which the house had stood was
smoothed over, the ashes from the fire carefully swept away, and thus all
traces of the ceremony were removed. The invalid upon entering the lodge
took his seat on the west side facing east. The song priest continued his
chant. He took from the meal bag some sacred meal and placed it to the
soles of the feet of the invalid and on his palms, knees, breast, back,
shoulders, and head. At the conclusion of this ceremony all indulged in a
rest for an hour or more. The bark cups which contained the colored sands
for decorating were placed in the medicine lodge north of the door.

SWEAT HOUSES AND MASKS.

The deer skins which hang over the entrance of the sweat houses (a
different skin being used for each sweat house) must be from animals which
have been killed by being smothered. The deer is run down and secured by
ropes or otherwise. Corn pollen is then put into the mouth of the deer and
the hands are held over the mouth and nostrils until life is extinct. The
animal now being placed upon his back, a line is drawn with corn pollen,
over the mouth, down the breast and belly to the tail. The line is then
drawn from the right hoof to the right foreleg to the breast line. The
same is done on the left fore leg and the two hind legs. The knife is then
passed over this line and the deer is flayed. Skins procured in this way
are worth, among the Navajo, $50 each. Masks are made of skins prepared in
the same manner. If made of skins of deer that have been shot the wearer
would die of fever.

Buckskin over the entrance to an eastern sweat house denotes dawn; over a
southern, denotes red of morning; over a western, sunset; over a northern,
night.

PREPARATION OF THE SACRED REEDS (CIGARETTE) AND PRAYER STICKS.

Before noon two sheepskins were spread one upon the other before the
song-priest. Upon these was laid a blanket, and on the blanket pieces of
cotton. These rugs extended north and south. The theurgist then produced a
large medicine bag, from which a reed was selected. The reed was rubbed
with a polishing stone, or, more accurately speaking, the polishing stone
was rubbed with the reed, as the reed was held in the right hand and
rubbed against the stone, which was held in the left. It was then rubbed
with finely broken native tobacco, and afterwards was divided into four
pieces, the length of each piece being equal to the width of the first
three fingers. The reeds were cut with a