STEVENSON.] MYTHOLOGY. 67 



and he is appealed to iu daily prayers, and the people have uo doubt of 

 his return. They say : " He may come to-day, to-morrow, or perhaps 

 not in our lifetime." 



Soon after Po'shaiyanne's departure from Sia the ti'amoni decided 

 to leave his present village, though it pained him much to give up his 

 beautiful house. And they moved and built the present i)ueblo of Sia, 

 which village was very extensive. The ti'amoni had first a square of 

 stone laid, which is to be seen at the present day, embleuuitic of the 

 heart of the village (for a heart must be, before a thing can exist). 

 After the building of this village the aged ti'amoni continued to live 

 many years, and at his death he was buried in the ground, in a reclining 

 position. His head was covered with raw cotton, with an eagle plume 

 attached; his face was painted with corn pollen, and cotton was placed 

 at the soles of his feet and laid over the heart. A bowl of food was 

 deposited in the grave, and many hii'chamoni were planted over the 

 road to the north, the one which is traveled after death. A bowl of 

 food was also placed on the road. All night they sang and prayed iu 

 the house of the departed ti'amoni, and early in the morning all those 

 who sung were bathed in suds of yucca made of cold water. 



There are two rudely carved stone animals at the ruined village sup- 

 posed to have been visited by Po'shaiyiinue. These the Sia always 

 speak of as the cougar, but they say, " In reality they are not the 

 cougar, but the lynx, for the cougar remained at the white-house iu the 

 north." 



This cosmogony exhibits a chapter of the Sia ])hilosophy, and though 

 this philosophy is fraught with absurdities and contradictions, as is 

 the case with all aboriginal reasoning, it scintillates with poetic con- 

 ceptions. They continue : 



"The hour is too solemn for spoken words; a new life is to be given 

 to us." 



Theirs is not a religion mainly of propitiation, but rather of suppli- 

 cation for favors and payment for the same, and to do the will of and 

 thereby please the beings to whom they pray. It is the paramount oc- 

 cupation of their life; all other desirable things come through its 

 practice. It is the foundation of their moral and social laws. Children 

 are taught from infancy that in order to please the pantheon of their 

 mythical beings they must speak with one tongue as straight as the 

 line of prayer over which these beings pass to enter the images of 

 themselves. 



It will be understood from the cosmogony that the Sia did not derive 

 their clan names from animal ancestors, nor do they believe that their 

 people evolved from animals, other than the Sia themselves. The 

 Zuni hold a similar belief. The Zuiii's reference to the tortoise and 

 other animals as ancestors is explained in the "Eeligious Life of the 

 Zuni Child." ' 



I am of opinion that closer investigation of the North American In- 



' Fifth Ann. Kept. Bu. Eth., pp. 539-553. 



