The two “Accompanying Papers” that make up the bulk of this book are also available as individual texts from Project Gutenberg:

Victor Mindeleff, A Study of Pueblo Architecture, Tusayan and Cibola: e-text 19856.

James Stevenson, The Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians: e-text 19331.

The files are identical except that in the present text a few more typographical errors have been corrected, and some illustrations have been replaced.

A few words in these two papers use some uncommon letters:

ā, ē (vowel with macron or “long” mark)
Ĕ, ĭ, ŏ (vowel with breve or “short” mark)
ⁿ (small raised n).

These words include alternate transcriptions as mouse-hover popups: Tanā’shkiji. Errors are similarly marked. The “cents” sign ¢ has been used in place of the rare symbols Ȼ and ȼ.

If the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may need to change your browser’s “file encoding” or “character set” to utf-8 (unicode), or change your browser’s default font.

All brackets and parenthetical question marks are in the original. The cover picture is conjectural; it was used in Annual Reports 7, 9 and others.

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY

TO THE

SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

1886-’87

BY

J. W. POWELL

DIRECTOR

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1891

CONTENTS.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR.

ACCOMPANYING PAPERS.

A STUDY OF PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE, TUSAYAN AND CIBOLA, BY VICTOR MINDELEFF.

This article is in a separate file. As in the printed original, it includes a duplicate table of contents and list of illustrations; the Index was added by the transcriber.

CEREMONIAL OF HASJELTI DAILJIS AND MYTHICAL SAND PAINTING OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS, BY JAMES STEVENSON.

This article is in a separate file. As in the printed original, it includes a duplicate table of contents and list of illustrations; the Index was added by the transcriber.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plates I-CXI and Figures 1-114 accompany Pueblo Architecture; the remaining Plates and Figures accompany Hasjelti Dailjis. Each article is in a separate file.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR.

[ LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.]

Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of Ethnology,
Washington, D.C., October 1, 1887.

Sir: I have the honor to submit my Eighth Annual Report as Director of the Bureau of Ethnology.

The first part presents an explanation of the plan and operations of the Bureau; the second consists of a series of papers on anthropologic subjects, prepared by my assistants to illustrate the methods and results of the work of the Bureau.

I desire to express my thanks for your earnest support and your wise counsel relating to the work under my charge.

I am, with respect, your obedient servant,

Prof. S. P. Langley,
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

By J. W. Powell, Director.

[ INTRODUCTION.]

The prosecution of research among the North American Indians, as directed by act of Congress, was continued during the fiscal year 1886-’87.

The general plan upon which the work has been prosecuted has been explained in former reports and has not been changed. After certain lines of investigation had been decided upon, they were confided to persons trained in their pursuit, with the intention that the results of their labors, when completed or well advanced, should be presented from time to time in the publications of the Bureau provided for by law. A brief statement of the work upon which each one of the special students was actively engaged during the fiscal year is furnished below, but this statement does not embrace all the studies undertaken or services rendered by them, since particular lines of research have been suspended in this, as in former years, in order to prosecute unto substantial completeness work regarded as of paramount importance. From this cause delays have been occasioned in the completion of several treatises and monographs, already partly in type, which otherwise would have been published.

Invitation is renewed for the assistance of explorers, writers, and students who are not and may not desire to be officially connected with the Bureau. Their contributions, whether in the shape of suggestions or of extended communications, will be gratefully acknowledged, and will always receive proper credit if published either in the series of reports or in monographs or bulletins, as the liberality of Congress may in future allow.

The items now reported upon are presented in three principal divisions. The first relates to the publication made; the second, to the work prosecuted in the field; and the third, to the office work, which largely consists of the preparation for publication of the results of field work, with the corrections and additions obtained from the literature relating to the subjects discussed and by correspondence.

[ PUBLICATION.]

The only publication actually issued during the year was the Fourth Animal Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-’83. It is an imperial octavo volume of lxiii + 532 pages, illustrated by 83 plates, of which 11 are colored, and 564 figures in the text. The official report of the Director, occupying 39 pages (pp. xxv-lxiii), is accompanied by the following papers:

Pictographs of the North American Indians, a preliminary paper, by Garrick Mallery; pp. 3-256, Pls. I-LXXXIII, Figs. 1-209.

Pottery of the Ancient Pueblos, by William H. Holmes; pp. 257-360, Figs. 210-360.

Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley, by William H. Holmes; pp. 361-436, Figs. 361-463.

Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art, by William H. Holmes; pp. 437-465, Figs. 464-489.

A Study of Pueblo Pottery, as illustrative of Zuñi culture growth, by Frank Hamilton Cushing; pp. 467-521, Figs. 490-564.

[ FIELD WORK.]

The field work of the year is divided into (1) mound explorations and (2) general field studies, embracing those relating to social customs, institutions, linguistics, pictography, and other divisions of anthropology.

[ MOUND EXPLORATIONS.]

[ WORK OF PROF. CYRUS THOMAS.]

The work of exploring the mounds of the eastern United States was, as in previous years, under the charge of Prof. Cyrus Thomas.

Although Prof. Thomas and his assistants have devoted a large portion of the year to the study of the collections made in the division of mound exploration and to the preparation of a report of its operations for the last five years, yet some field work of importance has been done.

Prof. Thomas in person examined the more important ancient works of New York and Ohio. He gave special attention to the latter, with a view of determining where new and more accurate descriptions, surveys, and illustrations were necessary. It was found requisite to undertake a careful resurvey and description of a number of the well known works in Ohio. This reexamination was the more necessary in view of the light shed on the origin and use of these monuments by the explorations which had been carried on in West Virginia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee.

Mr. J. P. Rogan continued his work as assistant until the close of November, when he voluntarily resigned his position to enter upon other engagements. A portion of his time during the first month was occupied in arranging and preparing for shipment the collection purchased of Mrs. McGlashan, in Savannah, Georgia. The rest of his time was employed in exploring mounds along the upper Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina and along the lower Yazoo River in Mississippi.

Mr. J. W. Emmert continued to act as field assistant until the end of February, when the field work closed. His labors, with the exception of a short visit to central New York, were confined to eastern Tennessee, chiefly Blount, Monroe, and Loudon counties, where numerous extensive and very interesting groups are found in the section formerly occupied by the Cherokees. Prof. Thomas thought it necessary to devote considerable attention to the ancient works of that region, as it is probable that there and in western North Carolina is to be found the key that will materially assist in solving the problem of the peculiar works of Ohio. The results of these explorations are of unusual interest, independent of their supposed bearing on the Ohio mounds.

Mr. James D. Middleton, who has been a constant assistant in the division since its organization, after completing some investigations begun in southern Illinois, visited western Kentucky for the purpose of investigating the works of that section, but was soon afterwards called to Washington to take part in the office work. During the month of June he visited and made a thorough survey of the extensive group of works near Charleston, West Virginia, of which Colonel Norris had made a partial exploration, the latter having been prevented from completing it by the sickness which immediately preceded his death. During the same month Mr. Middleton commenced the survey of the Ohio works before alluded to, obtaining some valuable results in the short time before the close of the year.

Mr. Gerard Fowke was also engaged for a short time in field work in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky, but was called early in autumn to Washington to assist in office work.

[ GENERAL FIELD STUDIES.]

[ WORK OF MR. A. S. GATSCHET.]

During October and December Mr. Albert S. Gatschet was engaged in gathering historic and linguistic data in Louisiana, Texas, and the portion of Mexico adjoining the Rio Grande, which region contains the remnants of a number of tribes whose language and linguistic affinity are practically unknown. After a long search Mr. Gatschet found a small settlement of Biloxi Indians at Indian Creek, five or six miles west of Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, where they gain a livelihood as day laborers. Most of them speak English more than their native tongue; in fact, about two-thirds of the thirty-two survivors speak English only. The vocabulary obtained by him discloses the interesting fact that the Biloxi belong to the Siouan linguistic family.

He heard of about twenty-five of the Tunika tribe still living in their old homes on the Marksville Prairie, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. An excellent vocabulary was obtained of their language at Lecompte, Louisiana, and a careful comparison of this with other Indian languages shows that the Tunika is related to none, but represents a distinct linguistic family. He was unable to collect any information in regard to the Karankawa tribe, concerning which little is known except that they lived upon the Texan coast near Lavaca Bay.

