104. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 184 
held in the school buildings. A wise, mature, and moderate informant 
told me in 1957 that he felt sure that there was no one in Sia who 
would oppose the white man’s medicine in toto, or as a matter of prin- 
ciple. Medicinemen themselves have sought American medical aid 
and have gone to Government Indian hospitals. I learned of a case 
during the 1950’s where a medicineman who had been summoned to as- 
sist in a critical case of childbirth said that he could do nothing, and 
advised the woman’s relatives to take her to the hospital in Albuquer- 
que without delay. The Indian medicinemen still practice their 
profession, and the informant cited above said that probably few Sias 
would refuse to patronize an Indian doctor as a matter of principle. 
Most of the Sias, it appears, avail themselves of both kinds of medicine. 
Snakebite is treated by medicinemen (see p. 158). No one has 
ever been taken to a hospital for snakebite, said one informant, ‘but 
no one has ever died of snakebite.’ The truth of this statement is 
vigorously denied by a Public Health nurse, however. 
The natural and cultural habitat of Sia, like that of other pueblos, 
possesses many advantages along with some disadvantages from the 
standpoint of health. It has an abundance of pure air and sunshine. 
Excrement or other refuse is quickly dried up in sun and wind. Gen- 
eral aridity and drainage conditions do not allow pools to persist 
within the pueblo; down the hill toward the river, however, there is 
a perennial marsh. ‘The houses tend to be cool in summer and warm 
in winter; in the latter season, however, ventilation is sometimes bad. 
Much dust is blown about by the wind. Many, but far from all, of 
the houses in 1957 had screened windows and doors. 
“There are no latrines” in Sia, Halseth reported in 1924 (1924 b, 
p. 73). In 1957 there were numerous privies on the periphery of 
the pueblo, most of them built according to approved specifications. 
Many, however, were located so far from the dwellings that their 
owners tended to use nearby streets and alleys during the night. 
And corrals still serve as latrines. 
The rubbish heaps at Sia (see p. 53) contain refuse of all kinds 
and constitute a health hazard. 
In 1957 Sia had an abundant supply of clean, pure water for drinking 
and household use. 
Public Health officials told me in 1957 that Sia had been excep- 
tionally cooperative in recent years in matters of public health and 
sanitation. They attributed this attitude in large part to the work 
and influence of Joe Medina, a Sia Indian and onetime governor of 
the pueblo, who had been for some time on the staff of the Public 
Health Service as a sanitarian. He had done much to introduce new 
ideas and practices at Sia. Sanitarians from the Public Health Service 
go to Sia every summer and spray the streets and alleys about the 
