At the foot of the mesa, below the point last mentioned, however,
there is a shrine (figure 260), the earth of which contained hundreds
of prayer-sticks, in all stages of decay, while some of them had been
placed there only a few days before my visit. This shrine, I was
told, is still used by the Mishoñinovi priests in their sacred
observances. Among other forms of prayer offerings there were many
small wooden cylinders with radiating sticks connected with yarn, the
symbolic prayer offering for squashes.[81] In former times Antelope
valley was the garden spot of Tusayan, and from what we know of the
antiquity of the cultivation of squashes in the Southwest, there is
little doubt that they were cultivated by the Awatobians, and that
similar offerings were made by the ancient farmers for a good crop of
these vegetables.
[Illustration: FIG. 258--Shrine at Awatobi]
[Illustration: FIG. 259--Shrine at Awatobi]