THE HOPI SNAKE-DANCE 69 



themselves of lofty and broad-minded spiritual- 

 ity, who have respected the advances already 

 made by the Indian toward a higher spiritual 

 life, and instead of condemning these advances 

 have made use of them in bringing his soul to 

 a loftier level. One very important service ren- 

 dered by the missionaries is their w^arfare on 

 what is evil among the white men on the reser- 

 vations; they are most potent allies in warring 

 against drink and sexual immorahty, two of the 

 greatest curses with which the Indian has to 

 contend. The missionary is always the foe of 

 the white man of loose life, and of the white man 

 who sells whiskey. Many of the missionaries, 

 including all who do most good, are active in 

 protecting the rights of each Indian to his land. 

 Like the rest of us, the missionary needs to keep 

 in mind the fact that the Indian criminal is on 

 the whole more dangerous to the well-meaning 

 Indian than any outsider can at present be; 

 for there are as wide differences of character 

 and conduct among Indians as among whites, 

 and there is the same need in the one case as in 

 the other of treating each individual according 

 to his conduct — and of persuading the people 

 of his own class and color thus to treat him. 



Several times we walked up the precipitous 

 cliff trails to the mesa top, and visited the 



