ch other like the branches of
an open fan. And yet, after night had come and the moon had risen in a
cloudless sky, there was still bustle everywhere. Households ravaged by
the visitations of the Koshare were being restored to order, the
exhausted dancers were being feasted, and the estufas were being cleared
of everything bearing a sacred character. Young men and boys still
loitered in groups, repeating with hoarse voices the songs and chants
they had lately addressed to the ruler of day.

On the terrace roof of the home of Tyope's wife a young girl stood quite
alone, gazing at that moon where the mother of all mankind, the
Sanatyaya, is supposed to reside. It was Mitsha Koitza, who had just
returned from the estufa of her clan with the mother-soul of her own
home, and who still lingered here holding in her hands the cluster of
snowy, delicate feathers. She thinks, while her nimble fingers play with
it, of the young man who has been her partner the whole day, who has
danced beside her so quiet, modest, and yet so handsome, and who once
appeared to her on this same roof brave and resolute in her defence.
While she thus stands, gazes, and dreams, a flake of down becomes
detached and quivers upward into the calm, still air. Involuntarily the
maiden fastens her glance on the plumelet, which flits upward and upward
in the direction of the moon's silvery orb. Such a flitting and floating
plume is the symbol of prayer. Mitsha's whole heart goes anxiously with
the feather. It rises and rises, and at last disappears as if absorbed
by moonlight. The features of the maiden, which till now have carried an
anxious, pleading look, brighten with a soft and happy smile. The mother
above has listened to her entreaty, for the symbol of her thoughts, the
feather, has gone to rest on the bosom of her who watches over every
house, who feels with every loving and praying heart.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 7: It was natural for her to think of removing the feathers,
as they would in all probability be looked for just where she had put
them; that is, under the floor. Such was the case at Nambe in March,
1855, when owl's feathers were found buried at several places in the
Pueblo. The result of the discovery at Nambe was the slaughter of three
men and one woman for alleged witchcraft by the infuriated mob of
Indians.]

[Footnote 8: Schleiermacher.]

CHAPTER VII.

Among Indians any great feast, like the dance of the ayash tyucotz
desc