MATTHEWS.| MYTH: THE MYSTERIES OF THE DEER HUNT. 391 
‘© Well,” said the father, ‘‘this skin of the first slain is mine; go and 
stretch it and dry it for me with care.” After this they went out hunt- 
ing every day for twelve days, but fortune seemed to have deserted 
them; they killed no more game; and at the end of that time their sup- 
ply of meat was exhausted. Then the old man said: “It always takes 
four trials before you succeed. Go out once more, and if you kill a 
deer do not dress it, but leave it as it is.” 
18. On the following day they left the lodge together and did not 
take separate trails. Soon they killed a deer, and the younger brother 
said: “ What shall we now do with it, since our father has told us not 
to skin it and not to cut it up?” The elder brother said: “ I know not. 
Return to the lodge and ask our father what we must do.” Then the 
younger brother returned to his father and the latter instructed him 
thus: “Cut the skin around the neck; then carefully take the skin from 
the head, so as to remove the horns, ears, and all other parts, without 
tearing the skin anywhere. Leave such an amount of flesh with the 
nose and lips that they will not shrivel and lose their shape when they 
dry. Then take the skin from the body, which skin will again be mine, 
One of you must take out the pluck and carry that in the hide to me; 
the other will bring the skin of the head and the meat. Let him who 
bears the pluck come in advance, and stop not till he comes directly to 
me, and he must hand it to me and to no one else.” The younger brother 
went back and told all this to the elder. They dressed the deer as they 
were bidden; the younger put the pluck in the skin and went in ad- 
vance, and the elder followed with the venison and the skin of the head. 
When they reached the hogan, the father said: *‘ Where is the ateai?” 
(pluck) and the younger said: “It is in the skin.” “Take it out,” 
said the old man, ‘and hang it on yonder mountain mahogany.” The 
young man did as he was bidden. The father advanced with his bow 
and arrow and handed them to the elder brother, who placed the arrow 
on the string and held the bow. The old man put his hands on top of 
those of his son and together they drew the bow. The former took 
careful aim at the pluck and let the arrow fly. It struck the object 
and penetrated both heart and lungs so far that the point protruded on 
the opposite side. Then the old man told his son to seize the arrow by 
the point and draw it completely through, which was done. Next he 
made his son stand close to the pluck, looking towards it, and while his 
son was in this position he blew on him in the direction of the pluck. 
“ Now,” said the father, ‘‘ whenever you want to kill a buck, even if 
there is neither track nor sign of deer in sight, you have only to shoot 
into the tse‘isgazi (mountain mahogany, Cercocarpus parvifolius) and you 
will find a dead deer where your arrow strikes ; while if you wish to kill 
a female deer you will shoot your arrow into the awetsal (cliff rose, 
Cowania mexicana) and you will find a doe there.” When all this was 
done they prepared the skin of the head, under the old man’s directions. 
To keep the skin of the neck open they put into it a wooden hoop. 
