STEVENSON] CEREMONIAL USES OF PLAKTS 97 



The slender twigs are employed by aU members of the Ko'tikili 

 (mythologic fraternity) ' in prepariug offerings to the Stin Father, the 

 Moon Mother, and the ancestral gods. 



Pseudotsuga mucronata (Raf.) Sudw. Douglas Spruce. Pina- 

 CE^. Pine family. 



Kia'ldtsilo, 'water comes out arms' QcvKTcia'we, water; 

 latsilo, 'come out arms' — extend arms). In the special rain 

 ceremonies, the rain priests and the dancei-s who personate 

 the rain-makera, addressing the kialdtsilo, invoke them to 

 extend their arms (referring to the branches) and water the 

 earth. The breath from the gods of the undermost world 

 is supposed to ascend thi'ough the trunks of these trees and 

 form clouds behind which the rain-makers work.^ 



Psilostroplie tagetina (Nutt.) Greene. CARDUACE.a;. Thistle 



family. 

 Ha'tsoliko, 'leaf mouse' Qia, leaf; tsoliko, a species of mouse). 

 So named because this particular species of mouse feeds on 

 the leaves of the plant. 

 The blossoms are used by personatoi-s of authi-opic gods for pauiting 

 masks and for coloring then- limbs and bodies yellow. They are 

 gathered by men who are sent by the directors of the Tci'mtsiwe ' 

 (chambei-s dedicated to autkropic woi-ship). The flowers are ground 

 by the wives or daughters of the officers of the Tci'vntsiwe, and the 

 director combines the flower meal with yellow ocher and urine, in 

 the Tci'witsine that is to furnish the pei-sonators of the anthropic 

 gods. This paint is used also by the Sword Swallowers fraternity and 

 by the Sword Swallowei-s order of the Great Fire fraternity for deco- 

 rating their pei-sons for certain dances. 



Wlien ceremonially employed the plant belongs to the people of 

 the Ici'mtsiwe, the Sword Swallowers fraternity, and the Sword Swal- 

 lowers order of the Great Fu-e fraternity. 



Rhus trilohata Nutt. Sumac. Anacardiace^. Sumac famil}'. 

 Ko'tse otsi, 'biting man' (ko'tse, biting; o'tsi, man, referring to 

 the male plant). So named because the juice from the 

 stem of the plant Ls pimgcnt or "biting" to the tongue. 

 The twigs are employed by members of the Sword Swallowei-s fra- 

 ternity to attach to plume offerings to their et'towe, (sing. et'toneY 

 the most sacred fetish of the fraternity. 



' See SSi Ann. Sep. Bur. Amer. Elhn., p. i>2. 

 = Ibid., p. 20. 

 3 Ibid., p. 163. 



15961°— 30 ETH 15 7 



