Zuñi Fetiches | Page 6

of
the Low)."
[Illustration: PREY GOD FETICHES OF THE SIX REGIONS.]
All, save the first of these terms, are archaic. The modern names for the
West, South, East, Upper and Lower Regions signifying
respectively--"The Place of Evening," "The Place of the Salt Lake"
(Las Salinas), "The Place whence comes the Day," "The Above," and
"The Below."
In the center of the great sea of each of these regions stood a very
ancient sacred place (Té-thlä-shi-na-kwïn), a great mountain peak. In
the North was the Mountain Yellow, in the West the Mountain Blue, in
the South the Mountain Red, in the East the Mountain White, above the
Mountain All-color, and below the Mountain Black.
We do not fail to see in this clear reference to the natural colors of the
regions referred to--to the barren north and its auroral hues, the west
with its blue Pacific, the rosy south, the white daylight of the east, the
many hues of the clouded sky, and the black darkness of the "caves and
holes of earth." Indeed, these colors are used in the pictographs and in
all the mythic symbolism of the Zuñis, to indicate the directions or
regions respectively referred to as connected with them.
Then said Pó-shai-a[n,]-k'ia to the Mountain Lion (Plate II, Fig. 1),

"Long Tail, thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore give I
unto thee and unto thy children forever the mastership of the gods of
prey, and the guardianship of the great Northern World (for thy coat is
of yellow), that thou guard from that quarter the coming of evil upon
my children of men, that thou receive in that quarter their messages to
me, that thou become the father in the North of the sacred medicine
orders all, that thou become a Maker of the Paths (of men's lives)."
Thither went the Mountain Lion. Then said Pó-shai-a[n,]-k'ia to the
Bear (Plate II, Fig. 2), "Black Bear, thou art stout of heart and strong of
will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Mountain Lion,
the guardian and master of the West, for thy coat is of the color of the
land of night," etc.
To the Badger (Plate II, Fig. 3), "Thou art stout of heart but not strong
of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Bear, the
guardian and master of the South, for thy coat is ruddy and marked
with black and white equally, the colors of the land of summer, which
is red, and stands between the day and the night, and thy homes are on
the sunny sides of the hills," etc.
To the White Wolf (Plate II, Fig. 4), "Thou art stout of heart and strong
of will. Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Badger, the
guardian and master of the East, for thy coat is white and gray, the
color of the day and dawn," etc.
And to the Eagle (Plate II, Fig. 5), he said: "White Cap (Bald Eagle),
thou art passing stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee
the younger brother of the Wolf, the guardian and master of the Upper
regions, for thou fliest through the skies without tiring, and thy coat is
speckled like the clouds," etc.
"Prey Mole (Plate II, Fig. 6), thou art stout of heart and strong of will.
Therefore make I thee the younger brother of the Eagle, the guardian
and master of the Lower regions, for thou burrowest through the earth
without tiring, and thy coat is of black, the color of the holes and caves
of earth," etc.

THEIR POWER AS MEDIATORS.
Thus it may be seen that all these animals are supposed to possess not
only the guardianship of the six regions, but also the mastership, not
merely geographic, but of the medicine powers, etc., which are
supposed to emanate from them; that they are the mediators between
men and Pó-shai-a[n,]-ki'a, and conversely, between the latter and men.
As further illustrative of this relationship it may not be amiss to add
that, aside from representing the wishes of men to Pó-shai-a[n,]-ki'a, by
means of the spirits of the prayer plumes, which, it is supposed, the
prey gods take into his presence, and which are, as it were, memoranda
(like quippus) to him and other high gods of the prayers of men, they
are also made to bear messages to men from him and his associated
gods.
For instance, it is believed that any member of the medicine orders who
neglects his religious duties as such is rendered liable to punishment
(Hä[']-ti-a-k'ia-na-k'ia=reprehension) by Pó-shai-a[n,]-ki'a through
some one of his warriors.
As illustrative of this, the story of an adventure of Mí-tsi, an Indian
who "still lives, but limps," is told by the priests with great emphasis to