80 INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST. 
Preparation of Food. The method of grinding corn 
has changed but little since it was first described by 
Castaneda. 
They keep the separate houses where they prepare the food for 
eating and where they grind the meal, very clean. This is a separate 
room or closet, where they have a trough with three stones fixed in stiff 
clay. Three women go in here, each one having a stone, with which 
one of them breaks the corn, the next grinds it, and the third grinds it 
again. They take off their shoes, do up their hair, shake their clothes, 
and cover their heads before they enter the door. A man sits at the — 
door playing on a fife while they grind, moving the stones to the music 
and singing together. They grind a large quantity at one time, because 
they make all their bread of meal soaked in warm water, like wafers. 
(Winship, 522.) 
The meal boxes are often in one corner of the living 
rooms of the modern pueblos and the women still sing 
at their work but without the accompanying flute. 
Before grinding, the corn is often parched or roasted. 
The wafers mentioned probably refer to piki, the 
paper-thin bread made of corn meal of various colors 
which when rolled or folded is easily portable and keeps 
indefinitely. This bread is now cooked on a piece of 
sheet iron or as formerly on thin slabs of stone. Tortil- 
las, having the shape and thickness of pancakes, are also 
popular. The Hopi place pots of mush in holes in the 
ground which have been heated by a fire and cover them 
with ashes and hot coals until they are thoroughly cooked. 
At Zufi and along the Rio Grande, the Mexican dome- 
shaped ovens:are generally used. | 
Hunting. The eastern Pueblos, those at Taos, 
Picuris, and Pecos especially, used to make expeditions 
to the Plains, principally along the Canadian and 
Arkansas Rivers, to hunt buffalo. Such trips could 
be made safely only by a large number of men and with 
the greatest precaution against surprise by the Plains 
tribes. They were under the control of the war chief 
