now is, and a dance was often held annually by each one of the Ute tribes. Of late years, however, a dance given by any one of the main tribes is deemed sufficient.

The dance is always given under the direction of some one person, usually a medicine man or chief, although he may have any number of semiofficial assistants. Sometimes two or three months are consumed in making the necessary preparations. After the annual winter hunt is over, when the time grows dull and the people listless from inaction, a man goes to the proper functionary and asks him to appoint the time for a Bear dance. The language of the Utes is simple, and like most simple languages, possesses an element of poesy. The following, almost verbatim, is the language used by a Southern Ute in requesting a chief to arrange for a dance:

"Chief, it has been long since our people have all been in one. place, and it would be good for us all to be together again. The times have been good with us; our children have been stricken with no diseases; we have had no wars in which our men have been killed; we had much good fortune in our hunts, and we have plenty of food for a feast. The bears are our friends; the time has come for them to be awakened from the long sleep of winter. We have good friends above; it would be well to send messages to them to let them know that we of the earth still love them and remember them. Let us, then, give a Bear dance." If the chief agrees, messages are sent to the makers of songs, the gossip of the tribe for the last year is reviewed, and the more amusing and choicest portions are incorporated into songs set to simple tunes and practiced. Songs of worship and incantations to the bears and shades of the dead are also composed, but the songs of lighter character prevail. The squaws hew moraches or "singing-sticks" out of wood to be used during the dance ceremonies. These sticks are shaped like the jaw of an animal, and teeth-like protuberances are left over which to grate bones or sticks of wood.

One of the first duties performed is to select the site for the dance. The one I attended was held on a slight elevation. Men are then detailed to go to the forests and bring in timbers and pine boughs with which to make the inclosure in which the dance is held. This inclosure is named a-vik-wok-et, or “cave of sticks." It is from 100 to 150 feet in diameter, is circular, and

is meant to represent a bear cave. It has one opening, always to the south or southeast, facing the sun, as the bears in choosing their winter quarters are said to select caves into the mouth of which the sun shines a part of the day. The walls of the inclosure are about seven feet high; there is no roof, and no floor save the ground. On one side a location is selected for the stand of the musicians and a hole somewhat of the shape of a waterjar is dug in the soil. First a circular hole is made and then the Indians reach under and scoop out the earth with their hands, in semblance of an underground cave. Over the hole a box or drum with an open bottom is placed, the hole augmenting the sound that is made when the moraches are grated. The moraches are placed with one end on the lap of the player and the other end against the box. Up and down them bones or pieces of timber are rubbed, making a noise that at a short distance sounds like the beating of a pair of muffled cymbals.

When the preparations for the dance are well under way the chief sends out a courier to announce the ceremony to the tribe. The tribes are divided into small bands of from five to ten families each. The courier rides to the encampment of one of these bands, delivers his message, eats, smokes, and returns to his own encampment, and the head man of the band selects one of his men to carry the announcement to the next band, and so on until all have been given notice.

The Indians believe that the immortal bears and Indians who dwell in the Land Beyond are cognizant of the preparations that are being made for a dance, and that they also prepare for a spirit Bear dance. It is believed, too, that the spirit bears send some of their number to earth to whisper to the sleeping bears and tell them that they are soon to be freed from the long sleep of winter.

The ground within the a-vik-wok-et is sacred during the days of the dance and no dogs or horses are allowed on it. To keep animals out, to preserve order, and to enliven the spirit of the dancers, there are two managers of the dance, called ma-choot-apo-get-ah. All who come within the inclosure while dancing is going on must dance, if requested and any woman has a right to choose any man as a partner.

There are always twenty or more musicians who have been specially drilled for these ceremonies, as well as other men who

join in when old or familiar songs are sung. The singers are always men; they are the first to arrive at the dance inclosure on the day of beginning, and from eight to fourteen of them sing and rub their notched timbers constantly during the dancing.

When the music begins, the noise sounds in the little cavelike hole under the drum. and a song of incantation is sung that is believed to transport this noise to the caves of the bears in the mountains and to transform it to thunder. It is believed that this thunder arouses the bears slightly, but that they are sluggish from the long hibernation and do not become fully awake at first. On this account the dancing lasts but an hour or two the first day.

The female bear chooses her mate, and in the dance the women choose their partners. When a woman desires to dance with a man, she approaches him and plucks his blanket, and then sedately takes her position in line with the other women and awaits his coming. The women form in one line, the men in another, the two lines facing each other. At first the participants in each line hold hands, but as the days pass the enthusiasm increases and each couple dances independently. When the proper bar in the music has been struck, the women take three forward, springing steps toward the men; they then reverse and take three backward steps, and as they go backward the men go forward in the same fashion, motioning with their arms. in imitation of the motions made by the forepaws of bears. When the men have gone three steps forward, they reverse and go backward and the women go forward again. This is the only figure in the dance, but it may be varied in numerous ways by dancers who strive to show their skill. Often a couple will dance with their arms about each other, imitating the "hugging" of bears, but there are always the monotonous three steps.

While the dance is in progress no gambling, and but little work, is permitted. All except the smallest children dance; some, no doubt, chiefly for the social pleasure, of which there is little enough in their narrow lives, others to perfect themselves in magic, to send messages to their departed friends, and to charm their lives against danger from bears. It is believed that the bears are cognizant of who participate in the dance and will harm no one of the dancers for a year afterward.

It is an evil omen for a dancer to fall, but this "bad medi