12 ZUNI FETICHES. 



previously explained, the name of the latter is used with equal prefer- 

 ence as a term for all fetiches (W4-ma-we), whether of the prey animals 

 themselves or of other animals and beings. Of course it is equally nat- 

 ural, since they are connected with man both iu the scale of being and in 

 the power to supply his physical wants more nearly than are the higher 

 gods, that the animals or animal gods should greatly outnumber and 

 even give character to all others. We find that the Fetiches of the Zunis 

 relate mostly to the animal gods, and principally to the prey gods. 



ORIGIN OF ZUNI FETICHISM. 



This fetichism seems to have arisen from the relationships heretofore 

 alluded to, and to be founded on the myths which have been invented 

 to account for those relationships. It is therefore not surprising that 

 those fetiches most valued by the Zunis should be either natural con- 

 cretions (Plate I, Fig. 6), or objects in which the evident original re- 

 semblance to animals has been only heightened by artificial means (Plate 

 IV, Fig. 7; Plate V, Fig. 4; Plate VI, Figs. 3, 6, 8; Plate VIII, Figs. 1, 

 3, 4, 5; Plate IX, Fig. 1). 



Another highly prized class of fetiches are, on the contrary, those 

 which are elaborately carved, but show evidence, in their polish and 

 dark patina, of great antiquity. They are either such as have been 

 found by the ZuQis about pueblos formerly inhabited by their ancestors 

 or are tribal possessions which have been handed down from generation 

 to generation, until their makers, and even the fact that they were made 

 by any member of the tribe, have been forgotten. It is supposed by 

 the priests (Ashi-wa-ni) of Zuiii that not only these, but all true fetiches, 

 are either actual petrifactions of the animals they represent, or were 

 such originally. Upon this supposition is founded the following tradi- 

 tion, taken, as are others to follow, from a remarkable mythologic epic, 

 which I have entitled the Zuiii Iliad. 



THE ZUNI ILIAD. 



Although oral, this epic is of great length, metrical, rythmical even 

 in parts, and filled with archaic expressions nowhere to be found in the 

 modern Zuni. It is to be regretted that the original diction cannot here 

 be preserved. I have been unable, however, to record literally even 

 portions of this piece of aboriginal literature, as it is jealously guarded 

 by the priests, who are its keepers, and is publicly repeated by them only 

 once in four years, and then only in the presence of the priests of the 

 various orders. As a member of one of the latter, I was enabled to 



