At a signal the snake priests grab up the snakes and run with them down the trail 

 leading from the mesa to the plains where the snakes are released. These snakes are supposed 

 to carry a report of the ceremony and the honor bestowed upon them to the supernatural 

 beings who control the rainfall 



artist the human interest for his pictures. In their daily life and many 

 ceremonies they reflect the colors of skies, the shapes of the clouds and 

 mesas and fill both with innumerable supernatural beings. 



But the Hopi are profiting by the example of the Navajo in acquiring 

 sheep and some cattle and although modern scientific farming is a failure in 

 their reservation they succeed in raising corn, melons and peaches. Changes 

 due to civilization have rapidly been taking place in the ceremonial life of 

 the people. We can but wonder how this ceremonial life has held out so 

 long considering the pressure of the Government and the constant flow of 

 returning students from the schools. But the few old men of the tribe 

 retain their confidence in the primitive traditions and are not in the least 

 shaken by the young men's statements of facts which run counter to their 

 accepted beliefs. What answer is there to the fact that after three months 

 of drought the participants in a dance for rain were drenched? That a 

 repetition of the dance the following day brought more rain? And that 

 in a circuit of the villages extending over more than one hundred miles, 

 with one or two exceptions rain attended the visits of the dancers? 



The Hopi men have now adopted white man's dress in their daily life. 

 Automobiles carry the mails to within a few miles of the Hopi villages and 

 soon the land will be overrun with tourists. From an artistic standpoint 

 the Indian of the Southwest is surely disappearing and it will soon be 

 necessary for the artist to reconstruct the customs and habits which may 

 now be seen in their final stage of dissolution. We are grateful that yet a 

 few in Hopiland retain their beliefs based upon centuries of close contact 

 with nature and still live in a world of their gods. 



125 



