“You see colors under the rocks, at the bottoms of the cliffs, and when you approach them some invisible enemy kills you. These are the same as the Tseʻtlayaltíʻ, or Those Who Talk Under the Cliffs.” Thus said Hatáli Nĕz when questioned.

72. Kĭntyél or Kĭntyê′li.—This name (from kin, a stone or adobe house, a pueblo house, and tyel, broad) means simply Broad Pueblo,—one covering much ground. It is applied to at least two ruined pueblos in the Navaho country. One of these—the Pueblo Grande of the Mexicans, situated “twenty-two or twenty-three miles north of Navaho Springs,” a station on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, in Arizona—is well described and depicted by Mr. Victor Mindeleff in his “Study of Pueblo Architecture.”[326] The other—the Kĭntyél to which reference is made in this story—is in the Chaco Canyon, in New Mexico. With its name spelled “Kintail,” and rendered “the Navajo name for ruin,” it is mentioned by Mr. F. T. Bickford,[293] and one of his pictures, probably representing Kĭntyél, is here reproduced ([fig. 36]). In the Journal of American Folk-Lore, April-June, 1889, the author says: “I have reason to believe that this pueblo is identical with that seen and described in 1849 by Lieut. J. H. Simpson, U.S.A., under the name of Pueblo Chettro Kettle.”

73. The name Has-tsé-yal-ti, spelled according to the alphabet of the Bureau of Ethnology “Qastcéyalçi” may be translated Talking God, or Talking Elder of the Gods. Hastséyalti is otherwise called Yébĭtsai, or the Maternal Grandfather of the Gods. He is a chief or leader among several groups of local divinities who are said to dwell at Kĭninaékai, in the Chelly Canyon, at Tsĕ′nitse, Tséʻhíhi, and at various other sacred places. Although called a talking god, the man who personates him in the rites never speaks while in character, but utters a peculiar whoop and makes signs. In the myths, however, the god is represented as speaking, usually after he has whooped and made signs. ([Par. 472].) He is a beneficent character, always ready to help man and rescue him from peril. He is sometimes spoken of and prayed to as if there were but one, but the myths show that the Navahoes believe in many gods of this name, and in some prayers it is distinctly specified which one is meant by naming his home in connection with him. In [plate I.] he is shown, as represented in the dry-paintings, carrying a tobacco bag made of the skin of Abert’s squirrel (Sciurus aberti). In the picture the black tips of toes, nose, and ears, and the reddish (chestnut) spot on the back of the squirrel, are carefully indicated. The dry-painting shows the more important characters of the mask worn by the personator,—the eagle-plumes at the back, the owl-feathers at the base of the plume-ornament, and the peculiar symbols at mouth and eyes,—but it does not show the cornstalk symbol over the nose. [Fig. 27], taken from a photograph, shows the mask trimmed with its collar of fresh spruce boughs, as it appears when used in the dance of naakhaí on the last night of the ceremony of klédzi hatál. The personator of Hastséyalti has his whole person clothed, while the representatives of other gods go nearly naked. The proper covering for his back is a number of finely dressed deerskins, one over another, tied together in front by the skins of the legs; but of late years the masquerader often appears in an ordinary calico shirt. The symbol surrounding each of the holes for the eyes and mouth is this

. It is said to represent the storm cloud hanging above, and the mist rising from below to meet it. Thus cloud and mist often appear in the mountains of the Navaho land during the rainy season, Hastséyalti or the Yébĭtsai is the principal character in the great rite of klédzi hatál, or the night chant. Our people, who often go to witness the public performance of the last night in this rite, call it the Yébĭtsai (Yáybichy) dance. The songs and prayers in which Hastséyalti is mentioned are numerous. For the points in which fig. 2, [plate I.], agree with fig. 1, [plate I.], see note [74].

74. Has-tsé-ho-gan, spelled with alphabet of Bureau of Ethnology, Qastcéqogan, may be freely translated House God. Hastséhogan is one of the leading personages in each of the local groups of the yéi, or divine beings, who dwell in caves and old cliff-dwellings. He is commonly spoken of as if there were but one; but an examination of the myths shows that the Navahoes believe in many of these gods. Those of Tseʻgíhi, Tséʻnihogan, Tséʻnitse, Kininaékai, and the sacred mountains are the ones most commonly worshipped. In most myths he appears as second in authority to Hastséyalti, the Talking God, but occasionally he is represented as equal or even superior to the latter. He is a farm god as well as a house god. To him are attributed the farm-songs sung during the night chant (see [note 322]), and many other songs. He is a beneficent character and a friend to man. There are many songs and prayers in his honor. In the rite of klédzi hatál, or the night chant, he is represented in the dance by a man wearing a collar of spruce, a blue mask decorated with eagle-plumes and moccasins, with shirt and leggings, which should be (but of late years are not always) of buckskin. He is depicted in the dry-paintings thus (see [plate I.], fig. 1): He wears a black shirt ornamented with four star-like ornaments embroidered in porcupine quills, and having a fancy fringe of porcupine quills at the bottom; white buckskin leggings; colored garters; quill-embroidered moccasins, tied on with white strings; long ear-pendants of turquoise and coral; bracelets of the same; an otter-skin (hanging below the right ear), from which depend six buckskin strings with colored porcupine quills wrapped around them; a cap-like (male) mask painted blue, fringed with red hair, and adorned with eagle-plumes and owl-feathers. He carries a staff (gĭs) painted black (with the charcoal of four sacred plants), streaked transversely with white, and adorned with a single cluster of turkey tail-feathers arranged as a whorl, and two eagle plumes, which, like the plumes on the head, are tipped with small, downy eagle-feathers. The yellow stripe at the chin indicates a similar stripe on the mask actually worn, and symbolizes the yellow light of evening (nahotsóí). The neck of this as well as the other divine figures is painted blue, and crossed with four stripes in red. Some say that this indicates the larynx with its cartilaginous rings; others say that it represents the collar of spruce-twigs; others are uncertain of its meaning. If it does not represent the spruce collars, it represents nothing in the costume of the masquerader, which, in other respects, except the quill embroideries, agrees closely with the picture, Hastséyalti is also a dawn god, Hastséhogan a god of evening.

75. In the Navaho tales, men frequently receive friendly warnings or advice from wind gods who whisper into their ears. Some story-tellers—as in the version of the origin myth here given—speak of one wind god only, whom they call simply Nĭ′ltsi (Wind); while others—as in the story of Natĭ′nĕsthani—speak of Nĭ′ltsi-dĭnéʻ (Wind People) and Nĭltsiázi-dĭnéʻ (Little Wind People) as the friendly prompters.

76. The game of nánzoz, as played by the Navahoes, is much the same as the game of chungkee played by the Mandans, described and depicted by Catlin in his “North American Indians,”[296] vol. i., page 132, plate 59. A hoop is rolled along the ground and long poles are thrown after it. The Mandan pole was made of a single piece of wood. The pole of the Navahoes is made of two pieces, usually alder, each a natural fathom long; the pieces overlap and are bound together by a long branching strap of hide called thágibĭke, or turkey-claw.

77. These shells may not be altogether mythical. Possibly they are the same as those described in the story of “The Great Shell of Kĭntyél” given in this book.