Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians | Page 4

used in decoration were yellow, red, and white from sandstones, black from charcoal, and a grayish blue, formed of white sand and charcoal, with a very small quantity of yellow and red sands. (See Fig. 118.) The decorators were carefully watched by the song priest.
[Illustration: Figure 118]
FIG. 118. Sweat house.
Upon the completion of the rainbow the song priest returned to the medicine lodge, but soon reappeared bearing a basket of twelve turkey wands, and these he planted around the base of the sweat house on a line of meal he had previously sprinkled. There was a fire some 20 feet from the house, in which stones were heated. These stones were placed in the sweat house on the south side, and upon them was thrown an armful of white sage and Bigelovia Douglasii. A few pine boughs were laid by the side of the stones for the invalid to sit upon. The entrance to the sweat house was then covered with a black and white striped blanket upon which were placed two large Co?onino buckskins one upon the other, and upon them a double piece of white cotton. The buckskins represented daylight, or the twilight that comes just at the dawn of day. The invalid for whom this ceremony was held took off all his clothing except the breech cloth, and sat on the outside by the entrance of the sweat house amid the din of rattle and song, the theurgist being the only one who had a rattle. The invalid propelled himself into the house feet foremost, the covering of the sweat house having been raised for this purpose. After entering it, he rid himself of his breechcloth and the coverings were immediately dropped. The song continued 5 minutes, when all stopped for a moment and then recommenced.
[Illustration]
RAINBOW OVER SWEAT HOUSE.
During the song the theurgist mixed various herbs in a gourd over which he poured water. After chanting some twenty minutes he advanced to the entrance of the house, taking the medicine gourd with him, and, after pouring some of its contents on the heated stones, took his seat and joined in the chanting. After another twenty minutes Hasjelti and Hostjoghon appeared. A Navajo blanket had previously been placed on the ground at the south side of the entrance. Hasjelti lifted the coverings from the entrance, and the patient, having first donned his breech cloth, came out and sat on the blanket. Hasjelti rubbed the invalid with the horn of a mountain sheep held in the left hand, and in the right hand a piece of hide, about 10 inches long and 4 wide, from between the eyes of the sheep. The hide was held flatly against the palm of the hand, and in this way the god rubbed the breast of the invalid, while he rubbed his back with the horn, occasionally alternating his hands. Hostjoghon put the invalid through the same manipulation. The gods then gave him drink four times from the gourd containing medicine water composed of finely-chopped herbs and water, they having first taken a draught of the mixture. The soles of the feet, palms, breast, back, shoulders, and top of the head of the invalid were touched with medicine water, and the gods suddenly disappeared. The patient arose and bathed himself with the remainder of the medicine water and put on his clothing. The coverings of the entrance, which were gifts to the song priest from the invalid, were gathered together by the song priest and carried by an attendant to the medicine lodge. An attendant erased the rainbow by sweeping his hand from the feet to the head, drawing the sands with him, which were gathered into a blanket and carried to the north and deposited at the base of a pi?on tree. The song priest placed the wands in a basket, and thus, preceded by the invalid, carried them in both hands to the medicine lodge singing a low chant. The sweat house was not carelessly torn down, but was taken down after a prescribed form. Four men commenced at the sides toward the cardinal points, and with both hands scraped the sand from the boughs. When this was all removed the boughs were carefully gathered and conveyed to a pi?on tree some 50 feet distant and fastened horizontally in its branches about 2 feet above the ground. The heated stones from the interior of the sweat house were laid on the boughs; the upright logs which formed the frame work of the house were carried to a pi?on tree, a few feet from the tree in which the boughs and heated stones were placed, and arranged crosswise in the tree, and on these logs corn meal was sprinkled and on the meal a medicine tube (cigarette) was deposited. The tube was