me are informed that the characters appearing in the ceremony
are not real gods, but only their representatives. There is good reason
for believing that their ideas in regard to the sand paintings were
obtained from the Pueblo tribes, who in the past had elaborated sand
paintings and whose work at present in connection with most of their
medicine ceremonies is of no mean order. The Mission Indians of southern
California also regard sand paintings as among the important features in
their medicine practices. While the figures of the mythical beings
represented by the Navajo are no doubt of their own conception, yet I
discovered that all their medicine tubes and offerings were similar to
those in use by the Zuni. Their presence among the Navajo can be readily
explained by the well known fact that it was the custom among Indians of
different tribes to barter and exchange medicine songs, ceremonies, and
the paraphernalia accompanying them. The Zuni and Tusayan claim that the
Navajo obtained the secrets of the Pueblo medicine by intruding upon their
ceremonials or capturing a pueblo, and that they appropriated whatever
suited their fancy.

[Illustration: Figure 115]

FIG. 115. Exterior lodge.

My explanation of the ceremonial described is by authority of the priest
doctor who managed the whole affair and who remained with me five days
after the ceremonial for this special purpose. Much persuasion was
required to induce him to stay, though he was most anxious that we should
make no mistake. He said:

My wife may suffer and I should be near her; a father's eyes
should be the first to look upon his child; it is like sunshine in
the father's heart; the father also watches his little one to see
the first signs of understanding, and observes the first steps of
his child, that too is a bright light in the father's heart, but
when the little one falls, it strikes the father's heart hard.

The features of this ceremonial which most surprise the white spectator
are its great elaborateness, the number of its participants and its
prolongation through many days for the purpose of restoring health to a
single member of the tribe.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE MEDICINE LODGE.

A rectangular parallelogram was marked off on the ground, and at each
corner was firmly planted a forked post extending 10 feet above the
surface, and on these were laid 4 horizontal