ds, were placed at the four
cardinal points within an area designated as the base of the house, the
forked ends resting against each other, a circular excavation some 6
feet in diameter and 1 foot in depth having first been made. Between the
uprights smaller poles were laid; on the poles pinon boughs, sage and
_Bigelovia Douglasii_ (a kind of sage brush) were placed as a thatch;
all being laid sufficiently compact to prevent the sand placed over the
top from sifting through. The doorway, on the east side of the house,
was about 21/2 feet high and 20 inches wide. Highly polished sticks (the
same as those employed in blanket weaving) were used to render the sand
covering of the structure smooth. The sweat houses to the east and west
had the rainbow painted over them. Those to the north and south were
devoid of such decoration, because the song priest seldom completes his
medicine in one ceremonial; and he chose to omit the songs which would
be required if the bow ornamented the north and south sweat houses.
Under the direction of the priest of the sweat house, who received
instruction from the song priest, three young men painted the rainbow,
one the head and body, another the skirt and legs, while the third
painted the bow. The head of this goddess was to the north, the bow
extending over the structure. The colors used were made from ground
pigments sprinkled on with the thumb and forefinger. Whenever a pinch of
the dry paint was taken from the pieces of bark which served as paint
cups, the artist breathed upon the hand before sprinkling the paint.
This, however, had no religious significance, but was merely to clear
the finger and thumb of any superfluous sand. The colors used in
decoration were yellow, red, and white from sandstones, black from
charcoal, and a grayish blue, formed of white sand and charcoal, with a
very small quantity of yellow and red sands. (See Fig. 118.) The
decorators were carefully watched by the song priest.

[Illustration: Fig. 118. Sweat house.]

Upon the completion of the rainbow the song priest returned to the
medicine lodge, but soon reappeared bearing a basket of twelve turkey
wands, and these he planted around the base of the sweat house on a line
of meal he had previously sprinkled. There was a fire some 20 feet from
the house, in which stones were heated. These stones were placed in the
sweat house on the south side, and upon them was thrown an armful of
white sage and _Bigelovia Dou