Steps Are Made Of Larger Slabs Of Stone, And Often The
Only Means Of Access Is By Long Ladders, The Poles Of Which Tower High
Above The Buildings, And Give A Singularly Picturesque Aspect To The
Village.
In the olden days, there were neither doors nor windows in the
first story of the houses.
They were built so purposely, since they must
serve for fortresses as well as homes.
Hopi Wafer. Bread. One is often likely to find a woman engaged in making
piki. Piki is a wafer bread, peculiar to the Hopis. It is finer than the
finest tortilla of the Mexican, or oatcake of the Scotch. No biscuit maker
in America or England can make a cracker one-half so thin. The thinnest
cracker is thick compared with piki, and yet the Hopi make it with
marvelous dexterity. Cornmeal batter in a crude earthenware bowl, is the
material; a smooth, flat stone, under which a brisk fire is kept burning,
is the instrument; and the woman's quick fingers, spreading a thin layer of
the batter over the stone, perform the operation. It looks so easy. A lady
of one of my parties tried it once, and failed. My cook, a stalwart Kansas
City man, knew he would not fail. And he didn't. He had four of the
best-blistered fingers I have seen in a long time. But the Hopi woman
merely greases the stone, dips her fingers into the batter, carries them
lightly and carelessly over the heated surfaces, and, in a moment, strips
the already baked sheet from the stone.
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