Lamentations over a dead body are everywhere a sad and sickening performance to witness and to hear.

Among the aborigines of New Mexico--among the sedentary tribes at least--the official death-wail is carried on for four days.

The number four plays a conspicuous role in the lives of those people.

And it is natural that it should.

Four are the cardinal points, four the seasons, four times five digits depend from hands and feet.