| Page. | |
| Brief account of Zuñi mythology | 539 |
| Birth customs | 545 |
| Involuntary initiation into the Kōk-kō | 547 |
| Voluntary initiation into the Kōk-kō | 553 |
| Page. | |||
| Plate | XX. | Zuñi masks and Kō-yē-mē-shi | 545 |
| XXI. | Group of Sä-lä-mō-bī-ya masks | 548 | |
| XXII. | Zuñi sand altar in Kiva of the North | 550 | |
| XXIII. | Ōh-hē-i-que, Kiva of the East | 552 |
The Pueblo of Zuñi is situated in Western New Mexico on the RioZuñi, a tributary of the Little Colorado River. The Zuñi have residedin this region for several centuries. The peculiar geologic andgeographic character of the country surrounding them, as well as itsaridity, furnishes ample sources from which a barbarous people wouldderive legendary and mythologic history. A brief reference to thesefeatures is necessary to understand more fully the religious phases ofZuñi child life.
Three miles east of the Pueblo of Zuñi is a conspicuously beautifulmesa, of red and white sandstone, tō-wā-yäl län-ne (corn mountain).Upon this mesa are the remains of the old village of Zuñi. TheZuñi lived during a long period on this mesa, and it was here thatCoronado found them in the sixteenth century. Tradition tells thatthey were driven by a great flood from the site they now occupy, whichis in the valley below the mesa, and that they resorted to the mesa forprotection from the rising waters. The waters rose to the very summitof the mesa, and to appease the aggressive element a human sacrificewas necessary. A youth and a maiden, son and daughter of twopriest