Arizona republican., 1909-06-11

I1UIluTeuS or peOple-lOuIlStS IIOIn everywhere-flock each season to
 see the wonderful snake dance of the Moqui Indians. To the spectator it
 is merely a weird performance, or
 number of Indian dancers carrying , deadly rattlesnakes in their mouths or hands but to the Moquis it has deep religious significance. The most
 remarkable feature of this strange custom is that the Indians are never bitten by the reptiles. The only eX- planation of their immunity from the fangs of the deadly rattler that has ever been given is that in the course of centuries the knowledge has been bred into the snakes that the red men never harm them. and therefore they have no fear of being handled. As the reader may shudder at the thought of rattlers being so numer-
 Ous, We will state that these weird ceremonies take place in the valley nearly one hundred miles east of Flagstaff, and that here on this Colo rado plateau there are no rattlers i People camping out during the sum mer permit their children to play and i roam at will, having no feat whatever { of snakes or tarantu'as.
 CLIFF DWELLINGS
 l Probably less than, ten per cent of I the people who pass through Flag staff daily on their way to the Grand Canyon know that by stopping over
 day or two in this little city they ] could at small expense visit some of | the most interesting prehistoric ! dwellings in eXistnce, as well as other points of interest which have at 1 tracted many of the leading ethnol- ogists of the world.
 | The whole country from Flagstaff | tO the Litt,e Colorado river is dotted with cliff dwellings, and other relics i of a prehistoric people. but those most easily accessible are located in l Walnut canyon. ten miles southeast of Flagstaff. and are reached by a 1 pleasant drive through the pines and
 across the open valleys.
 Arriving at Walnut canyon visitors
 are pleasantly greeted by MT. ". H.
 Pierce, an officer of the United States
 forest service who is stationed there
 as a custodian of the ancient dwell ings. This jovial old gentleman, who | is a veteran of the civil war. acts as i guide for visitors, and incidentally sees that no act of vandalism is com mitted by the thoughtless relic hunter. Walnut canyon is a winding gorge
 500 feet deep cut through solid beds
 of lime and sandstone by centuries Of ! stream erosion, and is a beautiful
 and attractive place well worthy of
 visit even were there no cliff
 dwellings there to add mystery to it's depths. The canyon is entered through
 a smaller side canyon down which the
 trail or foot path winds to the level on which the greater number of cliff dwellings are built The dwell | ings are of stone laid in adobe" or ! clay mortar, and are built in groups | under overhanging lodges of lime ! stone. The walls were laid to line | on both sides, and in many of the dwellings the inner walls were pas | tered. Prints of the builders fingers can be plainly seen m the mortar, in , dicating that trowels were unknown 1 in that day. The solid rock of the i canyon wall formed the rear wall of | the dwelling and the overhanging
 ledge the roof The dwellings were | built without windows, the door and ! small holes in the walls next to the roof to permit smoke to escape be- 1 ing the only openings. In most cases | there are no doors in the partition
 walls separating different rooms, each | room probably being a house to itself l The doors are very narrow, being ! only F to 15 inches in width and
 low, showing that the people who | dwelt there were small in stature. Tn very few dwellings communicating | doors are found between rooms. These doors are usually wider than the out CT doors, but so low that one must get down on his hands and knees to pass through. The interior walls of the rooms are black with soOt but
 the ages that have passed since the dwellings were occupied have SO hard ened it that it is like rock itself.
 A few feet in front of the dwell
 ings the canyon wall drops almost
 perpendicularly so that the only ap-
 proach is along the narrow trail following the ledge on which the