The source of all Zuñi authority, sacred or profane [and of all other Pueblos as well?] lies in certain priesthoods, and since these receive their origin, venerability, permanence, and even name from the _ettowe_ (fetishes) with which they are associated, the depth to which these fetishes underlie all Zuñi life becomes apparent. The fetishes are preserved in certain houses and are normally kept in jars of special design, fed at appointed times, but handled and exposed only on occasions of extreme ritualistic importance. The true understanding of Zuñi life other than its purely practical operations can be had only as we centre it about the _ettowe_. When a family abandons a house, the room where the _ettowe_ usually lies is kept in repair, and its priests continue to go in _watto_ (to pray) there.[147] Each clan possesses its _ettowe_, and probably each set of priests is more or less clan-associated. Around these priesthoods, fraternities, clan-organization, as well as most esoteric thinking and sacred tradition, group themselves, while in turn _kivas_, dances, and acts of public worship can be construed as but the outward means of expression of inward activities that radiate around the nucleus of the physical fetishes and the ideas attached to them.[148] The visitor to any particular pueblo, if forearmed with some such general ideas of its policy, will assuredly gain a little better understanding of even the superficial occupations that he may chance to observe. We were consequently keen to learn how many of the old customs survive in this conservative community of Ácoma. It was not difficult to realize the deeply intimate family relationship of three generations of women of the Eagle clan with whom we associated. We also visited a more modern house of the Sun clan and we got some confirmatory impressions of many of the civil functions of its male population. In Ácoma, then, as in most Pueblo settlements, the family life is a mutually supporting partnership. Everything within the house belongs to the woman, even if brought there by her husband. Although the man goes forth to the hunt, once he has laid within the threshold a rabbit or a deer, he may not thereafter touch it if his wife objects, and all domestic animals, like sheep and chickens, belong to her and may not be sold without her permission. However, the man has his own prerogatives. To the man belong his blankets and his weapons, his horses and burros, his farm implements and all other tools. The right to hold office in the pueblo, to attain to priesthood in the fraternities, and to frequent the _kivas_ (ceremonial chambers) are alone open to the men. From this fact it is evident that in spite of this semblance of a matriarchate the women have no voice in government. Further, it is true that so long as a man is a legitimate member of a household he is ruler of its affairs. The curious anomaly is seen (at