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.

PREY GODS OF THE HUNT.

THEIR RELATION TO THE OTHERS.

The fetich worship of the Zuñis naturally reaches its highest and most interesting development in its relationship to the chase, for the We-ma-á-hâ-i are considered par excellence the gods of the hunt. Of this class of fetiches, the special priests are the members of the "Great Coyote People" (Sá-ni-a-k'ia-kwe, or the Hunting Order), their keepers, the chosen members of the Eagle and Coyote gentes and of the Prey Brother priesthood.

The fetiches in question (Plate III) represent, with two exceptions, the same species of prey animals as those supposed to guard the six regions. These exceptions are, the Coyote (Sús-ki, Plate III, Fig. 2), which replaces the Black Bear of the West, and the Wild Cat (Té-pi, Plate III, Fig. 3), which takes the place of the Badger of the South.

In the prayer-songs of the Sá-ni-a-kía-kwe, the names of all of these prey gods are, with two exceptions, given in the language of the Rio Grande Indians. This is probably one of the many devices for securing greater secrecy, and rendering the ceremonials of the Hunter Society mysterious to other than members. The exceptions are, the Coyote, or Hunter god of the West, known by the archaic name of Thlä′-k'iä-tchu, instead of by its ordinary name of Sús-ki, and the Prey Mole or god of the Lower regions (Plate III, Fig. 5), which is named Maí-tu-pu, also archaic, instead of K'iä′-lu-tsi. Yet in most of the prayer and ritualistic recitals of this order all of these gods are spoken of by the names which distinguish them in the other orders of the tribe.

THEIR ORIGIN.

While all the prey gods of the hunt are supposed to have functions differing both from those of the six regions and those of the Priesthood of the Bow, spoken of further on, they are yet referred, like those of the first class, to special divisions of the world. In explanation of this, however, quite another myth is given. This myth, like the first, is derived from the epic before referred to, and occurs in the latter third of the long recital, where it pictures the tribes of the Zuñis, under the guidance of the Two Children, and the Kâ′-kâ at Kó-thlu-ël-lon-ne, now a marsh-bordered lagune situated on the eastern shore of the Colorado Chiquito, about fifteen miles north and west from the pueblo of San Juan, Arizona, and nearly opposite the mouth of the Rio Concho. This lagune is probably formed in the basin or crater of some extinct geyser or volcanic spring, as the two high and wonderfully similar mountains on either side are identical in formation with those in which occur the cave-craters farther south on the same river. It has, however, been largely filled in by the débris brought down by the Zuñi River, which here joins the Colorado Chiquito. Kó-thlu-ël-lon signifies the "standing place (city) of the Kâ′-kâ" (from Kâ=a contraction of Kâ′-kâ, the sacred dance, and thlu-ël-lon=standing place).