346 ISLETA, NEW MEXICO [eth. ann. 47 



scouts or leaders during the emergence, as are the prototypes of the 

 moiety chiefs of Isleta. 



In its Pueblo uniformities, the Isletan system resembles both 

 Keresan and Tewan. In having only one towTi chief it is Keresan- 

 like; in the comparative simplicity of its medicine society organiza- 

 tion, which is differentiated from within rather than from without, 

 it is Tewan or Jemez like. There seems to be at Isleta a duplication 

 of the office of war chief, given the wilawe or tuwalawe and kumpa 

 or kumpa wilawe. Possibly the former functionary was borrowed 

 from the Keres. Kuinpa's ways have a flavor of Hopi. 



Comparisons with Sandia or Taos are unfortunately uncertain. 

 There is virtually no record of Sandia except for the statement that 

 it is without the usual Pueblo clanship system.* My Isleta informant 

 opined that at Sandia they had the same Corn groups as at Isleta, 

 likewise the same Idnd of a town chief, only they did not work for 

 him. There are no scalps at Sandia, it was said, because Sandians 

 themselves have been killed instead of taldng scalps.' This same 

 informant visited Taos during our acquaintance but, observant 

 though he desired to be, comparisons between Taos and Isleta were 

 so difficult for him to make because of language and because of his 

 proneness to see similarities only, that his remarks are not reliable. 

 Still they are of interest as bearing upon Isletan practices. He in- 

 sisted that the moiety system existed at Taos just as at Isleta. There 

 were Black Eyes and those using red pamt and corresponding to the 

 shure'. The Taos boys who undergo a long period of initiation are 

 being initiated into these moieties, an initiation which is not made 

 at Isleta. Now, according to my own information about Taos, such 

 an inclusive moiety system does not occur there. There is merely 

 a Black Eyes society; and the boys are initiated into a number of 

 societies or kivas. 



What society corresponds enough to the Isleta shure' to have led 

 the Isletan to an identification I can but guess. ^ My Isletan observer 

 also opined that the Isletan Corn group organization was to be foimd 

 at Taos, which is, I believe, a wholly erroneous observation. Ma- 

 ternal descent is not distinguished at Taos, and kiva or kiva society, 

 membership to which only males are eligible, is entirely optional with 

 parents. Curiously enough, although nny Isletan observer noted the 

 fact of the exclusion of women, he persisted in identifying the Taos 

 kiva or kiva societj'^ with the Isletan Corn group. He was at 

 Taos when certain winter ceremonies were under way and he was 

 comparing these, I think, with the winter solstice ceremonies of the 



« See p. 220, n. 79. 



" And my informant went on to say that no Isletan was ever killed by another tribesman. " That is 

 why we have scalps." 



« .\nnthcr Isletan visitor to Taos thinks there are shure' at Taos because on San Geronimo Day three 

 clowns are painted yellow and white (shure'), the other three being black and white (shifun). 



