[75.] When all was done the strangers were dissatisfied; they mourned over their losses and talked about the whole affair among themselves for a long time. Finally they decided to give the Navajo another challenge if the latter would agree to a longer racecourse, which should include all the foothills of the San Mateo range. The Navajo accepted the challenge and agreed to have the race at the end of another twelve days. Early on the eleventh day the strangers began to assemble from all quarters; they continued to arrive all day, and when night fell they were all in. Then the headmen addressed them, explaining all the conditions of the challenge and describing carefully the racecourse decided on. The betting did not run as high this time as before.
The Navajo bet only about one-half of what they won on the former race. Again they started the two runners, and in such time as you could just mark that the sun had moved, they were back at the goal; but this time Indsiskàï, the champion of the alien races, won by about the same distance as he had lost on the previous occasion.
[76.] Then the strangers were satisfied and said, “We will try no more. Many of our goods are still with the Navajo; but we have done well to rescue what we have.” One of the wise men among them said, “Yes, you have done well, for had you lost the second race you would have lost with it the rain and the sunshine and all that makes life glad.” It is because the Navajo won so much wealth on this occasion that they have been richer than the neighboring races ever since.
[77.] The ceremony cured Dsilyi‘ Neyáni of all his strange feelings and notions. The lodge of his people no longer smelled unpleasant to him. But often he would say, “I know I cannot be with you always, for the yays visit me nightly in my sleep. In my dreams I am once more among them, and they beg me to return to them.”
[78.] From Lejpáhi¢o the family moved to Dsildjoltcín¢i (Mountain of Hatred). Thence they went to Tsinbiláhi (Woods on One Side), and from there to Tse‘yuçáhia‘ (Standing Rock Above). In this place they encamped but one night, and next day they moved to ¢epè-aça¢ (Sheep Promontory), and went on to ¢epè-¢asi¢i (One Sheep Lying Down). Here again they camped for the night. Next day they traveled by Tse‘atcàlçali (Rock Cracked in Two) to Tcoyàjnaskíç (Hill Surrounded With Young Spruce Trees), to Nigàqokaï (White Ground), and to Tse‘yistci¢ (Dipping Rocks, i.e., dipping strata), where they stopped to rest for the night. On the following day they journeyed to Çosakázi (Cold Water), in which place they encamped again.
[79.] When the morning came, Dsilyi‘ Neyáni said to his younger brother, “Let us go out and try to shoot some deer, so that we may make beça‘ (deer masks), such as we wore in ¢epéntsa, where we killed so many deer.” The brothers departed on the hunt and came to a place called Dsil-líjin (Black Mountains), and they sat down on the side of the mountains looking towards Tsòtsil. As they sat there Dsilyi‘ Neyáni said, “Younger brother, behold the ¢igìni!” (holy ones); but the younger brother could see no one. Then he spoke again, “Farewell, younger brother! From the holy places the gods come for me. You will never see me again; but when the showers pass and the thunder peals, ‘There,’ you will say, ‘is the voice of my elder brother,’ and when the harvest comes, of the beautiful birds and grasshoppers you will say ‘There is the ordering of my elder brother.’”
[80.] As he said these words he vanished. The younger brother looked all around, and seeing no one he started for his home. When he returned to his people he told them of the departure of Dsilyi‘ Neyáni, and they mourned as for one dead.
[ THE CEREMONIES OF DSILYÍDJE QAÇÀL.]
[81.] It has been my lot to see portions of these ceremonies at various times. The most complete view I had of them was during a visit made to a place called Niqotlizi (Hard Earth), some twenty miles northwest from Fort Wingate, New Mexico, and just within the southern boundary of the Navajo Reservation. This was the only occasion when I obtained full access to the medicine lodge on the later days of the ceremonies and had an opportunity of observing the wonderful pictures on sand which are illustrated in color in the accompanying plates.
[82.] On October 21, 1881, when I arrived at this place, the patient for whose benefit the rites were celebrated and a few of her immediate relations were the only people encamped here. They occupied a single temporary shelter of brushwood, within a few paces of which I had a rude shelter erected for my own accommodation. The patient was a middleaged woman, who apparently suffered from no ailment whatever; she was stout, ruddy, cheerful, and did her full share of the household work every day; yet she was about to give away for these ceremonies sheep, horses, and other goods to the value of perhaps two hundred dollars. No ceremonies whatever were in progress when I came. Everything, so the Indians said, was waiting for the qaçàli. (Paragraph [2].) Some men were engaged in building a corral for the sheep that were to be slaughtered for the guests, and some old women were grinding corn to feast the men who were to work in the medicine lodge, which had been completed six days before.