THEORETIC DEDUCTIONS 
When we attempt to analyze the Tusayan ritual, we are led to suspect 
that the similarities in the great ceremonials are in part results of com 
position. The Tusayan people have been made up of increments, 
which have gradually assimilated, as history and legends describe. 
Each of these additions brought its own ceremonials, some of which 
were still practiced, and have been transmitted to descendants, surviv- 
ing to the present day. The ritual has thus come to be one of compo- 
sition, not of replacement. 
Christianity had a like reception when it came among the pueblos. 
It was engrafted on the Pagan system, and so long as it was not 
thought to be aggressive it was welcomed; but so soon as the new culf 
sought to replace existing rites, it encountered resistance. Hacl 
priesthood held that its rites were efficacious, and those of associate 
societies were likewise good; but when any one of these priesthoods 
declared those of another bad, a position which to their minds was 
illogical, since the priests of one fraternity do not know the secret rites 
of another, an unusual condition arose. As history shows, there was 
no objection to Christianity at its advent, and it took its place with 
numerous Tusayan cults, in their system; but the attempt to over- 
throw the latter led to the hostilities which culminated in 1700. 
The several components which formed the Tusayan people practiced 
ceremonials similar in general character, but different in details. As 
they became united, each retained certain of its ceremonials, which 
have been transmitted to our time. The similarities we detect show 
how close these components were. 
The comparative studies of the Snake presentation which I have 
made in the three pueblos that celebrate this drama in the even years 
have led me to the conclusion that in my previous publications suffi- 
cient emphasis has not been placed on the corn worship which runs 
through it. The recognition of this element I owe more especially to 
studies of the Flute ceremonials, which, as I have insisted, are in many 
respects akin to the Snake dances. 
As will be seen by a study of the altars of the Antelope priests, 
they are destitute of any idol, so that no clew can be obtained from 
that source in regard to the deity addressed. There are in each, how- 
ever, figures of rain clouds, which prove, so far as they go, the correct- 
ness of the belief that rain worship is at least one of the most prominent 
features. The fetish of the War god in the Snake kiva of Oraibi is 
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