June, igo2. The Mishongnovi Ceremonies — Dorses'. 207 



picture, it was manifest that the first two of the row (/. <*. , those 

 toward the south) bore a superficial resemblance to a reed arrow, and, 

 in fact, they were spoken of as arrows and as kalehiakas, warriors or 

 watchers, by the priests. They were undecorated and about' seven 

 inches from the top, as they were placed in the upright position, there 

 was a short piece of cotton string, at the end of which was a 

 trace of two turkey feathers. These red arrows were twenty-one 

 inches in length. Of the remaining uprights, eight were long 

 chochopiaia, black in color and about fifteen inches high. These 

 cliochopiata did not differ materially from the ordinary black baho 

 which has already been described. Near the upper end was the corn 

 husk packet, an eagle and a turkey feather and an eagle feather nak- 

 wakwosi, together with a remnant of a sprig of kufta. The remaining 

 uprights, fifteen in number, were or had been crooks, although from 

 all of them the bent portion had been broken and at first sight they 

 were merely time-stained, straight shafts. These varied from twenty- 

 one to twenty-three inches in length, each one having a red-stained 

 nakwakwosi just below the bend of the crook. All of these crooks 

 were painted black. The attention of the priest being called to the 

 fact that none of the so-called crooks terminated in a bend, he 

 explained that it was on account of the great age and that they had 

 suffered from repeated handling. Concerning the meaning of the 

 uprights, it was explained by Polihungwa that collectively they repre- 

 sented men of the Fraternity, that the crooks represented old men bent 

 with age, and that the crook also was a symbol of life, and that the 

 reeds or arrows were the kalehtakas or warriors here serving as 

 watchers; hence their position, one each at the head of the line.. 

 Worthy of note might also be the fact — undoubtedly a coincidence — 

 that the total number of uprights exactly equaled the number of 

 Antelope men participating in this ceremony, twenty-one. , 



It was noW nearly six o'clock. The men gradually began to 

 desert the kiva for various purposes, first Sikangpu, who took with 

 him the four eagle feathers which had been used earlier in the day in 

 laying off the symbols of the sand field, and which had been wrapped 

 together with the string by Polihungwa. These he returned to his 

 house. He at once returned to the kiva and began sweeping the 

 floor carefully and otherwise putting it in a neat and tidy condition, 

 the boys carrying out the refuse. Two of the boys, Lataya and 

 Nuwawa, entered the kiva, each bringing a large bunch of reeds 

 {pafikavi) about six feet in length and deposited them near the wall 

 on the east side of the kiva. These they had obtained about three 

 miles north of the village. 



