The Zuni are also divided into clans, the totems of which
agree closely with those of the Moquis, and one of their totems is
the turtle. Thus their belief in transmigration into the turtle is
probably one of the regular articles of their totem faith. What then
is the meaning of killing a turtle in which the soul of a kinsman is
believed to be present? Apparently the object is to keep up a
communication with the other world in which the souls of the
departed are believed to be assembled in the form of turtles. It is
a common belief that the spirits of the dead return occasionally to
their old homes; and accordingly the unseen visitors are welcomed
and feasted by the living, and then sent upon their way. In the Zuni
ceremony the dead are fetched home in the form of turtles, and the
killing of the turtles is the way of sending back the souls to the
spirit-land. Thus the general explanation given above of the custom
of killing a god seems inapplicable to the Zuni custom, the true
meaning of which is somewhat obscure. Nor is the obscurity which
hangs over the subject entirely dissipated by a later and fuller
account which we possess of the ceremony.
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