146 THE SIA. 



the dead relatives of tlie newly arrived spirit, she adds, "There, my 

 child, are your relatives; go join them and be happy." When one has 

 been very wicked in this world he is not permitted to enter the lower 

 world even though he has a hii'chamoni. The guards at the entrance 

 can read all hearts and minds, and they put such spirits into a great 

 fire which burns in the earth below somewhere not far distant from 

 Shipapo. The spirit is burned to death in this fire and can never know 

 anything, as it is entirely desti'oyed. When ti'iimonis and ho'naaites 

 have performed their duties in this world with vinwilling hearts, it is 

 known to the mother in the lower world, and when such men enter after 

 death they are made to live apart, and alone, and without nourishment 

 for a certain period of time, depending upon the amount of purification 

 required. Some sit alone for two years; others for five, and some for 

 ten before the mother considers them worthy to enter into peace. 



The spirits of all animals go to the lower world ; domestic animals 

 serving the masters there as they did here. The masters would not 

 always recognize them, but Sus'sistinnako knows the property of all. 

 The spirits of the prey animals return, and know their fiieuds, in the 

 lower world. A ha'chamoni is made for the prey animal when he is 

 killed, and a dance and ceremonial are held. The animal carries the 

 hii'chamoui as his credential just as the siJirit of the man does. 



The cloud people never die ; that is, no one, not even the oldest men's 

 grandfathers ever knew of or saw a cloud person die. 



MYTHS. 



The writer gave but limited study while at Sia to myths not directly 

 connected with their cosmogony and cult. The minds of several of the 

 elder men are filled with the stories of the long-ago myth-makers, and 

 they believe in the truth of these fables as they believe in their own 

 existence, which is the cause, no doubt, for the absence of myth-mak- 

 ing at the present time. It must be borne in mind, however, that 

 these people have their winter tales and romances which they recog- 

 nise as fiction. The animal myths here recorded were recited to the 

 Avriter in a most dramatic manner by the vicar of the Snake Society, 

 these jwrtions of the stories where the coyote suffers disappointment,, 

 and is cheated of his prey, giving special delight to the narrator. 



The coyote seems to be a despised though necessary object in the mythic 

 world of the Indian of the Southwest. He is certainly not reverenced, 

 nor is he a being for whom they feel terror. While he is the object of 

 ridicule he is also often of great service. Through his cunning he 

 supplied the Sia of the upper world with fire by stealing it ft-om Sijs'- 

 slstinnako in the lower world. When the world was new, people were 

 dejiilous except upon their heads. Tlie coyote said (animals could 

 communicate with men then) : " It is not well for you to be depilous, " 

 and from the pilous growth about his mouth and belly he clothed the 

 pubes and axilla of the Sia. 



