This pre-Spanish custom in Tusayan was discovered in my excavations at Awatobi, but the prayer-sticks from that place were fragmentary as compared with the almost perfect pahos from Sikyatki. These pahos are of many forms;[162] some of them are of considerable size, and the majority are of distinctive forms (plates CLXXIV-CLXXV). There are also many fragments, the former shapes of which could not be determined. When it is considered that these wooden objects with their neat carvings were fashioned with stone implements, the high character of the work is very remarkable. They show, in several instances, the imprint of attached strings and feathers, portions of which still remain; also, in one instance, fragments of a pine needle. They are painted with green and black mineral pigments, the former of which had undoubtedly done much to preserve the soft wood of which they were manufactured. As at the present day, cottonwood and willow were the favorite prescribed woods for pahos, and some of the best were made of pine. The forms of these ancient prayer offerings, as mentioned hereafter, differ somewhat from those of modern make, although in certain instances there is a significant resemblance between the two kinds. [Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLXXIII PIPES, BELL, AND CLAY BIRDS AND SHELLS FROM AWATOBI AND SIKYATKI] One of the most striking instances of resemblance between the old and the new is the likeness of some of these ancient pahos to those now made by the Flute society, and if this resemblance is more than a coincidence, the conclusion that the present flute paho is a survival of the ancient form may be accepted. As adding weight to this theory it may be mentioned that traditionally the Flute people claim to be the ancient people of Tusayan, and possibly contemporaries, in that province, with the ancient inhabitants of Sikyatki. There is likewise a most suggestive resemblance between these pahos and certain similar sticks from cliff dwellings, and it is a belief, which I can not yet demonstrate as true, that kindred people, or the same sacerdotal societies represented in cliff houses and in Sikyatki, manufactured ceremonial prayer offerings which are identical in design. Plate CLXXIV, _a_, represents a double stick paho, which closely resembles the prayer offering of the modern Flute society. The two rods were found together and originally had been attached, as indicated by the arrangement of the impression of the string midway of their length. The stick of the left has a facet cut on one side, upon which originally three dots were depicted to represent the eyes and the mouth. This member of the paho was the female; the remaining stick was the male. There are two deep grooves, or ferules, cut midway of their length, a distinctive characteristic of the modern flute paho. Both components are painted green, as is still customary in prayer-sticks of this fraternity.