104 THE SIA. 



lio'iiaaite's eagle plumes aud rattle laid beside it; a prayer before the 

 altar by all the members closed the afternoon ceremony. 



It will be noticed that the slat altar in PI. xxv differs from that in VI. 

 XXIII. Both belong to the Knife Society and may be seen hanging 

 side by side on the -wall in the ceremonial chamber of the Quer'riinna, 

 (PI. XXVIII) which is also the official chamber of the Knife Society. 

 The second was made in case of failure of the first. The vicar of this 

 society is also ho'naaite and only surviving member of the Ant So- 

 ciety, and he, being anxious that the writer should see the sand paint- 

 ing of the Ant Society, prepared the painting for this occasion instead 

 of the ho'naaite (Fig. 17). He also drew her a sketch of the painting 

 of Ant Society for ceremonial held for the sick, which is here intro- 

 duced (Fig. 18). This last may be described as follows: 



a represents meal painting emblematic of the clouds, h and c bear-leg 

 skins laid either side of it. The remainder of i>ainting is in sand. 

 d: Ant chief clad in buckskin fringed down the arms aud legs;, he car- 

 ries lightning in his left hand; his words pass straight from his mouth, 

 as indicated by a line, to the invalid e, who sits at the opening of the 

 ceremonial to the right of the painting. The ant chief speaks that the 

 malady may leave the invalid. A song of this character is sung by 

 the members of the society. The invalid then passes to the front of 

 the altar and stands upon a sacred Tusayan blanket (position indicated 

 by/ ), when the ho'naaite and other members o fthe society proceed with 

 their incantations over him, imploring the prey animals to draw the 

 ants to the surface of the body. When the ants have appeared and 

 been brushed from the body then a song is addressed to the eagle g to 

 come and feed upon the ants. When the ants have been eaten by 

 the eagle the invalid will be restored to health. The two circular 

 spots h represent ant houses. These, with the paintings of the ant 

 chief and eagle, are gathered into the blanket upon which the invalid 

 stood and carried some distance ncn-th of the village and deposited. 

 After the blanket has been taken from the chamber the meal painting 

 is erased by the ho'naaite brushing the meal from each of the cardinal 

 points to the center with his hand ; he then rubs the invalid's body with 

 the meal, after which the members hasten to rub their bodies with it, 

 that they may be purified not only of any physical malady but of all 

 evil thoughts. 



When the writer entered the ceremonial chamber later in the even- 

 ing food was being placed in line down the middle of the room. There 

 were seven bowls, containing mutton stew, tortillas, waiavi, and hominy 

 There was also a large pot of coftee and a bowl of sugar. The ho'na- 

 aite, standing to the east of the meal line, which extended from the 

 altar to the entrance, repeated a long grace, after which one of the boy 

 members gathered a bit of food from each vessel, and standing on the 

 opposite side of the line of meal, handed the food to the ho'naaite, who 

 received it in his left hand, having transferred his eagle plumes to the 



