INDIAN WOMEN AND THE BIRDS. 133 



Here is his account of what he saw and heard at that mid- 

 night meeting under ground : 



"The festival to which I am now to refer was continued 

 through several days. At one time the shaman and the 

 members of the shamanistic society over which he presid- 

 ed were gathered in a kiva, or under-ground assembly 

 hall, where midnight prayers were made for abundant 

 crops. On this occasion the customary altar was arranged 

 with the paraphernalia for worship. Among other things 

 were wooden tablets on which were painted the conven- 

 tional picture-writings for clouds and lightning, below 

 which were the conventional signs for raindrops, and be- 

 low the raindrops were the conventional signs for grownng 

 corn. 



"In order to more fully understand these picture-writ- 

 ings we will mention some of the other objects placed on 

 the altar. There were wooden birds, painted and placed 

 on perches ; there was an ewer of water about which corn 

 was placed ; there was a case of jewels — crystals of quartz, 

 fragments of turquoise, fragments of carnelian, and small 

 garnets ; then there was a bowl of honey [honey-dew] upon 

 the holy altar. When the shaman prayed he asked that 

 the next harvest might be abundant like the last ; he 

 prayed that they might have corn of many colors like the 

 corn upon the altar ; he prayed that the corn might be 

 ripened so as to be hard like the jewels upon the altar ; he 

 prayed that the corn might be sweet like the honey upon 

 the altar ; he prayed that the corn might be abundant for 

 men and birds, and that the birds might be glad, for the 

 gods loved the birds represented upon the altar as they 

 love men. Then he prayed that the clouds would form 

 like the clouds represented upon the altar, and that the 

 clouds would flash lightning like the lightning on the al- 

 tar, and that the clouds would rain showers like the show- 

 ers represented upon the altar, and that the showers would 



