Page 175 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND 167

' ' I will make it black again ! " So with soot he made
magical passes horizonward, and behold, the butte re
sumed again its natural color !
Notwithstanding the style of these stories, of which
there are many, the fire-priests do perform wonderful
feats of juggling and legerdemain, especially in win
ter when abbreviated ceremonies are held. On ac
count of these performances of sleight-of-hand and
deception the Hopi are renowned as jugglers and have
a reputation extending far and wide over the South
west.
Besides the Yaya there are many other medicine
men, or shamans, who relieve persons afflicted by sor
cerers.
The sufferer believes that a sorcerer has shot with
his span-long bow an old turquoise bead or arrowhead
into some part of his body. He, therefore, summons
one of his shamans to relieve him. A single shaman
is called Tu hi ky a, ' ' the one who knows by feeling or
touching. ' ' The first treatment adopted to relieve the
sufferer is to pass an eagle feather, held by the shaman
in his fingers, over the body of the afflicted person un
til the shaman asserts he feels and locates the missile.
The term applied to more than one of these shamans
is Poboctu or eye seekers. In the concluding part of
the conjuring, in which more than one person usually
engages, the shamans move around peering and gazing
everywhere, until they determine the direction in
which the malign influence lies. I have been in
formed by Mr. Stephen that he saw them engaged over
a victim in Sitcumovi many years ago and that they