STEVENSON] 



WITCHCRAFT 395 



your things; l)ut if you will allow the Apaches to take your life when they come, I 

 will not tell." The man, thinking that perhaps the sorcerer had lied and that the 

 Apaches were already on their way to Zuni, hastened to a place near hy, gathered 

 such wood as he could, and returned home. His wife chided him for the poor qual- 

 ity of the wood: "You always bring good wood and a large back load; now you 

 bring but little, and that very poor." But he did not betray the secret; and on the 

 fourth morning he listened attentively, and when he heard the ax striking upon 

 the rock, which was the signal given by the witch, he hurried from the village and 

 found that the Apaches had indeed been met by this man and that they had killed 

 him, not knowing him to be a sorcerer and their friend. The Apaches had gone, 

 leaving the body of the sorcerer lying upon crossed arrows. A Navaho, whom the 

 Zufii met on the road, and who accompanied him to where the body lay, exclaimed: 

 "The Apaches have killed a friend." "How do you know?" inquired the Zuni. 

 "Because," said the Navaho, "it is their custom and ours when we kill a friend 

 through mistake to place the body upon crossed arrows that all may know that a 

 friend and not an enemy has been killed." "But how is it the Apaches value 

 this man, who is one of your people?" asked the Navaho; and the Zufii replied, "He 

 was a sorcerer." 



All the crops of the Zufii farming district of Pescado were destroyed one year by 

 grasshoppers, which came so thick that they made the air black. It was discovered 

 by a man digging in the field that this misfortune was brought upon them by a 

 witch or wizard, who had mixed together some blue and red beans, a grasshopi»er, 

 finely ground corn meal, some wheat, and other varieties of seeds. These he wrapped 

 first in a piece of white cotton cloth, afterward in red calico and buckskin, and buried 

 3 feet in the ground. 



The following stoiy wa.s related bv a yoiiiio- mother: 



1 was sleeping alone in the large upper room. My brother slept on the roof near 

 by. I was awakened by the approach of a creature like a large cat; but it was not a 

 cat; I knew at once that it was a witch. It came close to my bed and looked at my 

 little one, and then hastened from the room. It went out through the broken win- 

 dow jiaiie. In a short time my baby died. 



A young- man came to the writer'.s camp one morning in a state of 

 great excitement. He had a ver}- sick wife and related that upon 

 leaving his house on the previous night to attend a meeting of his fra- 

 ternity he noticed a queer looking burro lurking before the hou.se. 

 Upon his return he was told l)v tho.se who sat with his wif(^ that a large 

 cat had entered the house, and he knew at once that a witch or wizard 

 had been there. He hastened from the house to discover a man 

 wrapped in a blanket, but not in the Zuni fashion; his head was sunk 

 low in the blanket. Accosting this creature, whom he knew to be a 

 wizard, he told him that if his wife died, he should inform Xai'uchi. 

 the elder brother Bow priest, and have him hanged. Fortunately for 

 the accitsed the wife soon recovered her health. 



The vice pa'mosono'*kia (female assistant to the scalp custodian) was 

 debaili-ed from oflice in 1SS9 by the elder brother Bow priest, who 

 declared her to be a witch. Her son was first brought to trial as a 

 wizard upon the ground that he had caused the death of many children, 

 and while he hung by the arms from a beam in the old church 

 he declared that his mother knew more than he and that he acted 



