When one day in the year 1540 the Spaniards halted under the Hopi towns there was consternation among the people at the sight of the armored conquerors and all held back in their houses for fear of them. Not so the warrior priests, who, striding down the trail, sprinkled a line of meal between the town and the Spaniards. According to immemorial custom this line of meal means that no one shall pass under penalty of death. One of the Spanish soldiers crossed the line and was killed by the warriors. Then the Spanish friar who came with the expedition in quest of new souls to save, cried out in effect, "What are we here for?"; a volley followed; the Hopi heard the report of a gun for the first time, and a number of them bit the dust. The remainder fled to the village, which was thoroughly frightened at the terrible visitation of bearded foes. On the next day a deputation came down to the Spanish camp bringing presents and offering humble submission to the white men. More than three centuries later, a body of United States troops who were sent to coerce the Oraibi because they would not send their children to school, met with a similar experience, but by good management no blood was shed and the Indian leaders were exiled to California for a year or so. It is a curious circumstance that in our country where the past is forgotten so soon there should exist a people who remember and take warning from the events of almost four centuries ago. On the rocks below Walpi there is a curiously carved record which has a good bit of war history connected with it. Hear Anowita, the Warrior Chief, tell the story: Very when ago [long time] the Ute and Apache were always wishing to kill the Good People. They were very bad. At that time there was no trail up the great rocks to _Hopi-ki_ "Walpi." The people climbed up and down a long ladder which could be drawn up at night. I can show you where the ladder stood. It was bad for the people to be frightened all the time, so they sent messengers to ask the Tewa from the Great River to come and dwell at Walpi to fight their enemies. The Tewa came, many families of them; there was a battle at a spring north of Walpi and the Tewa killed as many Utes as there are marks cut in the rock below the Gap. The Ute did not come back again. The Tewa were given lands and springs to the eastward and their village was set at the head of the trail near the Gap so that they could guard the mesa. This is the origin of the Tewa town of Hano on the East Mesa, through which everyone must go who seeks an easy entrance into Walpi. One cannot avoid thinking that the recorder of the battle of the spring was not sparing with his list of dead Ute, which he scored with a series of lines cut in a smooth sandstone face.