STEVENSON-! THE KNIFE SOCIETY. 105 



right. He then left the house, and throwing the food to the cardinal 

 points, offered it to the animal Ko'pishtaia, with a prayer of interces- 

 sion to the cloud i)eople to gather, saying: 



"Ko'pishtaia! Here is food, come and eat; Ko'pishtaia, Cougar of 

 the North, receive this food; Bear of the West, receive this food; 

 Badger of the South, we offer ycm food, take it and eat; Wolf of the 

 East, we give you food; Eagle of the Heavens, receive this food ; Shrew 

 of the Earth, receive this food. When you eat, then you will be con- 

 tented, and you will pass over the straight road [referring to the i)ass- 

 ing of the beings of the ko'pishtaia over the line of meal to enter the 

 images of themselves]. We pray you to bring to us, and to all peoples, 

 food, good health, and prosperity, and to our animals bring good health 

 and to our fields large crops; and we pray you to ask the cloud people 

 to come to water the earth." 



Upon returning to the ceremonial chamber, the ho'naaite, standing 

 before the altar, prays to Ma'asewe, Cyuuyewe, and the six warriors 

 of the mountains of the cardinal i)oiuts to protect them from all ene- 

 mies who might come to destroy their peace; and, standing at the end 

 of the line of food, he offers a prayer of thanksgiving, holding his eagle 

 plumes in his left hand. He then rolls Ids blanket into a cushion, sits 

 upon it west of tli? line of meal and smokes a cigarette. The food 

 having been brought in by the wives of the members, all present drew 

 around and enjoyed the feast. That the minor members felt at liberty 

 to join with their elders was indicated by the way in whic'h they i)ro- 

 ceeded to help themselves. 



The war chief came into the room soon after the beginning of the 

 meal, wrapped in a flue Navajo blanket, and carrying his bow and 

 arrows. He stood in front of the altar, on the west side of the meal 

 line, and prayed. The vice-ho'naaite administered to the war chief a 

 draft of the medicine water which had been prepared in the after- 

 noon, and then handed him the official staff of the society (a slender 

 stick some 2 feet in length), which he held with his bow and arrows 

 until the close of the ceremonial. The war chief sat for awhile at the 

 south end of the room, and then left to patrol the town and to see that 

 no one not privileged entered or came near the ceremonial chamber. 

 After the meal was finished the three boys removed die bowls to another 

 room, and, upon their return, one of them swept the middle of the floor, 

 destroying most of the meal line, leaving but 2 feet of it undisturbed 

 in front of the altar. This line, however, was renewed by the vice- 

 ho'naaite, who carried two eagle feathers and the meal bowl in his left 

 hand, while he sprinkled the meal with the right, not for the purpose 

 of furnishing a road for the beings of pai'Jitiimo and ko'pishtaia to pass 

 over, for they had previously come to the images of themselves, but 

 that the songs might pass straight over and out of the house. 



The men now indulged in a smoke. The writer never observed Sia 

 boys smoking in these ceremonials or at any other time. The ciga- 



