The vases are then placed in the cave and the entrance covered with a large slab. The ho´naaite returning to the house takes the ya´ya from the tail of the sand-painted cougar and holding it in his left hand places the palm of his right hand to the cougar and draws from it a breath and rubs his hand over his breast, after which all evidences of the sand-painting are soon erased by the members who hasten forward and rub their bodies with the sand that they may be mentally and physically purified. When Mr. Stevenson discovered that the Sia held ceremonials with snakes he induced the vicar of the snake society to conduct him to the locality for that special rite. Leaving Sia in the early morning a ride of 6 miles over sand dunes and around bluffs brought the party, including the writer, to the structure known as the snake house, hid away among chaotic hills. Every precaution had been observed to maintain secrecy. The house is a rectangular structure of logs (the latter must have been carried many a mile) and is some 8 by 12 feet, having a rude fireplace; and there are two niches at the base of the north wall near the west end in which the two vases stand during the indoor ceremonial. Though this house presented to the visitors a forlorn appearance, it is converted into quite a bower at the time of a ceremonial, when the roof is covered and fringed with spruce boughs and sunflowers and the interior wall is whitened. Some diplomacy was required to persuade the vicar to guide Mr. Stevenson to the cave in which the vases are kept when not in use. A ride half a mile farther into chaos and the party dismounted and descended a steep declivity, when the guide asked Mr. Stevenson’s assistance in removing a stone slab which rested so naturally on the hillside that it had every appearance of having been placed there by other than human agency. The removal of the slab exposed two vases side by side in a shallow cave. A small channel or flume had been ingeniously made from the hilltop that the waters from ti´nia might collect in the vases. These vases belong to the superior type of ancient pottery, and they are decorated in snakes and cougars upon a ground of creamy tint. Mr. Stevenson was not quite satisfied with simply seeing the vases, and determined if possible to possess one or both; but in answer to his request the vicar replied: “These can not be parted with, they are so old that no one can tell when the Sia first had them; they were made by our people of long ago; and the snakes would be very angry if the Sia parted with these vases.” Whenever opportunity afforded, Mr. Stevenson expressed his desire for one of them; and finally a council was held by the ti´ämoni and ho´naaites of the cult societies, when the matter was warmly discussed, the vicar of the Snake society insisting that the gift should be made, but the superstition on the part of the others was too great to be overcome. Mr. Stevenson was waited upon by the members