At the baptism or investiture of the thread, which takes the place of the Christian confirmation ceremony, but between the ages of 7 and 9, Fire and Water are the great sanctifying elements, and are the _essentials_. The fire is kindled from the droppings of the sacred cow, then sprinkled over with holy water and blessed; and when so consecrated by the priest it is called "Holy Fire."[610] "The _Brahmans_, the _Rajas_, and the _Merchants_, distinguish themselves from the various casts of Sudras by a narrow belt of thread, which they always wear suspended from the left shoulder to the opposite haunch like a sash."[611] But, as Dubois speaks of the division of all the tribes into "Right-hand and Left-hand," a distinction which Coleman[612] explains as consisting in doing exactly contrariwise of each other, it is not a very violent assumption to imagine that both the present and a former method of wearing the izze-kloth, akin to that now followed by the Apache, may once have obtained in India. The sectaries of the two Hands are bitterly antagonistic and often indulge in fierce quarrels, ending in bloodshed.[613] "All the Brahmans wear a Cord over the shoulder, consisting of three black twists of cotton, each of them formed of several smaller threads.... The three threads are not twisted together, but separate from one another, and hang from the left shoulder to the right haunch. When a Brahman marries, he mounts nine threads instead of three." Children were invested with these sacred cords at the age of from 7 to 9. The cords had to be made and put on with much ceremony, and only Brahmans could make them. According to Dubois, the material was cotton; he does not allude to buckskin.[614] Coleman[615] gives a detailed description of the manner in which the sacred thread of the Brahmans is made: The sacred thread must be made by a Brahman. It consists of three strings, each ninety-six hands (forty-eight yards), which are twisted together: it is then folded into three and again twisted; these are a second time folded into the same number and tied at each end in knots. It is worn over the left shoulder (next the skin, extending half way down the right thigh), by the Brahmans, Ketries and Vaisya castes. The first are usually invested with it at eight years of age, the second at eleven, and the Vaisya at twelve.... The Hindus of the Sutra caste do not receive the poita. The ceremony of investiture comprehends prayer, sacrifice, fasting, etc., and the wearing of a preliminary poita "of three threads, made of the fibers of the _suru_, to which a piece of deer's skin is fastened."[616] This piece of buckskin was added no doubt in order to let the neophyte know that once buckskin formed an important part of the garment. The Brahmans use three cords, while the Apache employ four; on this subject we shall have more to learn when we take up the subject of numbers.