44 THE ACOMA INDIANS [eth. an.n. 47 



necessaiy. When the time for installation draws near the Antelope 

 clan people hold a meeting in the Antelope dan house. The successor 

 to the futm'e cacique is definitely decided upon at this time. About 

 eight days later the final meeting of installation is held in Mauliarots, 

 the "head estufa" (q. v.). All of the Antelope clan men are present, 

 and the head men of each of the five estufas. The war chiefs may 

 attend if they -wash; they usually do attend. At this tune the future 

 cacique is formally mtroduced, together with his successor. The 

 spokesman for the Antelope clan asks the head men of the five 

 estufas when they can be ready to dance for the new cacique. After 

 some deliberation a date is set for the welcoming dance. 



Four daj^s before the dance a rabbit hunt (q. v.) is held to supply 

 the feast. On tliis day also each man who is to participate in the 

 dance makes one prayer stick (hatcamini) with which he prays. 

 From this time until the day of the dance the men practice songs 

 and dances in their estufas and make ready their masks and costumes. 

 The day before the dance each dancer makes a prayer stick and brings 

 it to Mauharots; the sticks are deposited in four baskets. On the 

 evejiing before the dance the cacique and his assistant go to Mau- 

 harots, where they will spend the night. The dancers, too, come to 

 Mauharots with their masks and spend the night there. In the 

 morning, before the dancers leave, the cacique erects his altar. (It 

 will be remembered that another informant stated that the cacique 

 could not erect his own altar, since he was not a medicine man. 

 This is a doubtful point.) 



Early in the morning the dancers leave the estiifa and go to the 

 plaza to dance. They dance the Gaiya', or "mi.xed dance" (i. e., 

 there are many different lands of k'atsina represented. See section 

 on ceremonies). The cacique and his assistant remain in the head 

 estufa, Maidiarots, all day, malcing herb medicines and praying. 



At noon the dancers come into Mauharots, where they eat lunch. 

 They eat the rabbits which were lolled in the hiuit for this purpose. 

 After limch they go out again to dance. They dance all day. A\lien 

 they have finished thej^ return to Mauharots. They take olf their 

 masks and the cacicj-ue gives them some mediciii.e to drinlv. The 

 head men of the five estufas then take the fom- baskets of prayer 

 sticks and distribute them to the dancers. Each man takes the stick 

 which he has made. They go out and pray and then go tt) their 

 o\vn estufas and put their costumes and masks away. 



After the dance is over the people of the village are permitted to 

 go into Mauharots and drink some of the medicine that the ciiciciiie 

 has made. 



The present caci(iuo is named Waiictu (Spanish, I^rancisco ^Vatch- 

 empino). His predecessor, who died about 1918, was named Dzikin 

 (Spanish, Torri\"io Josecito). The mother of the present cacique 



