554 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. ann. 23 



with a stone hatchet a mineral, the medicine of the couoar and bear, 

 which she afterward grinds and deposits in an ordinary- eating bowl. 

 Sheepskins are laid in line on the floor on the north side of the room and 

 west of the center, and two blankets are placed on them. Buckskins 

 are laid on the blankets, a piece of canv^as is spread over these, a piece of 

 new cotton cloth covers the canvas, and on this is placed a cotton cloth 

 which has evidently' been used many times for the same purpose, as it 

 is thorouo-hly dyed with the medicine. Three stone mills,^uch as are 

 used for grinding- grain for daily consumption, are placed at an angle 

 of forty-five degrees on this cushion, leaving just space enough between 

 them and the wall for the grinders to kneel. Two of the grinders 

 are dressed, each by a young man of the fraternity. A mi'ha (white 

 embroidered blanket) is worn as a dress over the ordinary black 

 wool gown. Earrings, bangles, rings, and most elaborate necklaces 

 of ko'hakwa, turquoise, coral, and silver beads, are worn. The hair, 

 which has been plaited to make it wav}^ is tied with a red garter at 

 the nape of the neck, and a fluj9fy eagle plume is tied to the forelock. 

 Each grinder is led to her place bv a warrior of the f raternit}' by hold- 

 ing the tips of his eagle-wing plumes. The girl, still holding the tips 

 of the plumes, on reaching the mills goes to her place behind them, 

 while the warrior, who passes before them, extends his arms over the 

 mills. When the girl kneels behind a mill, her guide takes his seat 

 before her and the mill, and holding her clasped hands between his 

 own waves them to the six regions with a prayer. Then a male 

 attendant to each grinder takes a seated before each mill. The one 

 before the mill to the east places the bowl of the ground medicine 

 before the mill over which he presides. The man presiding over the 

 center mill places a bowl of the ground grayish root medicine of the 

 Badger and Wolf by his side; and the one who attends the third mill 

 deposits by his side a bowl of crushed sunflowers. '' 



A few bits of archaic shell beads and a minute quantit}^ of the root of 

 the te'nas*sali are crushed in each mill, and then a quantity of the root 

 medicine of the Cougar of the North is added, the grinders bending 

 their bodies and bobbing their heads in harmony with the song of 

 twenty men, accompanied by rattle and drum. The Bear, Badger, and 

 Wolf medicines are afterward ground in turn. The choir w^ear only 

 their trousers rolled above their knees and a profusion of necklaces. 



Dancing begins late in the afternoon, after the grinding ceases. 

 A man of the choir dances his infant on his knee to the time of the 

 music, and the little one looks before it with the most unconcerned 

 expression. One man, three women, and two little girls, each about 

 six years old open the dance. In a short time these dancers are joined 



(I The director of the fraternity asserts that there are six different plant medicines besides the above, 

 each plant the property of a beast god of one of the six regions, and that they are found in the crater 

 of a mountain north of the pueblo of Laguna. 



