'■"SUING.) POWER AS MEDIATORS. 19 



Mi-tsi. Mi-tsi kicked. Black bear came and pressed liis wiud out again. 

 It hnrt Mi-tsi, and he said to himself, "Oh dear me! what shall I do? 

 Tiie father thinks I am not punished enough." So he kept very still. 

 Black bear started again, then stopped and looked at Mi-tsi, started and 

 stopped again, growled and moved off, for Ml-tsi kept very still. Then 

 the black bear went slowly away, looking at Mitsi all the while, nntil 

 he passed a little knoll. Mitsi crawled away and hid under a log. 

 Then, when he thought himself man enough, he started for Zufii. He 

 was long sick, for the black bear had eaten his foot. He " still lives and 

 limps," but he is a good Ma-ke-tsa-na kwe. Who sliall say that P6-shai- 

 aij-k'ia did not command ? 



THEIR WORSHIP. 



The prey gods,through their relationship to Po-shai-aij-k'ia, as " Makers 

 of the Paths of Life," are given high rank among the gods. With this 

 belief, their fetiches are held "as in captivity" by the priests of the 

 various medicine orders, and greatly venerated by them as mediators 

 between themselves and the animals they represent. In this character 

 they are exhorted with elaborate prayers, ritnals, and ceremonials. 

 Grand sacrifices of plumed and jiainted prayer sticks (Tethl-na-we) are 

 made annually by the "Prey Brother Priesthood" (We-ma il-pa-pa 

 ji shl-wa-ni) of these medicine societies, and at the full moon of each 

 month lesser sacrifices of the same kind by the male members of the 

 "Prey gentes" (We-ma 4-no-ti-we) of the tribe. 



