It is believed that without recourse to these fetiches or to prayers and
other inducements toward the game animals, especially the deer tribe, it
would be useless to attempt the chase. Untrammeled by the Medicine of
the Deer, the powers of the fetiches, or the animals of prey
represented, the larger game is unconquerable; and no man, however great
his endurance, is accounted able to overtake or to weary them. It thus
happens that few hunters venture forth without a fetich, even though
they belong to none of the memberships heretofore mentioned. Indeed, the
wearing of these fetiches becomes almost as universal as is the wearing
of amulets and "Medicines" among other nations and Indian tribes; since
they are supposed to bring to their rightful possessors or holders, not
only success in the chase and in war (in the case of the Warriors or
Priests of the Bow), but also good fortune in other matters.
The successful hunter is typical of possession, since the products of
his chase yield him food, apparel, ornament, and distinction. It is
therefore argued with strange logic that, even though one may not be a
hunter, there must exist a connection between the possessions of the
hunter and the possessions of that one, and that principally through the
fetiches. A man therefore counts it the greatest of good fortune when he
happens to find either a natural or artificial object resembling one of
the animals of prey. He presents it to a proper member of the Prey
Brotherhood, together with the appropriate flint arrow-point and the
desirable amount of ornaments (thla-a) for dressing (thle-a-k'ia-na) and
finishing (i-ya-k'ia-na), as soon as possible.