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.]