112 SUMMER CEREMONIALS 



rain symbol on the earth, the Sacred Lodge, and the de- 

 posit of offerings of water in the receptacle below, there 

 seems no doubt but that this dance is a rain ceremonial 

 which has many other ceremonial ways of expression. 



It is a noteworthy fact in this connection that the high- 

 est stages of culture on the American continent among 

 aborigines is found where the climate is so dry and where 

 nature has done so little for the agriculturist. The fertile 

 well- watered valley of the Missouri and Ohio would seem 

 much more favorable to the development of the agricultur- 

 ist than the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona. There are 

 more fertile regions in South America than those in which 

 the Peruvian culture flourished. Possibly, the abundance 

 of game in such regions rendered it less obligatory for man 

 to become an agriculturist. He remained a nomad be- 

 cause game was plentiful, and as long as this source of food 

 remained agriculture made slow growth. The arid deserts 

 however, although less suited for cultivation than the bot- 

 tomlands of the river banks, furnished only scanty hunt- 

 ing privileges. The buffalo could not be relied upon for 

 food and man was forced to cultivate the soil. The mo- 

 ment primitive man became an agriculturist he became sed- 

 entary, and he began to live in settled abodes. Then 

 would naturally arise a system of observances instituted 

 to bring rain for crops and elaborate ceremonials be prac- 

 tised which would not arise among a race of hunters. Dry 

 climates, for some unknown reason, have always had an in- 

 fluence in leading a man from a nomadic to a sedentary 

 condition or from the hunter to the agriculturist, and many 

 of the civilizations on the old continent have arisen in sim- 

 ilar desiccated regions. 



The writer believes that certain similarities in the re- 

 ligious observances of the pueblos to those of other 

 primitive peoples inhabiting a desiccated country are di- 



