306 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 22, 1920
had only a roof, though the Indians crowded about and made a clear view difficult at times. The wife sat facing the east with a blanket spread over her knees. At each corner of the blanket sat a woman attendant; at her back squatted an old woman who seemed to have charge of the proceedings. This old woman first drew a black line on the face of the wife extending from the ears around the lower jaw, after which black was applied to different parts of the body. Finally, the arms, legs, and practically the whole body of the wife was rubbed with powdered charcoal.[1] Occasionally as the painting proceeded the old woman would hand the wife some object which was immediately concealed by her under the blanket. An old Hopi bowl filled with some liquid of uninviting appearance was passed to the attendants, each taking a sip. It was afterwards handed to several women who seemed to be only spectators, who took a taste.
While these preparations were in progress 12 to 16 Indians, all men except the young girl with the war emblem and another girl about the same age, danced in a circle (fig. 15) about a handfull of ashes and a slender stick with a wisp of hair attached to it. This wisp of hair was from the scalp of a Comanche killed by the Navajo and had been obtained with great difficulty from a distant part of the reservation.
The dancers shuffled around to the singing of a leader, who also beat a drum made of a small pot with a piece of skin stretched across the top. At the end of each verse the dancers paused. In these stops the circle was always left open to the east; it seemed quite important that nothing should cross or obstruct the east. At one time several women started to ride over well out on the flat, but were warned back by a great outcry from both dancers and spectators. Another time horsemen were sent out to turn back some stock that would have crossed nearly two miles out.
Presently a very old man, nearly blind, came from the hogan, and, guided by an Indian who appeared to be the master of ceremonies, took the stick with the wisp of hair from the circle of dancers and carried it some 300 yards east across the flat, pausing once to make a motion like striking the ground or an imaginary enemy. At the end of this journey the old man's guide asked him in a loud voice, what his name was, but the old man being very deaf did not understand, and the question was repeated louder and louder at which the Indians looking on seemed greatly amused. Finally having received a satisfactory answer the guide returned to the hogan leaving the old man. The two scouts now emerged from the hogan wearing kilts or aprons of cloth, bandoliers, and bracelets of yucca leaves, and having feathers tied in their hair. Their bodies were
- ↑ According to the Franciscan Fathers, it is the patient who is painted black.
