STEVENSON] NIGHT CEREMONIES OF SHA'lAKO GODS 253 



inner rooms where the elect gather to observe the ceremonies through 

 large openings in the wall, which are kept closed except on such occa- 

 sions. Thus with this primitive drama there is to be found a primi- 

 tive theater, with pit and boxes. The observers who watch through 

 the openings are principally women and children, seated on chairs 

 and boxes. If there be attractive maidens in these inner rooms, 

 young men are sure to be found there, indulging in merrymaking 

 with the girls in the intervals of the dances. The custom among 

 men of visiting the theater box may have originated with the primi- 

 tive drama. There are also in these rooms men seated on the ledge 

 or on their wadded blankets on the far side of the room smoking and 

 chatting in company with the male membei's of the house. They take 

 turns in advancing to the openings to observe the dance over the 

 women's heads or to spend a time in the ceremonial room. Such tire 

 the scenes early in the evening; but as the night advances drinking is 

 indulged in until the scene becomes disgusting in the extreme. No 

 whisky is served in the ceremonial chamber, and great care is observed 

 that none but Indians shall know the sources of the intoxication. 



In 1879 whinky was rarely if ever used by the Zufiis; but with the advance of civil- 

 ization intoxicants are producing demoralizing effects on these people. While there 

 is a law forbidding the sale of liquor to Indians, this law is not executed; at least it 

 was not up to 1896. The peddling of whisky is begun weeks before the Sha^liiko 

 festival. The liquor is usually carried in kegs, not too large to be secreted under the 

 blanket, and gallons are brought in this way to Zufii by the Rio Grande Indians. 

 The largest peddler of whisky during several seasons was a returned Carlisle student, 

 w ho had spent five years under the influences of this school. When discovered by 

 the writer his excuse was: "I am a saddler by trade. On my return from school 

 I endeavored to get employment in Albuquerque, near my home — Laguna. On 

 applying to the two saddlers there I received the same reply from ])oth: 'White 

 men are good enough for me.' What was I to do? You know my ])eople make 

 their own harness and saddles. I wanted money, so I engaged to carry whisky to 

 Zuni for a German." This Indian could not be induced to betray the name of tiie 

 lawbreaker. 



Every man in Zufd spends what money he can obtain on whisky, not only for 

 his own use and that of his friends, but to dispose to the Navahos, who come in 

 large numbers to the dances. The whisky is usually taken from the kegs, bottled, 

 and sold at exorbitant prices. The Navaho is a close trader, but the Zufii is 

 closer. The writer has ol:)served many trades in w'hich the Zunis came out the 

 better. One Navaho, crazy for liquor, trades a fine pony for a gill of whisky. 

 Another exchanges a valuable necklace of coral, turquoise, and ko^hakwa for the same 

 quantity. Tho.se who are able to buy the liquor in any (juantity usually make use 

 of the time of the Sha'liiko festival to replenish their stock of horses from the Navahos, 

 who demand fair prices in their early stage of intoxication, but become so crazed 

 with drink that they let their ponies go for any amount of. whisky the shrewd Zufii 

 is willing to give. While the younger men of Zufii drink as much as the Navahos, 

 the older men and more clever traders keep their heads clear enough to get the best 

 of the bargain. This trading of liquor goes on in the inner rooms, which are sup- 

 posed, as has been stated, to be for the use of the elect; but the Zunis, l»eing no 

 exception to those who are demoralized by the liquor traffic, indulge their love of 



