.... These days we are 

 having some wonderful 

 sand storms, blowing up 

 nearly every afternoon. 

 Off here on the mesa we 

 get little of them, but see 

 the sand sweeping up the 

 plains and piling drifts 

 around the school and 

 store buildings. 



.... I went to a Hopi 

 wedding yesterday morn- 

 ing — the first I've seen. 

 It was held at the groom's 

 house, where, as is the 

 custom, the girl had gone 

 previously to grind corn 

 for three days. I arrived 

 in plenty of time, for only 

 their mothers were up — - 

 though some other guests 

 had already been wel- 

 comed. In front of the 

 fireplace in one corner 

 the two women had two 

 large bowls of warm water 

 and busied themselves 

 working up a lather from 

 crushed soap-weed root, 

 while the balance of the 

 family woke up and 

 dressed. The bride's toilet 

 consisted in rising in her 

 blanket and putting on her 

 belt — for they sleep in 

 their one garment. About 

 that time the man ap- 

 peared from an adjoining 

 room, yawning (for, mind 

 you, this was at "first 

 cock-crow"), clad in blue overalls, much worn, and an old shirt, for he is an educated 

 chap and takes to the white man's burden of clothes. Then they both knelt in 

 front of the basins and his mother washed her hair and her mother washed his. 

 Head washing is a feature of all their ceremonies and they all have wonderfully 

 beautiful hair. When the hair had been partly dried, they bathed the bride's arms, 

 shoulders and feet, and all present threw water which they had brought for the pur- 

 pose over the groom. After that the two stepped out on the terrace, joined hands, 

 cast a pinch of sacred cornmeal toward the sunrise and they twain were one. Now 

 she will live at his house for two months, dining which time he and his male relatives 

 will weave two white robes and an elaborate white sash for her, which she will put 

 on and wear to her own house — he following later, and they settling there. After 

 the wedding I went home and still had an hour or two for sleep before sunrise. 



To-morrow we have another "kachina" dance — thirty Indians or so from a 

 branch settlement at Moenkapi, forty-five miles away, visit us for that purpose. 



114 



"The Honi Buckskin Man." Sketch in color by Louis 

 Akin, presented in 1912 to the Camp-Fire Club of New York 



