The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-11-16

any comical incident would start them laughing heartily"
 While at the Tusayan villages pr. Fewkes was told by the people there that they used to live about eighty miles south, and that was the place whence they came. They gave him to understand that if he would make a search there he would come upon the ruins of a former pueblo, He found 1t without any difficulty at point where the Atlantic and Pacific railroad cross es the Little Colorado river, and about three miles from the town of Winslow. The pueblo Is known as Homolobi, and from its size it is supposed to have ac- commodated between three and four hundred people. It is undoubtedly pre- historic--that is, 1t antedates l54O. There are three other ruins In the neighborhood, one or two of which are probably larger than Homolobi, but these were not dug into. From dis tance the ruins of this ancient pueblo, Dr. Fewkes says, look not unlike 8 mound rising out of the desert, but when it came to be investigated it was found to be peculiarly rich in relics of that earlier civilization, They show that the Mol1is were well advanced in the making of pottery, in weaving bas- kets and mattings and in their quiet village life they were able to make ad- vances along many lines of life far be- yond anything ever accomplished by the predatory Indians to the east and north.
 The Mokis and the Zunis are very closely connected, though the former have been less modified by outside in- fIuences and are more closely identi- fled with the aboriginal civilization which is known to have extended from the Great Salt Lake on the north as far south as Mexico, and from Las Ve- gas to at least as far as the present town of Prescott on the west.
 Homolobi was deserted by the Molxis long before it ever began to fall into ruins. The people are supposed to have left on account of the failure of the crops or the scarcity of water, or they may have been driven out by some of the more warlike Indians, who occasionally made expeditions into that arid section. It is certain that they left little of value behind thenis and Dr. Fewkes' excavations discovered com paratively few objects of interest with in the houses proper. Fortunately for ethnologists, however, the Mokis had burial customs which served to keep intact many articles that were closely connected with their everyday life. Sometimes they would bury their dead beneath the floor of a room, seal up the grave and then move into some other room in the communal dwelling, More frequently the dead were buried out side the walls, but still quite close at hand In either case the grave was plainly marked, usually by flat slab of stone through which hole was in yariably cut to furnish a means of egress for the soul of the dead man. According to their religion the soul stayed with the body for period of four days after death before vending it's way to the undiscovered bourne. It was the custom for his friends and relatives to bury with him goodly supply of food and such bowls and cups as he might need. If he was a man of prominence in the locality his personal adornments and the insignia of such office as he might have held were inferred with his bones. If the late lamented was 8 woman, household articles and cooking utensils went with her. Among these was always her mortar and pounding stone, for an h. dian woman would find time hanging heavy on her hands through all eterni- ty unless she could keep up her work of grinding corn for the family's bread So it came about hat when the graves were. opened a wealth of interesting material was discovered. At first the Mokis of Tusayan were inclined to draw the line on what seemed to them a dissertation, but when it was pointed out that the graves were many miles away and ancestors several centuries removed from them they waived their objections, and when they learned that the excavations were made in order to throw light on the history of their race they entered into the spirit of the affair right heartily.
 In all, upward of twenty-five hun dred pieces of pottery were recovered With few exceptions they are unbrok- en- They include such things as jars, bowls, dippers and cups; in all shapes and sizes Many of them are really beautiful, and when it is remembered that they were made without the as- sistance of any sort of potter's wheel the work is truly remarkable. As a rule they are painted with convention al figures, and the decoration is inva- riably chaste and effective. In the matter of decoration the prehistoric Mokis were far ahead of their descend ants of to-day, and in point of beauty this collection surpasses that of mod ern Moki pottery in the museum When the chief potter of Tusayan heard of the excavation at Homolobi he made a visit to the place in order to study the work of his predecessors, and he owned up to the deterioration in art which time has brought to his people Among the pieces of pottery found were number that are unlike any that have ever been discovered in any of the other pueblos. One piece is par ticularly interesting for it shows evi- dences of a metallic glaze, something the Pueblo Indians were not supposed to know anything about.
 Water was something that the Mokis never had in sufficient quantities, and in their religious ceremonies a special prayer was always sent up that they might have an abundance. Sc it came about that in their art they were fond of reproducing animals and plants that 71o ;1