When the Hano first came the Walpi said to them, “let us spit in your mouths, and you will learn our tongue,” and to this the Hano consented. When the Hano came up and built on the mesa they said to the Walpi, “let us spit in your mouths and you will learn our tongue,” but the Walpi would not listen to this, saying it would make them vomit. This is the reason why all the Hano can talk Hopí, and none of the Hopítuh can talk Hano.
The Asa and the Hano were close friends while they dwelt in New Mexico, and when they came to this region both of them were called Hánomuh by the other people of Tusayan. This term signifies the mode in which the women of these people wear their hair, cut off in front on a line with
the mouth and carelessly parted or hanging over the face, the back hair rolled up in a compact queue at the nape of the neck. This uncomely fashion prevails with both matron, and maid, while among the other Tusayan the matron parts her hair evenly down the head and wears it hanging in a straight queue on either side, the maidens wearing theirs in a curious discoid arrangement over each temple.
Although the Asa and the Hano women have the same peculiar fashion of wearing the hair, still there is no affinity of blood claimed between them. The Asa speak the same language as the other Tusayan, but the Tewa (Hano) have a quite distinct language which belongs to the Tañoan stock. They claim that the occupants of the following pueblos, in the same region of the Rio Grande, are of their people and speak the same tongue.
| Kótite | Cochití (?). | Kápung | Santa Clara (?) |
| Númi | Nambé. | Pokwádi | Pojoaque. |
| Ohke | San Juan. | Tetsógi | Tesuque. |
| Posówe | (Doubtless extinct.) | Also half of Taos. | |
Pleasant relations existed for some time, but the Walpi again grew ill-tempered; they encroached upon the Hano planting grounds and stole their property. These troubles increased, and the Hano moved away from the mesa; they crossed the west valley and built temporary shelters. They sent some men to explore the land on the westward to find a suitable place for a new dwelling. These scouts went to the Moen-kopi, and on returning, the favorable story they told of the land they had seen determined the Tewa to go there.
Meanwhile some knowledge of these troubles had reached Tceewádigi, and a party of the Tewa came to Tusayan to take their friends back. This led the Hopituh to make reparation, which restored the confidence of the Hano, and they returned to the mesa, and the recently arrived party were also induced to remain. Yet even now, when the Hano (Tewa) go to visit their people on the river, the latter beseech them to come back, but the old Tewa say, “we shall stay here till our breath leaves us, then surely we shall go back to our first home to live forever.”
The Walpi for a long time frowned down all attempts on the part of the Hano to fraternize; they prohibited intermarriages, and in general tabued the Hano. Something of this spirit was maintained until quite recent years, and for this reason the Hano still speak their own language, and have preserved several distinctive customs, although now the most friendly relations exist among all the villages. After the Hano were quietly established in their present position the Asa returned, and the Walpi allotted them a place to build in their own village. As before mentioned, the house mass on the southeast side of Walpi, at the head of the trail leading up to the village at that point, is still occupied by Asa families, and their tenure of possession was on the condition that they should always defend that point of access and guard the south end
of the village. Their kiva is named after this circumstance as that of “the Watchers of the High Place.”
Some of the Bear and Lizard families being crowded for building space, moved from Walpi and built the first houses on the site of the present village of Sichumovi, which is named from the Sivwapsi, a shrub which formerly grew there on some mounds (chumo).