The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-09-15
st. J. Girl Visits painted
Desert" and bad Lands

CONTINUED from page one)
to the mad fantasies of color.
Thirty distinct colors of sand
CLEANED in the intense sunlight.
Below the black cliffs, the desert
twisted into an agony of contor-
tons and writings. Exquisite
agony, shot by streaks of marble
white whose tipped upheavals
flushed in the scorching sun. Pink
chasms yawned for miles and
miles. Drifting clouds in the
heavens cast deep, black shadows
that cut the rosy monotony.
Mother Earth was indulging her.
self with a magnificent orgy of
color.
Lying in and around the "Paint-
ed Desert" is the Petrifed Black
Forest" None Of the trees are
standing, but lie scattered in all
conceivable positions and in frag
ments of all sizes. 1t is believed
by biologists that these trees
once grew beside an inland sea,
before the Stone Age.
The new country into which we
came seemed almost colorless in
comparison with the painted
Desert. Green distances stretch
ed away into blue misty expanse
of sky line and mesas.
Holbrook is a rather uncomfort-
ably warm oasis in the desert, and
at four o'clock in the afternoon, it
was especially so. Not having
eaten since six o'clock that morn
irg, however, we reached it and
its hotel with great enthusiasm.
Early the next morning we left
for the famous Spanish province
of Tusayau, the home of the
Hopi Indians. 1t is there that the
marvellous snake dance takes place
every August between the goth
and 30th day of the month, (the
exact date being determined by
the moon.) This dance has at
tracted sightseers fro mall quar-
ters of the globe. We found it
strange country of shadowy sands
and of the oriental appearance
with its pyramids and fantastic
white rock formations. A native
Rebecca watered her focks at
water hole. Now and then we
caught a glimpse of mounted
Western Bedouin in his gay head
dress. We had lunch in Keen's
Canyon and pushed on into the
heart of the Reservation.
At Araibi the beating of The
tom-toms and the sound Of the
Indian chanters were heard. The
Indians we're holding the Buffalo
Dance, pleading for rain. OF the
four central figures, the two men
had blackened their faces, while
the two girls wore their shining
black hair across their forehead
and eyes. Their costumes were
savage and one could not but be
thrilled as he listened to the beat
Of the music and witnessed the
primitive appeal. Even as they
danced, clouds gathered over the
sun and quick pattering rain soon
fell on the dusty square.
There are three great stone
mesas in the Hopi Reservation
rising straight and high from the
plain, and loftily perched on their
SUBMITS are the seven "Cities of
the Skies. The three stone mes
as are only a few miles apart and
are strikingly beautiful in their
dignity. For five miles we climb
&c up, up to these "Cities of The
Skies" The little white adobe
village of Hotavilla was very
picturesque. Eagerly we scramb-
led up the ladders to sit on the
fiat roofs and watch the Antelope
Priests in the square below. In
the late afternoon of the day be-
fore the great snake dance, these
priests appear wearing only the
ceremonial blanket wrapped
around their waists, their rhythmi-
cally swaying bodies covered with
grotesque paint. Their low chant