MATTHEWS. ] FIRST GREAT PICTURE OR DRY PAINTING. 447 
the east, two blue ones in the south, two yellow ones in the west, and 
two black ones in the north. These snakes cross one another (in pairs) 
so as to form four figures like the letter X. In drawing these X’s the 
snake which appears to be beneath is made first complete in every re- 
spect, and then the other snake is drawn over it in conformity with 
their realistic laws of art before referred to. The neck, in all cases, is 
blue, crossed with four bands of red. The necks of the gods in all the 
pictures, it will be observed, are made thus, but the bars in the man- 
like figures run transversely, while those in the snake-like run diago- 
nally. Three rows of y-shaped figures, four in each row, are seen on 
the backs of the snakes; these are simply to represent mottlings. Out- 
side of these eight suakes are four more of much greater length; they 
form a frame or boundary to the picture, except in the west, where 
the mountain of Dsilya-i¢gin lies beyond them. ‘There is a white suake in 
the east, lying from north to south and bounding the picture in the east; 
a blue snake, of similar size and shape, in the south; a yellow oue in the 
west, and a black one in the north. They seem as if following one 
another around the picture in the direction of the sun’s apparent course, 
the head of the east snake approximating the tail of the south snake, 
and so on. 
162. In the northeast is seen the yay, Niltci, who accompanied the Nay- 
ajo prophet to the home of the snakes. In the extreme west is a black 
circular figure representing the mountain of Dsilya-igin. In the origi- 
nal picture the mountain was in relief— which I have not attempted to 
represent—a little mound of about ten or twelve inches high. The de- 
scription of the mountain given in the myth is duly symbolized in the 
picture, the halo added. The green spot in the center is designed to 
represent a twig of spruce which was stuck in the mound of sand to 
indicate the spruce tree door. From the summit of the mountain to the 
middle of the central waters is drawn a wide line in corn meal, with 
four footprints, depicted at intervals, in the same material. This rep- 
resents the track of a bear. Immediately south of this track is the 
figure of an animal drawn in gray pigment. This is the grizzly him- 
self, which here, I have reason to believe, is used as a symbol of the 
Navajo prophet. The bear, in the sacred language of the shamans, is 
appropriately called Dsilyi‘ Neyaui, since he is truly reared within the 
mountains. His track, being represented by a streak of meal, has refer- 
ence to the same thing as the name akaninili and the practice of the 
couriers (paragraph 102), who are dressed to represent the prophet, 
throwing corn meal in front of them when they travel. 
163. The SECOND PIcTURE is said to be a representation of the paint- 
ing which the prophet saw in the home of the bears in the Carrizo Mount- 
ains (paragraph 40). In the center of this figure is the bowl of water 
covered with black powder, to which I referred before. The edge of 
the bowl is adorned with sunbeams, and external to it are the four 
ea‘bitlol, or sunbeam rafts, on which seem to stand four gods, or yays. 
