-priest placed coals in front of the
invalid and herbs upon them, as he had done the day before, and then
retired. The coals were afterwards thrown out of the fire opening and
the crowd rushed to the painting to rub their bodies with the sand. The
painting was obliterated in the usual manner and the sand carried out
and deposited at the base of a pinon tree some 200 yards from the lodge.

[Illustration: Plate CXXII. THIRD SAND PAINTING.]

EIGHTH DAY.

The grinding of the paint began at daylight, and just at sunrise the
artists commenced their work. When any mistake occurred, which was very
seldom, it was obliterated by sifting the ground color over it. Each
artist endeavored to finish his special design first, and there was
considerable betting as to who would succeed. The rapidity with which
these paints are handled is quite remarkable, particularly as most of
the lines are drawn entirely by the eye. After the completion of the
painting, each figure being three and a half feet long, corn pollen was
sprinkled over the whole by the song priest. (See illustration, Pl.
CXXIII.)

The corn stalk in the picture signifies the main subsistence of life;
the square base and triangle are clouds, and the three white lines at
the base of the corn stalk denote the roots of the corn. The figures of
this picture are each 31/2 feet in length. These are the Zenichi (people
of the white rock with a red streak through it) and their wives. Their
homes are high in the canyon wall. The black parallelogram to the west
of the painting designates a red streak in the rock in which are their
homes. The delicate white lines indicate their houses, which are in the
interior or depths of the rock, and can not be seen from the surface.
This canyon wall is located north of the Ute Mountain. These people of
the rocks move in the air like birds. The red portion of the bodies of
the Zenichi denote red corn; the black portion black clouds. The red
half of the face represents also the red corn; the blue of the bodies of
the others denote vegetation in general, and the yellow, pollen of all
vegetation. The zigzag lines of the bodies is lightning; the black lines
around the head, zigzagged with white, are cloud baskets that hold red
corn, which is stacked in pyramidal form and capped with three eagle
plumes. There are five feathers of the red and black shafted flicker
(_Colapteo cafer_) on either side of the head. A lightning bow is held
in the l