present screens are of the latter material, but these are commonly said to have replaced others of skin or native cloth. The Walpi men made two new serpent effigies in their kivas in 1900, and all the material of which they were manufactured was purchased from the neighboring trader at Keams Canyon.
Each of the three pueblos, Hano, Sichumovi, and Walpi, has several of these serpent effigies, which are kept in the houses of the following clans:
Hano, Sa (Tobacco) clan; Sichumovi, Patki (Rain-cloud) clan; Walpi, Tcüa (Snake) clan, Pakab (Reed) clan.
In ancient times they were kept in stone inclosures outside the pueblos, but these receptacles have been abandoned of late, on account of the inroads of nomads. It is said that the Oraibi and Middle mesa pueblos still have extramural receptacles for the Palülükoñ effigies. The house of the ancient Plumed Snake of Hano is a small cave in the side of the mesa near the ruin Türkinobi, where several broken serpent heads and effigy ribs, or wooden hoops, can now be seen, although the entrance is walled up and rarely opened.
A knowledge of the mechanical construction of the serpent effigies may aid in an understanding of their manipulation. Their heads are either cut out of cottonwood or made of gourds, and are painted, and the protuberant goggle-eyes are small buckskin bags tied to the top. Each head bars a medial horn curving forward, sometimes made with joints and at other times solid. A radiating crest of hawk feathers is tied vertically to the back of the head. The teeth are cut in the gourd or wood of which the head is made and are painted red. The tongue is a leather strap, also painted red, and protrudes from the mouth a considerable distance. The top of the head is black, the bottom white, and these same colors continue along the sides of the body.
The body consists of a central stick, called a backbone, over which is extended a covering that is held in place by a series of hoops graduated in size from the next to the end. The effigy is manipulated by means of a stick, held by a man behind the screen. The "backbone" has a ferule cut in it a few inches back of the next, and to this ferule are tied a quartz crystal called the heart and a package which contains corn seeds of all colors, melon, squash, cotton, and other seeds, and a black prayer-stick. The cotton cloth stretched over the series of hoops, called ribs, which form the body, is painted black above and white below, with a red streak at the dividing line, where there are also other markings and symbols, like those on the kilts of the Snake priests.
The backbones of the two effigies which were made to rise out of the vases were short and stumpy, but they have a "heart" similar to the longer ones, and an attached package of seeds.
