Page 205 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAXD 197

The figure of a hand with extended fingers is very
common, in the vicinity of ruins, as a rock etching,
and also is frequently seen daubed on the rocks with
colored pigments or white clay. These are vestiges of
a test formerly practiced by the young men who as
pired for admission to the fraternity of the CaJako.
The Calako is a trinity of two women and a man from
whom the Hopi obtained the first corn, and of whom
the following legend is told :
There was neither springs nor streams, although
water was so near the surface that it could be found
by pulling up a tuft of grass. The people had but
little food, however, and they besought Masauwuh to
help them, but he could not.
There came a little old man, a dwarf, who said that
he had two sisters who were the wives of Calako, and
it might be well to petition them. So they prepared
an altar, every man making a paho, and these were
set in the ground so as to encircle a sand hillock, for
this occurred before houses were known.
Masauwuh 's brother came and told them that when
Calako came to the earth's surface wherever he placed
his foot a deep chasm was made, then they brought
to the altar a huge rock, on which Calako might stand,
and they set it between the two pahos placed for his
wives. Then the people got their rattles- and stood
around the altar, each man in front of his own paho ;
but they stood in silence, for they knew no song with
which to invoke this strange god. They stood there
for a long while, for they were afraid to begin the
ceremonies, until a young lad. selecting the largest
rattle, began to shake it and sing. Presently a sound