THE CLIFF VILLAGES OF THE RED ROCK COUNTRY. 579 



at Sikyatki, aud the conclusion is logical that in studying - the objects 

 from this ruin we are considering the unmodified, purely aboriginal 

 cultus of Tusayan. 



The bowls and other kinds of pottery found in the Sikyatki ceme- 

 teries in most instances contained the remains of votive food offerings, 

 the character of which obviously could not be made out. In addition 

 to perishable foods, other objects, like stones, arrowheads, beads, and 

 prayer sticks, were likewise placed in the earthenware pottery by the 

 side of the dead. One of the most interesting of these mortuary offerings 

 was a small, textile fabric — the only one of this kind which occurred — 

 resembling a feather cloth. As the production of feather garments, 

 blankets, cloth, and the like was extensively practiced by the cliff 

 dwellers, and its fabrication is recounted in many Tusayan legends, it 

 is instructive to find evidence of it in this old Tusayan ruin. 



By far the most novel of wooden mortuary objects found in Sikyatki 

 graves were the so-called prayer sticks, of which a number of different 

 kinds were exhumed. These prayer sticks varied in form from simple 

 wooden slats to peucil-like rods carved with ferules. Considering, as 

 we must, that they were cut out with stone implements by people ignorant 

 of metal knives, they are fine examples of Stone Age wood carving, 

 even although the wood of which they were fashioned is soft and 

 easily worked. As a rule, they were painted with pigments of two 

 colors, green and black. The green is a powdered carbonate of cop- 

 per, fragments of which were likewise found in the graves. Certain 

 of the prayer sticks were identical with those now used by the Flute 

 fraternity at Walpi, thus supporting the claim made by this society 

 that their ancestors were among the most ancient people in Tusayan, 

 and were early represented at Sikyatki. The presence of a prayer 

 offering similar to that characteristic of the Flute priesthood would 

 seem to indicate that the person in whose grave it was found belonged 

 to that family. One of the largest of these prayer sticks was that 

 shown in the accompanying illustration, which is a remarkable form, 

 not used at the present day. So well preserved are some of these 

 wooden prayer offerings that the impriut of feathers and pine needles 

 can still be detected upon them. Many of these prayer sticks are 

 undoubtedly offerings to Masauwuh, the Death God, and it is inter- 

 esting in this connection to mention the fact that at the close of work 

 each day the Indian laborers prepared a twig with attached feathers, 

 which they placed in the trenches, sprinkling them with sacred meal, 

 and at the same time breathing a prayer to the dreaded Death God, 

 whose realm they had invaded in disturbing the graves. The horror 

 at disturbing the dead, and the superstitious fear which led the Mokis 

 to refuse to touch a human bone, was thus, to them, satisfactorily offset 

 by propitiatory observances. 



Several pipes, one of which was of especially fine workmanship, were 

 found in the graves. These pipes were shaped like cigar holders, short 