Leaving Laredo County, Texas, he visited Camargo, in Tamaulipas, Mexico, finding near San Miguel the remnants of the Comecrudo tribe, or, as they are called by the whites, Carrizos. Only the older men and women still remember their language. The full-blood Comecrudos seen were tall and thin, some of them with fairer complexions than the Mexicans. Subsequently the Cotoname language, formerly spoken in the same district, was studied and found to be a distinctly related dialect of Comecrudo. Both of them belong to the Coahuiltecan family. From the Comecrudo Mr. Gatschet obtained the names of a number of extinct tribes which formerly lived in their vicinity, but of which no representatives are left. These are the Casas Chiquitas, Tejones (or “Raccoons”), Pintos or Pakawas, Miakkan, and Cartujanos. He next visited the Tlaskaltec Indians, who live in the city of Saltillo. Of these Indians about two hundred still speak their own language, which is almost identical with the Aztec, although largely mixed with Spanish.

[ WORK OF MR. JEREMIAH CURTIN.]

Mr. Jeremiah Curtin was engaged from the middle of March to June 1 in completing investigations begun the previous year into the history, myths, and language of the Iroquois Indians at Versailles, Cattaraugus County, New York. The material obtained by him is of great interest and value.

[ WORK OF DR. W. J. HOFFMAN.]

Dr. W. J. Hoffman proceeded early in August to Paint Rock, North Carolina, to secure sketches of pictographs upon the canyon walls of the French Broad River near that place. Owing to disintegration of the sandstone rocks, the painted outlines of animals and other figures are becoming slowly obliterated, though sufficient remained to show their similarity to others in various portions of the region which it is believed was occupied by the Cherokee Indians. Similar outlines were reported to have been formerly visible on the same river, as well as on the Tennessee, near Knoxville, Tennessee, though no traces of them were found.

The next place visited was a few miles distant from and northwest of Liberty, Tazewell County, Virginia, where some painted characters still remain in a good state of preservation. They are on the sandstone cliffs near the summit of the mountains and consist of human figures, birds, and other forms, appearing to resemble artistically those of North Carolina. Five miles eastward, on the same range, is a single diamond-shaped cluster of red and black marks, no other forms being visible. This rock is known in the surrounding country as the “Handkerchief Rock,” because of its resemblance to an outspread colored handkerchief. He then proceeded to Charleston, West Virginia, obtaining copies of petroglyphs on Big Horse Creek, 12 miles southwest of that place, and at several points along the Kanawha River. It was learned that 20 miles south of Charleston, on the reputed trail leading from the Kanawha Valley into Kentucky, “painted trees” formerly marked the direction of the trails leading into the Cherokee country, and into Kentucky. These trees bore various marks in red, but no accurate information pertaining to the precise form of the characters could be ascertained. At the other points mentioned characters were noticed resembling in general those found in other portions of the Eastern and Middle States known to have been occupied by tribes of the Algonquian linguistic family.

The “Indian God-Rock,” 115 miles north of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the Alleghany River, was next examined and sketches were made of the figures. This rock is an immense bowlder, the sculptured face of which is about 15 feet high and from 8 to 10 feet broad, and lies at the water’s edge. The figures upon the lower surface are being gradually obliterated by erosion from floating logs and driftwood during seasons of high water, while those upon the upper portions are being ruined by the visitors who cut names and dates over and upon the sculptured surfaces. Another place visited was on the Susquehanna River, 3 miles below Columbia, Pennsylvania. Here a small stream empties into the river from the east, along whose course several rocks were found bearing deeply cut and polished grooves, indicating a nearly east and west direction. These rocks are believed to be on the line of one of the Indian trails leading to the Delaware River, similar to that at Conowingo, Maryland, which was the last locality inspected, and which is known as “Bald Friar.” A large mass of rock projecting from the bed of the river is almost covered with numerous circles, cup-shaped depressions, human forms, and ellipses, strongly resembling characters from other points in the regions formerly occupied by the Algonquian family. Measurements and sketches of these petroglyphs were made, with a view to future reproduction upon models.

[ OFFICE WORK.]

The Director, Maj. [J. W. Powell], has continued the work of the linguistic classification of the Indian tribes in North America north of Mexico, and in connection with it is preparing a map upon a linguistic basis showing the original habitat of the tribes. The work is now far advanced.

Prof. [Cyrus Thomas], as previously stated, has devoted much of his time during the year to the study of the collections made, and in preparing for publication the account of field work performed by himself and assistants. That account will form the first volume of his final report, and will consist almost wholly of descriptions, plans, and figures of the ancient works examined, narrative and speculation being entirely excluded. It will also include a paper by Mr. Gerard Fowke on the stone articles of the collection. The second volume will be devoted to the geographic distribution of the various types of mounds, archeologic maps and charts, and a general discussion of the various forms and types of ancient works. The preliminary lists of the various monuments known, and of the localities where they are found, together with references to the works and periodicals in which they are mentioned, which Mrs. V. L. Thomas, in addition to her other duties, has been engaged upon for nearly three years, is now completed, and is being used in the preparation of maps. It will be issued as a bulletin.

Mr. [Gerard Fowke], in addition to assisting in the preparation of the final report on the field work of the mound exploration division, has made a study of the stone articles of the collection made by it.

Mr. [H. L. Reynolds] has made a study of the copper articles collected, and has prepared a paper which is nearly completed.

Mr. [J. D. Middleton’s] office work has consisted entirely in the preparation of maps, charts, and diagrams. These are of two classes— (1) those made entirely from original surveys, which constitute the larger portion, and (2) the archeological maps of States and districts, showing the distribution of given types, which are made from all the data obtainable, including additions and verifications made by the mound exploration division of the Bureau.

Mr. [J. C. Pilling] continued his bibliographic studies during the year, with the intention of completing for the press his bibliography of North American languages. After consultation with the Director and a number of gentlemen well informed on the subject, it was concluded that the wants of students in this branch of ethnology would be better subserved if the material were issued in separate bibliographies, each devoted to one of the great linguistic stocks of North America. The first one selected for issue related to the Eskimo, which was prepared during the year, and when put in type formed a pamphlet of 116 pages. The experiment proved successful, and Mr. Pilling continued the preparation of the separates. Late in the fiscal year the manuscript of his bibliography of the Siouan family was sent to the Public Printer. It is the intention to continue this work by preparing a bibliography of each of the linguistic groups as fast as opportunity will permit.

Mr. [Frank H. Cushing] continued work upon his Zuñi material, so far as his health permitted, until the middle of December. At that time he gave up office work and left for Arizona and New Mexico, intending to devote himself for a time to the examination of the ruins of that region with the view of obtaining material of collateral interest in connection with his Zuñi studies as well as in hope of restoring his impaired health.

Mr. [Charles C. Royce], although no longer officially connected with the Bureau, devoted much time during the year to the completion of his work upon the former title of Indian tribes to lands within the United States and the methods by which their relinquishment had been procured. This work, delayed by Mr. Royce’s resignation from the Bureau force, is reported by him as nearly completed.

Mr. [William H. Holmes] has continued the archeologic work begun in preceding years, utilizing such portions of his time as were not absorbed in work pertaining to the U.S. Geological Survey. A paper upon the antiquities of Chiriqui and one upon textile art in its relation to form and ornament, prepared for the Sixth Annual Report, were completed and proofs were read. During the year work was begun upon a review of the ceramic art of Mexico. A special paper, with twenty illustrations, upon a remarkable group of spurious antiquities belonging to that country, was prepared and turned over to the Smithsonian Institution for publication. In addition, a preliminary study of the prehistoric textile fabrics of Peru was begun, and a short paper with numerous illustrations was written. As in former years, Mr. Holmes has superintended the preparation of drawings and engravings for the Bureau publications. The number of illustrations prepared during the year amounted to 650.

He has also general charge of the miscellaneous archeologic and ethnologic collections of the Bureau, and reports that Prof. Cyrus Thomas, Mr. James Stevenson, and other officers and agents of the Bureau have obtained collections of articles from the mounds of the Mississippi Valley and from the ruins of the Pueblo country. A number of interesting articles have also been acquired by gift. Capt. J. G. Bourke, U.S. Army, presented a series of vases and other ceremonial objects obtained from cliff dwellings and caves in the Pueblo country; Mr. J. B. Stearns, of Short Hills, N.J., made a few additions to his already valuable donations of relics from the ancient graves of Chiriqui, Colombia, and Mr. J. N. Macomb presented a number of fragments of earthenware from Graham County, North Carolina. Some important accessions have been made by purchase. A large collection of pottery, textile fabrics, and other articles from the graves of Peru was obtained from Mr. William E. Curtis; a series of ancient and modern vessels of clay and numerous articles of other classes from Chihuahua, Mexico, were acquired through the agency of Dr. E. Palmer; a small set of handsome vases of the ancient white ware of New Mexico was acquired by purchase from Mr. C. M. Landon, of Lawrence, Kansas, and several handsome vases from various parts of Mexico were obtained from Dr. Eugene Boban.

