priest, continuing in advance, deposits a quantity of blue meal on the
line a short distance from the yellow, which indicates the position
for the Sä-lä-mō-bī-ya of the West. In like manner he indicates
the position of the respective Sä-lä-mō-bī-ya with red meal for
the South, white for the East, meal of all colors for the Heavens,
and black meal for the Earth. The remainder of the Kōk-kō take their
positions successively along the line of meal. The Kō-yē-mē-shi
group in the plaza. The godfathers then pass along the line of meal,
each one holding his godchild on his back by a blanket, which he draws
tightly around him. In olden times tanned robes of the buffalo were
used for this purpose. As he passes the line of Kōk-kō each one
strikes the child with his large bunch of Spanish bayonets. While the
Indian from almost infancy looks upon any exhibition of feeling
when undergoing physical suffering as most cowardly and unmanly, the
severity of the pain inflicted by the yucca switches in this ceremony
is at times such as to force tears from the eyes of the little ones,
but a boy over the age of five or six rarely flinches under this
ordeal. After passing the line the godparent enters the Kiva of the
North, where he is met by a priest of the great fire order, who asks,
"Who is your Kōk-kō?" When the godfather replies, he is directed
to select his boy's plume. The plumes which ornament the heads of the
figures have been previously wrapped in corn husks and carried to
the priest by the respective godfathers. The godfather attaches
the feather, which is a soft, downy feather of the eagle, to the
scalp-lock of the child. The godparent is then given a drink of the
holy water, which is dipped from the bowl by the medicine man with
a shell attached to a long reed. The child also drinks and repeats
a prayer after his sponsor. They then leave the kiva, and, taking a
position on the north side of the plaza, the child kneels and clasps
the bent knee of his godfather, who draws him still closer with the