TO ZUÑI.

yields authority in all matters pertaining to war and the enforcement of criminal law.

In addition to the secular government there is always a cult government. In every tribe there are Shamans, designated variously by white men as "medicine men," "priests," "priest doctors," "theurgists," etc. In many tribes, perhaps in all, the people are organized into Shamanistic societies; but that these societies are invariably recognized is not certain. The Shamans are always found. Among the Zuñi there are thirteen of these cult societies. The purpose of Shamanistic institutions is to control the conduct of the members of the tribe in relation to mythic personages, the mysterious beings in which the savage men believe. In the mind of the savage the world is peopled by a host of mythic beings, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. The difference between man and brute recognized in civilization, is unrecognized in savagery. All animal life is wonderful and magical co sylvan man. Wisdom, cunning, skill, and prowess are attributed to the real animals to a degree often greater than to man; and there are mythic animals as well as mythic men--monsters dwelling in the mountains and caves or hiding in the waters, who make themselves invisible as they pass over the land. Not only are there great monsters, beasts, and reptiles in their mythology, but there are wonderful insects and worms. All life is miraculous and is worshiped as divine. The heavenly bodies, the sun and moon and stars, are mythic animals, and all of the phenomena of nature are attributed to these zoic beings. For example, the Indian knows nothing of the ambient air. The wind is the breath of some beast, or it is a fanning which rises from under the wings of a mythic bird. All the phenomena of nature, the rising and setting of the sun, the waxing and waning of the moon, the shining of the stars, the coming of comets, the flash of meteors, the change of seasons, the gathering and vanishing of the clouds, the blowing of the winds, the falling of the rain, the spreading of the snow, and all other phenomena of physical nature, are held to be the acts of these wonderful zoic deities. It is deemed of prime importance that such deities should be induced to act in the interest of men. Thus it is that Shamanistic government is held to be of as great importance as tribal government, and the Shamans are the peers of the chiefs. With some tribes the cult socie-


CANYONS OF THE COLORADO.

ties have greater powers than the clan; with other tribes clan government is the more important; but always there is a conflict of authority, and there is a perpetual war between Shamanistic and civil government.

These Shamans and cult societies have a great variety of functions to perform. All disease and all injuries are attributed to mythic beings or to witchcraft, and on these pathologic ideas the medicine practices of the people are based. The medicine men are sorcerers, who work wonders in discovering witchcraft and averting its effects or in discovering the disease-making animals and overcoming their power. So the Shamans and the cult societies are the possessors of medicine and ceremonies designed to prevent and cure human ailments. They also have charge of the ceremonies necessary to avert disaster and to secure success in all the affairs of life in peace and war; and they prescribe methods and observances and furnish charms and amulets, and in every way possible control human conduct in its relation to the unknown. No small part of savage life is devoted to cult ceremonies and observances. The hunter cannot penetrate the forest without his charm; the woman cannot plant corn until a ceremony is performed for securing the blessings of some divine being. Religious festivals and ceremonies are carried on for days and weeks. A war must be submitted to the gods, and a sneeze demands a prayer.

Our arrival at Fort Wingate practically ended the exploration of the great valley of the Colorado. This was in 1870. In 1891 we can look back upon the completion of the survey of all of that region, for it has now been carefully mapped. The geology of the country has been studied, and the tribes which inhabit it have been subjects of careful research. This work has been carried on by a large corps of men, and interesting results have accrued.