fi8 THE SIA. 



dian will reveal that the belief in the descent of a people from beasts, 

 plants, or heavenly bodies is not common, though their mythological 

 heroes were frequently the offspring of the union of some mortal with the 

 sun or other object of reverence. There is no mystery in such unions in 

 the philosophy of the Indian, for, as not only animate but iuani -nate objects 

 and the elements are endowed with personality, such beings are not 

 only brothers to one another, but hold the same kinship to the Sia, from 

 the fact, according to theii- philosophy, that all are living beings and, 

 therefore, all are brothers. This is as clearly defined in the Indian mind 

 as our recognition of the African as a brother man. 



Tlie spider is an important actor iu Sia, Zuui, and Tusayan mythology. 

 Sia cosmogony tells us the spider was the primus, the creator of all. 

 Siis'sistinnako is referred to as a man, or, more properly, a being pos- 

 sessing all power; and as Siis'sistinnako created first man and then 

 other beings to serve his first creation, these beings, although endowed 

 with attributes superior to man in order to serve him, can hardly be 

 termed gods, but rather agents to execute the will of Siis'sistinnako 

 in serving the people of his first creation. 



Siis'sistinnako must be supplicated through the mediator iJtset, 

 who is present at such times in the fetich I'arriko. Ko'shairi and 

 Quer'ranna appear for the sun and ruoon. The war heroes and the 

 warriors of the six mountains of the world, the women of the cardinal 

 points, and animals, insects, and birds holding the secrets of medicine, 

 are present, when invoked, in images of themselves. The Sia can not 

 be said to practice ancestor worship. While the road to Shipapo (en- 

 trance to the lower world) is crowded with spirits of jieoples returning 

 to the lower world, and spirits of unborn infants coming from the lower 

 world, the Sia do not believe iu the return of ancestors when once they 

 have entered Shipapo. While many of the kokko (personated by per- 

 sons wearing masks) are the immediate ancestors of the Zuni, the 

 Ka"sunaof the Sia, also personated by men and women wearing masks, 

 are altogether a distinct creation, and can not be considered to bear 

 any relation to ancestor worship. 



The Sia, however, have something as appalling to them as the return 

 of the dead, in their belief iu witchcraft, those i^ossessing this craft 

 being able to assume the form of dogs and other beasts ; and they are 

 ever on the alert when traveling about on dark nights, especially if the 

 traveler is a man of wealth, as witches are always envious of the finan- 

 cial success of others. They create tlisease by casting into the body 

 snakes, worms, stones, bits of fabric, etc. Hair must be burned that 

 it may not be found by wizards or witches, who, combining it with 

 other things, would cast it into the iiersoii fi-oni whose head it was cut, 

 causing illness and perhaps death. There is, however, a panacea for 

 such afflictions in the esoteric power of the theurgists of the secret cult 

 societies. A man was relieved of pain in the chest by a snake being 

 drawn from the body by an eminent theiirgist during the stay of the 



