FIRE WORSHIP FEWKES. 595 



a custom which is very old, having been described by Castaneda in his 

 account of the events that took place when the Spaniards under 

 Tobar approached Awatobi in 1540. Formerly anyone who passed 

 a closed trail was liable to be killed, but now no knowing one enters 

 or leaves a pueblo thus closed. 



On the clay the fire is made piles of fuel are deposited in all kivas 

 and households to be lighted after the sacred flame has been ignited. 

 The fire is sacred ; it was not allowed to go out until the close of the 

 festival, and no one might profane it by secular uses. 



A brief description of the fire-making rite in the chief's kiva at 

 Walpi is as follows, but all proceedings during the nine days of the 

 ceremony having been elsewhere described need not be repeated : 



As soon as the participants had entered the kiva the fire makers, 

 squatting on the floor by the fireplace (pi. 8, fig. 7), fitted their fire 

 drills into the depressions of the firestone or fireboard, and when all 

 were ready the other priests stood while Hani recited a short prayer. 

 Each chief held before him the badge of his office and there was a mo- 

 mentary silence, until it was broken by Hani, who gave the signal 

 and the members of the chorus began to sing. The Kwakwantu 

 accompanied the songs with the clanging of bells, and the Aaltu 

 rattled deer hoofs on empty tortoise shells. They appeared to sing 

 different songs antiphonally, some of which resembled those of the 

 Snake priests at the washing of the reptiles in the Snake dance. 



Almost simultaneously with the beginning of the singing the fire 

 makers began to rotate their drills, corn pollen having been dropped 

 into the slots of the fireboard or firestone before the drills were 

 inserted. The drills were held vertically between the palms of the 

 hands and in rotation were pressed downward. A second man re- 

 lieved at intervals the one who twirled the drill and smoke was 

 produced by the Aaltu in 20 seconds, followed by a spark of fire in 

 about a minute. The Kwakwantu, whose fire hearth was a stone, 

 produced smoke with their fire drill in 1 minute and 20 seconds 

 and a spark in a minute and 50 seconds. The operation of twirl- 

 ing the fire drill was the same in both societies — a man held the 

 board firmly in place to the floor while the fire makers, relieving 

 each other every 15 seconds, rotated the drill. Soon there was a 

 smudge in the cedar bark which was blown into a flame with the 

 breath, the fire makers rising as they did so that all might see the 

 new fire. The songs continued and the burning cedar bark was 

 transported to the fireplace, where the flame caught the twigs placed 

 there for fuel. 



When a good blaze resulted each priest stood before the fire, 

 raised a pine needle tied to a string to his lips, and having said an 

 inaudible prayer, dropped the pine needle into the flame. The man 



