144 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



of green and red alternately, each ring being an inch and a half 

 wide ; projecting from the outer ring, were four somewhat triangu- 

 lar shaped figures, each one of which corresponded to one of the 

 cardinal points of the compass, giving the whole the appearance of 

 a Maltese cross. Around this cross and between its arms were the 

 figures of men with their feet toward the center — some made of 

 charcoal with ashes for eyes and hair, others of red clay and ashes, 

 etc. These figures were eight or nine inches long, and nearly all 

 of them lacked some part of the body — some an arm, others a leg 

 or the head. The medicine-men seated themselves around the pic- 

 ture, on the ground in a circle, and the Indians from the different 

 bands crowded around them, the old men squatting close by, 

 and the young men standing back of them. After they had in- 

 voked the aid of the spirits, in a number of chants, one of their 

 number, apparently the oldest, a toothless, gray-haired man, 

 solemnly arose, and, carefully stepping between the figures of the 

 men, dropped on each one a pinch of the yellow powder, which he 

 took from a small buckskin bag which had been handed to him. 

 He put the powder on the heads of some, on the chests of others, 

 and on other parts of the body, one of the other men sometimes 

 telling him where to put it. After going all around, skipping three 

 figifres however, he put up the bag and then went around again, 

 and took from each figure a large pinch of powder, taking up the 

 yellow powder also, and in this way collected a heaping handful. 

 After doing this he stepped back, and another medicine man col- 

 lected a handful in the same way, others following him. Some of 

 the laymen in their eagerness to get some pressed forward, but were 

 ordered back. But after the medicine men had supplied themselves, 

 the ramada was torn down, and a rush was made by men and boys, 

 handfuls of the dirt were grabbed and rubbed on their bodies, or 

 carried away. The women and children, who were waiting for an 

 invitation, were then called. They rushed to the spot in a crowd, 

 and grabbing handfuls of dirt tossed it up in the air so that it 

 would fall on them, or they rubbed their bodies with it. Mothers 

 throwing it over their children and rubbing it on their heads. 

 This ended the performance. 



Mr. Gatschet said : The Chiricahua Apache "sun circle," or 

 "magic circle," is constructed for the purpose of curing those who 

 have been "sun-struck," or as they express it, those who have 

 become sick from the sun. 



