144 THE SIA. 



to awake in the spirit world as a little child. Many stories have come 

 to the Sia by those who have died only for a time; the heart becomes 

 still and the lips cold and the spirit passes to the entrance of the other 

 world and looks in, but it does not enter, and yet it sees all, and in a 

 short time returns to inhabit its earthly body. Great alarm is felt 

 when one returns in this way to life, but much faith is put in the stories 

 afterwards told by the one who has passed over the road of death. 



A ho'naaite holds a corresponding position in the si^irit world. 



When a death occurs any time before sundown, the body is buried 

 as soon as it can be prepared for the grave; but if one dies after dark 

 the body nuist not be touched until after sunrise, when it is bathed 

 and buried as soon as possible. It is usual for an elderly woman of 

 the clan to bathe the body, cold water being used; the head is washed 

 first in yucca suds. Sometimes, however, this method is deviated 

 from, if the remaining wife or husband has a special friend in some 

 other clan. In the case of a man the breechcloth he has worn during 

 his last illness is not removed. The immediate relatives in consan- 

 guinity and clan are present during the bathing and make the air hideous 

 with their lamentations. The body is bathed on the bed upon which 

 the party dies and here it remains until burial. The mourners are 

 seated around the room, no one being near the bed but the woman who 

 prepares the body for burial. If the corpse be a female, after the body 

 is bathed a blanket is laid across the abdomen and limbs and tucked 

 in on either side, the upper portion t)f the body being exposed. 



The ofiQcial members of the cult societies are painted after death, 

 just as they were at their initiation into the society, the body having 

 been jireviously bathed. The one exception to this rule — being the 

 ho'naaite of warriors (PI. xxxiv) — wiU show the change. The painting 

 is done by the ho'naaite or vicar of the society to which the deceased 

 belonged. Corn pollen is sprinkled on the head. Female officials 

 have only their faces painted. When a man is not an official, neither 

 his face nor body is painted, but as each man or woman of his clan 

 looks upon the body a bit of corn pollen is sprinkled in a line under 

 each eye and on the toj) of the head. While the body is being pre- 

 pared for burial, the relati\'es who are present, amid lamentations, cut 

 the apparel of the corpse, including his blankets, into strips and all is 

 laid upon the body. After the body has been placed vipon the blanket 

 which is to wrap it for burial, if it be a man the wife places a quantity 

 of food under the left arm, the arms hanging straight by the sides. 

 If the wife does not perform this office tlien some member of his clan 

 acts in her place. In the case of the death of a woman a member of 

 her clan jilaces the food. Again a small quantity of food is placed 

 under the left arm by the man wlio principally officiates in the wrap- 

 ping of the body. This is sometimes d(jue by the son of the deceased. 

 The blanket is first folded over one side of the body and then the 

 other; then the eud next to the head is caught together just above the 



