<p id=&quot;d0e6924&quot;>I had many interesting interviews with the old shaman whom the authorities had appointed to serve me. He confided to me that for many years he had faithfully fulfilled his office as the principal singing shaman of the community, but that the people had once suddenly accused him of practising sorcery and wanted to punish him. Being very intelligent and upright, he was of great assistance to me, and the more eager to do all he could for the grudge he bore his compatriots for accusing him of sorcery. No doubt he was glad of my coming, as it gave him a chance to rehabilitate himself, since, for the first time in three years, he had been engaged to sing at the dance. Be this as it may, I obtained much valuable information from him. He could elucidate the trend of Indian thought better than any shaman I had hitherto met, and his talk was full of aphorisms and opinions with reference to Indian views of life.</p>
<p id=&quot;d0e6926&quot;>Referring to the many regulations and observances the Indians have to comply with in order to insure food, health, and life, he said: &quot;A man has to do a good deal to live. Every tortilla we eat is the result of our work. If we do not work, it does not rain.&quot; That the &quot;work&quot; [516] consists in fasting, praying, and dancing does not detract from its hardship.</p>
<p id=&quot;d0e6930&quot;>Other sayings I picked up are as follows:</p>
<p id=&quot;d0e6932&quot;>We do not know how many gods there are.</p>
<p id=&quot;d0e6934&quot;>The Moon is man and woman combined; men see in her a woman, women see a man.</p>
<p id=&quot;d0e6936&quot;>It is better to give a wife to your son before he opens his eyes very much; if not, he will not know whom he wants.</p>
<p id=&quot;d0e6938&quot;>Illness is like a person; it hears.</p>
<p id=&quot;d0e6940&quot;>Everything is alive; there is nothing dead in the world. The people say the dead are dead; but they are very much alive.</p>