ared and, perceiving
his thoughts, said, "I know where you can go to get more songs." "Well,
I much want to get more, and I will follow you." When they reached a
certain point in a box canyon in the Big Colorado River they found four
gods (the Hostjobokon) at work hewing logs of cottonwood. Hasjelti said,
"This will not do; cottonwood becomes water-soaked; you must use pine
instead of cottonwood." The Hostjobokon then began boring the pine with
flint, when Hasjelti said, "That is slow work," and he commanded the
whirlwind to hollow the log. A Jerusalem cross was formed with one solid
log and a hollow one. The song-hunter entered the hollow log and
Hasjelti closed the end with a cloud, that the water of the river might
not enter when the logs were launched upon the great waters. The
Hostjobokon, accompanied by their wives, rode upon the logs, a couple
sitting on the end of each cross arm. These were accompanied by
Hasjelti, Hostjoghon, and two Naaskiddi, who walked on the banks to ward
the logs off from the shore. Hasjelti carried a squirrel skin filled
with tobacco from which to supply the gods on their journey. Hostjoghon
carried a staff ornamented with eagle and turkey plumes and a gaming
ring with two humming birds tied to it with white cotton cord. The two
Naaskiddi carried staffs of lightning.[7] After floating a long distance
down the river they came to waters that had a shore on one side only,
and they landed. Here they found people like themselves. These people,
on learning of the song-hunter's wish, gave to him many songs and they
painted pictures on a cotton blanket and said, "These pictures must go
with the songs. If we give this blanket to you you will lose it. We will
give you white earth and black coals which you will grind together to
make black paint, and we will give you white sand, yellow sand, and red
sand, and for the blue paint you will take white sand and black coals
with a very little red and yellow sand. These together will give you
blue.[8]"

[Footnote 7: The Naaskiddi are hunchbacks; they have clouds upon
their backs, in which seeds of all vegetation are held.]

[Footnote 8: The Navajo will not use real blue coloring in their sand
painting, but adhere strictly to the instructions of the gods. They
do, however, use a bit of vermilion, when it can be obtained, to
heighten the red coloring in the pouches.]

The song-hunter remained with these people until the corn was ripe.
There he