The personators of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon adorned themselves for the
ceremony. Hasjelti wore ordinary clothing and a red scarf, with a silver
belt around the waist. Hostjoghon's body was painted white, and he wore a
red woolen scarf around the loins, caught on with a silver belt. A rug,
composed of a blanket and a piece of white cotton, was spread in front of
the song priest, and the masks of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon placed thereon.
(See Pl. CXV, 4,5,6.)
Upon the completion of the toilets of the personators of the gods they
hurried from the lodge, bearing their masks with them, when an attendant
made a cavity immediately in front of the rug 4 inches in diameter, and
the song priest sprinkled a circle of meal around the cavity. The invalid
entered the lodge and stood on the rug and removed all of his clothing
except the breech cloth. He then took his seat facing east, with knees
drawn up. A mask of the Hostjobokon, which had been laid upon the rug, was
drawn over the invalid's head. Hasjelti and Hostjoghon appeared at this
juncture bearing a pine bough some 5 feet in height. An attendant made
gestures over the sick man, holding in his right hand a pinch of sacred
meal, which was afterward placed in the cavity. Hasjelti waved the pine
bough five times around the invalid and planted it in the cavity, where it
was held in place by the gods. Then bending its top, the attendant
attached it to the mask over the invalid's head by a buckskin string which
was fastened to the mask. The song priest and choir all the while sang a
weird chant. The gods raised the bough, gave their peculiar hoots, and
disappeared from the lodge, carrying with them the pine bough with the
mask attached to it. In a few minutes they came back with the mask. After
the chant the song-priest placed meal on the soles of the invalid's feet,
knees, palms, breast, back, shoulders, and head, and then put some in the
cavity, after which the cavity was filled with earth. Two coals were laid
in front of the invalid, and upon these the song priest placed finely
broken herbs; an attendant sprinkled water on the herbs, and the invalid
inhaled the fumes. The cotton cloth was removed from the blanket rug, and
the invalid stepped upon the rug and put on his clothing. When the mask
was removed from the invalid's head it drew all fever with it.
[Illustration]