the nicely perforated and skillfully cut beads of this material made by the ancient people of Awatobi are similar to those used today. These turquoises, however, traveled many miles before they fell into the hands of the Awatobi people.

With the exception of the pottery it was in stone implements that our collections were richest of all. Axes, arrowheads, spearpoints, and grinding and polishing stones occurred in great numbers, and several nicely fashioned grooved stones used to straighten arrowshafts, stone slabs for paint grinding, metates, and pestles of similar shape and manufacture to those universally found in the ruins of the Southwest were added to our collection.

The ancient Awatobi priests, as do their descendants to-day, prized any botryoidal stone, quartz crystal, stalactite, fossil cephalopod, or bright-colored rock. So closely similar is the life at Walpi to-day to that which existed in Awatobi at the close of the seventeenth century that the intelligent workmen whom I employed from the former village were able to name and tell me the use of almost every object found, thus verifying my interpretations. Where customs change so little in so many generations, archæology is simply an ancient aspect of ethnology.

THE RUIN OF SIKYATKI.

Three miles east of the pueblo of Walpi, among the foothills which skirt the mesa on the south side, lies a collection of mounds which were said to be the site of an old pueblo called Sikyatki, or Yellow House.

My knowledge of this ruin dates back to 1892, when, in strolling over the hills, it was pointed out to me by an Indian, and the romantic history of its destruction by the Walpians told by my companion. Although this pueblo, judging from the size of the mounds, must have been one of the most populous in Tusayan, comparatively nothing is known of the character of the people who inhabited it.

The destruction of Sikyatki occurred, according to tradition, before the coming of the Spaniards, and therefore in prehistoric times. To the definite statements to that effect made by old priests at Walpi, corroboratory evidence of their truth is found in the fact that the place is nowhere mentioned in ancient documents relating to the history of the country. No doubt is entertained by anyone that Sikyatki is a prehistoric Indian pueblo, but there are no data at hand to determine its age. The probable antiquity of this ruin imparts to the rich collection of archæological objects collected from it a special value, revealing the character of Tusayan life in prehistoric time. According to traditionists, the village of Sikyatki was settled by a phratry of Mokis called the Kokop or Fuel people, which are still strong in numbers at Walpi. It took its name, they say, from the color of the water of the neighboring spring, which still preserves its yellowish appearance. The cause of its destruction was a culmination of bickerings and altercations between

its inhabitants and those of Walpi, which was then situated on foothills to the west of the mesa, not having yet been moved to its commanding position on the summit. The outcome of many disputes between the two pueblos brought on a tragic destruction of the place, after which such of the hostile element as escaped fled to Awatobi, then a flourishing village, 15 miles away; the remainder were incorporated with the population of the victorious town. A sanguinary story of adventure is woven into the legends relating to the causes of this destruction of a whole village. One of the youths of Sikyatki, disguised as a dancer and wearing a mask, killed a woman spectator while a ceremony was in progress at Walpi. He escaped from the town, ran along the cliffs, taking off his mask and boasting of his deed. These taunts inflamed the Walpians to vengeance, and when the men of Sikyatki were occupied in the fields their warriors fell upon the town and destroyed it. There is no way to prove the truth of this legend, but there can be little doubt that Sikyatki fell many years ago. It is interesting to remember that in those old days Walpi was probably the only other Tusayan town at the East mesa, and therefore the only rival which Sikyatki had near by. The Tanoan people, whose descendants now inhabit Hano, the nearest village, had not migrated from the Rio Grande, and the little town Sitcomovi, midway between Hano and Walpi, had not been built on the mound covered with flowers which gave it its name.

As one crosses the plain following the road from the entrance to Keams Canyon to the modern Moki settlement near Isba or Coyote Spring, the main water supply of Hano, he sees far to the right, on the mesa top, two conical mounds, which are conspicuous for miles. These teocalli-like elevations are called Kükütcomo, and are circular ruins, possibly contemporaneous with Sikyatki, of which they were defensive outlooks. They are situated just above the mounds which mark the ruins of that village on the foothills beneath, and were no doubt wisely chosen for defense against the Walpians. Between them and the present towns the mesa narrows, and what was once a strong defensive wall can still be traced, crossing the mesa at its narrow point. Sikyatki lies among foothills, surrounded by stretches of sand, elevated a few hundred feet above the plain. Elsewhere than in Tusayan its site would be regarded most desolate, but an enterprising Indian, claiming the ruin from the relationship of his wife, still harvests from these barren sands a considerable crop of melons and squashes, planting his vines where the plaza once was. Other Indians claim the stunted peach trees which grow near by. Not a trace of the walls of ancient Sikyatki stand above the mounds, although the outlines of houses can be followed everywhere on the surface. Since the village became a ruin roofs have fallen in, drifting sand has blown into the chambers, and the sagebrush and other desert plants have taken root in the covering débris, forming a succession of mounds of rectangular