27O AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899
sent the teeth of an upper jaw. Two kernels of corn were then stuck into the head to indicate eyes, and an imitation necklace, also of grains of corn, was made around the neck of the idol. A double encircling row of corn grains was inserted in the tail or pointed end of the effigy, and Pocine added a small feather at the tip.
After the effigy had been put in position and adorned in the manner described, both Pocine and his uncle again shelled ears of corn on the rectangles of meal, 1 to which were added squash, melon, and other seeds. These were regularly distributed, some being dropped afong the back of the image.
A row of eagle feathers was now inserted along the back of the effigy, instead of in a ridge of sand as in the Monkiva altar. There were twelve of these feathers, and they were placed at equal intervals from the neck to the tail of the effigy. Puflsauwi then placed the three balls of clay, previously mentioned, back of the image, and in each of these balls he inserted two sticks, called pahos, similar to those used on the altar of the Monkiva. These are ancient objects, being reputed to have descended from a remote past. One stick in each pair was called the male, the other the female, as is true of all double prayer-sticks used by the Hopi Indians. They are called ponya-saka> " altar-ladders," and imitations' of them in miniature are made and placed in shrines on the final day of the ceremony.
The insertion of the row of eagle-feathers along the back of the clay effigy of the serpent recalls an instructive reptilian figure on one of the bowls from Sikyatki. 3 In this ancient picto- graph we find a row of triangles drawn along the medial line from the head to the tail of a lizard-like figure. The use of the triangle in ancient Pueblo pictography as a symbol of a wing-
1 This sprinkling of corn seeds upon the meal picture of a Hopi altar is mentioned in an account of the Oraibi Flute ceremony. The evident purpose of this act is to vitalize the seeds by the accompanying rites about the altar.
8 Called omowdh-saka, •* rain-cloud ladders."
8 Smithsonian Report \ 1895, pi. lvii.
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