AT ZUifl AND MOQUr PUEBLOS. 91 
remain to guide the future student in his researches on the 
indiiicnous or aboriginal religion of the southwest. 
The primitive forms of religious observances which char- 
acterize these people and which have persisted up to the 
present are rapidly suffering great modifications, and unless 
efforts are made to record them permanently, in a gener- 
ation or two they will be so much modified that the diffi- 
culty in distinguishing the ancient from the modern will 
be greatly increased . Without reflecting upon the excel lent 
work which has already been accomplished in this direc- 
tion it may be said that so much yet remains to be recorded 
that the field is almost a terra iucogruta. There is there- 
fore a call for prompt action to secure the largest possible 
series of accurate observations of the religious ceremonials 
practised by these peoples before it is too late, and before 
the ceremonial habits of the race have been so changed 
that such records are impossible. 
Of the several tribes of pueblo Indians, in New Mexico 
and Arizona, possibly the least modified in the particular 
which we are considering are the Moquis and the Zunians. 
The former are the more primitive ; the latter more easy 
of access. The present paper deals more especially with 
the latter, but references are not wanting to similar cere- 
monials observed among the former. 
In the present state of our knowledge of the religion of 
the pueblos it is well to have some adequate even if didac- 
tic description of the ceremonies which are practised by 
them. It is therefore thought desirable to pul)lish an ac- 
count of those portions of the ceremonials which can be 
seen by all. A proper interpretation of those events is un- 
doubtedly of still greater importance, but what is most 
needed at the present time is a trustworthy record of the 
observances as now practised. This article simply con- 
siders the events in a series of ceremonials as witnessed 
