain and set me up wonderfully. suuaw
| hands me nv clothes, and i'll q few minutes
l am on my slow road to camp, the setting sun
bearing witness to my repentance and nv vow
| to sin no more-in the direction Of CHEYENNE
sweat baths In the distance the singing of
| the inmates of the lodge, undergoing a third
ordeal. falls upon my ear. Unhappy wretches,
| how pity them!
had some consolation next day in knowing
| that one of the Indians was himself laid out
| for twenty-four hours by this bath This was
probably but retributive justice, for / shrewdly
| suspect them of having gotten up an extra
| warm ceremony for me a soldier guest
When l say that laughingly confessed myself
| to them next morning as being 'all the same
| squaw," and that did not remind them that l
was but q novice to the ordeal in which they
| had been trained since childhood, it will be
| seen that my nature is not entirely lacking in
| greatness.
| This form of sweat bath is even vet uni
| versal purifier and panacea for sickness among
| nearly all the Indians of the west Its terrible
| heat, followed by the sudden plunge, winter or
summer. into the nearest stream produces re-
suits among those already sick that may well
be imagined. 1t is today one Of the most fruit
| full causes of mortality among them and one
| which the doctors at their agencies have been
| entirely unable to eradicate by their teachings
| My own experience well convinces me of its
fatal tendencies, and if have an enemy shall
surely lure him some day into one Of these
| baths instead OF getting him to write book.
| The form OF the sweat bath and the manner
1 n nan rot no iO In ali