White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 5 
this evidence is a mystery. And what else, if anything, she censored 
we may never know. 
Incidentally, I made inquiry among Sia informants about these 
little Chinese “‘lions”’ and learned that they are still in use by the Shima 
society, which is intimately associated with the Flint (or Knife) society, 
and that they are highly regarded as supernatural beings. 
The Stevensons—and after James’s death, Matilda—lived in or 
adjacent to the pueblo and were in rather intimate association with 
the people. As I have already noted, Mrs. Stevenson says that they, 
or she, quickly won over the people and readily gained their confidence 
and cooperation. She reports that ‘the theurgists of the several cult 
societies . . . graciously received her [Mrs. Stevenson] in their cere- 
monials, revealing the secrets more precious to them than life itself’’; 
and ‘‘the aged theurgists were eager to intrust to the writer the keeping 
of their songs . . .” (ibid., pp. 16, 123). Mrs Stevenson undoubt- 
edly had some good friends in Sia. She was asked to be godmother to 
a baby at whose birth she assisted (ibid., pp. 138-139). The ‘‘vice- 
theurgist”’ of the Snake society was ‘‘one of . . . [her] staunchest 
friends”: it was he who gave the ceremonial vase to James Stevenson 
against the wishes of his Society’s members (ibid., pp. 90-91); and on 
one occasion he “rode many miles to solicit her [Mrs. Stevenson’s] 
prayers for his ill infant”’ (ibid., p. 131). 
But there were many people in Sia who were opposed to the investi- 
gations by James and Matilda Stevenson; the latter makes little 
mention of this, but there are occasional intimations of difficulty. 
Many Sias have heard accounts of Mrs. Stevenson’s stay in their 
pueblo, and I have talked to two men who, as youths, saw or knew 
her. She appears definitely to be in ill repute in the pueblo today, 
which, of course, is not surprising: anyone who had ‘‘pried into their 
secrets’? would be resented today. Some say that she intimidated 
some of the Sias; that she laid claim to supernatural power, which 
she demonstrated with her photographic flashlight powder; that she 
claimed to be a daughter of the supernatural Bocaiyanyi; and that 
she claimed—or even asserted—a right to attend sacred ceremonies 
because she was something of a tcaiyanyi (medicinewoman) herself. 
Some of my Sia informants said that after Mrs. Stevenson left the 
pueblo, punitive action was taken against those who, either through 
fear or friendliness, had befriended her; there are even dark hints that 
some of them may have been put to death, but this is denied by others. 
There was at least one copy of ‘The Sia” in the pueblo in 1957. 
There is reason to believe that it was sent to a Sia by a white friend 
within 5 or 10 years prior to that year. The owner keeps it locked up, 
though, and apparently has not shown it to other people. 
600685—62——_2 
