110 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photo by Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth 



"Oraibi looked like some gigantic fortress, looming in the distance above miles and miles of 

 desert sand. We pitched our camp at the foot of the mesa." 



look in without feeling that one was 

 prying. 



In one house I saw the village cere- 

 monial hair-dresser doing the young 

 maiden's hair, for unmarried maidens 

 do their hair in a style of their own, in 

 a big round coil over each ear, to repre- 

 sent the squash blossom. 



In another doorway was a young 

 squaw with the fattest and brownest 

 baby I have ever seen. He was as naked 

 as the day he came into the world, and 

 was eating, much to my horror, a melon 

 almost as big as himself. 



The next house I looked into I re- 

 ceived quite a shock, for, instead of see- 

 ing some Indian child or some home 

 scene, a little gray burro's face looked 

 back at me. He seemed quite at home 

 in the room. 



Along the outer edge of the village 

 were little corrals, and there were many 

 more burros and many sheep. We 

 walked past the kivas, or underground 

 chapter nouses, of both the Antelope and 

 Snake clans, but were not allowed to 

 look, much less to go down, as the priests 



were praying and preparing themselves 

 for the dance. 



I found some one who understood the 

 origin and meaning of the dance, and, 

 returning to the plaza, we climbed up 

 on one of the near-by roofs, from which 

 we had a splendid view of the tepee-like 

 altar of green leaves, and could look be- 

 yond over the roofs to the great ladder 

 leading out of the Snake kiva, and be- 

 yond again over the edge of the mesa, 

 over miles and miles of desert sand, to 

 the distant blue San Francisco Moun- 

 tains. While waiting for the ceremony 

 to begin, he told me somewhat of its 

 origin and religious meaning. 



''It seems that the Hopis believe that 

 long, long ago all mankind came up from 

 the lower world to the earth's surface 

 through a part of the Grand Canyon 

 of the Colorado River. As the various 

 families emerged, some went north, some 

 south, and some west and east. Those 

 that went north, the Hopis, were driven 

 back by fierce cold which they encoun- 

 tered, and built themselves houses at a 

 place called To-ko-na-bi. But, unfortu- 