Mr. [Victor Mindeleff] was engraved during the fiscal year in the preparation of a report on the architecture of the Tusayan and Cibola groups of pueblos, which appears in the present volume. This report contains a description of the topography and climate of the region, in illustration of the influence of environment upon the development of the pueblo type of architecture. It also contains a traditionary account of the Tusayan pueblos and of their separate clans or phratries. A description in detail of the Tusayan group treats of the relative position of the villages and such ruins as are connected traditionally or historically with them. A comparative study is also made between the Tusayan and Cibola groups and between them and certain well preserved ruins in regard to constructive details, by which means the comparatively advanced type of the modern pueblo architecture is clearly established. Maps of the groups discussed and of the topography of the country and ground plans of houses and apartments were prepared to illustrate the report and give effect to the descriptions and discussion.

Mr. [Cosmos Mindeleff] devoted the early part of the fiscal year to the preparation of a report upon the exhibits of the Bureau of Ethnology and the Geological Survey at the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, 1884; the Southern Exposition at Louisville, 1884; and the Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition at New Orleans, 1884-’85. The report includes a descriptive catalogue of the various exhibits. As these consisted largely of models, and as the locality or object represented by each model was described in detail, the report was lengthy. It was finished in October and transmitted to the Commissioner representing the Department of the Interior. During the remainder of the year the portion of time which Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff was able to devote to office work was employed in assisting Mr. Victor Mindeleff in the preparation of a preliminary report on the architecture of Zuñi and Tusayan. The portion assigned to him consists of an introductory chapter devoted to the traditionary history of Tusayan, arranged from material collected by Mr. A. M. Stephen, of Keam’s Canyon, Arizona.

The modeling room has remained in charge of Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff. The preparation of a duplicate series of the models made in the last few years and now deposited in the National Museum was continued, a large portion of the time being given to that work. During the year the following models were added to this series: (1) model of Shumopavi, Tusayan, Arizona; (2) model of Etowah mound, Georgia; (3) models of Mashongnavi; (4) model of Zuñi; (5) model of Peñasco Blanco; (6) models of Etruscan graves, being a series to illustrate ancient Etruscan graves, from material furnished by Mr. Thomas Wilson.

Mr. [E. W. Nelson], during 1886, and continuously to the end of the fiscal year, has devoted much time to preparing a report upon the Eskimo of northern Alaska, for which his note books and large collections obtained in that region furnish ample material. During 1886 the vocabularies, taken from twelve Eskimo dialects for use in Arctic Alaska, were arranged in the form of an English-Eskimo and Eskimo-English dictionary. These dictionaries, with notes upon the alphabet and grammar, will form one part of his report. The other part will consist of chapters upon various phases of Eskimo life and customs in Alaska, and will be illustrated by photographs taken by him on the spot and by specimens collected during his extended journeys in that region. His notes upon Eskimo legends, festivals, and other customs will form an important contribution.

Mr. [Lucien M. Turner] is also engaged in the preparation of a similar report upon the Eskimo, in the form of a descriptive catalogue of the large amount of material collected by him during a residence of several years at St. Michaels and in the Aleutian Islands. When these two reports shall be completed the amount of accurate information concerning the remarkable people to whom they relate will be materially increased.

Mr. [Henry W. Henshaw] has continued in charge of the work upon the synonymy of the Indian tribes of the United States, which was alluded to in some detail in the annual report of last year. This work has been temporarily suspended, and Mr. Henshaw has assisted the Director in the preparation of a linguistic map of the region north of Mexico and in the classification of the Indian tribes, a work which properly precedes and forms the basis of the volume on synonymy.

Col. [Garrick Mallery] was steadily occupied during the year in the work of the synonymy of the Indian tribes, his special field being the Iroquoian and Algonquian linguistic stocks, and his particular responsibility being the careful study of all the literature on the subject in the French language. He also, when time allowed, continued researches in and correspondence concerning sign language and pictographs.

Mr. [James Mooney] has been occupied during the entire year, in conjunction with Col. Mallery, in that portion of the work of the Indian synonymy relating to the Algonquian and Iroquoian families.

Mr. [John N. B. Hewitt] has continued the linguistic work left unfinished by Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. During the year he has been engaged in recording, translating, and tracing the derivation of Tuscarora words for a Tuscarora-English dictionary. He has thus far recorded about 8,000 words.

Mr. [Albert S. Gatschet] has devoted almost the entire year to the synonymy of Indian tribes, and has practically completed the section assigned to him, viz, the tribes of the southeastern United States.

Mr. [J. Owen Dorsey] continued his labors on the Indian synonymy cards of the Siouan, Caddoan, Athapascan, Kusan, Yakonan, and Takilman linguistic stocks. He resumed his preparation of the dictionary cards for contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. VI, Part II, and in connection therewith found it necessary to elaborate his additional ¢egiha texts, consisting of more than two hundred and fifty epistles, besides ten or more myths gained since 1880. This work was Interrupted in March, 1887, when he was obliged to undertake the arrangement of a new collection of Teton texts for publication. Mr. George Bushotter, a Dakota Indian, who speaks the Teton dialect, was employed by the Director from March 23, for the purpose of recording for future use of the Bureau some of the Teton myths and legends in the original. One hundred of these texts were thus written, and it devolved on Mr. Dorsey to prepare the interlinear translations of the texts, critical and explanatory notes, and other necessary linguistic material, as dictated by Mr. Bushotter. Besides writing the texts in the Teton dialects, Mr. Bushotter has been able to furnish numerous sketches as illustrations, all of which have been drawn and colored according to Indian ideas. His collection of sketches is the most extensive that has been gained from among the tribes of the Siouan family, and it is the first one contributed by an Indian.

Dr. [Walter J. Hoffman] and Mr. [Jeremiah Curtin], when not in the field as above mentioned, have continued to assist in the work of the synonymy of the Indian tribes.

[ ACCOMPANYING PAPERS.]

The papers contained in the present volume relate to the Pueblo and Navajo Indians, who occupy a large territory in the interior southwestern parts of the United States. The prehistoric archeology of the Pueblos in the special department of architecture is the most prominent single subject presented and discussed, but the papers also include studies of the history, mythology, and sociology of that people, as well as of their neighbors and hereditary enemies the Navajo. All of these correlated studies are set forth with detail and illustration.

[ A STUDY OF PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE, TUSAYAN AND CIBOLA, BY VICTOR MINDELEFF.]

This study relates to the ruins and inhabited towns found in that immense southwestern region composed of the arid plateaus which is approximately bounded on the east by the Rio Pecos and the west by the Colorado River, on the north by Central Utah, and which extends southward to yet undetermined limits in Mexico. The present paper is more directly confined to the ancient provinces of Tusayan and Cibola which are situated within the drainage of the Little Colorado River, and the intention is to follow and supplement it by studies of other typical groups in the region, but the necessary comparisons and generalizations now presented apply to all the varied features which are observed in the remains of Pueblo architecture now scattered over thousands of square miles. The work of surveying and platting in this vast field, together with the consequent coordination of studies and preparation of illustrations, has occupied the author and Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff a large amount of time since the year 1881, though it did not include all of their duties performed during that period.

The title of the paper, which only indicates architecture, fails to do justice to the broad and suggestive treatment of the subject. It would be expected, indeed required, that the surveys should be accurate in details and that the physical features of the region should be exhaustively described, but while all this is well done, much more matter of a different though related class, and of great value to ethnology, is furnished. The history, prehistoric and recent, the religion, the sociology and the arts of the people, with their home life and folklore, are studied and discussed in a manner which would be creditable in essays devoted to those special subjects, but are so employed as to be thoroughly appropriate to the elucidation of the general theme.

