s ceremony commenced almost immediately after the close of the one
preceding. The rug was spread over the ground in front of the song
priest; four bunches of small sticks were brought in and laid in piles
north, south, east, and west of the rug. Four attendants took seats,
each before a pile of the wood, and scraped off the bark of their
respective heaps; they then cut twelve pieces 2 inches in length, except
that cut by the attendant who sat at the north, who made his about 11/4
inches long. Being asked why he cut his shorter than the rest, he
replied, "All men are not the same size." The sticks were sharpened at
one end and cut squarely off at the other. In order that all of the
sticks should be of the same length they were measured by placing the
three first fingers across the stick. The fifth man sat immediately to
the right of the song priest, who took a hollow reed from the large
medicine bag from which he cut four pieces, each piece the breadth of
his three fingers. The reed, which was cut with a stone knife, was
afterwards rubbed with native tobacco. Six sticks of each of the piles
had their square ends beveled; these represented females. The attendant
on the east side of the rug having completed his twelve sticks, painted
them white with kaolin finely ground and mixed with water. The flat ends
of the sticks were colored black; the beveled parts were painted blue;
around the lower end of the blue was a bit of yellow which represented
the jaw painted with corn pollen. Three black dots were painted upon the
blue for the eyes and mouth; the ground color was laid on with the
finger; the other decorations were made with yucca brushes. The man on
the south side colored his sticks blue. The tops of six sticks were
painted yellow, and six were black. The black ends were those having the
beveled spots. These spots were blue with a chin of yellow; they also
had the three black dots for eyes and mouth. The man to the west colored
his sticks yellow with the flat ends black; the beveled spots of six of
them were blue with a yellow chin and three black dots for eyes and
mouth. The sticks to the north were colored black; six of them had the
beveled parts colored blue with a yellow jaw, and three spots for eyes
and mouth; the six sticks that were not beveled had their flat tops
painted blue. All these sticks were laid on the rug with their flat ends
outward. The attendants who prepared the reeds, each reed being colored
for a car