-keeper calls the roll. After which the business part of
the Council is carried on exactly the same as any ordinary meeting,
except that instead of addressing the "Chairman," they say, "O Chief";
instead of "yes" they say "ho," instead of "no" they say "wah."

The order of doings in Council is:--

Opening and fire-lighting
Roll Call
Reading and accepting tally of last Council
Reports of Scouts (things observed or done)
Left-over business
New business
Honours
Honourable mention
(For the good of the Tribe) Complaints and suggestions.
(_Here business ends and entertainment begins._)
Challenges
Games, contests, etc.
Close by singing Omaha Prayer (Tale 108)

TALE 105

The Sandpainting of the Fire

[Illustration: The Sandpainting of the Fire]

When I was staying among the Navaho Indians, I met John Wetherall, the
trader. He had spent half his life among them, and knew more of their
ways than any other white man that I met. He told me that part of the
education of Navaho priest was knowing the fifty sandpaintings of his
tribe. A sandpainting is a design made on the ground or floor with dry
sands of different colours--black, white, gray, yellow, red, etc. It
looks like a rug or a blanket on the ground, and is made up of many
curious marks which stand for some man, place, thing, or idea. Thus, the
first sandpainting is a map of the world as the Navaho knew it, with
rivers and hills that are important in their history. These
sandpaintings cannot be moved; a careless touch spoils them, and a gust
of wind can wipe them out. They endure only in the hearts and memories
of the people who love them.

In the Woodcraft Camp there is but one sandpainting that is much used;
that is, the Sandpainting of the Fourfold Fire. When I make it in camp,
I use only white sand or powdered lime; but indoors, or on paper, I use
yellow (or orange) and white.

This is the story of the sandpainting. The fire is the symbol of the
Great Spirit; around that we draw a great circle, as in the diagram.

At each of the four sides we light another fire; these four are called
Fortitude, Beauty, Truth, and Love, and come from the Fire through
Spirit, Body, Mind, and Service.

Then from each of these we draw three golden rays. These stand for the
twelve laws of Woodcraft, and they are named in this way:

Be Brave, Be Silent and Obey;