582 



THE ZUNI INDIANS 



[ETH. ANN. '.^3 



iscovcrod with white meal. A line of meal extends eastward" from 

 the excavation a distance of J) feet. The line is crossed four times at 

 e(]iial distances with meal. The pe'kwin now places two bits of yucca 

 in X form on each cross line, and on each of these X's is set a round flat 

 stone, the stones being- used to hold the 3aicca in place. The crossed 

 vucca indicates tracks of the chaparral cock to the house of the ant 

 (figure 34). "This bird is valuable because he can convey messages, 

 and the enemy can not tell from his footprints whence he comes, for the 

 feet point both ways." The mounds are symbolic of the homes of the 

 Gods of War and the square of the home of the ants at Shi'papolima.* 

 ■'Ants destroy the footprints of the Zunis from the eye of the enemy." 

 After the pe'kwin completes his work he returns to the village. The 

 victor and the elder brother soon approach over the plain, bearing 



34.— Excavation and meal mound.s .symbolic of Shi'papolima and homes of the Gods of War. 



the divided scalp in their togas. When they come within 500 yards 

 of the village they remove the pieces of scalp from the arrows and 

 attach them to a .slender pole 5 feet high, which the pa'mosona has 

 planted in the ground for the purpose, and the two take seats on the 

 ground about 6 feet north of the pole and facing the village, the victor 

 to the right of the elder ])rother. They husy themselves trimming 

 the juniper twigs which they have brought with them. These twigs 

 are twice the length from the tip of the middle linger to the tip of the 

 thumb, the fingers extended. Here they sit for an hour. In the mean- 

 time the warriors and members of the Ant fraternity gather in a circle 

 near by. 



Each warrior having prepared two prayer plumes to the Gods of War 

 and wrapped them together at the base, plants them on an ant-hill 



"According to a prominent priest of Zuni, this meal lino used to extend westward, so that the 

 people passed up toward the east, as Shi'papolima is in the east. 

 I' See p. 407. 



