Page 54 - TheHopiIndians

46 MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND

watches, which they call daira, "the sun," have not
bound them to the wheel by whose turning we seem to
advance. They are satisfied with, the grander proces
sion of the heavenly bodies, and their days fade into
happy forgetfulness.
An experience of several years ago may here be re
lated in order to show how the clan name of a Hopi
is a veritable part of himself and also links him to his
clan and the most intimate religious and secular life of
the pueblo.
There was a jolly crowd of Hopi under the dense
shade of a cottonwood on the Little Colorado River
one hot day in July. The mound of earth, strewn
with chips of flint and potsherds like a buried city on
the Euphrates, had yielded its secrets, and the house
walls of the ancient town of Homolobi resembled a
huge honeycomb on the bluff.
The Hopi, who had worked like Trojans in laying
bare the habitations of their presumptive ancestors,
were now assembled to receive their wages in silver
dollars, which they expressively call "little white
cakes." Around were scattered the various belong
ings of an Indian camp, among which tin cans were
prominent ; a wind-break had been constructed of cot
tonwood boughs; from the tree hung the shells of
turtles caught in the river ; a quantity of wild tobacco
was spread out to dry in the sun, and several crop-
eared burros hobbling about on three legs were enjoy
ing an unusually luxuriant pasture of sagebrush.