60 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



By my charm tell the evil dream to leave me; 

 Let the evil dream not come true; 

 Give me medicine to dispel the evil dream; 

 The evil has missed me, the evil has missed me, the evil 

 has missed me, the evil has missed me.'* 



(The fourfold repetition of "the evil has 

 missed me" is held to insure the accomplish- 

 ment in the future of what the prayer asserts 

 of the past. Instead of "hat" we could say 

 "helmet," as the Navajos once wore a black 

 buckskin helmet; and the knife was of black 

 flint. Black was the war color. This prayer 

 was to ward oflF the efifect of a bad dream.) 



On August 17, we left Wetherill's with our 

 pack-train, for a three days' trip across the 

 Black Mesa to Walpi, where we were to wit- 

 ness the snake-dance of the Hopis. The desert 

 valley where Kayentay stands is bounded on 

 the south by a high wall of cliffs, extending 

 for scores of miles. Our first day's march took 

 us up this; we led the saddle-horses and drove 

 the pack-animals up a very rough Navajo trail 

 which zigzagged to the top through a partial 

 break in the continuous rock wall. From the 

 summit we looked back over the desert, barren, 

 desolate, and yet with a curious fascination of 

 its own. In the middle distance rose a line of 



