Page 116 - TheHopiIndians

108 MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND

full of the exhilaration of life, the glow of physical
training, the doing of something to win the favor of
the gods.
In this account the children must not be left out.
Imitating the customs of their seniors, they not only
carry out the great games but also enter with abandon
the childish sports of chasing, tag, ring around a
rosy, ball, and other juveniles. Tops and popguns are
not unknown, and if a boy has a pebble shooter made
of an agave stalk with a spring of elastic wood he
can go as far in mischief as ever Hopi children do,
but he never fires away peas or beans, for they are too
precious.
It may be well to recount here the endurance of the
Hopi in their great national accomplishment — that of
making long runs at record speed.
One morning about seven o'clock at Winslow, Ari
zona, a message was brought to the hotel that an In
dian wished to see the leader of an exploring party.
On stepping out on the street the Indian was found
sitting on the curbstone, mouth agape with wonder
at the trains moving about on the Santa Fe Pacific
Railroad.
He delivered a note from a white man at Oraibi
and it was ascertained that he had started from that
place at four on the previous afternoon, and arrived
at Winslow some time about the middle of the night.
When it is known that the distance is sixty-five miles
and the Indian ran over a country with which he