SOME GAMES OF THE ZUNI. 4 i 



done. One place is designated as the stone-home. One hundred 

 stones are placed in a row a certain distance apart. Each stone 

 must be picked up and carried separately and placed, not thrown, 

 in the stone-home. Another point, several miles distant, is taken, 

 and the game is for one to run to the distant spot and return, 

 while the other gathers up the stones. As it is a contest of speed 

 and judgment, not chance, it becomes very exciting. 



This almost inordinate desire for play, which I have claimed 

 for the Zunis, seems not to be of recent origin. The three games, 

 sho-we-es-to-pa, sho-le-wd, and ti-kwa-we, were " played by the 

 Zunis as soon as they came out of the ground," as one expressed 

 it. That this expression may be better understood, I will quote 

 from Mrs. Stevenson's article on The Religious Life of a Zuni 

 Child : * " Let us follow the Zuni tradition of the ancient time, 

 when these people first came to this world. In journeying hither 

 they passed through four worlds, all in the interior of this, the 

 passage-way from darkness into light being through a large 

 reed. From the under world they were led by the two little 

 war-gods, Ah-ai-u-ta and Ma-a-se-we, twin brothers, sons of the 

 sun, who were sent by the sun to bring these people to his pres- 

 ence. They reached this world in early morning, and seeing 

 the morning star they rejoiced, and said to the war-gods, 'We 

 see your father, of whom you have told us.' ' No,' said the gods, 

 ' this is the warrior who comes before our father ' ; and when 

 the sun rose the people fell upon the earth and bowed their heads 

 in fear." 



Sho-le-ivd. This game was played for me by Boots and Jose' 

 California. They have four pieces of reed about four inches long. 

 These are differently marked ; on the concave side, painted in 

 places, and on the convex side marked with carvings, as shown in 

 Fig. 1. Each piece is named. The one whose concave side is en- 



Fig. 1. Reeds foe Plating Sho-le--wa. 



tirely painted black is called quin, the Zuni for black ; the one 

 with one black end, path-to ; with two black ends, Tco-ha-hwa; 

 and the one with a black center, ath-lu-a. Fig. 2 shows the man- 

 ner of holding these pieces when about to play. They are held in 

 the right hand, and thrown up against a suspended blanket and 



* Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 

 vol. sxxix. 5 



