nded him to return to the Navajo and instruct them how to
represent the gods in sand painting and in masks. The four corner figures
will be recognized as the Naashiddi (hunchback, or mountain sheep).

[Illustration]

During the ceremony Hasjelti, dressed in black velvet ornamented with
silver, and Hostjoboard, with her nude body painted white and with silk
scarf around the loins caught on with silver belt, left the lodge to
gather the children upon the mesa for the purpose of initiating them; but
the children had already been summoned by men who rode over the mesa on
horseback, visiting every hogan to see that all the children were brought
for initiation. A buffalo robe was spread at the end of the avenue which
extended from the medicine lodge some three hundred yards. The head of the
robe was to the east; at the end of the robe blankets were spread in a
kind of semicircle. Most of the children were accompanied by their
mothers. The boys were stripped of their clothing and sat upon the buffalo
robe. The head of the line being to the north, they all faced east with
their feet stretched out. Their arms hung by their sides and their heads
were bent forward. The girls sat in line upon the blanket in company with
their mothers and the mothers of the boys. It is entirely a matter of
choice whether or not a mother accompanies her child or takes any part in
the ceremony. The girls also sat like the boys, their heads bent forward.
Their heads were bent down that they might not look upon the gods until
they had been initiated. Up to this time they were supposed never to have
had a close view of the masks or to have inspected anything pertaining to
their religious ceremonies. The children ranged from five to ten years of
age. At this particular ceremony nine boys and six girls were initiated.
When the children were all in position, Hasjelti, carrying a fawn skin
containing sacred meal, and Hostjoboard, carrying two needles of the
Spanish bayonet, stood in front of the children. The boy at the head of
the line was led out and stood facing the east. Hasjelti, with the sacred
meal, formed a cross on his breast, at the same time giving his peculiar
hoot. Hostjoboard struck him upon the breast, first with the needles held
in her right hand and then with those held in the left. Hasjelti then
turned the boy toward the right until he faced west and made a cross with
meal upon his back, when Hostjoboard struc