XXVI.] INSURANCE AGAINST FIRE. 339 



The boy was adorned with a streak of pipe -clay down his June, 

 nose and the middle of his chest, and across his npper lip. He i^'^^. 

 took his seat on the trough, turning his back to the north, the 

 man sitting opposite to him: they then rubbed each other's 

 arms up and down while the man mumbled some mystic w^ords, 

 after which the boy arose and laid the leafless branch upon the 

 trough. Scraping the bark off the roots and sticks, they placed 

 it in the w^ooden bowl and reduced it to powder, and chopped 

 the sticks into very small fragments. 



A cross, with one arm pointing to the setting sun, was made 

 on the ground by the man with his foot, and then he took up a 

 handful of the powdered bark, and blew some toward the sun 

 and the remainder in the opposite direction. Where the cross 

 had been drawn, a hole was now made, into which the troup-h 

 w^as put, and a small quantity of water poured into it, A few 

 drops were also sprinkled on the ground, first to the north and 

 then to the south. 



The mganga next took two of the scraped roots, and, spitting 

 on them, placed one at each end of the trough, and, standing to 

 the south of it, picked up some of the fragments of sticks "and 

 dropped them in. In this operation he so crossed his hands 

 that those fragments in his left should fall to the eastward of 

 the stick fastened across the centre of the trough, and those in 

 his right on the other side. These motions were strictly fol- 

 lowed by the boy, who stood at the north end of the trough. • 

 Both again sat down, the man this time at the east end, and 

 the boy facing him. The fowl was then seized, the boy hold- 

 ing it by the wangs and legs, while the man grasped its head 

 with his left hand and cut its throat, having first rubbed it with 

 pipe-clay, and being careful that the blood should fall into the 

 trough and on the stick across it. When dead, the fowl was 

 laid upon the spot on the south side of the trough, where water 

 had been poured, with its head to the east. 



The same performance was then gone through M^ith the goat, 

 a couple of by-standers assisting in holding it during its strug- 

 gles, and its carcass was placed on the opposite side of the 

 trough, with its head to the west. 



After washing his face with the blood and water, the man 

 took a little of it in his mouth, and blew some first toward the 



