Therefore it happens that the use of these fetiches is chiefly connected with the chase. To this, however, there are some exceptions. One of these may be partly explained by the following myth concerning PÓ-shai-aŋ-k'ia, the God (Father) of the Medicine societies or sacred esoteric orders, of which there are twelve in ZuÑi, and others among the different pueblo tribes. He is supposed to have appeared in human form, poorly clad, and therefore reviled by men; to have taught the ancestors of the ZuÑi, Taos, Oraibi, and CoÇonino Indians their agricultural and other arts, their systems of worship by means of plumed and painted prayer-sticks; to have organized their medicine societies; and then to have disappeared toward his home in ShÍ-pÄ-pu-li-ma (from shi-pÍ-a=mist, vapor; u-lin=surrounding; and i-mo-na=sitting place of—"The mist-enveloped city"), and to have vanished beneath the world, whence he is said to have departed for the home of the Sun. He is still the conscious auditor of the prayers of his children, the invisible ruler of the spiritual ShÍ-pÄ-pu-li-ma, and of the lesser gods of the medicine orders, the principal "Finisher of the Paths of our Lives." He is, so far as any identity can be established, the "Montezuma" of popular and usually erroneous Mexican tradition.

PÓ-SHAI-AŊ-K'IA.

In ancient times, while yet all beings belonged to one family, PÓ-shai-aŋ-k'ia, the father of our sacred bands, lived with his children (disciples) in the City of the Mists, the middle place (center) of the Medicine societies of the world. There he was guarded on all sides by his six warriors, Á-pi-thlan shÍ-wa-ni (pÍ-thlan=bow, shÍ-wa-ni=priests), the prey gods; toward the North by the Mountain Lion (Long Tail); toward the West by the Bear (Clumsy Foot); toward the South by the Badger (Black Mark Face); toward the East by the Wolf (Hang Tail); above by the Eagle (White Cap); and below by the Mole. When he was about to go forth into the world, he divided the universe into six regions, namely, the North (PÏsh-lan-kwÏn tÁh-na=Direction of the Swept or Barren place); the West (K'iÄ-li-shi-Ïn-kwÏn tÁh-na=Direction of the Home of the Waters); the South (Á-la-ho-Ïn-kwÏn tÁh-na=Direction of the Place of the Beautiful Bed); the East (TÉ-lu-a-Ïn-kwÏn tÁh-na=Direction of the Home of Day); the Upper Regions (Í-ya-ma-Ïn-kwÏn tÁh-na=Direction of the Home of the High); and the Lower Regions (Ma-ne-lam-Ïn-kwÏn tÁh-na=Direction of the Home of the Low)."

All, save the first of these terms, are archaic. The modern names for the West, South, East, Upper and Lower Regions signifying respectively—"The Place of Evening," "The Place of the Salt Lake" (Las Salinas), "The Place whence comes the Day," "The Above," and "The Below."

In the center of the great sea of each of these regions stood a very ancient sacred place (TÉ-thlÄ-shi-na-kwÏn), a great mountain peak. In the North was the Mountain Yellow, in the West the Mountain Blue, in the South the Mountain Red, in the East the Mountain White, above the Mountain All-color, and below the Mountain Black.

We do not fail to see in this clear reference to the natural colors of the regions referred to—to the barren north and its auroral hues, the west with its blue Pacific, the rosy south, the white daylight of the east, the many hues of the clouded sky, and the black darkness of the "caves and holes of earth." Indeed, these colors are used in the pictographs and in all the mythic symbolism of the ZuÑis, to indicate the directions or regions respectively referred to as connected with them.

Then said PÓ-shai-aŋ-k'ia to the Mountain Lion (Plate II, Fig. 1), "Long Tail, thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore give I unto thee and unto thy children forever the mastership of the gods of prey, and the guardianship of the great Northern World (for thy coat is of yellow), that thou guard from that quarter the coming of evil upon my children of men, that thou receive in that quarter their messages to me, that thou become the father in the North of the sacred medicine orders all, that thou become a Maker of the Paths (of men's lives)."

Thither went the Mountain Lion. Then said PÓ-shai-aŋ-k'ia to the Bear (Plate II, Fig. 2), "Black Bear, thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Mountain Lion, the guardian and master of the West, for thy coat is of the color of the land of night," etc.

