THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE ZUNI CHILD. 
By Mrs. Titty E. STEVENSON. 
BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ZUNI MYTHOLOGY. 
The Pueblo of Zuni is situated in Western New Mexico on the Rio 
Zuni, a tributary of the Little Colorado River. The Zuni have re- 
sided in this region for several centuries. The peculiar geologic and 
geographic character of the country surrounding them, as well as its 
aridity, furnishes ample sources from which a barbarous people would 
derive legendary and mythologie history. A brief reference to these 
features is necessary to understand more fully the religious phases of 
Zuni child life. 
Three miles east of the Pueblo of Zuni is a conspicuously beautiful 
mesa, of red and white sandstone, t0-wa-yal lan-ne (corn mountain). 
Upon this mesa are the remains of the old village of Zuni. The 
Zuni lived during a long period on this mesa, and it was here that 
Coronado found them in the sixteenth century. Tradition tells that 
they were driven by a great flood from the site they now occupy, which 
is in the valley below the mesa, and that they resorted to the mesa for 
protection from the rising waters. The waters rose to the very sum- 
mit of the mesa, and to appease the aggressive element a human sacri- 
fice was necessary. A youth anda maiden, son and daughter of two 
priests, were thrown into this ocean. 'Two great pinnacles, which have 
been carved from the main mesa by weathering influences, are looked 
“upon by the Zuni as the actual youth and maiden converted iuto stone, 
and are appealed to as *father” and “mother.” Many of the Zuni 
legends and superstitions are associated with this mesa, while over its 
summit are spread the extensive ruins of the long ago deserted village. 
There are in many localities, around its precipitous sides and walls, 
shrines and groups of sacred objects which are constantly resorted to 
by different orders of the tribe. Some of the most interesting of these 
are the most inaccessible. When easy of approach they are in such 
secluded spots that a stranger might pass without dreaming of the 
treasures within his reach. On the western side of this mesa are sev- 
eral especially interesting shrines. About half way up the acclivity on 
the west side an overhanging rock forms the base of one of the pin- 
nacles referred to. This rock is literally honeycombed with holes, from 
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