114 THE SIA. 



the cord are tail feathers of the female sparrow hawk {Falco sparverius) 

 ^iid the loug-crested jay {Gyanocetta macrolopha). 



The men and child have their forelocks drawn back and tied with 

 ribbons of corn husks, the men each having a bnnch of hawk and jay 

 feathers attached pendent on the left side of the head. They wear 

 white cotton breechcloths and necklaces of coral and kohaqujir (archaic 

 shell heads).' The woman wears her ordinary dress and several coral 

 necklaces, her feet and limbs being bare. 



The ho'naaite, removing a bowl of meal from before the altar and 

 holding it in his left hand, together with his eagle plumes and a wand, — 

 the wand being a miniature crook elaborately decorated with feathers, — 

 sprinkled a line of meal from the painting to the entrance of the 

 chamber, for the being of Quer'riinna to pass over. 



The ho'naaite, his vicar, and the woman sat back of the altar, the ho'- 

 naaite to the west side, the vice to his right, and the woman to the east 

 side. At this time a child was sleeping near the altar. 



The ho'naaite filled an abalone shell with corn pollen and holding the 

 shell, his two eagle pinnies, and wand in his left hand and rattle in the 

 right, offered a long prayer to Quer'riinna to invoke the cloud people to 

 water the earth, and sprinkled the altar several times with pollen. 

 At the close of the prayer he handed the .shell of pollen to the woman, 

 who passed to the front of the altar and east of the meal line and 

 sprinkled the altar with the pollen. The song now began, and the 

 woman, retaining licr position before the altar, kept time by moving her 

 wand right and left, then extending it over the altar; each time before 

 waving it over the altar she rested it on the shell for a moment; after 

 repeating the motion several times, she extended the wand to the north, 

 moving it right and left, and after resting it on the shell she extended 

 it to the west, and the wand was in this way motioned to the cardinal 

 points, zenith and nadir. The waving of the wand to the points was 

 repeated fimr times; and the woman then returned the shell to the ho'- 

 naaite, who had at intervals waved his plumes and wand over the altar. 

 At this time the child awoke, and making a wad of his blanket sat 

 upon it between the ho'naaite and the vicar; the latter supplying the 

 child with a wand and rattle, he joined in the song. 



The vicar being afflicted with pai-alysis could add little to the cere- 

 mony, though he made strenuous efforts to sing and sway his palsied 

 body. The group presented a pitiful picture, but it exhibited a striking 

 proof of the devotion of these people to the observance of their cult — 

 the flickering fire-light playing in lights and shadows about the heads 

 of the three members, over whom Time holds the scythe with grim 

 menaces, Avhile they strained eveiy nerve to make all that was possible 

 of the ritual they were celebarting; the boy, requiring no arousing to 

 sing and bend his tiny body to the time of the rattle, joined in the calls 



' The portraits of the ho'naaitos wero made in secluded spots in the woods. The hair is not arranged 

 as it is iu the ceremonials, fear of discovery preventing the proper arrangement and adornment with 

 feathers. (PI. xxx.> 



