504 NAVAHO HOUSES [EUH. ANN. 17 
ing to one of the wealthiest men in the tribe, Biteai by name. It is 
situated on the western slope of the Tunicha mountains and was built 
some years ago, but it is a type of house which is becoming more and 
more frequent on the reservation. There is practically nothing aborigi- 
nal about it except a part of its interior furniture and its inhabitants, 
and the only one of the old requirements that has been met is the 
fronting of the house to the east, while the character of the site and 
the natural conditions demand a western front. 
The log houses referred to are constructed much like the stone house 
shown in the illustration, except that they are built usually by Indian 
labor and ordinarily are covered with flat earthen roofs. Frequently 
the logs are hewn square before being placed in the walls, which 
present a very neat and finished appearance. Sometimes door and 
window frames are procured from the sawmill or from the traders, 
and add to such appearance, while nearly always one or more glazed 
sashes occupy the window openings and board doors close the entrances. 
In nearly all cases the requirement that the entrance should face the 
east is observed, but it is being more and more ignored, and in the 
houses constructed within the last few years the ancient custom is 
frequently violated. Unless the principal entrance were made to face 
the east, the performers in the dedicatory ceremonies could not take 
their prescribed positions and the ceremony would have to be either 
modified or omitted altogether. 
CEREMONIES OF DEDICATION 
Among the Pueblo Indians there are certain rituals and ceremonial 
observances connected with the construction of the houses, but in the 
Navaho system nothing of a ceremonial nature is introduced until the 
conclusion of the manual labor. Usually there are enough volunteers 
to finish the work in one day, and by evening everything is ready for 
the dedication. The wife sweeps out the house with a wisp of grass 
and she or her husband makes a fire on the floor directly under the 
smoke hole. She then goes to her bundles of household effects, which 
are still outside, and pours a quantity of white cornmeal into a shallow 
saucer-Shape basket. She hands this to the qas¢ty, or head of the 
family, who enters the hogan and rubs a handful of the dry meal on 
the five principal timbers which form the tsd¢i or frame, beginning 
with the south doorway timber. He rubs the meal only on one place, 
as high up as he can reach easily, and then does the same successively 
on the south timber, the west timber, the north timber, and the north 
doorway timber. While making these gifts, as the proceeding is 
termed, the man preserves a Strict silence, and then, as with a sweep- 
ing motion of his hand from left to right (cabikégo, as the sun travels) 
he sprinkles the meal around the outer circumference of the floor, he 
says in low measured tones— 
