THE BODY-GUAED. 273 



dragoon's shell-jacket, dark blue, faced and braided with 

 yellow, much too tight for him, and with sleeves that only 

 reached a little below the body-guard's elbows ; and lastly, 

 a sword-belt round the naked waist, from which depended 

 a steel scabbard and a sabretache. In his hand, this 

 extraordinarily-accoutred state official carried his drawr 

 sabre, and upon his head oh horrors ! an old, battered 

 box-hat dress-hat if you prefer it so of the kind which, 

 courteous reader, you and I are obliged to wear to go to 

 church or make our morning calls with. How such a hat 

 got into such a country, passeth my understanding. It was 

 the one instance that proved the rule, that there they were 

 unknown. It was its quality of uniqueness that was sup- 

 posed to give the wearer of it such a distingue appearance ; 

 and no doubt his hat contributed greatly to render the 

 chief's body-guard an efficient equivalent, for purposes of 

 state, to the gentlemen-at-arms, the life-guards, and the 

 sticks in waiting, all "kjummuxed" into one. Such is regal 

 pomp and circumstance among the Mojaves. 



It was old Irrataba who told me of the existence, 

 amongst his people, of a very curious rite or semi-religious 

 performance; one that I had never before heard of, nor 

 indeed of any similar to it, amongst other American-Indian 

 tribes. It is therefore well worth describing, and especially 

 so because in many respects it has striking analogies with 

 some of the pagan rites of antiquity, and further because 

 very few white men have seen or know anything about it. 

 The chief informed me it was one of the most ancient and 

 important of the ceremonies practised by his people, for it 

 had always ben observed since the time when the maize 



