rtaining to it
were introduced by the Patki or Water-house people. From good
evidence, I suspect that the arrival of this phratry was comparatively
late in Tusayan history, and it is possible that Sikyatki was
destroyed before their advent, for in all the legends which I have
been able to gather no one ascribes to Sikyatki any clan belonging to
the phratries which are said to have migrated from the far south. I
believe we must look toward the east, whence the ancestors of the
Kokop or Firewood people are reputed to have come, for the origin of
the symbolic markings of the snakes represented on Sikyatki ceramics.
Figures of apodal reptiles, with feathers represented on their heads,
occur in Sikyatki pictography, although there is no resemblance in the
markings of their bodies to those of modern pictures. One of the most
striking of these occurs on the inside of the food basin shown in
plate CXXXII, _a_. It represents a serpent with curved body, the tail
being connected with the head, like an ancient symbol of eternity. The
body (figure 266) is destitute of any distinctive markings, but is
covered with a crosshatching of black lines. The head bears two
triangular markings, which are regarded as feather symbols. The
position of the eyes would seem to indicate that the top of the head
is represented, but this conclusion is not borne out by comparative
studies, for it was often the custom of ancient Tusayan potters, like
other primitive artists, to represent both eyes on one side of the
head.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXXX

FOOD BOWLS WITH FIGURES OF QUADRUPEDS FROM SIKYATKI]

The zigzag line occupying the position of the tongue and terminating
in a triangle is a lightning symbol, with which the serpent is still
associated. While striving not to strain the symbolism of this figure,
it is suggested that the three curved marks on the lower and upper
jaws represent fangs. It is highly probable that conceptions not
greatly unlike those which cluster about the Great Plumed Serpent were
associated with this mythic snake, the figure of which is devoid of
some of the most essential elements of modern symbolism.

While from the worn character of the middle of the food bowl
illustrated in plate CXXXII, _b_, it is not possible to discover
whether the animal was apodal or not from the crosshatching of the
body and the resemblance of the appendages of the head to those of the
figur