388 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. ann. 23 



long pravor, so low as not to be heard. Laying the fetish in the 

 basket, he took a minute tjuantity of medicine from two of the bags 

 and deposited it in a bowl of cold water, stirring the water with a 

 hollow reed; then he held the bowl close to the patient, who took six 

 swallows of the medicine through the reed. The blanket covering- 

 was then turned down, exposing the chest of the patient. A small 

 quantit}^ of the medicine was again taken from each bag and this was 

 run in four perpendicular lines over the chest and down the lym- 

 phatics; then both ears were touched with the medicine. The the- 

 urgist did not cease pra^^ing while handling the medicine. Contin- 

 uing to pray for power to restore his patient to health, he took the 

 fetish and medicine bags into his right hand and touched them to 

 the right shoulder, the head, and the left shoulder of the patient. 

 The diet was confined to a small quantity of bread and commercial tea 

 without sugar for the first four days, during which time the Beast 

 Gods of the four regions were appealed to and the fetish medicines 

 were used. After this the patient was permitted to eat as he chose. 

 For the first ten days the pulse was 120; and afterward it was never 

 less than 110 during the six weeks of the fever, and the cough with 

 constant expectoration caused the patient great suffering and almost 

 reduced him to a skeleton. 



The bod}^ was usually exposed to the waist, as it is not considered 

 well to be covered when the skin is hot. During rainy and cold 

 weather the sick man was often left without fire, especially at night, 

 when the room, which was small, became intensely cold. On Novem- 

 ber 2 the patient was carried in a blanket through the snow to his 

 mother's house, where he could have a larger and more comfortable 

 room; and the mother had Na'iuchi and others of the Little Fire 

 fraternit}^ called in to use their efforts in curing her son. The cere- 

 mony was similar to that held b}^ the Kia'kwemosi and other members 

 of the U'huhukwe fraternity over a smallpox patient.^' The day fol- 

 lowing the fourth and last night of the ceremonies of the members of 

 the Little Fire fraternit}" the patient claimed to feel much improved, 

 though the pulse was 105; eight days later the pulse was 90, the cough 

 slightly better. After six weeks of this low condition the patient 

 began to mend, and at the end of the eighth week he was able to be 

 about, but the cough remained when the writer left in January. 



A most distressing case of hysteria was witnessed by the writer. A 

 beautiful young girl, about 12 years of age, had suffered for five 

 weeks, the cause being suppression of the menses. Her famil}- attrib- 

 uted the trouble to witchcraft, and no sooner was the girl brought 

 from her mother's farm at Ojo Caliente to Zufii than a prominent 

 theurgist was summoned, and no time was lost in bringing the accused 



a See p. 527. 



