Page 57 - TheHopiIndians

FOOD AND REARING

Indian legend tells of a time when all was water;
then land was made ; for a long time the earth was too
wet for human beings and at last the earth was dried
out by a mighty fire. All these are pretty stories for
those who are looking for deluge legends and the ef
fects of blazing comets, but if the Indian account is
true, the drying process was carried entirely too far
in the Southwest. Water! water! water! The word
gains a new significance in this arid region. There is
a rippling, cooling, refreshing note in it, a soothing of
parched lips and a guaranty against death from thirst.
So, all conversation among the people is replete with
references to this mainstay of life, and one comes, like
them, to discuss the water question with an earnest
regard for its problems.
Wherever there is water, almost always will there
be found ancient ruins. In modern times the wind
mill of the settler often stands by the spring which
quenched the thirst of the ancient inhabitants of a
now crumbling pueblo. The blessings which were in
voked in Biblical times upon the man who "digged a