A Hopi Religious Rite. Interesting among Indians, because of their unique
houses on the summits of high mesas, reached only by precipitous trails,
the Hopi of northern Arizona always have possessed peculiar fascination on
account of their thrilling religious rite, known as the Snake Dance, an
account of which follows.*
* This Sacred Dance and the life of the Hopi Indians is more fully set out
in the author's larger work "The Indians of the Painted Desert Region".
The Painted Desert. The region they live in, named the Province of Tusayan
by the Spanish conquistadores, three hundred and fifty years ago, is a
region of color. The rocks of which the mesas are built, the sand of the
desert, the peculiarly carved buttes which abound on every hand, are all
strikingly colored, with such a variety of hues and tints that one does not
wonder at the name - the Painted Desert - which is applied to the country
through which we must travel to reach Hopiland.
A Saddle Trip from El Tovar. The traveler who wishes to visit this
fascinating and unique region can arrange for full equipment at El Tovar.
The trip will be a saddle one and all outfits will have to be transported
on pack burros.
The Old Hopi Trail. The road followed is practically the line of the old
Hopi trail. On the way out, the interested traveler may visit Grand View
Point and Hotel, Hance's Old Camp and Trail, the Red Canyon Trail, Moran's,
and all the other salient points at the eastern end of the Grand Canyon.
Especially should he stand on faraway Navaho Point, or Desert View.
