BOCRKF..] AMULETS. 587 



AMULETS AND TALISMANS. 

 THE &quot;TZI-DALTAI.&quot; 



The Apache, both men and women, wear amulets, called tzi-daltai, made 

 of lightning-riven wood, generally pine or cedar or fir from the mountain 

 tops, which are highly valued and are not to be sold. These are shaved 

 very thin and rudely cut in the 

 semblance of the human form. 

 They are in fact the duplicates, on 

 a small scale, of the rhombus, al 

 ready described. Like the rhom 

 bus, they are decorated with in 

 cised lines representing the light 

 ning. Very often these are to be 

 found attached to the necks of 

 children or to their cradles. Gen- Fm - &quot; ^.Maitai anmi,* &amp;lt; A,,-I,,&amp;gt;. 



orally these amulets are of small size. Below will be found figures of 

 those which I was permitted to examine and depict in their actual size. 

 They are all unpainted. The amulet represented was obtained from a 

 Chiricahua Apache captive. Deguele, an Apache of the Klukaydakaydn 

 clan, consented to exhibit a kau, or god, which he carried about his 

 person. He said I could have it for three ponies. It was made of a 

 flat piece of lath, unpainted, of the size here given, having drawn upon 

 it this figures in yellow, with a narrow black band, excepting the three 

 snake heads, a, /&amp;gt;, and c, which were black with white eyes; a was a 

 yellow line and c a black line; flat pearl buttons were fastened at m and 

 k respectively and small eagle-down feathers at 1c on each side of the 

 idol. The rear of the tablet, amulet, or idol, as one may be pleased to 

 call it, was almost an exact reproduction of the front. 



The owner of this inestimable treasure assured me that he prayed to 

 it at all times when in trouble, that he could learn from it where hisponies 

 were when stolen and which was the right direction to travel when lost, 

 and that when drought had parched his crops this would never fail to 

 bring rain in abundance to revive and strengthen them. The symbol 

 ism is the rain cloud and the serpent lightning, the rainbow, rain drops, 

 and the cross of the four winds. 



These small amulets are also to be found inclosed in the phylacteries 

 (Fig. 447) which the medicine-men wear suspended from their 7iecks or 

 waists. 



Sir Walter Scott, who was a very good witness in all that related to 

 prehistoric customs and survivals&quot; among the Celtic Scots, may be 

 introduced at this point: 



A heap of wither d boughs was piled 

 Of juniper and rowan wild, 

 Mingled with shivers from the oak, 

 Rent by the lightning s recent stroke. 

 1 L:uly uf l ln&amp;gt; Lake, canto 3, stanza 4, Sir Rhoderk-k Dim, tmiumoiimg Clau Alpine agaiiiat the kiag. 



