58 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. ann. 2S 



The Gods of War continued throwing- the rabbit sticks at each other, 

 first one and then the other jumping up unharmed. Finally, after 

 much persuasion on the part of the A'shiwi youths, the gods threw 

 their rabbit sticks at them, striking one at a time until many lay upon 

 the ground. All who were struck were immediately killed. The 

 mothers of these youths, wondering at the absence of their children, 

 went in search of them, to find only their dead bodies; and the women 

 were greatly enraged. 



The gods returned to their home as though nothing unusual had hap- 

 pened, and their grandmother was unaware of the trouble the}" had 

 caused until informed by the parents of the deceased children, where- 

 upon she whipped the gods. They afterward told her that she had 

 better hurry awa}", for they intended to burn I'tiwanna. Very early 

 in the morning the grandmother ran to Ma'kiaiakwi, a low mountain 

 not far south of the present Zuni, leaving the Gods of War alone at 

 the house. After talking together U'yuyewi and Ma*sai'lema decided 

 that their grandmother was too near, for they were very angry with 

 the A'shiwi and intended to destroy everything in the world about 

 them; so the}" called to their grandmother to go farther, and she has- 

 tened to the place now occupied by Ma'we*sita (Salt Mother). 



The gods shot lightning arrows with their rainbow bows into the 

 heart of the shield of burning crystal carried by the Sun F'ather, and 

 immediately the world was ablaze. The A'shiwi were not destrojxd 

 by the fire because their bodies still retained the hardness of iron, the 

 condition in which the}" were when they came from the underworlds 

 to this world; but the Corn maidens were destroyed and man}' animals 

 were burned and converted into stone, some of them becoming- diminu- 

 tive. Thus the A'shiwi account for the size of many of their animal 

 fetishes, which they believe to have originally been living creatures. 

 Many of the birds were also burned. 'Ko"loktakia (sand-hill crane) 

 ran to Ko'tina yiil'lanne, near Ojo Caliente, but was burned before he 

 could reach the summit of the mountain. He is now to be seen on 

 the spot, where he was overtaken by the catastrophe, converted into 

 stone. 



Origin of the Zuni Salt lake 



Four years after U'yuyewi and Ma*sai'lema set fire to the world 

 they went to 'Kia'nanaknana, a spring at the black rocks, about 5 

 miles east of present Zuni, then the home of Ma'we*sita. They 

 had lived there four years when "^Hli'akwa" (Turquoise) came to the 

 black rocks. Ma' we inquired of him: '' Who are youT' He replied: 

 '•'" 1 am *Hli'akwa, from Wehl'^hluwalla (Santo Domingo).* 1 was of no 



"The perfect blue is the male: the off-colored is the female. 



'•The turquoise mines best known in New Mexico are about 15 miles by trail from the pueblo of 

 Santo Domingo. Previous to their being possessed by white men they were the resort of Indians in 

 quest ot turquoise. 



