n or not enforced combing
taboos, while the parents of Stewart's informants must have considered
them proper and so instructed their children. We can speculate, on this
basis, that the taboo on hair combing and scratching was abandoned by the
Washo some time in the first half of the century. Whether this can be
credited to the influence of the white man or to a continuing pattern of
change is a matter for further investigation.

The account of the entire puberty complex which follows was given to me by
a seventy-five-year-old Washo woman who is generally consulted whenever a
family plans to hold the girls' dance.

"When a girl is about ten she is told what is going to happen to
her. When her first period comes [she is not specially confined]
people tell her to be active and not to be lazy. She drinks only
warm water. In the old days anything that she gathered anyone
could come along and take. She couldn't eat meat or salt but Washo
don't think eggs are the same as meat."

(This last statement was in response to direct questions and does not
reflect special Washo traits. In fact, all food appears to have been
forbidden for four days.)

The family of the girl immediately prepares as much food as possible to
feed the guests. One informant remembers in his youth that a family of a
girl eligible for a dance would light a large fire part way up on Job's
Peak to announce the event.

The dance itself is carried out at night. Singing and hand-clapping
accompany the dancing, which may go on all night. During the dance the
girl carries a wand about six or seven feet long. The wand is made of a
very light wood, often elderberry, and painted red with a native pigment.

In the past, groups camped about Dresslerville staged their dances at the
base of a prominent hill nearby. During the night the girl was required to
run to the top of the hill and light four fires; this practice has been
discontinued for many years, however, apparently as a result of white
accusations that the Indians started range fires and also to avoid
attracting curious whites.

About dawn one of the girl's male relatives ran forward and snatched the
stick from her. He then ran with it into the hills and hid it in an
upright position in some out-of-the-way place.

The elderberry wand is a device used to insure the girl's continued
agility and lightness of foot. As long as the hidden stick remains
unbroken the girl will remain s