"The lad soon afterward rejoined them, and they saw that his
back was cut and bleeding and covered with splinters of yucca
and willow. The flagellation, he told them, had been
administered by Calako, who told him that he must endure this
laceration before he could look upon the beings he had
invoked; that only to those who passed through his ordeals
could Calako become visible; and, as the lad had braved the
test so well, he should thenceforth be chief of the Calako
altar. The lad could not describe Calako, but said that his
two wives were exceedingly beautiful and arrayed with all
manner of fine garments. They wore great headdresses of
clouds and every kind of corn which they were to give to the
Hopi to plant for food. There were white, red, yellow, blue,
black, blue-and-white speckled, and red-and-yellow speckled
corn, and a seeded grass (_kwapi_).
"The lad returned to the altar and shook his rattle over the
hole in the rock, and from its interior Calako conversed with
him and gave him instructions. In accordance with these he
gathered all the Hopi youths and brought them to the rock,
that Calako might select certain of them to be his priests.
The first test was that of putting their hands in the mud and
impressing them upon the rock. Only those were chosen as
novices the imprints of whose hands had dried on the instant.
"The selected youths then moved within the altar and
underwent the test of flagellation. Calako lashed them with
yucca and willow. Those who made no outcry were told to
remain in the altar, to abstain from salt and flesh for ten
days, when Calako would return and instruct them concerning
the rites to be performed when they sought his aid.
"Calako and his two wives appeared at the appointed time, and
after many ceremonials gave to each of the initiated five
grains of each of the different kinds of corn. The Hopi women
had been instructed to place baskets woven of grass at the
foot of the rock, and in these Calako's wives placed the
seeds of squashes, melons, beans, and all the other
vegetables which the Hopi have since possessed.
"Calako and his wives, after announcing that they would again
return, took off their masks and garments, and laying them on
the rock disappeared within it.
"Some time after this, when the initiated were assembled in
the altar, the Great Plumed Snake appeared to them and said
that Calako could not return unless one of them was brave
enough to take the mask and garments down into the hole and
give them to him. They were all afraid, but the oldest man of
the Hopi took them down and was deputed to return and
represent Calako.
"Shortly afterward Masauwûh stole the paraphernalia, and with
his two brothers masqueraded as Calako and his wives. This
led the Hopi into great trouble, and they incurred the wrath
of Muiyinwûh, who withered all their grain and corn.
"One of the Hopi finally discovered that the supposed Calako
carried a cedar bough in his hand, when it should have been
willow; then they knew that it was Masauwûh who had been
misleading them.
"The boy hero one day found Masauwûh asleep, and so regained
possession of the mask. Muiyinwûh then withdrew his
punishments and sent Palülükoñ (the Plumed Snake) to tell
the Hopi that Calako would never return to them, but that the
boy hero should wear his mask and represent him, and his
festival should be celebrated when they had a proper number
of novices to be initiated."[134]
Several food basins from Sikyatki have a human hand depicted upon
them, and in one of these both hands are represented. On the most
perfect of these hand figures (plate CXXXVII, _c_) a wristlet is well
represented, with two triangular figures, which impart to it an
unusual form. From between the index and second finger there arises a
triangular appendage, which joins a graceful curve, extending on one
side to the base of the thumb and continued on the other side to the
arm. The whole inside of the basin, except the figure of the hand and
its appendage, is decorated with spattering,[135] and on the outside
there is a second figure, evidently a hand or the paw of some animal.
This external decoration also has a triangular figure in which are two
terraces, recalling rain-cloud symbols.
One of the most interesting representations of the human hand (figure
354) is found on the exterior of a beautiful bowl. The four fingers
and the thumb are shown with representations of nails, a unique
feature in such decorations. From between the index finger and the
next, or rather from the tip of the former, arises an appendage
comparable with that before mentioned, but of much simpler form. The
palm of the hand is crossed by a number of parallel lines, which
recall a custom of using the palm lines in measuring ceremonial prayer
sticks, as I have described in a memoir on the Snake dance. In place
of the arm this hand has many parallel lines, the three medial ones
being continued far beyond the others, as shown in the figure.