The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-10-24

salong the Hackensack river. Having satisfied
their appetites the scouts turned in for the night.
Scout COyte on awakening saw opposite his face
a small, thick bundle, a coil. Very quickly he
realized that it was a venOmous snake of the
cOpperhead variety, and instinctively he thrust
his arm upward to protect his head and neck. He
had not done so too quickly, however, for the
reptile had sprung forward, burying its fangs
deep into the protecting arm, Withdrawing as
quickly and ~wriggling off into the shrubbery along
the river bank.
Young Coyte awakened his companion end they
improvised a tOurniQuet from his handkerchief and
a small stick. Realizing that the wound was not
flowing freely enough he cut into and around the
bite until it bled profusely. Emptying the contents
of a cartridge into the break in his flesh, he APP
piled flame to the powder and withstood the tenn
porary pain. 1t was later determined that he had
successfully offset the possibility Of a fatal result
through his commendable presence of mind. He
had burnt all trace of poison completely from his
arm and in a few days was again back at his job,
none the worse for his experience.
1t is q principle of the boy scout movement to
avoid secret ceremonies and limitations. High
tensiOned limitations are dangerous to boys In the
adolescent stage. The virtues of the ceremony
carried out, however, by the scout council for
Delaware and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania,
are so obvious, it's thrills SO real and yet reason
able, that it can readily be used.
Their camp site was occupied many years
ago by the UndT1 trlDe OF INDIANS. his tribe
had an initiation ceremony for its young men
which has been preserved up to the present day.
Scouts who have taken camp honors by doing q
specified amount Of work in scOutcraft are given
this initiation under the direction Of r.. Harring.
ton and AlOnson Skinner of the Institute of Amer
lean Indians of New York. The ceremonies are
performed by Amos Overload, a Sioux Indian con-
nected with the institute. They are described as
follows:
Ceremonies Of Initiation.
The ceremonies should begin before dusk and,
with the fasting, ETC., should last about 26 hours.
The first thing before beginning the ceremony is
to make an Indian sweat house for publication.
then to build a large fire some distance east of it's
entrance and to heat II stones varying from the
size of a cocOnut to that of Il mans skull. Two
forked green sticks should be provided to roll the
hot stones into the sweat house; also two large
earthen jars Of water should be placed at the
back of the sweat house opposite the door, to-
gether with about a peck of cedar twigs about
six inches long. When all is ready the chief,
wearing only a breechcloth, stands at the door Of
the sweat house and addresses the candidates,
lined up stark naked before him. He makes a
speech to them, something like this:
my sons, we are about to take you q little way
along the Unami trail to show you the ways of
the Lenape grandfathers. But first we must
purify ourselves outwardly by the sweat bath,
inwardly by the black drink (made Of herbs), for
such Is the custom that has been handed down to
us. When one has been purified In these ways the
powers of nature will look upon him with favor,
and the winds will whisper sweet words In his
ears-all will help him to endure the trials that
must be his tomorrow"
He then goes into the sweat house and seats
himself in the back, opposite the door the candi-
dates follow and seat themselves around the
sides. The Oshkosh roll the II hot stones into a