the child be a girl, the mother, or a three-plumule, corn is
selected; if a boy, the father, or single ear, corn. The fourth day
after the birth the child is again bathed in the yucca root suds by
the same grandmother, who again repeats a long prayer. During the
first ten days of the child's life the paternal grandmother remains in
the daughter-in-law's house, looking after the mother and helping in
the preparation of the feast that is to occur. On the morning of the
tenth day the child is taken from its bed of sand, to which it is
never to return, and upon the left arm of the paternal grandmother it
is carried for the first time into the presence of the rising sun. To
the breast of the child the grandmother carrying it presses the ear of
corn which lay by its side during the ten days; to her left the mother
of the infant walks, carrying in her left hand the ear of corn which
lay by her side. Both women sprinkle a line of sacred meal, emblematic
of the straight road which the child must follow to win the favor of
its gods. Thus the first object which the child is made to behold at
the very dawn of its existence is the sun, the great object of their
worship; and long ere the little lips can lisp a prayer it is repeated
for it by the grandmother.

The Zuni are polytheists; yet, while they have a plurality of gods,
many of whom are the spirits of their ancestors, these gods are but
mediums through which to reach their one great father of all--the Sun.

[Plate XX: ZUNI MASKS AND K[=O]-Y[=E]-M[=E]-SHI.

2 P[=A]-OO-T[=I]-WA. 1 K[=O]-Y[=E]-M[=E]-SHI. 3 SAI-[=A]-HLI-A.]

Returning to the house, the paternal grandmother again bathes the
child in yucca suds; then, for the first time, the little one is put
into the cradle. The baby's arms are placed straight by its sides, and
in this position it is so strapped in its cradle that it cannot even
move a hand. These cradles have hood-shaped tops, and over the whole
thick coverings are placed, so that the wonder is the child does not
smother. The cradle is usually deposited in some safe corner, and the
baby is left to sleep or amuse itself with its infantine thoughts. The
cradle is sometimes attached to two ropes to form a swing, and when
the mother becomes conscious of the child's awakening she uncovers its
head at times and the tiny thing casts its eyes around. On the tenth
morning both parents of the child are bathed in suds of yucca, the
whole body of the mother but only the he