years
previously to my visit. In his brief account Mr Victor Mindeleff[96]
speaks of it as two prominent knolls, "about 400 yards apart," the
summits of which are covered with house walls. He also found portions
of walls on intervening hummocks, but gives no plan of the ruin. The
name, Sikyatki, is referred to the color of the sandstone of which the
walls were built. He found some of the rooms were constructed of small
stones, dressed by rubbing, and laid in mud. The largest chamber was
stated to be 9-1/2 by 4-1/2 feet, and it was considered that many of
the houses were "built in excavated places around the rocky summits of
the knolls."[97] Mr Mindeleff identified the former inhabitants with
the ancestors of the Kokop people, and mentioned the more important
details of their legend concerning the destruction of the village.

We can rely on the statement that Sikyatki was inhabited by the Kokop
or Firewood people of Tusayan, who were so named because they obtained
fire from wood by the use of drills. These people are represented
today at Walpi by Katci, whose totem is a picture of Masauwu, the God
of Fire. It is said that the home of the Firewood people before they
built Sikyatki was at Tebunki, or Fire-house, a round ruin
northeastward from Keam's canyon. They were late arrivals in Tusayan,
coming at least after the Flute people, and probably before the Honani
or Badger people, who brought, I believe, the _katcina_ cult. Although
we can not definitely assert that this cultus was unknown at Sikyatki,
it is significant that in the ruins no ornamental vessel was found
with a figure of a _katcina_ mask, although these figures occur on
modern bowls. The original home of the Kokop people is not known, but
indefinite legends ascribe their origin to Rio Grande valley. They are
reputed to have had kindred in Antelope valley and at the Fire-house,
above alluded to, near Eighteen-mile spring.

The ruin of Fire-house, one of the pueblos where the Kokop people are
reputed to have lived before they built Sikyatki, is situated on the
periphery of Tusayan. It is built of massive stones and differs from
all other ruins in that province in that it is circular in form. The
round type of ruin is, however, to be seen in the two conical mounds
on the mesa above Sikyatki, which was connected in some way with the
inhabitants who formerly lived at its base.

The reason the Kokop people left Fire-house is not certain, but it is
said that they