i 9 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



government are finally represented by the sacred animal gods of the 



ocean. 



Let me give, as illustrations of the deistic conceptions of the Zunis, 

 without special reference to their rank in this governmental system of 

 the gods, the names and supposed attributes of a few of the principal 

 gods of Zuni mythology. Hdno ona wilona, or the " holder of the 

 roads of our lives," the supreme priest-god of Zuni mythology, is sup- 

 posed to hold as in his hands the roads of the lives of his human sub- 

 jects, is believed to be able (to use the language of a Zuni) to see (or 

 perceive) not only the visible actions of men, but their thoughts, their 

 prayers, their songs and ceremonials, to will through his lesser deities 

 whether a thing shall be or shall not be in the course of a human life. 

 I once asked a priest in Zuni, who was about to go forth on a hunt, 

 " Do you think you will lay low a deer this day ? " and he said, " Ooth- 

 lat hdno ona wilona" (as wills or says the holder of the roads of life). 

 Immediately below Hdno ona wilona are the gods Ahai in ta and 

 Ma Hsai le ma, the two great deities of the priesthood of the bow, an- 

 ciently known as Ua nam atch pi ah ho' a, the beloved both who fell (for 

 the salvation of mankind). They are supposed to be twin children of 

 the sun, Hdno ona wilona mortal, yet divine. They were the guiders 

 of mankind from the four great wombs of earth, the birth-place of the 

 human family, far eastward toward the middle of the world ; but, 

 on reaching the eastern portion of Arizona, in the great exodus of the 

 Pueblo races, they are supposed to have been changed by the will of 

 their grandfathers four great demon-gods into warriors, and ever 

 since have been the great gods of the order of the priesthood of the 

 bow, and the rulers of the mountain-passes, and enemies of the world. 

 Just so the young man, in modern Zuni life, who lives for years in 

 peaceful industrial pursuits, and all at once becomes chosen as a proper 

 person for membership in the Order of the Bow, is induced to take 

 a scalp, and henceforth becomes a ruler of his people and his world, a 

 warrior and a member of that most powerful of priesthoods. These 

 two gods are supposed to have been the immediate ancestors of the 

 two lines of priests who are now their representatives, the high-priests 

 of the Order of the Bow ; from them, in one unbroken line, has been 

 breathed the breath of sa wa nikia, or the medicine of war, from one 

 to the other of the members of their household, the a si Man shi 

 we ni, or their children, the priests of the bow, just as has been in 

 the belief of the Roman Catholics the unbroken apostolic succession. 

 Through their wills over the hia sin a hai, or annual gods, with the 

 consent of Hdno ona wilona, or the " holder of the roads of life," 

 are the roads of man's life divided, or the light of his life cut off 

 figurative expressions for death in the highly poetic language of the 

 Zunis. Prior to their creation war seems to have been a secondary 

 element in the existence of the Pueblo race ; such as it previously was, 

 however, it was represented by the great ancient god of war, the hero 



