138 THE ACOMA INDIANS [eth. ann. 47 



The heart (soul) of the deceased goes back to Shipap. (It will be 

 remembered that there is a little hole in the floor of Mauharots, where, 

 it is said, the soul goes after death.) Nothing specific is laiown of the 

 existence of an individual after death; he simpW goes back to the 

 place of emergence, to latik", the mother of them all.*- 



Four days after the death a medicine man, solicited with corn meal 

 by the father of the deceased, takes the burnt stick which has been 

 placed where the deceased lay, the prayer sticks made by the father 

 and the mother, and a "lunch," and goes to the grave, where he 

 prays. Then he goes down the sand trail to the foot of the mesa, 

 and then to the north. He goes out to some mesa or canyon, where 

 he deposits his burden. The sticks are for latik". 



MISCELLANY 



HiDDKN Ball (Aioakutyey) 



There were four hoUow tubes. They were about 8 inches long and 

 2 inches in diameter. One was painted black in the middle; this was 

 called tsoyo. Another was painted black on one end; this was called 

 teli. A third was painted black on both ends; it was called k'aci. 

 The third had two black marks in the middle (name not learned). 

 A pebble ball is hidden in one of these tubes. 



The game may be played by a great number of people, who are 

 divided into two groups opposing each other. Each group is repre- 

 sented by one man. They decide who shall play first by letting a 

 corn husk that has been blackened on one side flutter to the ground. 

 While it is falling one man guesses which side will fall uppermost. 

 If he wins he will be the first to hide the pebble. The object of the 

 game is, of course, to hide the ball in one of the tubes so that the 

 opponents can not locate it. If the person who is guessing touches 

 the tube containing the pebble on the first guess he miist pay liis 

 opponent ten straws (each of the two men has 100 straw tallies). If 

 he touches the tube containing the pebble on the second guess he must 

 pay six straws. If he guesses it on the third guess he takes the tubes 

 and hides the pebble himself; but he wins no straws. If he guesses 

 wrong the first three guesses he must forfeit five straws. The one 

 who loses all of his straws first loses the game. 



While these two men are playing the others stand by and sing and 

 dance "like k'a"'tsina." Men from each group make bets with men 

 from the opposing group. Considerable property changes hands 

 sometimes at this game." 



♦■ It is interesting to note that neither latik" nor any other native spirit punishes anyone after death. 

 Those who recognize the Catholic God as a spirit, however, say that he is quite likely to punish people after 

 death. 



*3 Culin in his Games of the North American Indians, Twenty-fourth Ann. Rept. Bur, Amer, Ethn , 

 p. 351, speaks of bidden ball at Acoma. He calls it aiyawakotai. 



