'
"Four days after, towards sunset, costumed and masked in the
beautiful paraphernalia of the Ka-k'ok-shi, or 'Good Dance,' they
returned in file up the same pathway, each bearing in his arms a
basket filled with living, squirming turtles, which he regarded and
carried as tenderly as a mother would her infant. Some of the
wretched reptiles were carefully wrapped in soft blankets, their
heads and forefeet protruding,--and, mounted on the backs of the
plume-bedecked pilgrims, made ludicrous but solemn caricatures of
little children in the same position. While I was at supper upstairs
that evening, the governor's brother-in-law came in. He was welcomed
by the family as if a messenger from heaven. He bore in his
tremulous fingers one of the much abused and rebellious turtles.
Paint still adhered to his hands and bare feet, which led me to
infer that he had formed one of the sacred embassy.
"'So you went to Ka-thlu-el-lon, did you?' I asked.
"'E'e,' replied the weary man, in a voice husky with long chanting,
as he sank, almost exhausted, on a roll of skins which had been
placed for him, and tenderly laid the turtle on the floor.
Pages:
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409