420 ETHNOf!E0r!RAPl[V OF THE TEWA INDIANS [eth. ANN. i;9 



(■watennolon) inoiinUiin [28: 8H], New Mexico. . . Just four years after 

 these gods came to this world another party appeared tlirough Ji'nii'klanap- 

 klatea, consi.«ting of Po'shaiyiinki, his a.ssociates, and tlie possessors of the 

 secret of O'naya'nakla (Mystery medicine), Po'sliaiyiinki, who figures as the 

 culture hero of the Zufiis, being the leiider. These also followed a northern 

 route to Shi'papolinia, where they remained. This place is held sacred by the 

 Zunis as the home of their culture hero and of the Bea.st Gods. The Zufiis be- 

 lieve the entrance to Rhi'papolima to be on the summit of a mountain about 10 

 miles from the pueblo of Cochiti, N. Jlex. Two crouching lions, or cougars, of 

 massive stone in bas-relief u]ion the solid formation of the mountain top guard 

 the sacred spot. The heads of the animals are to the east. A stone wall some 

 4 feet high forms an inclosure 18 feet in diameter for the cougars. Additional 

 stone walls, also about 4 feet in height and 14 feet in length, mark a passage- 

 way 3 feet wide from the inclosure. A monument of stones stands 12 feet be- 

 fore the middle of the entrance, which faces east or a little south of east. It is 

 remarkable that these wonderful pieces of aboriginal sculpture sliould liave no 

 legends associated with them by the Indians who live in comi)aratively close 

 proximity. The Jemez, Sia, San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, and Cochiti 

 Indians have been closely questioned regarding tliese carvings, and while they 

 have no history associated with them other than that the lions were converted 

 into stone at the time that the great fire spread over the earth, the Zunis be- 

 lieve them to be the guardians of the place chosen by I'o'shaiyankl as a home 

 for himself and his followers. The writer visited this spot in 1904 and found 

 these carvings to be just as the Zuni theurgists had described them to her, 

 other than that tlie heads of the lions had been defaced by the vandalism of 

 sheep herilers. When Jlr. Stevenson visited Shi'papolima in 1880 these carv- 

 ings were in perfect condition.' 



In the next to the hist sentence Mr.s. Stevenson probal)ly fol- 

 lows Bundelier, who writes: 



They [the lion images] are much disfigured, especially the heads. The act 

 of vandalism was perpetrated by shepherds.^ 



Tewa informants have told the writer very consistently that 

 the Stone Lions Shrine is used by some secret religious society of 

 the pueblo of Cochiti. They say that the entrance of a shrine 

 always extends toward the pueblo at which the worshipers live.^ 

 This is true at least of a number of shrines on hills in the vicin- 

 ity of Tewa pueblos. The entrance to the inclosure of this shrine 

 extends southwest toward Cochiti Pueblo. The Tewa informants 

 deny that this shrine has anything to do with the Sipop'e of the 

 Tewa, and say that they have never learned of any Zuili belief 

 concernino- it. A plaster mold of the Stone Lions has been made 

 by Prof. Frederick Starr, of the University of Chicago. The 

 shrine gives the name to the near-by puel)lo [28: 2t')]. Cf. the 

 similar shrine [28:4.5]. See [28:26] and Potrero de la Cuesta 

 Colorada [28:unlocated], page 4.54. 



1 M. C. Stevenson, The Znfli Indians, Twenty-third Hep. Bur. Amer. Ethn.. pp. 407-08, 1904. 



2 Hanclclior, Final Report, pt. u, p. 153 and note, 1S02. 



s.See Fredericli Starr, Shrines near Cochiti, New Mexico, Amrr. Antuiuarian. x.\n, No. 4, ,Inly- 

 Aiig., 1900. 



