ciibiiiNii.l ORIGIN OF nm HUNTER GODS. 21 



Sail Jiiiui, Arizona, and nearly opposite tbe mouth ol' the Kio Concho. 

 This lagune is probably formed in the basin or crater of some extinct 

 <;eyser or volcanic spriiijr, as tlie two high and wonderfully similar 

 mountains on either side are identical in formation with those in which 

 occur the cave-craters farther south on the sauic river. It has, how- 

 ever, been largely fdled in by the debris brought down l>y the Zuni 

 Kiver, whi(!h here joins the Colorado Chiquito. K6-thIu-c>l-lon sigui- 

 lies the "standing place (city) of the Ka'-ka" (fromA'((=a contraction 

 of Ka' ka, the sacred dance, and ihlii-vl-lon=:Hhmdmg place). 



THE UISTUIBHTIOM OF THE ANIMALS. 



Men began their journey froni the Red River, and the Ka'-ka still 

 lived, as it does now, at K6-thlu-(il-lon-ne, when the wonderful Snail 

 People (not snails, as may be inferred, but a tribe of that name), who 

 lived iu the "Place of the Snails" (K'ia-ma-k'ia-kwin), far south of 

 where Zuui now is, caused, by means of their magic power, all the game 

 animals in the whole world round about to gather together in the great 

 foiked canon-valley under their town, and there to be hidden. 



The walls of this canon were high and insurmountable, and the whole 

 valley although large was filled full of the game animals, so that their 

 feet rumbled and rattled together like the sound of distant thunder, and 

 their horns crackled like the sound of a storm in a dry forest. All 

 round about the canon these passing wonderful Snail People made a 

 road (line) of magic medicine and sacred meal, which road, even as a 

 corral, no game animal, even though great Elk or strong Buck Deer, 

 could pass. 



Now, it rained many days, and thus the tracks of all these animals 

 tending thither were washed away. Nowliere coulil the Ka'-ka or the 

 children of men, although they hunted day after day over the plains and 

 mountains, on the mesas and along the caQon-valleys, find prey or trace 



of prey. 



Thus it happened that after many days they grew hungry, almost 

 famished. Even the great strong SluV-lak'o and the swift Sa-la-mo-pi-a 

 walked zigzag in their trails, from the weakness of hunger. At first 

 the mighty Ka'-ka and men alike were compelled to eat the bones they 

 had before cast away, and at last to devour the soles of their moccasins 

 and even the deer-tail ornaments of their dresses for want of the flesh 

 of K'iap-in-a-ha-i, Game animals. 



Still, day after day, though weak and disheartened, men and the Ka'- 

 ka sought game iu the mountains. At last a great Elk was given lib- 

 erty. His sides shook with tallow, his dewlap hung like a bag, so 

 fleshy was it, his horns spread out like branches of a dead tree, and his 

 crackling hoofs cut the sands and even the rocks as he ran westward. 

 ne circled far ofl" toward the Red River, passed through the Round 

 Valley, and into the northern canons. The ShiV-la-k'o was out hunting. 



