THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
9
serpents th a t certain men have over bees; the latter power, the existence
of w hich is so well know n, has never received th e attention and stu d y
it deserves. An accasional w hite m an has such power w ith snakes, there
was near my ranch on the L ittle M issouri, tw enty-five years ago, a m an
w ho had this pow er. H e was a rath e r shiftless, ig n o ran t m an, of com
mon frontier type, who failed at about ev ery th in g , and I th in k he was
him self surprised when he found th at he could pick up and handle r a t
tlesnakes w ith im punity. T h ere was no deception about it. I w ould
take him off on horseback, and w hen I found a rattler he w ould quietly
pick it up by th e thick part of th e body and p u t it in a sack. H e som e
tim es m ade m ovem ents w ith his hands before picking up a coiled rattler;
but when he had several in a bag he would sim ply p u t his hand in, take
hold of a snake anyw here, and draw it ou t. I can u n d erstan d th e snakes
being soothed and quieted by th e m atter-of-fact calm and fearlessness of
the priests for m ost of the tim e; but w hy th e rattlers were not all m ad
dened by th e treatm en t they received at the w ashing in the kiva,
and again when throw n on th e dance rock, I cannot u n d erstan d .
T h at n ight we m otored across the desert w ith M r. H ubbell to his
house and store at G anado, six ty miles aw ay, and from G anado we
m otored to G allup, and our holiday was at an end. Mr. H ubbell is an
Indian trader. H is G anado house, rig h t o u t in the bare desert is very
com fortable and very attractive, and he treats all com ers w ith an open-
handed hospitality inherited from pioneer days. H e has g reat influ
ence am ong th e N avajos, and his services to them have been of much
value. E very ounce of his influence has been successfully exerted to
])Ut a stop to gam bling and d rin k in g ; his business has been so m anaged
as to be an im portant factor in the m aterial and moral betterm ent of the
In d ian s w ith whom he has dealt. A nd he has been the able cham pion
of th eir rig h ts w herever these rig h ts have been menaced from any o u t
side source.
A rizona and New Mexico hold a w ealth of attractio n for the arch ae
ologist, the anthropologist, and the lover of w hat is strange and s trik
ing and beautifiul in n atu re. More and more they will a ttra c t visitors
and studen ts and holiday-m akers. T h a t part of A rizona w hich we tr a
versed is of such ex trao rd in ary intererest th at it should be made more
accessible bv a G overnm ent built m otor road from G ullup to the G rand
Canon; a road from w hich branch roads, as good as those of S w itzer
land, would gradually be b u ilt to such as the H opi villages and the
neighborhood of th e N atural Bridge.