while they respect the priests who come to minister to them, they
also have a lurking reverence for the medicine man, who is known as
the _cacique_. He is really the religious head of the community, a
kind of augur and prophet, who consults the gods and communicates to
the people the answers he claims to have received. This dignitary is
exempt from all work of a manual kind, such as farming, digging
irrigation-ditches, and even hunting, and receives compensation for
his services in the form of a tract of land which the community
cultivates for him with more care than is bestowed on any other
portion of their territory, while his crops are the first harvested
in the autumn. He also derives an income in the form of grain,
buckskin, shells, or turquoises, from those who beg him to fast for
them, and to intercede with the gods in case of sickness. On the
other hand, the _cacique_ must lodge and feed all the strangers who
come to the village, as long as they stay, and he is, also, the
surgeon and the nurse of the community.

[Illustration: THE ALTAR.]

[Illustration: DANCE IN THE PUEBLO.]

While, therefore, the Pueblos go to church and repeat prayers in
accordance with Christian teaching, they also use the prayer-sticks
of their ancestors, and still place great reliance on their dances,
most of which are of a strictly religious character, and are not only
dedicated to the sun, moon, rainbow, deer, elk, and sheep, but are
usually performed for the specific purpose of obtaining rain.
Formerly, too, when their lives were far less peaceful than they are
to-day, the Pueblos indulged in war and scalp dances; but these are
now falling into disuse. The most remarkable exhibition of dancing,