cULIN] HOOP AND POLE 4385 
Chant 
Hi ya ye, hi ye ye, hi ya ye, ya-hi ye ye. 
Hi ya ye, hi ye ye, hi ya ye, ya-hi ye ye. 
Hi ya ya, hi ye ye, hi ya ye, ya-hi ye ye. 
Hi ya ya, hi ye ye, hi ya ye, ya-hi ye ye. 
Improvisation 
Ta te zi, hi ya ye, ta te sa, ya-hi ye ye. 
Ta te to, hi ye ya, ya hi ye, ta-te sa pa. 
An pa o, bhi ya ya, han han na, wi-co ka la. — 
Hta ye tu, hi ya ya, ya hi ya, han-co ka ya. 
Both chorus and improvisation are repeated and continued at pleasure. The 
scale is in a minor key and the chant rises and falls, beginning low, becoming 
higher, and again low. ‘The pupils in the schools say the syllables hi ya ye 
and hi ye ye are correctly rendered in English by the kindergarten chorus, 
“Hence this way, hence that way.” I believe, however, that ‘‘ Hence this one, 
hence that one” is more nearly correct, if, indeed, they have any meaning. 
Most Indians say they have none. 
Two of the sticks laid across the hoop are from north to south; the others 
from east to west. <A light-colored stick is laid from north to south, and a 
dark-colored one from east to west, either red and black, or yellow and blue. If 
red and blue are used, and recovery does not take place, red and black will be 
used when the ceremony is repeated. The other two sticks are held in the 
hand of the performer, who continues to chant he and e with variations until 
well-nigh exhausted. The hoop and sticks are then carried away and left on 
some hill as far away from all forms of animal life as possible. 
According to their explanations, the Indians believe the four winds carry 
incense to the four powers of the universe. The efficacy of the rite is supposed 
to depend upon the mysterious power of the performer, the weirdness and 
length of the chant, and the height and solitude of the place where the offering 
is left. Remains of these hoops may be found on the tops of remote and lonely 
hills in every Indian community where I have been stationed. 
The account here given describes the most common use of the hoop. I have 
learned that it is used in many ceremonies by the medicine men. In July 
last I saw one of the hoops and supposed it was used in a game. Evasive 
answers were given to my inquiries, but there was a young man on his death- 
bed, and month after month many hoops were required. In order to obtain 
coloring matter for them it was at last admitted that the hoops were for the 
benefit of the invalid, and I at last saw the performance, which took place at 
night. The Indians are unwilling to tell their customs, partly because the 
medicine men do not approve, and partly because they do not care to have 
their sacred customs made the object of ridicule. 
The Navaho make rings which Col. James Stevenson refers to as 
gaming rings (figure 571), on the first day of the ceremony commonly 
called Yebitchai, performed as a healing rite for a member of the 
tribe. He gives the following account ® of a performance which he 
witnessed in October, 1888, at Keams canyon, Arizona: 
«Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians, 
Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 237, 1891. 
