o the "mother" rock, and at her
feet make offerings and prayers, imploring her to intercede with
the great father, the Sun, to give to them a daughter, and that this
daughter may grow to be all that is good in woman; that she may be
endowed with the power of weaving beautifully and may be skilled in
the potter's art. Should a son be desired, the couple repair to the
shrine above, and here, at the breast and heart of the "father" rock,
prayers and plume sticks are offered that a son may be given them, and
that he may have power to conquer his enemies, and that he may become
distinguished in the K[=o]k-k[=o] and other orders, and have power
over the field to produce abundant crops. In both cases the sacred
meal is sprinkled, and, should the prayer not be answered, there is
no doubt that the heart of one or the other was not earnest when the
prayer was offered.

The Zuni child is born amid ceremony. At its birth only the maternal
grandmother and two female doctors are present. After the birth of the
child, the paternal grandmother enters, bearing as offerings to the
new born babe a large pottery bowl and inside of it a tiny blanket.
She then prepares warm suds of yucca root in the bowl, in which she
bathes the infant, at the same time repeating a prayer of thanks for
the life that has been given them and praying for the future of the
child. She then rubs the entire body of the child, except the head,
with warm ashes held in the palm of the hand and moistened with water.
This process is repeated every morning during infancy and the same
paste is put upon the face of the child until it is several years
old. I would remark that this paste is seldom noticed upon the older
children because it is put on in the morning and drying soon is
brushed off by the child. It is asserted by the Zuni that in four days
after the birth of a child the first skin is removed by exfoliation
and is supplanted by a new one. After applying the ashes, the paternal
grandmother places the infant in the arms of the maternal grandparent,
who performs other offices for the little one and wraps it in a piece
of cotton cloth. The paternal grandmother prepares a bed of warm sand
by the right side of the mother (leaving a cool spot for the child's
head); she then receives the infant and lays it upon its bed, and over
it she arranges the little blanket which she brought; she then places
upon the sand and at the right side of the child an ear of white
corn; if