The chapter on the traditional history of Tusayan, which is the individual compilation of Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff, is an important and interesting contribution relative to the history, migrations, and mythology of the people. The traditions are, however, used with proper caution, the fact being recognized that they seldom contain distinct information, but are often of high value from their incidental allusions and in their preservation of the conditions of the past which influenced the lines and limitations of their growth.

The classification and account of the Pueblo phratries and gentes form an important contribution to anthropology, and the discussion upon the origin and use of the kivas is more explanatory and exhaustive than any before made on that subject. This word of the Tusayan language is adopted to take the place of the Spanish term “estufa,” which literally means a stove, and is misleading, because it strictly applies only to the sweat houses which lodge-building Indians use. The kiva is the ceremonial chamber of the ancient and modern Pueblo peoples. They are found wherever the remains of Pueblo architecture occur, and are distinguished from the typical dwelling rooms by their size and position and generally by their form. The author dwells instructively upon the antiquity, excavation, access, exterior masonry, orientation, and general construction, furniture, and ornaments of these remarkable chambers, and upon the rites connected with them. He also gives an original and acute suggestion to account for the persistence of the structural plan of the kivas by its religious or mythologic signification.

The designation of the curious orifice of the sipapuh as “the place from which the people emerged,” in connection with the peculiar arrangement of the kiva interior with its change of floor level, suggested to Mr. Mindeleff that these features might be regarded as typifying the four worlds of the genesis myth that has exercised such an influence on Tusayan customs. He was also led to infer that it typifies the “four houses” or stages described in their creation myths. The sipapuh, with its cavity beneath the floor, is certainly regarded as indicating the place of beginning, the lowest house under the earth, the abode of Myuingwa, the Creator; the main or lower floor represents the second stage; and the elevated section of the floor is made to denote the third stage, where animals were created. At the New Year festivals animal fetiches were set in groups upon this platform. It is also to be noted that the ladder to the surface is invariably made of pine, and always rests upon the platform, never upon the lower floor, and in their traditional genesis it is stated that the people climbed up from the third house (stage) by a ladder of pine, and through such an opening as the kiva hatchway. The outer air is the fourth world, or that now occupied.

Another apt observation is connected with the evolution of ornament, and was prompted to the author by the common use of small chinking stones for bringing the masonry to an even face after the larger stones forming the body of the wall had been laid in place. This method of construction in the case of some of the best built ancient pueblos resulted in the production of marvelously finished stone walls, in which the mosaic-like bits are so closely laid as to show none but the finest joints on the face of the wall, with but little trace of mortar. The chinking wedges necessarily varied greatly in dimensions to suit the sizes of the interstices between the larger stones of the wall. The use of stone in this manner probably suggested the banded walls that form a striking feature in some of the Chaco houses. In connection with these walls the seams of stone of two degrees of thickness, which are observable in the cliffs, naturally suggested to the builders their imitation by the use of stones of similar thickness in continuous bands. The ornamental effect of this device was originally an accidental result of adopting the most convenient method of using the material at hand.

The author exhibits the result of thoughtful study in his expressed views upon the mooted questions of racial origins and diffusions. He noted that some of the ruins connected traditionally and historically with Tusayan and Cibola differ in no particular from those stone pueblos widely scattered over the southwestern plateaus which from time to time have been invested by travelers and writers with a halo of romance and regarded as the wondrous achievements in civilization of a vanished but once powerful race. These abandoned stone houses found in the midst of desert solitudes excited the imaginations of early explorers to connect the remains with “Aztecs” and other mysterious peoples. From this early implanted bias arose many ingenious theories concerning the origin and disappearance of the builders of the ancient pueblos.

In connection with the architectural examination of some of these remains many traditions were obtained from the living members of the tribes, several of which are published in the present paper, and which clearly indicate that some of the village ruins and cliff dwellings have been built and occupied by ancestors of the present Pueblo Indians at a date well within the historic period. Both architectural and traditional evidence are in accord in establishing a continuity of descent from the ancient Pueblos to those of the present day. Many of the communities are now made up of the more or less scattered but interrelated remnants of gentes which in former times occupied villages on the present or neighboring sites.

Mr. Mindeleff’s conclusions may be condensed as follows:

The general outlines of the development of architecture, wherein the ancient builders were stimulated to the best use of the exceptional materials about them both by the difficult conditions of their semidesert environment and by constant necessity for protection against their neighbors, can be traced in its various stages of growth from the primitive conical lodge to its culmination in the large communal village of many-storied terraced buildings which were in use at the time of the Spanish discovery, and which still survive in Zuñi. Yet the various steps have resulted from a simple and direct use of the material immediately at hand, while methods gradually improved as frequent experiments taught the builders to utilize more fully the local facilities. In all cases the material was derived from the nearest available source, and often variations in the quality of the finished work are due to variations in the quality of the stone near by. The results accomplished attest the patient and persistent industry of the ancient builders, but the work does not display great skill in the construction or the preparation of material.

The same desert environment that furnished an abundance of material for the ancient builders, from its inhospitable character and the constant variations in the water supply, also compelled the frequent use of this material in the change of house and village sites. This was an important factor in bringing about the degree of advancement attained in the art of building. The distinguishing characteristics of Pueblo architecture may therefore be regarded as the product of a defensive motive and of an arid environment that furnished an abundance of suitable building material, and at the same time the climatic conditions that compelled its frequent employment.

The cultural distinctions once drawn by writers between the Pueblo Indians and neighboring tribes gradually become less clearly defined as they have been intelligently studied. An understanding of their social and religious system establishes the essential identity in their grade of culture with that of other tribes. In many of the arts, too, such as weaving and ceramics, these people in no degree surpass many tribes who build ruder dwellings. Though they have progressed far beyond their neighbors in architecture, many of the devices employed attest the essentially primitive character of their art, and demonstrate that the apparent distinction in grade of culture is mainly due to the exceptional condition of their environment.

This important and timely paper furnishes new evidence taken from one of the strongholds of sentimental phantasy to show that there is no need for the hypothesis of an extinct race with dense population and high civilization to account for the conditions actually existing in North America before the European discovery.

[ CEREMONIAL OF HASJELTI DAILJIS AND MYTHICAL SAND PAINTING OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS, BY JAMES STEVENSON.]

This paper, apart from its intrinsic merits, has a peculiar interest to American anthropologists from its being the last official work of Mr. Stevenson, whose untimely death on July 25, 1888, was noticed in a former report. It shows his personal characteristics, being a clear and accurate statement of the facts actually observed and of the information acquired by him at first hand, without diffuseness or unnecessary theorizing.

Hasjelti Dailjis, in the Navajo tongue, signifies the dance of Hasjelti, who is the chief or rather the most important and conspicuous of the gods. The word dance does not well designate the ceremonies, as they are in general more histrionic than saltatory. The whole of the ceremonial, which lasts for nine days, is familiarly called among the tribe “Yebitchai,” which means “the giant’s uncle,” this term being used to awe the youthful candidates for initiation.

The ceremony witnessed by Mr. Stevenson was performed to cure a wealthy member of the tribe of an inflammation of the eyes. Twelve hundred Navajo Indians were present, chiefly as spectators, but that exhibition of their interest may partly be accounted for by the fact that they lived while on their visit at the expense of the invalid and occupied most of the time in gambling and horse racing. The very numerous active participants in the ceremonies, who might be called the mystery company, in reference to the early form of our drama, were not directly paid for their services, but acted because they were the immediate relatives of the invalid for whose benefit the performance was given. The tribesman who combined the offices of manager, theurgist, song priest, or master of ceremonies was paid exorbitantly for his professional services. The personation of the various gods and their attendants and the acted drama of their mythical adventures and displayed powers exhibit features of peculiar interest, while the details of the action day after day show all imaginable and generally incomprehensible changes and multiplication of costume and motions and postures and manipulations of feathers and meal and sticks and paint and water and sand and innumerable other stage properties in astounding complexity and seeming confusion. Yet, from what is known of isolated and fragmentary parts of the dramatized myths, it is to be inferred that every one of the strictly regulated and prescribed actions has or has had a special significance, and it is obvious that they are all maintained with strict religious scrupulosity, indeed with constant dread of fatal consequences which would result from the slightest divergence. In connection with this ritualistic form of punctilio, which is noticed in the religious practices of other peoples and lands, the established formal invocation of and prayer to the divinity may be mentioned. It clearly offers a bribe or proposes the terms of a bargain to the divinities, and has its parallel in the archaic prayers of many other languages. Translated from the Navajo, it is given as follows:

People of the mountains and roots [i.e., the gods, as shown by the context], I hear you wish to be paid. I give to you food of corn pollen and humming-bird feathers, and I send to you precious stones, and tobacco, which you must smoke; it has been lighted by the sun’s rays, and for this I beg you to give me a good dance; be with me! Earth, I beg you to give me a good dance, and I offer to you food of humming-bird’s plumes and precious stones, and tobacco to smoke lighted by the sun’s rays, to pay for using you for the dance; make a good solid ground for me, that the gods who come to see the dance may be pleased at the ground their people dance upon; make my people healthy and strong of mind and body.

