74 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 
selves. Their doctrines taught that: The gods who bring good are 
exacting, and man must comply with the demands of his gods in 
order that the godly blessings may be bestowed upon him. He must 
not only perform the religious duties assigned him, but observe proper 
intelligence in the performance of these rites. “In the far past 
Ava"’nyu, the great plumed serpent, whose home is in the depths of 
the lake of the departed, determined to take a journey over the upper 
plane so that he could look below and observe the people of this world. 
Fic. 71.—Circular kiva at Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico. 
Photograph by Vroman. 
Upon viewing a certain village on the summit of a mesa not many 
miles from the present pueblo of San Ildefonso on the Rio Grande, 
he discovered that though the people were devout, their rituals were 
all wrong and as a punishment for their ignorance he converted them 
into si’de (small bird), Mexican pajarito, and had them fly away. 
Since that time the deserted village has been called Side ge, small 
bird place. These ruins are known to the outside world as the 
Pajarito ruins. 
Religion and ritual kept pace with the development of man. The 
peoples more remote from the long-continued influence of Roman 
