I96 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899
It is unnecessary to refer to the position which the spider holds in the beliefs of many other tribes. The subject is a familiar one. I may call attention, however, to the fact that among both the Cheyenne and the Arapaho the same word is used to denote " spider " and " white man/' and that in both languages this word appears to convey the idea of high intelligence, being almost the equivalent of "wise or intelli- gent one."
George Bird Grinnell.
Death of a Celebrated Hopi— K6peli, the Snake chief at the Tusayan pueblo of VValpi, Arizona, died suddenly on January 2, 1899. He was the son of Saliko, the oldest woman of the Snake clan, which is one of the most influential as well as the most ancient in Tusayan. His father was Supela, one of the chiefs of the Patki, or Rain-cloud people, who came to VValpi from southern Arizona about the close of the seventeenth century. As chief of the Snake priests at VValpi in the last five presentations of the Snake dance at that pueblo, K6peli had come to be one of the best known of all the Hopi Indians. He inher- ited his badge of office as Snake chief from his uncle, and was the only chief in Tusayan who had a Snake ttponi. His predecessor in this duty was Nuvaiwinu, his uncle, who is still living, and who led the Snake priests in a single ceremony, after which it was found necessary for him . to retire on account of his infirmities. At the celebration of the Snake dance in 1883, described by Bourke, Ndtciwa, an uncle of K6peli, was Snake chief. The oldest Snake chief of whom I can get any informa- tion was Murpi, a contemporary of Macali, the Antelope chief preceding Wiki. K6peli was a relative on his mother's side of both these men. At the time of his death K6peli was not far from 25 years of age ; ht had a strong, vigorous constitution, was of medium size, with at attractive face and dignified manner that won him many friends both among his own people and the Americans with whom he was brought in contact. He was a thoroughly reliable man, industrious, and adf* respecting. Although a conscientious chief of one of the most con- servative priesthoods in Walpi, he was a zealous friend of the whites, and supported innovations introduced by them for the good of his people. He believed in the efficacy of the ceremonial rites of his ancestors, and performed his duty as priest without shirking. As Mr Thomas V. Keam, who knows the Walpi people better than any other white man, told the chiefs in council a few days after the Snake chief's death, *' K6peli was the best man of the Mokis." He was a pac Idlomai tdka, an excellent man, whose heart was good and whose speech was straight. To most Americans who are interested in
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