396 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. ann. 23 



only under her influence. The vice pa'mosono"kia wa.s then sum- 

 moned and hung by the arms. At first she asserted her innocence, 

 but finally the elder brother Bow priest declared that her only 

 chance for life was in divulgino- the secrets of her craft by producing 

 medicine and showing how it was obtained. One of this woman's 

 accusers was a neighbor, who stated that she had stolen a buckskin 

 sack from his house, had killed his mi'li (see page 416), and had deposited 

 excrement in his house. Her only protection being the read}^ inven- 

 tion of falsehoods, she told how she had sent her son to the neighbor's 

 house to steal the sack, cut the heart (the various seeds) of the mi'li, 

 and deposit the excrement. All this was intended to lend efficacy to 

 her medicine and bring death to the people of the house. She com- 

 bined the heart of the mi'li with the hearts of the rattlesnake and 

 toad, and this mixture she shot into the children. Her story had its 

 eft'ect upon the warriors, who listened attentively. The}^ concluded 

 that she must indeed know much of medicine, and upon her promise 

 that she would never again destroy the life of another, they released 

 her, but the son was killed. 



Hundreds of times the writer has observed the theurgist working 

 over his patient, pretending to extract substances " shof' into the body 

 b}!' witches. Objects of great variety, such as bits of yarn, a charred 

 goat's horn, etc., were produced, and though the observer was usuall}^ 

 by the side of the theurgist or on the opposite side of the patient from 

 him, she was never able to discover where or how the object supposed 

 to be taken from the body of the patient had been secreted and 

 produced until, in 190-1, she observed Nai'uchi practice (for sore eyes) 

 upon his last patient. The old man was led to the invalid's house by 

 his granddaughter, Nina. There he pretended to extract pebbles from 

 the e3'es of his patient, but his hands were feeble, and he was so 

 awkward that it was readily seen that he carried the pebbles in his 

 mouth and dropped them into the palm of his hand while pretending 

 to breathe upon it. 



A singular feature associated with witchcraft is that accused persons 

 are permitted to be conspicuous in religious entertainments and some- 

 times to aid in religious festivals. A man belonging to the ^Hle'wekwe 

 (Wood) fraternity or Sword swallowers, which is one of the most im- 

 portant in Zuiii, was regarded by a majority of the people as a wizard, 

 3'et he was not debarred from membership in his fraternity. During 

 the last visit of the writer to Zufii this man entertained one of the Sha'- 

 liiko (giant gods) at the annual ceremonial, at which six of these gods 

 are personated, though it is regarded as a high privilege to prepare 

 one's house, which must be thoroughh" renovated for the reception of 

 the Sha'lako. This poor fellow, who was poor also in worldly goods, 

 after having the honor accorded to him, made every efl'ort at his 

 meager command to have his house suitable for the reception of the 



