THE KNIFE-FEATHERED MONSTER, THE MOUNTAIN LION, AND THE GREAT WHITE BEAR.
The Priesthood of the Bow possesses three fetiches, two of which are of the We-ma-á-hâ-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 Zuñis and their fetichism. These three beings are, the Mountain Lion (Plate X, Pig. 2), the great White Bear (Plate XI, Fig. 2), (Áiŋ-shi k'ó-ha-na—the god of the scalp-taking ceremonials), and the Knife-feathered Monster (Á-tchi-a lä-to-pa), (Plate X, Fig. 1).
This curious god is the hero of hundreds of folklore tales, and the tutelar deity of several of the societies of Zuñi. He is represented as possessing a human form, furnished with flint knife-feathered pinions, and tail. His dress consists of the conventional terraced cap(representative of his dwelling-place among the clouds), and the ornaments, badge, and garments of the Kâ′-kâ. His weapons are the Great Flint-Knife of War, the Bow of the Skies (the Rain-bow), and the Arrow of Lightning, and his guardians or warriors are the Great Mountain Lion of the North and that of the Upper regions.
He was doubtless the original War God of the Zuñis, 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 Zuñi.
Both the Great White Bear and the Mountain Lion of the War Priesthood are, as well as the Knife-feathered Demon, beings of the skies. For this reason the fetich of the Mountain Lion of the skies (of aragonite) 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 preserving it during life as my special fetich, and instructed in the various usages connected with it. The other was drawn from a sketch made by myself of a fetich in Zuñi.
SHIELD AND FETICH OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BOW.