This attitude is perhaps summed up best by one of my informants, a rather sophisticated Washo who has lived in cities for long periods and who is an active leader in the tribe’s legal battle with the federal government. He is also a devoted peyotist who often conducts curing ceremonies and is conceded to have a curing power. He said, “If they ever get up a bunch to trap one of them [Water Babies], I don’t want to have nothing to do with it.” When I asked why not, he replied: “Why hell, if you make one of them things mad they’ll flood the world. I just don’t want nothing to do with them. I ain’t that desperate.” I asked, “desperate for what?” and he replied “for power. I like to dream about womens [sic] and things like that, not about Water Babies and that funny stuff.” This last statement clearly indicates the other attitude about Water Babies; they are often guardian spirits of Washo who have special power, particularly shamanistic curing power. Another informant expressed this other attitude about these creatures. He is about seventy, attended Stewart Indian School for ten years and lived among the Hopi for ten years. He boasts a stone and cement-block home, the only such dwelling owned by a Washo. He has learned to bead baskets and during most of the year earns a reasonable income from this. His seeming adjustment to white culture is confounded when his philosophic position is examined. He can only be termed a mystic who interprets the world in Indian terms. Exposure to such influences as the writings of Kroeber and Huxley has only confirmed his essentially Indian viewpoint. Both his parents were famous Indian doctors and his maternal uncle, who was also his mentor,(2) was a famous shaman. My informant implied that his uncle’s spirit (wegeleyo), from which his power was derived, was the Water Baby, and his own carefully guarded statement implied that the creature was potentially his own spirit. His view of the Water Baby was quite the reverse of other informants. “Some people think the Water Baby will hurt them, but he won’t. If they see him by accident he won’t do nothing. But if he has given you his power and you see him—then wham, he maybe knock you right down.” This appears to have been his way of describing a seizure by the Water Baby, which although a fearful experience, usually resulted in the gift of additional power. There was, however, general agreement among informants that the Water Baby could, if he gave his power to a person, demand repayment with the lives of his protégé’s close relatives or entire family.(3) The various powers and activities of the Water Babies are perhaps best described in the following stories recounted by informants: