pped it into the medicine water
and sprinkled the feet, heart, and heads of the sand figures, after
which the invalid sat in the center of the cross. Hasjelti gave him a
sip of the sacred water from the gourd and returned the gourd to its
place; then he touched the feet, heart, and head of each figure
successively with his right hand, each time touching the corresponding
parts of the body of the invalid. Every time Hasjelti touched the
invalid he gave a weird hoot. After he had been touched with sands from
all the paintings the theurgist, selecting a few live coals from a small
fire which had been kept burning near the door, threw them in front of
the invalid, who still retained his seat in the center of the painting.
The theurgist placed herbs, which he took from a buckskin bag, on the
coals from which a very pleasant aroma arose. An attendant sprinkled
water on the coals and a moment after threw them out of the fire
opening. The song-priest gathered the wands from around the edge of the
painting and four attendants began to erase it by scraping the sands
from the cardinal points to the center. Again the people hurried to take
sand from the hearts, heads, and limbs of the figures to rub upon
themselves. The sands were gathered into a blanket and deposited at the
base of a pinon tree about one hundred yards north of the lodge. A chant
closed the ceremony.

SEVENTH DAY.

The first business of the day was the preparation of an elaborate sand
picture, and though the artists worked industriously from dawn, it was
not completed until after 3 o'clock. The paint grinder was kept busy to
supply the artists. It was observed that in drawing some of the lines
the artists used a string of stretched yarn instead of the weaving
stick. When five of the figures had been completed, six young men came
into the lodge, removed their clothes, and whitened their bodies and
limbs with kaolin; they then left the lodge to solicit food from the
people, who were now quite thickly gathered over the mesa to witness the
closing ceremonies. The mesa top for a mile around was crowded with
Indians, horses, sheep, and hogans (lodges); groups of 3 to 20 Indians
could be seen here and there gambling, while foot and horse racing were
features of special interest. Indeed, the people generally were enjoying
themselves at the expense of the invalid. The rainbow goddess,
Nattsilit, surrounding the painting, was about 25 feet in length. Upon
the compl