The conclusion of the whole matter is therefore that all Indians divide the phenomena of nature, including man, into human and superhuman, and to him almost every natural phenomenon is a mystery. As the Reverend J. Owen Dorsey, a first authority on the subject, puts it: “Even man himself may become mysterious by fasting, prayer, and vision,” and this was indeed the chief function of the cacique, who by acts such as these expiated vicariously the sins of his clan. If the dictum of a wise man be justified, that “every man is to a greater or less extent a dual personality,” the American Indian should rank as the most evenly developed of all human creatures, since duality is the essence of his being. Chapter XV RELIGIOUS BELIEFS The theatre of the world is the theatre of necromancy: and the gods are the primaeval wonder-workers. The primitive religion of every American Indian tribe is an organized system of inducing the ancients to take part in the affairs of men and the worship of the gods is a system designed to please the gods, that they may be induced to act particularly for the tribe of men who are the worshippers.—J. W. POWELL. If we are to attempt to understand the Pueblo Indian it becomes necessary to preface our inquiry by a brief outline, however superficial, of those general aspects of his religious belief and practice which scholars have agreed to consider as part of the common heritage of the race. In this Ácoma must inevitably share.