In addition to his exhaustive account of the Hasjelti Dailjis and of the curious dry-sand painting which the Navajo in common with the Pueblo tribes make a prominent feature of their mysteries, and of which illustrations are furnished, Mr. Stevenson presents translations of six of the Navajo myths, some of which elucidate parts of the ceremony forming the main title of his paper. These myths are set forth in a simple and straightforward style, which gives intrinsic evidence that they retain the spirit of the original. They are certainly free from the pretentious embellishment and literary conceit which have perverted nearly all the published forms of Indian myths and tales hitherto accessible to general readers, and have even misled the numerous special students who had no facilities for verification.

[ FINANCIAL STATEMENT.]

Classification of expenditures made from the appropriation for North American ethnology for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887.

ACCOMPANYING PAPERS.

This paper is also available in free-standing form from Project Gutenberg as e-text 19856. The files are identical except that in the present text a few more typographical errors have been corrected, and some illustrations have been replaced.

Some words in the text have variant spellings that were left unchanged. The main ones are:

nyumu: sometimes hyphenated as nyu-mu

Mashongnavi, Shupaulovi, Sichumovi (names): sometimes written with accents as Mashóngnavi, Shupaúlovi, Sichúmovi

A STUDY

OF

PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE:

TUSAYAN AND CIBOLA.

BY

VICTOR MINDELEFF.

CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Illustrations have been placed as close as practicable to their discussion in the text. The printed page numbers show the original location. Multi-part Figures are sometimes shown vertically (one drawing above the other) where the original layout was horizontal.

The Map and most site plans are shown as thumbnails linked to larger versions.

[full size]
Plate I.
General Map of the Pueblo Region
of Arizona and New Mexico,
Showing Relative Position of the Provinces
of Tusayan and Cibola.
by
Victor Mindeleff.

A STUDY OF PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE
IN TUSAYAN AND CIBOLA.

By Victor Mindeleff.

[ INTRODUCTION.]

The remains of pueblo architecture are found scattered over thousands of square miles of the arid region of the southwestern plateaus. This vast area includes the drainage of the Rio Pecos on the east and that of the Colorado on the west, and extends from central Utah on the north beyond the limits of the United States southward, in which direction its boundaries are still undefined.

The descendants of those who at various times built these stone villages are few in number and inhabit about thirty pueblos distributed irregularly over parts of the region formerly occupied. Of these the greater number are scattered along the upper course of the Rio Grande and its tributaries in New Mexico; a few of them, comprised within the ancient provinces of Cibola and Tusayan, are located within the drainage of the Little Colorado. From the time of the earliest Spanish expeditions into the country to the present day, a period covering more than three centuries, the former province has been often visited by whites, but the remoteness of Tusayan and the arid and forbidding character of its surroundings have caused its more complete isolation. The architecture of this district exhibits a close adherence to aboriginal practices, still bears the marked impress of its development under the exacting conditions of an arid environment, and is but slowly yielding to the influence of foreign ideas.

The present study of the architecture of Tusayan and Cibola embraces all of the inhabited pueblos of those provinces, and includes a number of the ruins traditionally connected with them. It will be observed by reference to the map that the area embraced in these provinces comprises but a small portion of the vast region over which pueblo culture once extended.

This study is designed to be followed by a similar study of two typical groups of ruins, viz, that of Canyon de Chelly, in northeastern Arizona, and that of the Chaco Canyon, of New Mexico; but it has been necessary for the writer to make occasional reference to these ruins in the present paper, both in the discussion of general arrangement and characteristic ground plans, embodied in Chapters II and III and in the comparison by constructional details treated in Chapter IV, in order to define clearly the relations of the various features of pueblo architecture. They belong to the same pueblo system illustrated by the villages of Tusayan and Cibola, and with the Canyon de Chelly group there is even some trace of traditional connection, as is set forth by Mr. Stephen in Chapter I. The more detailed studies of these ruins, to be published later, together with the material embodied in the present paper, will, it is thought, furnish a record of the principal characteristics of an important type of primitive architecture, which, under the influence of the arid environment of the southwestern plateaus, has developed from the rude lodge into the many-storied house of rectangular rooms. Indications of some of the steps of this development are traceable even in the architecture of the present day.

The pueblo of Zuñi was surveyed by the writer in the autumn of 1881 with a view to procuring the necessary data for the construction of a large-scale model of this pueblo. For this reason the work afforded a record of external features only.

The modern pueblos of Tusayan were similarly surveyed in the following season (1882-’83), the plans being supplemented by photographs, from which many of the illustrations accompanying this paper have been drawn. The ruin of Awatubi was also included in the work of this season.

In the autumn of 1885 many of the ruined pueblos of Tusayan were surveyed and examined. It was during this season’s work that the details of the kiva construction, embodied in the last chapter of this paper, were studied, together with interior details of the dwellings. It was in the latter part of this season that the farming pueblos of Cibola were surveyed and photographed.

The Tusayan farming pueblo of Moen-kopi and a number of the ruins in the province were surveyed and studied in the early part of the season of 1887-’88, the latter portion of which season was principally devoted to an examination of the Chaco ruins in New Mexico.

In the prosecution of the field work above outlined the author has been greatly indebted to the efficient assistance and hearty cooperation of Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff, by whom nearly all the pueblos illustrated, with the exception of Zuñi, have been surveyed and platted.

The plans obtained have involved much careful work with surveying instruments, and have all been so platted as faithfully to record the minute variations from geometric forms which are so characteristic of the pueblo work, but which have usually been ignored in the hastily prepared sketch plans that have at times appeared. In consequence of the necessary omission of just such information in hastily drawn plans, erroneous impressions have been given regarding the degree of skill to which the pueblo peoples had attained in the planning and building of their villages. In the general distribution of the houses, and in the alignment and arrangement of their walls, as indicated in the plans shown in Chapters II and III, an absence of high architectural attainment is found, which is entirely in keeping with the lack of skill apparent in many of the constructional devices shown in Chapter IV.

Plate II. Old Mashongnavi, plan.

In preparing this paper for publication Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff has rendered much assistance in the revision of manuscript, and in the preparation of some of the final drawings of ground plans; on him has also fallen the compilation and arrangement of Mr. A. M. Stephen’s traditionary material from Tusayan, embraced in the first chapter of the paper.

This latter material is of special interest in a study of the pueblos as indicating some of the conditions under which this architectural type was developed, and it appropriately introduces the more purely architectural study by the author.

Such traditions must be used as history with the utmost caution, and only for events that are very recent. Time relations are often hopelessly confused and the narratives are greatly incumbered with mythologic details. But while so barren in definite information, these traditions are of the greatest value, often through their merely incidental allusions, in presenting to our minds a picture of the conditions under which the repeated migrations of the pueblo builders took place.

The development of architecture among the Pueblo Indians was comparatively rapid and is largely attributable to frequent changes, migrations, and movements of the people as described in Mr. Stephen’s account. These changes were due to a variety of causes, such as disease, death, the frequent warfare carried on between different tribes and branches of the builders, and the hostility of outside tribes; but a most potent factor was certainly the inhospitable character of their environment. The disappearance of some venerated spring during an unusually dry season would be taken as a sign of the disfavor of the gods, and, in spite of the massive character of the buildings, would lead to the migration of the people to a more favorable spot. The traditions of the Zuñis, as well as those of the Tusayan, frequently refer to such migrations. At times tribes split up and separate, and again phratries or distant groups meet and band together. It is remarkable that the substantial character of the architecture should persist through such long series of compulsory removals, but while the builders were held together by the necessity for defense against their wilder neighbors or against each other, this strong defensive motive would perpetuate the laborious type of construction. Such conditions would contribute to the rapid development of the building art.

[ CHAPTER I.]

TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF TUSAYAN.

[EXPLANATORY.]

In this chapter[1] is presented a summary of the traditions of the Tusayan, a number of which were collected from old men, from Walpi on the east to Moen-kopi on the west. A tradition varies much with the tribe and the individual; an authoritative statement of the current tradition on any point could be made only with a complete knowledge of all traditions extant. Such knowledge is not possessed by any one man, and the material included in this chapter is presented simply as a summary of the traditions secured.

The material was collected by Mr. A. M. Stephen, of Keam’s Canyon, Arizona, who has enjoyed unusual facilities for the work, having lived for a number of years past in Tusayan and possessed the confidence of the principal priests—a very necessary condition in work of this character. Though far from complete, this summary is a more comprehensive presentation of the traditionary history of these people than has heretofore been published.

[ SUMMARY OF TRADITIONS.]

The creation myths of the Tusayan differ widely, but none of them designate the region now occupied as the place of their genesis. These people are socially divided into family groups called wi´ngwu, the descendants of sisters, and groups of wi´ngwu tracing descent from the same female ancestor, and having a common totem called my´umu. Each of these totemic groups preserves a creation myth, carrying in its details special reference to themselves; but all of them claim a common origin in the interior of the earth, although the place of emergence to the surface is set in widely separated localities. They all agree in maintaining this to be the fourth plane on which mankind has existed. In the beginning all men lived together in the lowest depths, in a region of darkness and moisture; their bodies were misshaped and horrible, and they suffered great misery, moaning and bewailing continually. Through the intervention of Myúingwa (a vague conception known as the god of the interior) and of Baholikonga (a crested serpent of enormous size, the genius of water), the “old men” obtained a seed from which sprang a magic growth of cane. It penetrated through a crevice in the roof overhead and mankind climbed to a higher plane. A dim light appeared in this stage and vegetation was produced. Another magic growth of cane afforded the means of rising to a still higher plane on which the light was brighter; vegetation was reproduced and the animal kingdom was created. The final ascent to this present, or fourth plane, was effected by similar magic growths and was led by mythic twins, according to some of the myths, by climbing a great pine tree, in others by climbing the cane, Phragmites communis, the alternate leaves of which afforded steps as of a ladder, and in still others it is said to have been a rush, through the interior of which the people passed up to the surface. The twins sang as they pulled the people out, and when their song was ended no more were allowed to come; and hence, many more were left below than were permitted to come above; but the outlet through which mankind came has never been closed, and Myu´ingwa sends through it the germs of all living things. It is still symbolized by the peculiar construction of the hatchway of the kiva and in the designs on the sand altars in these underground chambers, by the unconnected circle painted on pottery and by devices on basketry and other textile fabrics.

Plate III. General view of Awatubi.

All the people that were permitted to come to the surface were collected and the different families of men were arranged together. This was done under the direction of twins, who are called Pekónghoya, the younger one being distinguished by the term Balíngahoya, the Echo. They were assisted by their grandmother, Kóhkyang wúhti, the Spider woman, and these appear in varying guises in many of the myths and legends. They instructed the people in divers modes of life to dwell on mountain or on plain, to build lodges, or huts, or windbreaks. They distributed appropriate gifts among them and assigned each a pathway, and so the various families of mankind were dispersed over the earth’s surface.

The Hopituh,[2] after being taught to build stone houses, were also divided, and the different divisions took separate paths. The legends indicate a long period of extensive migrations in separate communities; the groups came to Tusayan at different times and from different directions, but the people of all the villages concur in designating the Snake people as the first occupants of the region. The eldest member of that nyumu tells a curious legend of their migration from which the following is quoted:

At the general dispersal my people lived in snake skins, each family occupying a separate snake skin bag, and all were hung on the end of a rainbow, which swung around until the end touched Navajo Mountain, where the bags dropped from it; and wherever a bag dropped, there was their house. After they arranged their bags they came out from them as men and women, and they then, built a stone house which had five sides. [The story here relates the adventures of a mythic Snake Youth, who brought back a strange woman who gave birth to rattlesnakes; these bit the people and compelled them to migrate.] A brilliant star arose in the southeast, which would shine for a while and then disappear. The old men said, “Beneath that star there must be people,” so they determined to travel toward it. They cut a staff and set it in the ground and watched till the star reached its top, then they started and traveled as long as the star shone; when it disappeared they halted. But the star did not shine every night, for sometimes many years elapsed before it appeared again. When this occurred, our people built houses during their halt; they built both round and square houses, and all the ruins between here and Navajo Mountain mark the places where our people lived. They waited till the star came to the top of the staff again, then they moved on, but many people were left in those houses and they followed afterward at various times. When our people reached Wipho (a spring a few miles north from Walpi) the star disappeared and has never been seen since. They built a house there and after a time Másauwu (the god of the face of the earth) came and compelled them to move farther down the valley, to a point about half way between the East and Middle Mesa, and there they stayed many plantings. One time the old men were assembled and Másauwu came among them, looking like a horrible skeleton, and his bones rattling dreadfully. He menaced them with awful gestures, and lifted off his fleshless head and thrust it into their faces; but he could not frighten them. So he said, “I have lost my wager; all that I have is yours; ask for anything you want and I will give it to you.” At that time our people’s house was beside the water course, and Másauwu said, “Why are you sitting here in the mud? Go up yonder where it is dry.” So they went across to the low, sandy terrace on the west side of the mesa, near the point, and built a house and lived there. Again the old men were assembled and two demons came among them and the old men took the great Baho and the nwelas and chased them away. When they were returning, and were not far north from their village, they met the Lenbaki (Cane-Flute, a religious society still maintained) of the Horn family. The old men would not allow them to come in until Másauwu appeared and declared them to be good Hopituh. So they built houses adjoining ours and that made a fine, large village. Then other Hopituh came in from time to time, and our people would say, “Build here, or build there,” and portioned the land among the new comers.

The site of the first Snake house in the valley, mentioned in the foregoing legend, is now barely to be discerned, and the people refuse to point out the exact spot. It is held as a place of votive offerings during the ceremony of the Snake dance, and, as its name, Bátni, implies, certain rain-fetiches are deposited there in small jars buried in the ground. The site of the village next occupied can be quite easily distinguished, and is now called Kwetcap tutwi, ash heap terrace, and this was the village to which the name Walpi was first applied—a term meaning the place at the notched mesa, in allusion to a broad gap in the stratum of sandstone on the summit of the mesa, and by which it can be distinguished from a great distance. The ground plan of this early Walpi can still be partly traced, indicating the former existence of an extensive village of clustering, little-roomed houses, with thick walls constructed of small stones.

The advent of the Lenbaki is still commemorated by a biennial ceremony, and is celebrated on the year alternating with their other biennial ceremony, the Snake dance.

The Horn people, to which the Lenbaki belonged, have a legend of coming from a mountain range in the east.

Its peaks were always snow covered, and the trees were always green. From the hillside the plains were seen, over which roamed the deer, the antelope, and the bison, feeding on never-failing grasses. Twining through these plains were streams of bright water, beautiful to look upon. A place where none but those who were of our people ever gained access.

This description suggests some region of the head-waters of the Rio Grande. Like the Snake people, they tell of a protracted migration, not of continuous travel, for they remained for many seasons in one place, where they would plant and build permanent houses. One of these halting places is described as a canyon with high, steep walls, in which was a flowing stream; this, it is said, was the Tségi (the Navajo name for Canyon de Chelly). Here they built a large house in a cavernous recess, high up in the canyon wall. They tell of devoting two years[3] to ladder making and cutting and pecking shallow holes up the steep rocky side by which to mount to the cavern, and three years more were employed in building the house. While this work was in progress part of the men were planting gardens, and the women and children were gathering stones. But no adequate reason is given for thus toiling to fit this impracticable site for occupation; the footprints of Másauwu, which they were following, led them there.

