46 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



will be three or four hundred mounted Indians dressed in the 

 gayest colors. All is now ready ; each rider has his eye on his 

 favorite side, an old priest rides in advance and sprinkles sacred 

 meal over the course, the starters kick the sticks, and the wildest 

 excitement prevails. As each racer left his home he put into his 

 mouth two shell beads the one he drops as a sacrifice as he starts, 

 the other when he has covered about one half the course. The 

 stick is tossed rather than kicked, and a good racer will toss it 

 from eighty to one hundred feet. Over the heads of the runners 

 it goes and falls beyond the first man. He simply points to where 

 it lights, and runs on. The next man tries to kick it, but should 

 he fail to get under it he goes on, and the next man takes it. The 

 race is not to the swift alone, although this has much to do with 

 it. The stick can in no case be touched with anything but the 

 foot, and should it fall into a cactus bush, a prairie-dog hole, or 

 an arroyo, much valuable time is lost in getting it out. Not in- 

 frequently it happens that one side will be several miles in advance 

 of the other when the stick falls into some unnoticed hole. The 

 wild and frenzied yelling which takes place as those who were 

 behind come up and pass can only be imagined and not described. 

 So skill in tossing it plays a prominent part. On, on they go to 

 the southern hills, east to Ta-ai-yal-lo-ne, north to the mesas, 

 follow these west for miles, then to the southern hills, and back 

 again to the starting-point. The distance traversed is nearly 

 twenty-five miles, and they pass over it in about two hours. Rac- 

 ing is indulged in by the excited horsemen as they approach the 

 goal, and it is not unusual to see a pony drop over dead from ex- 

 haustion as they near the village. The successful runner crosses 

 the river and runs around the heap of wagered goods near the 

 church, then, taking up the tik-wa in his hands for the first time, 

 he inhales, as he thinks, the spirit of the tik-iva, and thanks it for 

 being so good to him. He then runs to his home, and, if he finds 

 a woman awaiting him, hands the stick to her, who breathes on it 

 twice, and he then does the same. Returning it to the woman, she 

 places it in a basket which she has ready for it ; and the next day 

 one of the racers wraps it up with some sacred meal in a corn-husk 

 and deposits it about six inches below the surface of the ground 

 in an arroyo, where it will be washed away by the rains.* Mean- 

 while the winners have claimed their stakes, and, should another 

 estufa have a set of men to put up, the winners of the first race 

 must compete with them until all have had a chance, and the 

 great Zuili races are over for that year. 



* This reminds one of our custom of burying certain things under the drop of the 

 house, or throwing them in streams, for the purpose of curing certain diseases. To-day 

 the Zuuian plants his prayer-plumes in the water-courses. Can it be that our custom had 

 a religious origin ? 



