INTRODUCTION. 15 



of food, the most important were the elk, deer, antelope, 

 rabbits, prairie-dogs, and wild turkeys. 



Influence of Environment. 



The topography, the climate, and the vegetable and 

 animal life of a region largely determine for the men 

 living in it the character of their dress and houses and 

 their manner of securing food. 



Certain physical surroundings also in a large measure 

 influence art, religion, and man^s conception of the 

 universe as a whole. In the Southwest is an atmos- 

 phere wonderfully clear through which one sees with 

 great distinctness the sculptured mountain peaks and 

 ridges and the variously colored, flat-topped, ter- 

 raced mesas. The violent storms with terrifying 

 thunder and frequent rainbows which mark the sea- 

 sonal rains; the mirage, the shimmer, and the whirl- 

 winds of the dry season have produced results which 

 we find reflected in songs, formulated prayers, and 

 pictorial art. Only in the Southwest do the gods 

 travel with rainbows and lightning and wrap themselves 

 in clouds tied with sunbeams. So pronounced are 

 these features that one feels from whatever un- 

 known source came the people themselves with their 

 language and original customs that many features of 

 their arts, their mythology, and their religion could 

 only have arisen and could only continue to exist in 

 the Southwest. 



