432 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. ann. 23 



could be heard inside. The members of the fraternity looked up 

 from their repast with surprise, but the writer was made welcome 

 and invited to be seated and to join in the meal. An elaborately dec- 

 orated tablet altar stood at the west end of the long room and a bar 

 representing the Galaxy, on which stood two Hgures of Pa'yatiimu 

 (Bi"'si*si), extended across the room above the altar. Figure 28 shows 

 a Hopi Indian carving an image of Pa'yatamu (see also plate civ). The 

 central portion of the bar is composed of cloud symbols with seven 

 stars representing Ursa Major. The sun's face is shown by a disk of 

 blue-green, surrounded by blocks of black and white, which denote 

 the house of the clouds. The carved birds, suspended from the blue- 

 green serrated clouds of the bar, represent the esho^si (bat). ""If a 

 man sees a bat when he is on his way at night to plant prayer plumes, 

 he is happy, for he knows that in four days there will be much rain." 

 The birds perched on the clouds of the upper portion of the bar repre- 

 sent the kia'wnlo'ki bird of the Zenith (Progne subis, purple martin). 

 Lightning is symbolized by zigzag carvings at each end of the bar 

 upon which figures of Pa'yatamu stand. The pendent eagle plumes 

 symbolize the breath of life, which is A'wonawil'ona (see page 22), 

 the supreme v)ower. The tablet altar is composed of cloud symbols, 

 the sun surrounded b}' the house of the clouds, the morning and 

 evening stars carved on the tops of the rear posts and painted in white 

 each side of the sun. The yellow lion of the north and blue-green of 

 the west are represented on the two front posts, each of which has 

 two hawk plumes standing from the top. Three small stone pre}' 

 animals stand in line before the mi'wachi. A dark stone animal about 

 2 feet high is sejant before the altar. The flute of the fraternity, a 

 medicine bowl, and a pra3'er-meal basket are placed before the altar. 

 The star of the four winds, each point decorated with a star and cumulus 

 clouds (the serrated ends) from which eagle cast plumes hang, is sus- 

 pended above the altar (see description of plate lviii, page 245). 



On entering the chamber the writer observed at once an object 

 which in their surprise at her entrance had for the moment been for- 

 gotten by the fraternity. It was the large stone animal. This fetish 

 stood before the altar on the north and was partly covered with a 

 lynx skin. But a few moments elapsed before the}' rememl)ered with 

 consternation that the sacred object was exposed to the eye of the 

 visitor, who, appreciating the situation, appeared unconscious of any 

 objects beyond the group of men about the food. Expressions of 

 relief escaped their lips and on the instant several large blankets were 

 thrown over it. Those whom the writer afterward questioned regard- 

 ing the fetish at first denied all knowledge of it, but finally they 

 admitted it to be their great father of Mystery medicine, and stated 

 that the animal was converted into stone at the time when the great 

 fire spread over the earth (see Origin of animal fetishes). After the 



