The same remarks apply to the other sex, who from childhood to old age
run the course in milder degree. Many of the maidens are pretty and
the matrons are comely and wholesome to behold. The old, wrinkled and
bowed go their way with quiet mien and busy themselves with the light
duties in which their experience counts for much.
In spite of the luxuriant hair that adorns the heads of this people,
one may notice the difference of head shape which distinguishes them
from the tribes of the plains. The cradle-board is partly responsible
for this, since, from infancy, the children are bound to the cradle
and obliged to lie on the back for longer or shorter intervals, and
thus begins the flattening of the back of the skull. But the heads of
the women are rarely flattened, probably because the girls are not so
well cared for as the boys.
There are among the Hopi a greater number of albinos in proportion to
the population than may be found almost anywhere else. They go about
their avocations like the rest and are in no way regarded as different
from their kin. The impulse is to address them in English, and one
feels surprised when they do not comprehend. One albino maiden of
Mishongnovi has a marvelous growth of golden hair which shows to great
advantage in her ample hair whorls. Many students believe that
albinism has its origin in the nervous system, and perhaps the
timidity of the Hopi explains the number of these remarkable people in
their midst; but this is a theory, based on a theory. It has been
observed that some of the albinos are below the average in
intelligence, and it has been ascertained that the larger proportion
of them are second in order of birth in a family.
From the number of old people in the pueblos one would gain the
impression that the Hopi are long-lived. All things considered, this
is doubtless the truth, but there are no statistics to settle the
matter; besides, the question of age is a doubtful one among the Hopi
themselves. If "sans everything" is any criterion of a centenarian,
there are such among the Peaceful People. One must conclude that, on
passing childhood, the average Hopi is due for a second term of the
helpless period.
"Welcome" is not written over every Hopi door, but the spirit of
hospitality pervades the entire population. This is one of the
pleasant features of the Pueblos and is the chief reason why the Hopi
are held in friendly remembrance by visitors. An acquaintance with the
Indians in the different pueblos of the Southwest will convince one
that there is a considerable range of disposition among them. Perhaps
the extremes are the untractable Santo Domingans and the
impressionable Hopi. It seems to be a matter of the elements of which
the tribes have been made up and of their past experiences and
associations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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