Several figures of reptiles and serpents occur in the Sikyatki
collection. Figure 22 represents an animal like a reptile; only two
legs are shown in the design and the form of the tail recalls that of
a bird. The head of this figure bears two horns resembling feathers in
some respects; the legs terminate in four claws. From a projection at the
posterior end of the body there arises a curved line dotted at intervals
and terminating in feathers. The dorsal appendage resembles the carapace
of a turtle, from beneath which feathers project.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.—Reptile.]
[Illustration: FIG. 22.—Reptile.]
Figure 22 depicts a reptile from the head of which project horns and two
long feathers. Its back bears a row of feathers, but it has only two legs.
The legless creature, figure 23, has two triangular earlike feathers
rising from the head, and two eyes; a wide-open mouth, in which are
six long, curved teeth, three in each jaw. The tongue terminates in an
arrow-shaped figure, recalling a conventional symbol of lightning, or
the death-dealing power of the serpent. The meaning of the narrow line
connecting the upper jaw with the tail is not known. The curved shape
of the body of the reptile is necessitated by the shape of the bowl
on which it is drawn. This figure may represent the monster feathered
serpent of Sikyatki, or a flying reptile, one of the most mysterious of
the elemental gods. It is interesting to note that while the effigies of
the feathered serpent used in Hopi (Walpi) and Zuñi religious practices
has a single horn on the head, the one here described is different from
both, for it is provided with two appendages resembling conventionalized
feathers. The Hopi feathered serpent was derived from the same source as
the Zuñi, namely, clans which originally came to the Little Colorado from
Gila Valley.[12]
[Illustration: FIG. 23.—Reptile.]
[Illustration: FIG. 24.—Reptile.]
The Hopi (Walpi) figure is in a measure comparable with that shown in
figure 23—each has two hornlike feathers on the head, and the bodies are
curved in the same direction—that is, with the center (?) on the right
(dextral circuit), the reverse of modern Hopi pictures, which are placed
as if the figures were moving in a sinistral circuit.[13]
The form shown in figure 24 reminds one of a frog or a turtle. The body
and feet are turtlelike. As in several pictures of reptiles, it is
provided with an anterior appendage, evidently the front leg, which has
characteristic claws. The row of white dots extending from the mouth
through the neck represents the esophagus or windpipe. The author is
unable to offer any interpretation of the appendages to the tail, but
suggests that they may have been intended for feathers. Figure 25 _a_,
_b_, is identified as a turtle.
Figure 26 was evidently designed to represent several tadpoles swimming
across a bowl between rows of rain clouds, the whole inclosed in a circle
to which are attached five stars at approximately equal intervals. The
form of the rain clouds reminds one of conventional tail feathers.
There are six of these rain-cloud figures on one side of the field of
decoration and five on the other. The tadpoles shown in figure 27 occur
on the inside of the ladle.