there is also a relation between the spirits of other animals and those of his own dead, which amounts to an enunciation of a belief in the doctrine of transmigration.
Some of them think, after death, they turn into cayotes, bears, and other animals. On the other hand, many contend that they are to enact the rôle of unquiet ghosts, and flit about at night infesting the scene of their abode on earth until "laid" with the ceremonies and offerings already pointed out.[1]
In the rooms of the Secret Society of the Zunis, to which the writer was introduced by Mr. Gushing, was to be noticed the image of the cliff-swallow, a bird which would naturally be found in the list of gods of a tribe addicted to ancestor-worship, from the fact that it builds its nests in the cliffs in which the ancestors of the Zunis once dwelt. The Apaches do not admit that this little bird is comprehended among their deities, but they say they have traditions to show that it is entitled to a great amount of respect from having been the first creature to build houses.
The following animals occur among the gods of the Zunis, Moquis, and Rio Grande Pueblos:—The wild cat, cayote, elk, deer, antelope, rabbit, porcupine, eagle, mole, bear, Rocky Mountain lion. Representations of these are depicted upon the walls of Estufas, or other places devoted to religious ceremonies. The veneration of the rabbit (jackass rabbit) ought to obtain among all the tribes roaming over what was once known as the Great
- ↑ The Mojaves, living along the Colorado river, are more distinct in their explanation. They assert that after death the soul of man passes through four different animals, the last being always the water-beetle; after which it becomes nothing, or enters into what might be called Nirvana.
The authority for this statement in reference to the Mojaves is Captain F. E. Price, 1st Infantry, U.S. Army, commanding Fort Mojave, Orizona; and personal statements from members of that tribe to the author.
