GATSCHET — KAS. LEG. COMMENTARY. [67] 35 



The ZiiTii Indians of New Mexico, who live but a short dis- 

 tance from the Navajo people, assign colors to each of the four 

 points of the compass, and also to the upper land or region in 

 the zenith, and to the lower region or nadir. According to Fr. 

 H. Cushing's statements, their nomenclature is as follows : 



North: pish Ian kwin ta'h na, "the direction of the wind-driven places 

 (the plains)" ; same term used in their archaic or sacred dialect. There 

 dwell the master-gods of all gods. The color is jellcw. 



West: siin ha kwin ta'h na; archaic, t'shiali shi in kwin, "the house 

 of waters" — -harbors the younger brothers of the north gods. Color blue, 

 the color of the ocean. 



South: ma k'aya kwin ta'h na, "the direction of the salt-water re- 

 gion"; archaic, ala ho in kwin, '"the home of red shells" — the younger 

 brothers of the west gods. Color red, the red shells meaning flowers. 



East: te wan kwin ta'h na, "the direction of the rising day"; archaic, 

 te lu in kwin, "the home of the beautiful day." Color white. 



Upper regions : I'ya ma kwin ta'h na, "direction of aboveland" ; ar- 

 chaic, I'ya ma in kwin, "home of the above." Many-colored. 



Lower regions: ma'ni k'ia kwin ta'h na, "the direction of place be- 

 low"; archaic, ma ne la in kwin, "the home of the below." Color black. 

 The genii of the lower regions are considered the younger brothers of the 

 genii of all the five regions abovementioned. 



The clouds of four colors, which appear to the youths of the Ogldla 

 tribe, of the Dakotan family, in their initiation-dreams and visions, are 

 white, red, blue, and yellow; they correspond to the four points of the 

 horizon and to the winds blowing therefrom. They are described by Miss 

 Alice C. Fletcher in the Reports of the Peabody Museum;* in the same 

 collection she has given a sketch of "The religious ceremony of the four 

 winds or quarters as observed by the Santte Sioux" (iii. pp. 2S9-295). 

 This belief is general through all the Dakotan tribes (J. Lafleche). 



Fr. Gemelli Careri states that the Aztec symbol of the south 

 was a rabbit painted upon blue ground ; that of the east, a reed 

 upon red ground ; that of the north, a lance with a head of stone 

 (tecpatl) on yellow ground ; that of the west, a cabin on green 

 ground.! The four hundred men (the stars) whom Tezcatlipoca 



created continued to live in the third heaven and were of five 



colors : yellow, black, blue, white, and red (which means that 

 they were distributed around the zenith and to each of the four 



* Report of Peabody Museum of Archaeology, vol. iii. p. aSj, in the Notes (Cambridge, 

 Mass., 1SS4) ■ 



t H. de Charencey, "Des couleurs considerees comma symboles des points de I'hori- 

 aon," in Actes de la Soeiete Philologique, vi. No. j (Oct., 1876), pp. i6j, i( ^. 



