in advance and prepare them for your coming.”  “But,” said his people, “you are our father; you must not walk,” and the ten K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi accompanied him, carrying him on their backs, relieving each other when fatigued.  The Kaek-l[=o] visited the [=A]h-shi-wi nine days in advance of the Sae-lae-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya and K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si, instructing the people regarding the K[=o]k-k[=o], how they must represent them in the future and hold their ceremonials, and telling them that the boys must be made members of the K[=o]k-k[=o], and that this particular ceremony must occur but once in four years.  He also gave to the people the history of himself, how the duck had befriended him and led him to the home of his people.

BIRTH CUSTOMS.

Having now briefly sketched the mythology relating to the ceremonials to be described, I invite your attention to the main subject of the present paper:  the Religious Life of the Zuni Child.

First we will notice the birth customs.

Zuni child life may be divided into two parts.  One I will call the practical or domestic; the other, the mythologic or religious.  The former is fairly exemplified in the habits, customs, games, and experiences of our own domestic child life.  The other is essentially different; in it are involved the ceremonials, legends, and myths which surround the Zuni child from its birth.

Previous to the birth of a child, if a daughter be desired, the husband and wife proceed together to the “mother” rock, and at her feet make offerings and prayers, imploring her to intercede with the great father, the Sun, to give to them a daughter, and that this daughter may grow to be all that is good in woman; that she may be endowed with the power of weaving beautifully and may be skilled in the potter’s art.  Should a son be desired, the couple repair to the shrine above, and here, at the breast and heart of the “father” rock, prayers and plume sticks are offered that a son may be given them, and that he may have power to conquer his enemies, and that he may become distinguished in the K[=o]k-k[=o] and other orders, and have power over the field to produce abundant crops.  In both cases the sacred meal is sprinkled, and, should the prayer not be answered, there is no doubt that the heart of one or the other was not earnest when the prayer was offered.

The Zuni child is born amid ceremony.  At its birth only the maternal grandmother and two female doctors are present.  After the birth of the child, the paternal grandmother enters, bearing as offerings to the new born babe a large pottery bowl and inside of it a tiny blanket.  She then prepares warm suds of yucca root in the bowl, in which she bathes the infant, at the same time repeating a prayer of thanks for the life that has been given them and praying for the future of the child.  She then rubs the entire body of the child, except the head, with warm