254 Kansas Academy of Science. 



At last an opponent gets a hold of the fluttering fowl. Then they 

 pull till the rooster is literally torn to pieces. Then they contest 

 for the pieces in the same manner till there is not a piece left large 

 enough for two people to get hold of. Then another rooster is 

 buried in the plaza and the race is resumed. Thus is it continued 

 till all the Juans have furnished their respective quota of roosters 

 and until every participant in the murderous race is as bloody as 

 though he had been in a gladiatorial contest. 



In the water-throwing performance the women carry water to 

 the house roofs till they have filled every water-containing vessel 

 they have. Then, just at dusk, all the men of the village, with 

 clothing removed, ride through the streets and close to the houses 

 in every direction at a full gallop. As they do this the women 

 throw water on them from the housetops. This performance is a 

 prayer for rain. 



THE CEREMONIES OF THE DEAD. 



Immediately after a Jemez dies he is buried, usually with his 

 personal belongings. Then the women of the family, aided by the 

 medicine men, draw on the adobe floor of the living-room of the 

 house of the deceased a large sun circle, with four projecting darts 

 of protection, one in each of the four cardinal directions. Within 

 this circle they then place a small, crudely carved wooden effigy of 

 the dead one. Over this they throw a new. piece of cloth. Then 

 on one side of this effigy they place a new earthen jar filled with 

 water ; on the other side a basket of eatables, that have been pre- 

 pared since the death of the deceased. These things they furnish 

 so that neither thirst nor hunger should cause the traveling spirit 

 to suft'er. Furthermore, as the road the soul has to travel is long, 

 dangerous, and beset by evil spirits lying in wait to capture the 

 defunct or hamper his ultimate felicity, they lay beside the image 

 a small war-club and a bow and some arrows, within the representa- 

 tive^ circle of the god of day, to protect the deceased from harm in 

 his transit. Moreover, to render the journey safe beyond a doubt, 

 they then draw without the circle the footprints of the great 

 Montezuma, the "road-runner," who protects the soul in its jour- 

 ney to the abode of the good Indian dead. 



As soon as these things are done, the relatives gather around the 

 image and the drawing and weep, sob, scream, yell, howl, dance, 

 sprinkle sacred meal and corn pollen, and pray loudly to those 

 above for the safe journey of the departed soul and its arrival in 

 the land of bliss. This performance is continued for four days. 

 At about three o'clock in the afternoon of the last day the man an- 