The legend goes on to tell that after they had lived there for a long time a stranger happened to stray in their vicinity, who proved to be a Hopituh, and said that he lived in the south. After some stay he left and was accompanied by a party of the “Horn,” who were to visit the land occupied by their kindred Hopituh and return with an account of them; but they never came back. After waiting a long time another band was sent, who returned and said that the first emissaries had found wives and had built houses on the brink of a beautiful canyon, not far from the other Hopituh dwellings. After this many of the Horns grew dissatisfied with their cavern home, dissensions arose, they left their home, and finally they reached Tusayan. They lived at first in one of the canyons east of the villages, in the vicinity of Keam’s Canyon, and some of the numerous ruins on its brink mark the sites of their early houses. There seems to be no legend distinctly attaching any particular ruin to the Horn people, although there is little doubt that the Snake and the Horn were the two first peoples who came to the neighborhood of the present villages. The Bear people were the next, but they arrived as separate branches, and from opposite directions, although of the same Hopituh stock. It has been impossible to obtain directly the legend of the Bears from the west. The story of the Bears from the east tells of encountering the Fire people, then living about 25 miles east from Walpi; but these are now extinct, and nearly all that is known of them is told in the Bear legend, the gist of which is as follows:

The Bears originally lived among the mountains of the east, not far distant from the Horns. Continual quarrels with neighboring villages brought on actual fighting, and the Bears left that region and traveled westward. As with all the other people, they halted, built houses, and planted, remaining stationary for a long while; this occurred at different places along their route.

A portion of these people had wings, and they flew in advance to survey the land, and when the main body were traversing an arid region they found water for them. Another portion had claws with which they dug edible roots, and they could also use them for scratching hand and foot holes in the face of a steep cliff. Others had hoofs, and these carried the heaviest burdens; and some had balls of magic spider web, which they could use on occasion for ropes, and they could also spread the web and use it as a mantle, rendering the wearer invisible when he apprehended danger.

They too came to the Tségi (Canyon de Chelly), where they found houses but no people, and they also built houses there. While living there a rupture occurred, a portion of them separating and going far to the westward. These seceding bands are probably that branch of the Bears who claim their origin in the west. Some time after this, but how long after is not known, a plague visited the canyon, and the greater portion of the people moved away, but leaving numbers who chose to remain. They crossed the Chinli valley and halted for a short time at a place a short distance northeast from Great Willow water (“Eighteen Mile Spring”). They did not remain there long, however, but moved a few miles farther west, to a place occupied by the Fire people who lived in a large oval house. The ruin of this house still stands, the walls from 5 to 8 feet high, and remarkable from the large-sized blocks of stone used in their construction; it is still known to the Hopituh as Tebvwúki, the Fire-house. Here some fighting occurred, and the Bears moved westward again to the head of Antelope (Jeditoh) Canyon, about 4 miles from Keam’s Canyon and about 15 miles east from Walpi. They built there a rambling cluster of small-roomed houses, of which the ground plan has now become almost obliterated. This ruin is called by the Hopituh “the ruin at the place of wild gourds.” They seem to have occupied this neighborhood for a considerable period, as mention is made of two or three segregations, when groups of families moved a few miles away and built similar house clusters on the brink of that canyon.

The Fire-people, who, some say, were of the Horn people, must have abandoned their dwelling at the Oval House or must have been driven out at the time of their conflict with the Bears, and seem to have traveled directly to the neighborhood of Walpi. The Snakes allotted them a place to build in the valley on the east side of the mesa, and about two miles north from the gap. A ridge of rocky knolls and sand dunes lies at the foot of the mesa here, and close to the main cliff is a spring. There are two prominent knolls about 400 yards apart and the summits of these are covered with traces of house walls; also portions of walls can be discerned on all the intervening hummocks. The place is known as Sikyátki, the yellow-house, from the color of the sandstone of which the houses were built. These and other fragmentary bits have walls not over a foot thick, built of small stones dressed by rubbing, and all laid in mud; the inside of the walls also show a smooth coating of mud plaster. The dimensions of the rooms are very small, the largest measuring 9½ feet long, by 4½ feet wide. It is improbable that any of these structures were over two stories high, and many of them were built in excavated places around the rocky summits of the knolls. In these instances no rear wall was built; the partition walls, radiating at irregular angles, abut against the rock itself. Still, the great numbers of these houses, small as they were, must have been far more than the Fire-people could have required, for the oval house which they abandoned measures not more than a hundred feet by fifty. Probably other incoming gentes, of whom no story has been preserved, had also the ill fate to build there, for the Walpi people afterward slew all its inhabitants.

There is little or no detail in the legends of the Bear people as to their life in Antelope Canyon; they can now distinguish only one ruin with certainty as having been occupied by their ancestors, while to all the other ruins fanciful names have been applied. Nor is there any special cause mentioned for abandoning their dwellings there; probably, however, a sufficient reason was the cessation of springs in their vicinity. Traces of former large springs are seen at all of them, but no water flows from them at the present time. Whatever their motive, the Bears left Antelope Canyon, and moved over to the village of Walpi, on the terrace below the point of the mesa. They were received kindly there, and were apparently placed on an equal footing with the Walpi, for it seems the Snake, Horn, and Bear have always been on terms of friendship. They built houses at that village, and lived there for some considerable time; then they moved a short distance and built again almost on the very point of the mesa. This change was not caused by any disagreement with their neighbors; they simply chose that point as a suitable place on which to build all their houses together. The site of this Bear house is called Kisákobi, the obliterated house, and the name is very appropriate, as there is merely the faintest trace here and there to show where a building stood, the stones having been used in the construction of the modern Walpi. These two villages were quite close together, and the subsequent construction of a few additional groups of rooms almost connected them, so that they were always considered and spoken of as one.

It was at this period, while Walpi was still on this lower site, that the Spaniards came into the country. They met with little or no opposition, and their entrance was marked by no great disturbances. No special tradition preserves any of the circumstances of this event; these first coming Spaniards being only spoken of as the “Kast´ilumuh who wore iron garments, and came from the south,” and this brief mention may be accounted for by the fleeting nature of these early visits.

The zeal of the Spanish priests carried them everywhere throughout their newly acquired territory, and some time in the seventeenth century a band of missionary monks found their way to Tusayan. They were accompanied by a few troops to impress the people with a due regard for Spanish authority, but to display the milder side of their mission, they also brought herds of sheep and cattle for distribution. At first these were herded at various springs within a wide radius around the villages, and the names still attaching to these places memorize the introduction of sheep and cattle to this region. The Navajo are first definitely mentioned in tradition as occupants of this vicinity in connection with these flocks and herds, in the distribution of which they gave much undesirable assistance by driving off the larger portion to their own haunts.

The missionaries selected Awatubi, Walpi, and Shumopavi as the sites for their mission buildings, and at once, it is said, began to introduce a system of enforced labor. The memory of the mission period is held in great detestation, and the onerous toil the priests imposed is still adverted to as the principal grievance. Heavy pine timbers, many of which are now pointed out in the kiva roofs, of from 15 to 20 feet in length and a foot or more in diameter, were cut at the San Francisco Mountain, and gangs of men were compelled to carry and drag them to the building sites, where they were used as house beams. This necessitated prodigious toil, for the distance by trail is a hundred miles, most of the way over a rough and difficult country. The Spaniards are said to have employed a few ox teams in this labor, but the heaviest share was performed by the impressed Hopituh, who were driven in gangs by the Spanish soldiers, and any who refused to work were confined in a prison house and starved into submission.

The “men with the long robes,” as the missionaries were called, are said to have lived among these people for a long time, but no trace of their individuality survives in tradition.

Possibly the Spanish missionaries may have striven to effect some social improvement among these people, and by the adoption of some harsh measures incurred the jealous anger of the chiefs. But the system of labor they enforced was regarded, perhaps justly, as the introduction of serfdom, such as then prevailed in the larger communities in the Rio Grande valleys. Perhaps tradition belies them; but there are many stories of their evil, sensual lives—assertions that they violated women, and held many of the young girls at their mission houses, not as pupils, but as concubines.

In any case, these hapless monks were engaged in a perilous mission in seeking to supplant the primitive faith of the Tusayan, for among the native priests they encountered prejudices even as violent as their own. With too great zeal they prohibited the sacred dances, the votive offerings to the nature-deities, and similar public observances, and strove to suppress the secret rites and abolish the religious orders and societies. But these were too closely incorporated with the system of gentes and other family kinships to admit of their extinction. Traditionally, it is said that, following the discontinuance of the prescribed ceremonies, the favor of the gods was withdrawn, the clouds brought no rain, and the fields yielded no corn. Such a coincidence in this arid region is by no means improbable, and according to the legends, a succession of dry seasons resulting in famine has been of not infrequent occurrence. The superstitious fears of the people were thus aroused, and they cherished a mortal hatred of the monks.

