584 THE CLIFF VILLAGES OF THE RED ROCK COUNTRY. 



styles of coiffure older than this which has persisted continuously for 

 over four hundred years. 



In the elaborate ceremonial system of both Pueblos and Xavahoes, the 

 rite of stick-swallowing is introduced, in which a stick is forced down 

 the esophagus. In recent times, although sometimes attempted, this 

 repulsive performance has degenerated into a clever deception on the 

 part of the performer. If I am right in my interpretation of the deco- 

 ration of one of the food vessels from Sikyatki, the habit is of great 

 antiquity, for we have a figure represented on it of a person engaged in 

 this revolting act, thus verifying a widely spread tradition that in old 

 times the rite was practiced as a part of the Tusayan ritual. It is no 

 longer performed at Walpi, but is reported from Zufii and elsewhere. 



One of the most important of all Tusayan mythic characters is a 

 heroic personage called the Little War God. He was a cultus hero, 

 and in early days is reputed to have freed the world of monsters which 

 afflicted earth and sky. This heroic demigod is personated today, and 

 his image occupies a convenient niche in many households. His con- 

 stant emblem are two parallel lines of pigment drawn across the cheeks 

 or breast, arms or legs. 



This cultus hero is of no mean antiquity, but is as old as the time 

 when Sikyatki was in its prime, for a picture of him shooting an 

 unknown animal is drawn on a fragment of a food bowl. As in modern 

 pictures, he bears on his face the two parallel marks which custom has 

 prescribed must be worn by the God of War today. Students of the 

 development of the arrow may find in this figure an indication of 

 the kind of arrow the prehistoric warrior of Sikyatki used, viz, a long 

 shaft with a short articulation to which the point is attached, as with 

 certain other American tribes. 



The ancient ceramic picture writing of Sikyatki gives, in many 

 instances, something more than the bare symbolism of the mytholog- 

 ical personage depicted. Of such a nature is a large fragment of a food 

 basin from the graves of that ancient village, which is adorned with a 

 representation of the Tusayan Harpy, Kwataka. 



In existing folklore Kwataka or the Man Eagle was a bird-like mon- 

 ster, akin to the Thunderbird of other tribes of America, who afflicted 

 the ancient people by carrying off their wives and devouring their 

 children. His home was in the sky, and he is said to wear a garment 

 covered with flint arrowheads. 



The fragment in question represents the Man Eagle about to devour 

 a problematical being. He is represented with the wings of a bird; 

 his claws are eagle talons; his eye has the cross, symbol of the heart of 

 the sky, or the star. But most interesting of all, he wears the flint- 

 covered armor represented by four lozenge- shape figures which recall 

 the Xahuatl symbol of the flint arrowpoint, techpatl. 



As is known through Dr. Matthews' studies, the Navahoes likewise 

 have a mythological being of similar import to that of the Hopi. By 



