The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-09-27
NAVAJO SAND PAINTING.
Curious Features of the Religious Ceremonies of the Most
Remarkable Of Indian Tribes.

duuleHcS WITH MS profound observation
he deals terrific whack to one OF the
moecasins. and. with ms hands. ne be-
gins to dig. If he Is right, he soon finds
the rock and holds it up in his hand,
and his side wins gaining a certain
number of points; but if ne is digging
I in wrong one, one of our side dives
down into another one and holds up ne
stone amidst the cheers and yellS of the
| entire crowd. 1t takes about three hours
to make the required number OF points
and all the way through it seems to be
the height Of excitement for the In
dams. Those who lose seem Just as
| happy as those who win In ten years
among these people l have seen Gamb-
ling in all shapes, but I have yet to
hear of any hard feeling engendered by
the passion.
The next morning the provisions be-
gan to run low, but the sand painters,
under the direction of the medicine
man, were about to make another
painting, which was 10 be entirely diff
| ferent from the one of the day before
l alone was permitted to see the work
OF preparation. Hungry men, though
( NaYaiOeS. must have food and to allay
any anxiety to leave. 1 gave them an
order on the nearest store for -four, cof-
fee, sugar and tobacco. Mutton diet
having run short. they concluded that
to feed such a multitude they had bet
ter kill a horse A large bunch of them
we're soon rounded up right at camp, a
| Navajo stepped up with a Winchester,
! and, drawing down on a fine black
! horse. blazed away, and Mr.. Horse
/ dropped with a piece of lead through
his heart That night was my first at
| tempt at eating horse meat. but final
/ ", under protest. ate a whole rib, or
| rather the meat on the rib, and I must
say it was good.
| I spent the entire morning watching
! the sand painters at work from begin
! ming to end They have all colors of
! dry earth and do their work by picking
up a little of a certain color This they
| slft out through their hands. making
! perfect lines. curves. circles and angles
! and with the greatest ease. In this
painting they had two large turtles
and one very lengthy lizard. These
| paintings nave been made in the same
way. the same figures and colors, from
/ time fmmemoriaI. The figures repre-
sent their gods. After the drawing was
| completed the same ceremony of the
! previous day was enacted, and then the
\ picture was destroyed The night was
| spent in singing and eating and bv
morning nothing was left of that poor
! morse but clean picked bones. Over the
/ horizon NdvajOes could be seen d5sap-
! pearing in the direction Of their homes
| and Navajo Bill was not slow to fol-
| low. l am not of much account so far
/ as this worlds goods are concerned. bur
would not have missed that treat for
a couple of the brightest and crispest
| $50 bills straight from the government
| printing Office"
! by this time the speaker had become
warmed up to his subject, and he was
| easily tempted to tell of another and
( similar experience that he had about a
| year ago.
AS in the last case" he began. .T
| was the only witness. On arriving with
my escort at the proper place we dis
/ mounted in front of a large hogan.
/ over the entrance was blanket so
that outsiders could not see inside NV
| guide dropped on his knees and yelled
TO the medicine man: What do You
! Wdnt% Navajo Bill has come; can he.
come in?' Yes, but no other white
man In we crawIed and thought 1
/ would suffocate. the heat was so in
! tense In the center was a huge fire
and the perspiration was pourine, in
streams from % Navajos. Suuatterl
/ around that fire were Is bucks. an
! dressed natures garb, together with
( ten squaws naked to the waist only.
| was perfectly dumbfounded. for never
/ bef0re had L seen a Navajo sQuaW ex-
! pose any portion of her person to the
! gaze of white man. In the center.
but away from the fire. lay a poor. sick
| SHuStWs WHOM mad Knows Tor eight
years. and for whom the ceremony was
! performed The rite was virtually the
same as at the previous dance which I
| have told Of. lamentations and charms
! were lavfShly invoked, and eventually
! the medicine man rose with a large
\ bowl Of tea brewed by himself from ma
| tive roots and herbs. took a drink and
| started it around the circle Each one
! took a good swallow of the tea, which
! accelerated the chanting until every
one Of the SquawS was paying the pen-
atty Of taking the diStasteful draught.
Half an hour had elapsed when the
women were ordered out into the cold
air Where they were compelled to squat
| for another hour without a murnnur on
/ their part while the charm was work
ing on the system of their sister inside.
In the interior the scene changed. Five
| sticks about five feet in length were
! placed in the ground, each forming A,
| hoop, through which we all had to pass.
| Then the first one was removed and
I through the others we had to go again.
and so the ceremony went until the last
hoop had been removed. We were or
dered to dress and the poor squaw was
declared cured. guess she was. for 1
saw her Afterwards in good health. For
| over an hour the squaws on the OUT
side sat there in the cold, with the ther-
nometer probably down to zero. with
out any covering for the upper portion
of their bodies, but none of them com
planned"