hly plaster the walls and the inside of
the hatchway with mud, and sometimes whitewash them with a gypsiferous
clay found in the neighborhood. Once every year, at the feast of Powuma
(the fructifying moon), the women give the kiva this same attention.

_Consecration._--When all the work is finished the kiva chief prepares a
baho and "feeds the house," as it is termed; that is, he thrusts a
little meal, with piki crumbs, over one of the roof timbers, and in the
same place inserts the end of the baho. As he does this he expresses his
hope that the roof may never fall and that sickness and other evils may
never enter the kiva.

It is difficult to elicit intelligent explanation of the theory of the
baho and the prayer ceremonies in either kiva or house construction. The
baho is a prayer token; the petitioner is not satisfied by merely
speaking or singing his prayer, he must have some tangible thing upon
which to transmit it. He regards his prayer as a mysterious, impalpable
portion of his own substance, and hence he seeks to embody it in some
object, which thus becomes consecrated. The baho, which is inserted in
the roof of the kiva, is a piece of willow twig about six inches long,
stripped of its bark and painted. From it hang four small feathers
suspended by short cotton strings tied at equal distances along the
twig. In order to obtain recognition from the powers especially
addressed, different colored feathers and distinct methods of attaching
them to bits of wood and string are resorted to. In the present case
these are addressed to the "chiefs" who control the paths taken by the
people after coming up from the interior of the earth. They are thus
designated:

To the west: Siky'ak oma'uwu Yellow Cloud.
south: Sa'kwa oma'uwu Blue Cloud.
east: Pal'a oma'uwu Red Cloud.
north: Kwetsh oma'uwu White Cloud.

Two separate feathers are also attached to the roof. These are addressed
to the zenith, heyap omauwu--the invisible space of the above--and to
the nadir, Myuingwa--god of the interior of the earth and maker of the
germ of life. To the four first mentioned the bahos under the corner
stones are also addressed. These feathers are prepared by the kiva chief
in another kiva. He smokes devoutly over them, and as he exhales the
smoke upon them he formulates the prayers to the chiefs or powers, who
not only control the paths or lives of all the people, but also preside
over