STEVENSON] SUMMER SOLSTICE CEREMONIES 157 



undress and g'o as near as possible to the lake, where each one deposits 

 food. Those who are to personate the Council of the Gods and Sha'- 

 lako in the coming autumn offer the prayers while at the lake which 

 they will repeat at the time of the Sha'lako festival. They now pro- 

 ceed to the south side of the lake and dance. At the close of the 

 dance they return to the hill and retire for the night. In the early 

 morning the Ko'mosona, Ko'pekwin, and the two Ko'pi"liishiwanni 

 return nude to the lake and gather cat-tails (Typha latifolia), which 

 they distribute to the others. The pe'kwin also secures the fire sticks 

 which he deposited in the water on the previous evening. 



Before departing for the lake the Ko'mosona dispatches most of the 

 party for tortoises with the words: " Go, look For our otherselves." 

 Only members of the fraternity of Hunters may strike tiie tortoise with 

 the rabbit stick; others pat them with their hands until the head is ])ro- 

 jected, when a string is tied around the neck. 



A favorite place for the tortoise is said to l)e the house of the deer, 

 a spring a short distance from Ko'thluwala'wa, above the general level 

 of the country, and so named because deer congregate there to drink. 

 An underground passage is supposed to extend from this spring to the 

 lake; in fact, Ko'thluwala'wa is said to be connected with all sacred 

 springs and lakes by underground roads. 



After the return of the Ko'mosona and Ko'pekwin from the lake to 

 the hill the sacred tire is made In^ wood friction. A small ([uantity of 

 cedar fiber is crushed and deposited on the ground and the stick, to be 

 used horizontally, with bits of mud attached to each point where the 

 other stick is to be used, is laid upon it. The Ko'mosona." Ko'pekwin, 

 the two Ko'pi"lashiwanni, the personator of Shu'laawi'si for the coming 

 autumn, the ceremonial father of Shu'laawi'si, and other members of 

 the Badger clan, form a broken circle. The process of fire making 

 begins with the Ko'mosotm, who, after using the drill, passes it to the 

 Ko'pekwin who sits at his left. After the first handling of the drill 

 these two do not touch it. The sticks being damp, a long time is 

 required in making the fire. It would not do to work on a spot that 

 had been touched with a drill. When combustion occurs and the 

 crushed fiber is ignited, the one who produces the fire lifts the fiber, 

 holding it in partly closed hands, moving them back and forth that the 

 fiber may be fanned by the breeze. The breath must never be blown 

 upon it, as this would so oft'end the Council of the Gods that there 

 would be no rain. If rain is not the result of the fire making, the 

 hearts of those Avho work with the drill are not good. 



The cedar brand is ignited from the burning fiber, which is now 

 thrown into the spring with a prayer for rain. The one who produces 



a The Ko'mosona being a child of the Badger clan (see List of clans) is privileged to use the tire 

 drill. 



