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Fairfax, Ok.
Jan. 19, 1917.

My dear M,

No letter from you yesterday. I spent all the forenoon with old zhin-ga'-ga-hi-ge trying to persuade him to give me what he knows of the rituals of his own gens, the [[I'-ha-tsi.?]] He is a peyote man but he is firm in his belief in all the teachings of "Moonhead." He told his disciples to give up the Non-hon-zhia-ga and to throw away all their wa-xo-bi of every description. He warned them against the reciting of the rituals, saying that if any of them did so the devil would surely return to torment them. There was no use in wasting time with the old man. He, however, told the story of the descent from the sky exactly as told by Wa-xthi-zhi. From this I am satisfied that all the gens of the Hon'-ga division tell the same story. Wa-xthi-zhi said that it was the same. Old  G. told the story as in ordinary conversation and refused to give it in the Non-hon-zhi-ga style. He is a curious old fellow, superstitious from the word go, and puts me in mind of a Catholic priest, who cannot think beyond the lines laid down by those of higher rank. He is sure that Ni-ka-wa-zhin-ton-ga, who is said to be dying, is suffering from [[Wa'-xpe-gthe?]], or from the penalty of sacrilege. His son sold a wa-xo'-bi to the curio dealers at Pawhuska and it is from this that he is suffering. From the description of his malady it would seem that he is suffering from a chronic attack of biliousness.

Ni-'ka-wa-zhin-ton-ga is the last of the Non-hon-zhi-ga well versed in the rituals of the Pon-ka Wa-shta-ge.