118 INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST. 
fire by means of a firedrill. While this is taking place, 
the trails to the village are closed by drawing a line 
of corn meal across them. 
The greater number of the Hopi ceremonies are for 
the purpose of bringing rain, maintaining the water in 
the springs, and increasing the yield of the fields. These 
ceremonies are given by fraternities of priests whose 
members are recruited by taking in those who have been 
cured or benefited by the order. A person who has 
been bitten by a rattlesnake applies to a member of the 
snake fraternity for treatment. It is then proper for 
him to be initiated and become a participant in the 
ceremonies. The leadership in these orders usually 
passes to a brother or to a sister’s son and remains in the 
same clan. In Hopi thought these fraternities are 
associated with the clan to which the leader belongs. 
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. 
Of the many religious conceptions entertained by the 
pueblo people of the Southwest certain ones seem to 
be common to all. It is generally believed that the 
ancestors of the present people came up from under- 
eround to the surface of the world. The Rio Grande 
peoples say the place of emergence is to the north near 
the sources of the river by which they live. The Zuni 
point to a certain lake in their own neighborhood, the 
Hopi conceive the place to be in the canyon of the 
Colorado. The souls of the dead return through the 
same opening to the underworld in a journey of four 
days. These souls of the dead are not confined under- 
ground but also visit the mountains and the sky where 
they appear as clouds. The war gods among the Hopi 
are dwarfs about whom there are amusing tales, but in 
the east, on the Rio Grande and at Zuni, they are 
important deities. There is some evidence that they 
