508 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. anx. 23 



The two small trees are brouoht from the hatchway and as the *Hlem'- 

 mosona passes down the line, he draws the trees before the face of each 

 dancer with a prayer, the dancer drawing a sacred breath from them. 

 When all have drawn the sacred breath, or all that is best, from the 

 trees they are placed beside the altar, and the Sword division visit the 

 chamber where the Mu'waiye" rehearse, and dance and swallow the 

 swords. On their return to their ceremonial chamber the novice is 

 served with food, and then all present partake of it. 



After the repast is finished dancing is resumed and continues 

 throughout the night. At midnight the 'Hlem'mosona deposits prayer 

 plumes and sprinkles meal in an excavation the depth of a man's arm 

 in the Si'aa' te'wita at the base of the ladder east of the one which 

 leads to the He'iwa ki'wi*sine with prayers to Na'ke'e, the original 

 director of the fraternity. After the deposition of the prayer plumes 

 the *Hlem'mosona covers the cavity with a stone and earth so cleverly 

 that no one would dream of its existence. This spot in the plaza is 

 most sacred to the Great Fire fraternity, as Na'ke'e is supposed to 

 have disappeared into the earth as this point, and no one must sit on 

 the ladder that runs up by this excavation or on the loof immedi- 

 ately above it when the Great Fire fraternity is present in the plaza, 

 for an et'tone* of a shi'wanni (rain priest), who is also a member of 

 the Great Fire fraternity, is kept in the old house to which the upper 

 ladder leads. 



Fifth day. At daylight on the fifth day the *Hlem'mosona runs hi: 

 hand over the pollen line of the painting in the ceremonial cliambe:- 

 and places the pollen he collects in a corn husk; and men and women 

 hasten forward to take a pinch from the heart (which is considered 

 good medicine for fecundity) of each figure, each one having a corn 

 husk in which to place what is collected. The grains of corn are also 

 eagerly sought. One, two, three, or four grains collected are planted 

 apart from other corn the coming year, and the corn raised from this 

 is not eaten, but kept till the next jear and planted in the field with 

 the other corn. After all the mi'wachi are removed from the altar, 

 the *Hlem'mosona brushes the meal on the floor about the altar to the 

 dry painting with his eagle plumes and lifts the sand with his two 

 hands and deposits it in a bowl, which a woman places near him, and 

 carries it to the river where he deposits the contents. After the 

 •^Hlem'mosona leaves the chamber a box is placed in the middle of the 

 floor, with a blanket spread over it, upon which the novice takes his 

 scat. The fraternity father, standing behind the novice, places over 

 his shoulders a blanket (a gift) which has the sun emblem, painted on a 

 piece of cotton cloth, sewed to the center of it, and steps before him, 

 while his wife stands behind the novice with a hand on each shoulder. 



aSeep. 458. &Seep. 1G3. 



