184 CUSHIXG — REMARKS ON SHAMANISM. [April 23, 



in time and the history of human culture growth, — he expressed him- 

 self as follows : 



The account Dr. Morris has given us as to what Mr. Williams 

 related to him concerning the life of an Indian youth of the Nez 

 Perce tribe has interested me exceedingly by reason of its strik- 

 ing similarity to what I have myself heard, seen, and experienced 

 among the Zuni Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. 



With these people, a child is not thought of, when first born, as 

 quite yet a living mortal being. It is referred to as '' it" or the 

 ''new being," nor is any name given to it until after the lapse of 

 nine days. It is supposed to be kai'-yu-na and ai'-ya-vwi — unripe 

 and tender, or soft and susceptible as are germinating seeds or unfin- 

 ished clay vessels, until after one full day for each of the lunar 

 months of its inter-uterine gestation has passed. During this period 

 of nine days it is usually kept with its mother, secluded from the 

 outer world and from sunlight, in order that it may gradually 

 become hardened to, and so, safe in the ''world of daylight " — as 

 these people term the scene and condition of mortal life — that is, 

 condensed to "middle being" — as they further term man's par- 

 ticular mortal existence. 



At the close of this ceremonial period the umbilical cord, which 

 has meanwhile sloughed off or has been removed and zealously 

 cared for, is ceremoniously buried in the soil at some particular 

 place, in order that thereat may be formed the "midmost shrine" 

 of the child, and therein its connection with the earth mother — as 

 formerly with its riiortal mother — may be established, and that its 

 vitality apart from her thenceforward, be maintained — by thus plac- 

 ing within the fertile bosom of the Universal Mother, that through 

 which erstwhile the child received separately, or secondarily, its 

 being nourishment and growth, from its human mother. 



Passing over many other ceremonials which attend the first 

 naming of the child, its introduction to the Sun and to the tribe 

 of its descent, on the early morning of the tenth day, — that is, at 

 the end of these nine natal days, — a few words relative to the mean- 

 ing of the "midmost shrine" will serve to indicate what would 

 likely be the symbolic significance to a people like the Nez Perce 

 and the Zuni Indians, of such an object (whether natural or arti- 

 ficial) as the one to which Dr. Morris has called our attention. 



He has quite accurately stated, in the theory he has advanced 

 regarding this object, the view one of these Indians would hold, as 



