Page 52 - TheHopiIndians

42 MESA FOLK OP HOPILAND

the morning while the sun is rising, the whole village
being silent and sitting in the galleries to listen. They
tell them how to live, and I believe that they give cer
tain commandments for them to keep. ' '
It must be admitted that Honi's is an ancient and
honorable office, found useful by civilized communi
ties before the time of newspapers and surviving yet,
as the sereno of Spain.
It is surprising, by the way, how fast news flies in
Hopiland. The arrival of a white man is known the
whole length and breadth of Tusayan in an incred
ibly short time. A fondness for small talk, together
with the dearth of news, make it incumbent upon
every Hopi, when anything happens, to pass the word
along.
To a visitor encamped below the Walpi mesa the
novelty of hearing the speaker-chief for the first time
is a thing long to be remembered. Out of the dark
ness and indescribable silence of the desert comes a
voice, and such a voice ! Prom the heights above it
seems to come out of space and to be audible for an
infinite distance. It takes the form of a chant, long
drawn and full of sonorous quality. Everyone listens
breathlessly to the important message, and when the
crier finishes after the third repetition, an Indian in
forms us that the substance of the announcement was
that the wire which "Washington" had promised to
send had come and that in two days the villages would
go out to build fences.