PRET GODS OF THE HUNT. 



THEIR RELATION TO THE OTHERS. 



The feticli worsbip of tbc Zurds naturally reaches its liighest and 

 most interesting development in its relationship to the chase, for the 

 We-ma-i'i-ha i are considered par excellence the gods of the hunt. Of 

 this class of fetiches, the special priests are the memhers of the "Great 

 Coyote People" (S;lni-ak'ia-kwe, or the Hunting Order), their keejiers, 

 the chosen members of the Eagle and Coyote gentes and of the Prey 

 Brother priesthood. 



The fetiches in question (Plate III) represent, with two exceptions, 

 the same species of prey animnls as those supposed to guard the six 

 regions. These exceptions are, the Coyote (Sus-ki, Plate III, Fig. 2), 

 which replaces the Black Bear of the West, and the Wild Cat (T6-pi, 

 Plate III, Fig. 3), which takes the jdace of the Badger of the South. 



In the prayer-songs of the SA-ni-a-kia-kwe, the names of all of these 

 prey gods are, with two exceptions, given in tlie language of the Rio 

 Crande Indians. This is probably one of the many devices for securing 

 greater secreV.y, and I'endering the ceremonials of the Hunter Society 

 mysterious to other tlian inembers. The exceptions are, the Coyote, or 

 Hunter god of the West, known by the archaic name of ThlJi'k'ia tcliu, 

 instead of by its ordinary name of Siis-ki, and the Prey Mole or god of 

 the Lower regions (Plate III, Fig. 5), which is named Mai-tupu, also 

 archaic, instead of K'iii' lutsi. Yet in most of the prayer and ritualis- 

 tic recitals of this order all of these gods are spoken of by the names 

 which distinguish them in the other orders of the tribe. 



THEIR ORIGIN. 



While all the prey gods of the linnt are supposed to have functions 

 diftering both from tliv/Se of the six regions and those of the Priesthood 

 of the Bow, spoken of further on, they are yet referred, like tliose of 

 the fii'st class, to special divisions of the world. In explanation of 

 this, however, quite another myth is given. This myth, like the first, 

 is derived from the epic before referred to, and occurs in the Intter third 

 of the long recital, where it pictures the tribes of the /unis, under the 

 guidance of the Two Children, and the Ka'-ka at Ko-thlu-el-lon-ne, 

 now a marsh bordei'cd Ingune situateil 071 the eastern shore of the Col- 

 orado Chiipiito, ahout tifteen miles north and west from the pueblo of 

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