ready to start in the
early morning. The whole town comes to bid us good-by. Before we start
they perform some strange ceremony which I cannot understand, but, with
invocations to some deity, they sprinkle us, our animals, and our goods
with water and with meal. Then there is a time of handshaking and
hugging. "Good-by; good-by; good-by!" At last we start. Our way is to
Walpi, by a heavy trail over a sand plain, among the dunes. We arrive a
little after noon. Walpi, Sichumovi, and Hano are three little towns on
one butte, with but little space between them; the stretch from town to
town is hardly large enough for a game of ball. The top of the butte is
of naked rock, and it rises from 300 to 400 feet above the sand plains
below by a precipitous cliff on every side. To reach it from below, it
must be climbed by niches and stairways in the rock. It is a good site
for defense. At the foot of the cliff and on some terraces the people
have built corrals of stone for their asses. All the water used in
these three towns is derived from a well nearly a mile away--a deep pit
sunk in the sand, over the site of a dune-buried brook.

When we arrive the men of Walpi carry our goods, camp equipage, and
saddles up the stairway and deposit them in a little court. Then they
assign us eight or ten rooms for our quarters. Our animals are once more
consigned to the care of Indian herders, and after they are fed they are
sent away to a distance of some miles. There is no tree or shrub growing
near the Walpi mesa. It is miles away to where the stunted cedars are
found, and the people bring curious little loads of wood on the backs of
their donkeys, it being a day's work to bring such a cargo. The people
have anticipated our coming, and the wood for our use is piled in the
chimney corners. After supper the hours till midnight are passed in
rather formal talk.

Walpi seems to be a town of about 150 inhabitants, Sichumovi of less
than 100, and Hano of not more than 75. Hano, or "Tewa" as it is
sometimes called, has been built lately; that is, it cannot be more than
100 or 200 years old. The other towns are very old; their foundation
dates back many centuries--so we gather from this talk. The people of
Hano also speak a radically distinct language, belonging to another
stock of tribes. They formerly lived on the Rio Grande, but during some
war they were driven away and were permitted to build their home here.

Two days are spent in trading wi