. It is also a feast and a day of rejoicing and
merriment for the whole village. The hunt is under the direction of the
principal war captain, and the leading dignitaries share the sport. Long
prayers around a fire which is started outside of the pueblo opens the
performance. The game is hunted and killed with clubs, and a lively and
sometimes amusing rivalry is displayed by both sexes in securing the
rabbits, which often gives rise to very ludicrous scenes. Sometimes the
hunt is continued for several days in succession.

When the brothers reached the crest of the undulation, they witnessed
sights that to a stranger would have been nearly incomprehensible. Men,
women, and children were running back and forth in every direction, no
longer chasing game, but playing, laughing, romping, with loud and
boisterous talk. Small groups were already going home loaded with game,
others with empty hands, to the great amusement and merciless jeering of
the successful hunters. Among the former were men dressed in the costume
of women, while with the lucky ones women in male attire paraded
proudly. It was an animated picture spread over a wide expanse, but it
was moving back to the village in the east; and when the Indians from
the Rito stood still to observe, there remained in their immediate
vicinity only a few men in female garb. Beyond them stood a group of
five or six persons, laughing and jesting.

Over the broad plain there rested a mild, subdued glow of pleasant
twilight; the highest summits of the Sierra glistened in fiery hues.

Hayoue stepped up boldly, his brother keeping alongside watchfully. He
was ready, not to flee, but to hide, and use the bow in case of
necessity. They were noticed by those standing nearest. The men in
women's garb were busy breaking twigs and branches, or cutting them off
with stone implements. At the sight of strangers, they suspended work
and stared. Hayoue laid aside his bow and quiver, and extended his right
hand, calling out,--

"Queres Tyuonyi!"

No answer came. Zashue could not control his mirth at the sight of the
men in such guise; he broke out in a ringing laugh, pointed at them, and
shouted, "Puyatye!" then to himself with the exclamation, "Koshare!"

The salutations called forth no reply. The Tanos continued to stare. It
was not merely astonishment which caused them to remain motionless;
there was quite as much embarrassment on their part. For these men in
women's wraps had had to a