140 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



corresponding parts of his person to remove disease, and to have 

 many other rites performed over him. When the patient has de- 

 parted many of the spectators pick up and preserve the sacred 

 corn-pollen. Some take dust from the figures on their moistened 

 palms and rub it over their own bodies. Then the shaman obliterates 

 the picture with a slender wand while he sings a song appropriate 

 to this part of the ceremony. Lastly, the assistants gather the sand 

 in their blankets, carry it to a distance from the lodge and throw 

 it away. Thus in half an hour from the completion of the picture 

 not a trace of it is left. 



The lecturer has heard of seventeen great ceremonies of the 

 Navajos in which pictures of this character are drawn. There are 

 about four pictures to each ceremony — only one picture being 

 painted in a day — and besides these great ceremonies there are 

 minor rites with their appropriate pictures, smaller and less elab- 

 orate. The medicine men aver that these pictures cTf the great 

 ceremonies are transmitted unaltered from year to year, and from 

 generation to generation. This is doubtful, as no permanent design 

 is preserved for reference and there is no final authority in the 

 tribe. Furthermore, as the majority of the rites can be performed 

 only in the season when the snakes hibernate, the pictures are car 

 ried from winter to winter in the fallible memories of men. It is 

 probable, however, that innovations are unintentional and that 

 changes are wrought slowly. 



The lecture was illustrated with seven large charts, representing 

 some of the pictures which the lecturer had seen. Of their meaning 

 and symbolism there was given a full explanation, which included 

 the description of many of the rites and the narration of many of 

 the myths and traditions of the tribe. -'"^ 



Following this paper Prof. Gilbert Thompson presented sketches 

 of rude drawings, seen by him in a cave at San Antonio Springs, 

 N. M. The walls of t'«e cave were smoke-covered, but the draw- 

 ings were distinct and plainly marked, etched in the stone surface 

 and brought out with various colored pigments. Certain points of 

 resemblance were indicated between these figures and some de- 

 scribed by Dr. Matthews. 



*A more extensive abstract appears in the "American Naturalist " for October, 

 1885. 