To the Badger (Plate II, Fig. 3), "Thou art stout of heart but not strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Bear, the guardian and master of the South, for thy coat is ruddy and marked with black and white equally, the colors of the land of summer, which is red, and stands between the day and the night, and thy homes are on the sunny sides of the hills," etc.

To the White Wolf (Plate II, Fig. 4), "Thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Badger, the guardian and master of the East, for thy coat is white and gray, the color of the day and dawn," etc.

And to the Eagle (Plate II, Fig. 5), he said: "White Cap (Bald Eagle), thou art passing stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Wolf, the guardian and master of the Upper regions, for thou fliest through the skies without tiring, and thy coat is speckled like the clouds," etc.

"Prey Mole (Plate II, Fig. 6), thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Eagle, the guardian and master of the Lower regions, for thou burrowest through the earth without tiring, and thy coat is of black, the color of the holes and caves of earth," etc.

THEIR POWER AS MEDIATORS.

Thus it may be seen that all these animals are supposed to possess not only the guardianship of the six regions, but also the mastership, not merely geographic, but of the medicine powers, etc., which are supposed to emanate from them; that they are the mediators between men and PÓ-shai-aŋ-ki'a, and conversely, between the latter and men.

As further illustrative of this relationship it may not be amiss to add that, aside from representing the wishes of men to PÓ-shai-aŋ-ki'a, by means of the spirits of the prayer plumes, which, it is supposed, the prey gods take into his presence, and which are, as it were, memoranda (like quippus) to him and other high gods of the prayers of men, they are also made to bear messages to men from him and his associated gods.

For instance, it is believed that any member of the medicine orders who neglects his religious duties as such is rendered liable to punishment (HÄ-ti-a-k'ia-na-k'ia=reprehension) by PÓ-shai-aŋ-ki'a through some one of his warriors.

As illustrative of this, the story of an adventure of MÍ-tsi, an Indian who "still lives, but limps," is told by the priests with great emphasis to any backsliding member.

MÍ-TSI.

MÍ-tsi was long a faithful member of the Little Fire order (Ma-ke-tsÁ-na-kwe), but he grew careless, neglected his sacrifices, and resigned his rank as "Keeper of the Medicines," from mere laziness. In vain his fathers warned him. He only grew hot with anger. One day MÍ-tsi went up on the mesas to cut corral posts. He sat down to eat his dinner. A great black bear walked out of the thicket near at hand and leisurely approached him. MÍ-tsi dropped his dinner and climbed a neighboring little dead pine tree. The bear followed him and climbed it, too. MÍ-tsi began to have sad thoughts of the words of his fathers.

"Alas," he cried, "pity me, my father from the West-land!" In vain he promised to be a good Ma-ke-tsÁ-na-kwe. Had not PÓ-shai-aŋ-ki'a commanded?

So the black bear seized him by the foot and pulled until MÍ-tsi screamed from pain; but, cling as he would to the tree, the bear pulled him to the ground. Then he lay down on MÍ-tsi and pressed the wind out of him so that he forgot. The black bear started to go; but eyed MÍ-tsi. MÍ-tsi kicked. Black bear came and pressed his wind out again. It hurt MÍ-tsi, and he said to himself, "Oh dear me! what shall I do? The father thinks I am not punished enough." So he kept very still. Black bear started again, then stopped and looked at MÍ-tsi, started and stopped again, growled and moved off, for MÍ-tsi kept very still. Then the black bear went slowly away, looking at MÍ-tsi all the while, until he passed a little knoll. MÍ-tsi crawled away and hid under a log. Then, when he thought himself man enough, he started for ZuÑi. He was long sick, for the black bear had eaten his foot. He "still lives and limps," but he is a good Ma-ke-tsÁ-na-kwe. Who shall say that PÓ-shai-aŋ-k'ia did not command?

THEIR WORSHIP.

The prey gods, through their relationship to PÓ-shai-aŋ-k'ia, as "Makers of the Paths of Life," are given high rank among the gods. With this belief, their fetiches are held "as in captivity" by the priests of the various medicine orders, and greatly venerated by them as mediators between themselves and the animals they represent. In this character they are exhorted with elaborate prayers, rituals, and ceremonials. Grand sacrifices of plumed and painted prayer-sticks (TÉthl-na-we) are made annually by the "Prey Brother Priesthood" (WÉ-ma Á-pa-pa Á-shi-wa-ni) of these medicine societies, and at the full moon of each month lesser sacrifices of the same kind by the male members of the "Prey gentes" (WÉ-ma Á-no-ti-we) of the tribe.