456 



P'EATURES FETISH 



[b. a. e. 



and ours. Creation and other myths 

 spring out of feathers. 



Feather technic in its highest develop- 

 ment belongs to South America, Central 

 America, and Polynesia, but there is con- 

 tinuity in the processes from the n. part of 

 America southward. See Adornment, Art, 

 Clothing, Color symbolism. Eagle, Exchange, 

 Horse, Ornament, Quillwork, Weating. 



Consult Bancroft, Native Kaces, i-v, 

 1874-75; Boas in 6th Rep. B. A. E., 1888; 

 Dixon in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., xvir, 

 pt. 3, 1905; Goddard in Publ. Univ. Cal., 

 Am. Archa^ol. and Ethnol., i, 1903; 

 Holmes (1) in 6th Rep. B. A. E., 1888, 

 (2) in 1.3th Rep. B. A. E., 1896; Mallery 

 in lOthRep. B. A. E., 1893; :\Iason (1) in 

 Rep. Nat. Mus. 1902, 1904, (2) in Smith- 

 son. Rep. 1886, 1889; INIurdoch in 9th 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1892; Nelson in 18th Rep. 

 B. A. E., 1899; Turner in llth Rep. B. 

 A. E., 1894; Winship in 14th Rep. B. A. 

 E., 1896. (o. T. M.) 



Features. See Anatomg. 



Fejiu. A prehistoric pueblo of the 

 Tewa at the site of the present town of 

 Abiquiu, on the Rio Chama, Rio Arriba 

 CO., N. Mex. 



Fe-jiu. — Bandelier in Arch. Inst. Papers, iv, 54, 

 1892. Fe-jyu.— Ibid.,.'S5. 



Fermentation. Instances are few among 

 the 5^^orth American tribes of the employ- 

 ment of fermentation for a definite pur- 

 pose. The phenomena of the "turn- 

 ing" or souring of cooked vegetal food or 

 of ripe fruit must frequently have been 

 observed, but the isolation of a pure cul- 

 ture, the starting and control of its action 

 to furnish a desired product or result, was 

 practically unknown. The rare examples 

 of primitive American brewing and yeast 

 making, however, are instructive as bear- 

 ing on the development of the knowledge 

 of the process of fermentation. Some 

 Cal ifornian tribes prepare manzanita cider 

 by mashing the berries of the Ardosto- 

 p'liylos manzanita, collecting the juice 

 and allowing it to ferment from natural 

 causes — by means of minute organisms, 

 such as yeast and bacteria, which are con- 

 stantly present in human surroundings 

 and for which the juice of ripened fruit 

 presents a proper medium. This, how- 

 ever, was perhaps not knowingly used as 

 a fermented drink or intoxicant in al;)0- 

 riginal times. A step in advance of this 

 is observed in the preparation of tiswin 

 by the Apache of Arizona; corn is soaked, 

 sprouted, dried, and ground, and this is 

 mixed ui water and kept in a warm place 

 to ferment, producing a kind of beer. The 

 fermenting agent is natural, as in the case 

 of the manzanita cider, but the production 

 of malt as a culture for the yeast germs 

 seems to indicate that tiswin is not an 

 Apache invention. The Apache also fer- 

 ment jjine bark by a process more primitive 



than that employed in the manufacture of 

 tiswin. In the crude fermentations de- 

 scribed, the Indians have learned to put 

 their l)rew in a jar long used for the pur- 

 pose, and thus retaining in its pores the 

 organisms causing fermentation. What 

 ajspears to be an approach to the discovery 

 of beer isfound inthesourcorn gruel made 

 by the Cherokeeand other southern tribes, 

 and by the Huron and other tribes of the 

 N. This is a thin gruel of corn meal and 

 water allowed to sour. It was a popular 

 food, and there is no evidence that it had 

 an intoxicating effect. Among the Pue- 

 blos is found the highest advance in the 

 process of fermentation — the preparation 

 and i:)reservation of yeast for bread mak- 

 ing. This is made by retaining corn 

 meal in the mouth for several hours, 

 when the magma is ejected into the food 

 mass designed to be fermented. By this 

 method the starch of the corn meal is acted 

 on by the ptyalin of the saliva, rendering 

 it a culture medium for the yeast which, 

 once "set," continues its action in- 

 definitely. The Zufii have discovered 

 that by means of salt and lime this saliva 

 yeast may be jjreserved for future use. 

 Saliva yeast was known to most beer- 

 drinking agricultural tribes of the Old 

 World; in America it is known to various 

 tribes of s. Mexico and of Central and 

 South America, but so far as known the 

 Pueblos and neighboring tribes are the 

 only ones in northern America acquainted 

 with its use. See Food. 



Consult Cushing, Zufii Breadstuff, The 

 Millstone, ix, x, Indianapolis, 1884-85; 

 Goddard in Univ. of Cal. Publ., Am. 

 Arch;eol. and Ethnol., i, 1903; Hrdlicka, 

 Tesvino among the White River Apaches, 

 Am. Anthrop., vi, 190, 1904. (w. h.) 



Fesere. A prehistoric pueblo of the 

 Tewa on a mesa w. or s. of the Rio 

 Chama, near Abiquiu, Rio Arriba co., N. 

 Mex. 



Fe-se-re. — Bandelier in Arch. Inst. Papers, iv, .58, 

 1892. 



Fetish (Portuguese: /if (7/fO, 'a charm', 

 'sorcery', 'enchantment' (whence the 

 English/d/s/0 ; adjective, 'made by art', 

 'artificial', 'skilfully contrived'; Latin 

 factitious, 'madebyart', ' artful bymagic') . 

 Among the American Indians' an object, 

 large oi small, natural or artificial, re- 

 garded as possessing consciousness, voli- 

 tion and immortal life, and especially 

 orenda (q. v. ), or magic power, the essen- 

 tial characteristic, which enables the ob- 

 ject to accomplish, in addition to those 

 that are usual, abnormal results in a 

 mysterious manner. Apparently in any 

 specific case the distinctive function and 

 sphere of action of the fetish depends 

 largely on the nature of the object which 

 is supposed to contain it. It is the im- 

 agined possession of this potent mysteri- 



