After the bird personator had retired, a short interval elapsed, all
the spectators of the previous rites remaining seated. A screen was
then handed through the kiva hatchway and propped upright near the
fireplace with blocks of clay and stones. This screen (plate XXVI) was
estimated to be between four and five feet long, by about three feet
wide, and was decorated on the side turned toward the fireplace and the
raised floor of the kiva. The entire middle of the screen was occupied
by a picture of _Alósaka_, identical with that on the sun-shield used
in the Walpi _Soyáluña_.[13] The head of this figure bore two curved
horns, with two fan-shaped lateral attachments; the chin was painted
black; in the right hand an ear of corn was represented, and in the
left a _moñkohu_ or whitened slab of wood with attached feathers.
A triple rain-cloud symbol was depicted on the screen above the head
of the _Alósaka_ figure, and to the left were four parallel bars with
a vertical row of four dots. In the lower left-hand corner there was
a symbolic picture of the sun, and on the right side of _Alósaka_
appeared an elongated figure which possibly may have represented
a sprouting seed. To each side of the screen were attached four
artificial flowers, and to the upper edge a number of hoops covered
with raw cotton, possibly representing snow. A conventional symbol
of corn was drawn on the lower part of the screen, and the surface was
covered with various seeds, as corn, beans, etc., fastened with clay.
[Illustration: PL. XXVI