328 ISLETA, NEW MEXICO (eth. ann. 47 



and blow smoke on them. The rest of the day the scalp takers remain 

 in the roundhouse. 



The town chief having asked the chiefs of the Com groiijjs for theii- 

 members (wakuan), that Saturday night the chiefs assemble their 

 wakuan and tell them to prepare for the race next day. In the morn- 

 ing the men meet at the respective houses of the Corn group chiefs 

 to be led to the roundhouse, where are met together the other chiefs. 

 The war chief asks the moiety chiefs for theii- drums and the town chief 

 tells the war chief to give the drums to the boys. The Day (^^^lite 

 Corn) people and Earth (Yellow Corn) people receive one drum; the 

 other peoples, the other drum. Both sets begin to drum and sing at 

 the same time, different songs, while in the hubbub so the boys can 

 not hear what he says kumpa addresses the seniors. In the midst 

 of his "preaching" he gets out the scalps, and mo\Tiig them up and 

 down, he sings. He moves the scalps in the directions, calling thiice 



e' u! e' u!, to the "Navaho dead." Twining his fingers in 



the hair of the scalp he hits the scalp takers, each of them, three times 



with the scalp, caUing out at each blow e' u ! e' u ! Then he 



returns the scalp to the scalp takers. (The runners would not 

 approach the scalps lest they dream of them.) 



The town chief begins to "preach," watcMng for the sim. At noon, 

 when the sim shines in, everybody stands and dances. Everybody 

 sprinkles meal on the prayer feathers (lawashie') of the town chief, 

 who sends them up to the sun (see p. 292). The mecUcine society chiefs 

 exorcise with their feathei-s. They may remove strings from the 

 runners' legs, sent in by witches. Two war captains are sitting 

 beside the ladder on the roof to keep out intruders. The Lagima 

 Fathers' chief holds up the ciystal and the Town Fathers' chief gazes 

 into it, to see what day high winds are coming,^' or hail. By way of 

 the crystal the race track is examined for tacks or anything injurious 

 to runners, and the war captains are directed to clear the track. 

 This is the time the medicine men know who will be caught in the 

 race; but they do not teU. They do tell if they see that some boy 

 has applied to one of their assistants for power to win in the race 

 and, having asked with a cigarette, been given the power. Thi'ough 

 kimipa or the war chief the boy will be sent for and then deprived of 

 his power, "cleaned out," by the curing cliiefs. For this power, 

 which consists of inducing cramps in the rmmer opposed to you, 

 should not be used against a townsman.** 



The runners divide into the usual four rows, but by Com groups, 

 the town chief having in charge the Day people and the Earth people, 



" Thunder in the southwest means dry wind; in the northeast, frost; in the southeast, clouds. These 

 weather signs were given very uncertainly. 



'« There are several stories of its successful use against Navaho and white; also in horse racing, cramps 

 being caused in the horse of the outsider. 



