Page 258 - TheHopiIndians

THE ANCIENT PEOPLE

The Southwest has always been a storied land to its
native dwellers. Mountain profile, sweep of plain,
carved-out mesa, deep canyon, cave, lava stream, level
lake bed, painted desert, river shore, spring and forest
are theirs in intimacy, and around them have gathered
legends which are bits of ancient history, together with
multitude of myths of nature deities reaching back
into the misty beginning.
Deep is this intimacy in the practical affairs of life,
teaching the way to the salt, the place of the springs,
the range of the game, the nest of the honey bee, the
home of the useful plants, the quarry of the prized
stones, and the beds of clay for pottery, for the desert
is home and there is no thing hidden from keen eyes.
Prom far off, too, came in trade shells from the Pacific,
feathers from Mexico, buffalo pelts from the Plains,
and, perhaps, pipestone from Minnesota, so that the
land of sunshine was not so isolated as one might
think, and its resources fed, clothed, and ministered
to the esthetic and religious needs of numerous tribes
of men from the old days to the present.