The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-06-11
ZITNI SUPERSTITION RE
GARDING PORTRAITS

The artists work was source o
wonder to the Zunis. and the
| looked upon his spirited portrayal
with intense interest. They were
until recently, extremely sUpersti
tious about portraits, and nothing
would induce any of them to allow
their pictures to be made. They be
lieYed that something OF their &C
tual personality went with theil
| likeness, and that whoever possessed
it would also possess a certain con
troll over themselves - control
which might bring evil upon them
| But Mr.. Cushing, who has a talent
for Sketching which has been OF
great service to him in his notes
baniShed this superstition. II
nearly cost HIM his life one time,
But they saw that no evil came OF it,
and so they outgTeW their Objec-
| lions. There set ms to be no Chinese
| conservatism about them, but when
they see the light they readily accept
it. In Mr.. Cushing's earlier days in
Zuni his skeJchlng caused a secret
resolve to be made to kill him for
practices that might bring disaster
to them all. 1t was TO be done at a
great dance that was soon TO come
off. He sat upon a neighboring
huuse-top with sketch-bOok in hand,
when two hideOus figures among the
dancers, painted a diabOlital black,
came to the foot of the adjacent lad
der and pounded upon it with their
war-clubS, shouting out something
which caused the multitude to look
toward him. He thought it
ocular part of the performance, and
smiled good-naturedly. But he I'M
derstood enough of the language at
the time to distinguish the cries
among the crowd: Kill him! kill
himp It was part Of the perform
ance to kill a symbOlical Navajo,
the Navajos being the ancient
enemies of the Zunis. Mr.. Gushing
had no idea that he was cast for the
part of that Navajo, and did not
comprehend the real gravity of the
situation until he heard the women
echo the cries, Kill him kill him y
The people rose up and looked his
way. The assemblage was silent
with expectation. He glanced
behind; there was a wall
of dark figures frOwning down
upon him, half mufied in
their blankets ard standing as i'm
movable as statues. The twin tieEds
below made ready to come up the
ladder. Mr.. Cushing now saw that
his life was really threatened. A
thousand against one! Escape was |
hopeless. He thought his last
moment had cove, and his heart |
was terribly fri ,htened. But to |
give way to fear was useless, and !
told him to face the dan
ger coolly. So he leisurely laid down |
his sketch book, placed stone upon
the leaves to keep them from blow
ing in the wind, produced a new
hunting knife which he had just |
brought back with him from
Fort Wingate, where he had
been on a trip-nObOdy knew
he had it-and fourished it,
at the same time breaking out |
into a loud, defiant laugh. The
evident GOODNESS Of the act, his bold
ness in facing them, took his as
sailants aback; they paused, and
uttered a word meaning, "a spiritual
that is, a friend possessing
characteristics, making
him more than common earthly
friend-qualitles which would bring
good to them as a people.
"a spiritual friend-We must not
kill spiritual friendp cried the
TWO; but we must kill a NavajOp
they shouted.
So out of the court they rushed in
search of a Navajo. A few minutes,
and a fearful yelping was heard. In
they rushed, dragging Navajo
IN the shape Of a great yellow cur
half paralyZed with fright.
They stunned him with their
clubs; before he was dead they had
him disemboweled, and in their
frenzy were ravenousIy eating the
vitals. Mr.. Cushing
looked on in gratitude that he was
not just then in the place of that
dog, playing the part of a Navajo.
But the event turned out to be the
most fortunate thing for him; it
fixed him in the affections Of the
whole tribe, and from that day was
to be dated his great influence in
Zuni.
The superstition about portraits
new fingered only among some Of
5he old Women-thOSe conservators
IF the ancient order of things with
Ill people. At PescadO the artist
had made a sketch Of a pretty little
girl. At Zuni Mr.. Gushing showed !
t to the child'S grandmother, a
White haired old crOne, who looked {
It it intently for a moment, then
eft the room sObbing wildly, say I
ng, "NIy poor Lupolital how could !
7ou be so cruel as to let such an
vii come upon her."-Harper'S
Magazine. !