man of war and the chase, like
all savages, the Zuni has chosen above all other animals those which
supply him with food and useful material, together with the animals
which prey on them, giving preference to the latter. Hence, while the
name of the former class is applied preferably as a _general_ term to
all animals and animal gods, as previously explained, the name of the
latter is used with equal preference as a term for all fetiches
(We-ma-we), whether of the prey animals themselves or of other animals
and beings. Of course it is equally natural, since they are connected
with man both in the scale of being and in the power to supply his
physical wants more nearly than are the higher gods, that the animals or
animal gods should greatly outnumber and even give character to all
others. We find that the Fetiches of the Zunis relate mostly to the
animal gods, and principally to the prey gods.

ORIGIN OF ZUNI FETICHISM.

This fetichism seems to have arisen from the relationships heretofore
alluded to, and to be founded on the myths which have been invented to
account for those relationships. It is therefore not surprising that
those fetiches most valued by the Zunis should be either natural
concretions (Plate I, Fig. 6), or objects in which the evident original
resemblance to animals has been only heightened by artificial means
(Plate IV, Fig. 7; Plate V, Fig. 4; Plate VI, Figs. 3,6, 8; Plate VIII,
Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5; Plate IX, Fig. 1).

Another highly prized class of fetiches are, on the contrary, those
which are elaborately carved, but show evidence, in their polish and
dark patina, of great antiquity. They are either such as have been found
by the Zunis about pueblos formerly inhabited by their ancestors or are
tribal possessions which have been handed down from generation to
generation, until their makers, and even the fact that they were made by
any member of the tribe, have been forgotten. It is supposed by the
priests (A-shi-wa-ni) of Zuni that not only these, but all true
fetiches, are either actual petrifactions of the animals they represent,
or were such originally. Upon this supposition is founded the following
tradition, taken, as are others to follow, from a remarkable mythologic
epic, which I have entitled the Zuni Iliad.

[Illustration: PREY GOD FETICHES.]

THE ZUNI ILIAD.

Although oral, this epic is of great length, metrical, rythmical even
in parts, and filled with archaic expressions nowhere t