LA PLESCHB] TRIBAL RITES FREE TRANSLATION 83 



side, march toward the house prepared for the ceremon3^ At the 

 second stop, as they approach the ceremonial house, the song and 

 accompanying talk are repeated and the Xo'-ka touches the ground 

 with the palm of liis left hand. The three then continue their march 

 toward the house, making two more ceremonial stops before they 

 arrive. The No°'-ho°-zhi''-ga of all the gentes of the Ho'"-ga division 

 follow the three men in a procession to the house in the order of their 

 positions in the lodge. The three men enter, take their places at 

 the east end of the lodge, and the members of their gens sit on either 

 side of them. Then the other gentes of the Ho°'-ga and of the 

 Tsi'-zhu Divisions enter and take their established places. 



w. 



This diagram, drawn under the direction of Wa-xthi'-zhi, shows 

 the established ceremonial positions of the two Great Tribal Divi- 

 sions, the Tsi'-zhu and the Ho°'-ga. The lodge in which the cere- 

 monies of the tribal rites are performed is erected so that its length 

 extends from east to west. The place of the Tsi-zhu, which sym- 

 bolically represents the sky, is on the north side of the lodge and is 

 indicated by figures and the letters A and B. The place of the 

 Ho^'-ga, which symbolically represents the earth, is on the south 

 side of the lodge, and is indicated by two groups of figures, for this 

 Great Tribal Division is subdivided into two parts, one to represent 

 the waters of the earth and called Wa-zha'-zhe, the other to represent 

 the dry lands and called Ho^'-ga. The space, indicated by the letter 

 A, between the Wa-zha'-zhe and Ho^'-ga subdivisions, belongs to a 

 gens called Ho°'-ga U-ta-no^-dsi, the Isolated Ho^'-ga. This gens 

 symbolizes the earth in its entirety, and the name expresses the 

 tribal belief that the earth is isolated from the other cosmic bodies. 

 A gens belonging to either one of the two great tribal divisions, 

 when initiating one of its members into the tribal rites, shifts its 

 regular gentile position to the eastern end of the lodge and occupies 

 all of the space marked X on the diagram. The two fireplaces, one 

 at each end of the lodge, are indicated by the letter O. 



