PREY GODS OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BOW. 



THE KNIFE-FEATHEEED MONSTER, THE MOUNTAIN LION, AND THE 



GKEAT WHITE BEAR. 



Tbe Priesthood of the Bow possesses three fetiches, two of which are 

 of the We-raa-d-ha-i, (Plate X, Fig. 2, and Plate XI, Fig. 2.) The other 

 is sometimes classed with these, sometimes with the higher beings, and 

 may be safely said to form a connecting link between the idolatry proper 

 of the Zuhis and their fetichism. These three beings are, the Mount- 

 ain Lion (Plate X, Fig. 2), the great White Bear (Plate XI, Fig. 2), 

 (Aiij-shi k'6-ha-na— the god of the scalp-taking ceremonials), and the 

 Knife-feathered Monster (A-tchi-a la-to-pa), (Plate X, Fig. 1). 



This curious god is the hero of hundreds of folklore tales, and the tu- 

 telar deity of several of the societies of Zuiii. He is represented as pos- 

 sessing a human form, furnished with flint knife-feathered pinions, and 

 tail. His dress consists of the conventional terraced cax> ( representa- 

 tive of his dwelling-place among the clouds), and the ornaments, badge, 

 and garments of the Ka'-ka. His weapons are the Great Flint-Knife 

 of War, the Bow of the Skies (the Eain-bow), and the Arrow of Light- 

 ning, and his guardians or warriors are the Great Mountain Lion of the 

 North and that of the LTpper regions. 



He was doubtless the original War God of the Zuiiis, although now 

 secondary, in the order of war, to the two children of the Sun mentioned 

 at the outset. 



Anciently he was inimical to man, stealing and carrying away to his 

 city in the skies the women of all nations, until subdued by other gods 

 and men of magic powers. At present he is friendly to them, rather in 

 the sense of an animal whose food temporarily satisfies him than in the 

 beneficent character of most of the gods of Zuiil. 



Both the Great White Beafr and the Mountain Lion of the War Priest- 

 hood are, as well as the Kuife-feathered Demon, beings of the skies. 

 For this reason the fetich of the Mountain Lion of the skies (of aiago- 

 nite) is preferred by a Priest of the Bow above all other kinds or colors. 

 Unfortunately, none of the fetiches of this priesthood are to be found 

 in the collections of the Bureau, and but one, with its pouch, has been 

 reproduced from the original, which is in my possession. It was not 

 presented to me with my other paraphernalia on the night of the final 

 ceremonials of my initiation into the Priesthood of the Bow, but some 

 months afterward when I was about to start on a dangerous expedition. 

 At this time I was charged with carefully pi-eserving it during life as 

 my special fetich, and instructed iu the various usages connected with 



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