588 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. ann. 23 



They givp one another much assistance, marking the scapula and back 

 with the greatest care. On such occasions the paint is always applied 

 with the fingers. The female members paint in white their lower 

 arms, hands, lower legs, and feet. Those who are to personate the 

 Sai'apa, consisting of two men and a boy, are painted in white from 

 neck to toe. They should appear perfectly nude at the indoor cere- 

 monials, dispensing even with the yucca and war pouch. '^The 

 Sai'apa lived in this world before any kind of raiment w^as known, 

 and therefore never had any; and it is by the strict injunction of these 

 gods that all apparel be dispensed with by their personators.'"* 



The women wear black-wool dresses embroidered in blue, with red 

 belts. The hair is done up as usual; the necks are bare and adorned 

 with many necklaces. When the personal adornment is completed 

 each one receives a bit of root in the mouth from the a'kwamosi. 

 This they chew, and then ejecting it into their hands, rub first their 

 own bodies, then those of the others, that they may not become 

 fatigued in the dance. 



The pottery drum has been made ready with its covering of hide. A 

 member removes the bunch of rattles from the wall, and at 10 o'clock 

 the choir is heard, accompanied by the rattle and drum. The first 

 song consumes an hour. At its close a woman places a vase of water 

 near the deputy a'kwamosi, who sits by the south side of the altar. 

 The cloud bowl containing the bits of root, which has stood to the 

 north side of the altar, is now placed south of the medicine bowl. The 

 a'kwamosi deposits six pebble fetishes for fructification to the four 

 sides of the medicine bowl and two others for the Zenith and Nadir 

 to the east of it. P^ach fetish is held in the right hand while he ofiers a 

 prayer. At the moment the first fetish is deposited a warrior rises 

 and, standing before the altar, whirls the rhombus, the flutist, who 

 sits behind the altar, plays, and the choir begins the second song, 

 accompanied by the rattle and drum. After the a'kwamosi arranges 

 the fetishes, his deput}', taking a gourd of water from the vase, waves 

 it to the six regions with prayers for rain; then he waives it in a cir- 

 cle, symbolic of the whole world, and empties a portion of the water 

 into the medicine bowl and the remainder into the cloud bowl. Six 

 gourdfuls are passed through the same form and deposited into the 

 bowls. Afterward two gourdfuls are emptied into the l>owls without 

 ceremony, and the a'kwamosi begins the consecration of the water in 

 the medicine bowl, dipping in the pebble fetishes, etc., as described 

 on page 492. At the same time the deput}' a'kwamosi deposits bits of 

 root in the cloud bowl and whips the water rapidly with a reed held 

 at an angle of about 45°.* 



oAfter a discussion, continuing over an hour during the afternoon, it was decified tliat the Sai'apa 

 should wear breechcloths at the request of the writer. 



hThe Sia liold the reed perpendicularly and are greater experts in their manner of producing the 

 suds, which rise high above the bowl, but do not fall over. 