In such mood were they in the summer of 1680, when the village Indians rose in revolt, drove out the Spaniards, and compelled them to retreat to Mexico. There are some dim traditions of that event still existing among the Tusayan, and they tell of one of their own race coming from the river region by the way of Zuñi to obtain their cooperation in the proposed revolt. To this they consented.

Only a few Spaniards being present at that time, the Tusayan found courage to vent their enmity in massacre, and every one of the hated invaders perished on the appointed day. The traditions of the massacre center on the doom of the monks, for they were regarded as the embodiment of all that was evil in Spanish rule, and their pursuit, as they tried to escape among the sand dunes, and the mode of their slaughter, is told with grim precision; they were all overtaken and hacked to pieces with stone tomahawks.

It is told that while the monks were still in authority some of the Snake women urged a withdrawal from Walpi, and, to incite the men to action, carried their mealing-stones and cooking vessels to the summit of the mesa, where they desired the men to build new houses, less accessible to the domineering priests. The men followed them, and two or three small house groups were built near the southwest end of the present village, one of them being still occupied by a Snake family, but the others have been demolished or remodeled. A little farther north, also on the west edge, the small house clusters there were next built by the families of two women called Tji-vwó-wati and Si-kya-tcí-wati. Shortly after the massacre the lower village was entirely abandoned, and the building material carried above to the point which the Snakes had chosen, and on which the modern Walpi was constructed. Several beams of the old mission houses are now pointed out in the roofs of the kivas.

There was a general apprehension that the Spaniards would send a force to punish them, and the Shumopavi also reconstructed their village in a stronger position, on a high mesa overlooking its former site. The other villages were already in secure positions, and all the smaller agricultural settlements were abandoned at this period, and excepting at one or two places on the Moen-kopi, the Tusayan have ever since confined themselves to the close vicinity of their main villages.

The house masses do not appear to bear any relation to division by phratries. It is surprising that even the social division of the phratries is preserved. The Hopituh certainly marry within phratries, and occasionally with the same gens. There is no doubt, however, that in the earlier villages each gens, and where practicable, the whole of the phratry, built their houses together. To a certain extent the house of the priestess of a gens is still regarded as the home of the gens. She has to be consulted concerning proposed marriages, and has much to say in other social arrangements.

While the village of the Walpi was still upon the west side of the mesa point, some of them moved around and built houses beside a spring close to the east side of the mesa. Soon after this a dispute over planting ground arose between them and the Sikyátki, whose village was also on that side of the mesa and but a short distance above them. From this time forward bad blood lay between the Sikyátki and the Walpi, who took up the quarrel of their suburb. It also happened about that time, so tradition says, more of the Coyote people came from the north, and the Pikyás nyu-mu, the young cornstalk, who were the latest of the Water people, came in from the south. The Sikyátki, having acquired their friendship, induced them to build on two mounds, on the summit of the mesa overlooking their village. They had been greatly harrassed by the young slingers and archers of Walpi, who would come across to the edge of the high cliff and assail them with impunity, but the occupation of these two mounds by friends afforded effectual protection to their village. These knolls are about 40 yards apart, and about 40 feet above the level of the mesa which is something over 400 feet above Sikyátki. Their roughly leveled summits measure 20 by 10 feet and are covered with traces of house walls; and it is evident that groups of small-roomed houses were clustered also around the sloping sides. About a hundred yards south from their dwellings the people of the mounds built for their own protection a strong wall entirely across the mesa, which at that point is contracted to about 200 feet in width, with deep vertical cliffs on either side. The base of the wall is still quite distinct, and is about 3 feet thick.

But no reconciliation was ever effected between the Walpi and the Sikyátki and their allies, and in spite of their defensive wall frequent assaults were made upon the latter until they were forced to retreat. The greater number of them retired to Oraibi and the remainder to Sikyátki, and the feud was still maintained between them and the Walpi.

Some of the incidents as well as the disastrous termination of this feud are still narrated. A party of the Sikyátki went prowling through Walpi one day while the men were afield, and among other outrages, one of them shot an arrow through a window and killed a chief’s daughter while she was grinding corn. The chief’s son resolved to avenge the death of his sister, and some time after this went to Sikyátki, professedly to take part in a religious dance, in which he joined until just before the close of the ceremony. Having previously observed where the handsomest girl was seated among the spectators on the house terraces, he ran up the ladder as if to offer her a prayer emblem, but instead he drew out a sharp flint knife from his girdle and cut her throat. He threw the body down where all could see it, and ran along the adjoining terraces till he cleared the village. A little way up the mesa was a large flat rock, upon which he sprang and took off his dancer’s mask so that all might recognize him; then turning again to the mesa he sped swiftly up the trail and escaped.

And so foray and slaughter continued to alternate between them until the planting season of some indefinite year came around. All the Sikyátki men were to begin the season by planting the fields of their chief on a certain day, which was announced from the housetop by the Second Chief as he made his customary evening proclamations, and the Walpi, becoming aware of this, planned a fatal onslaught. Every man and woman able to draw a bow or wield a weapon were got in readiness and at night they crossed the mesa and concealed themselves along its edge, overlooking the doomed village. When the day came they waited until the men had gone to the field and then rushed down upon the houses. The chief, who was too old to go afield, was the first one killed, and then followed the indiscriminate slaughter of women and children, and the destruction of the houses. The wild tumult in the village alarmed the Sikyátki and they came rushing back, but too late to defend their homes. Their struggles were hopeless, for they had only their planting sticks to use as weapons, which availed but little against the Walpi with their bows and arrows, spears, slings, and war clubs. Nearly all of the Sikyátki men were killed, but some of them escaped to Oraibi and some to Awatubi. A number of the girls and younger women were spared, and distributed among the different villages, where they became wives of their despoilers.

It is said to have been shortly after the destruction of Sikyátki that the first serious inroad of a hostile tribe occurred within this region, and all the stories aver that these early hostiles were from the north, the Ute being the first who are mentioned, and after them the Apache, who made an occasional foray.

While these families of Hopituh stock had been building their straggling dwellings along the canyon brinks, and grouping in villages around the base of the East Mesa, other migratory bands of Hopituh had begun to arrive on the Middle Mesa. As already said, it is admitted that the Snake were the first occupants of this region, but beyond that fact the traditions are contradictory and confused. It is probable, however, that not long after the arrival of the Horn, the Squash people came from the south and built a village on the Middle Mesa, the ruin of which is called Chukubi. It is on the edge of the cliff on the east side of the neck of that mesa, and a short distance south of the direct trail leading from Walpi to Oraibi. The Squash people say that they came from Palát Kwabi, the Red Land in the far South, and this vague term expresses nearly all their knowledge of that traditional land. They say they lived for a long time in the valley of the Colorado Chiquito, on the south side of that stream and not far from the point where the railway crosses it. They still distinguish the ruin of their early village there, which was built as usual on the brink of a canyon, and call it Etípsíkya, after a shrub that grows there profusely. They crossed the river opposite that place, but built no permanent houses until they reached the vicinity of Chukubi, near which two smaller clusters of ruins, on knolls, mark the sites of dwellings which they claim to have been theirs. Three groups (nyumu) traveling together were the next to follow them; these were the Bear, the Bear-skin-rope, and the Blue Jay. They are said to have been very numerous, and to have come from the vicinity of San Francisco Mountain. They did not move up to Chukubi, but built a large village on the summit, at the south end of the mesa, close to the site of the present Mashongnavi. Soon afterward came the Burrowing Owl, and the Coyote, from the vicinity of Navajo Mountains in the north, but they were not very numerous. They also built upon the Mashongnavi summit.

After this the Squash people found that the water from their springs was decreasing, and began moving toward the end of the mesa, where the other people were. But as there was then no suitable place left on the summit, they built a village on the sandy terrace close below it, on the west side; and as the springs at Chukubi ultimately ceased entirely, the rest of the Squash people came to the terrace and were again united in one village. Straggling bands of several other groups, both wingwu and nyumu, are mentioned as coming from various directions. Some built on the terrace and some found house room in Mashongnavi. This name is derived as follows: On the south side of the terrace on which the Squash village was built is a high column of sandstone which is vertically split in two, and formerly there was a third pillar in line, which has long since fallen. These three columns were called Tútuwalha, the guardians, and both the Squash village and the one on the summit were so named. On the north side of the terrace, close to the present village, is another irregular massy pillar of sandstone called Mashóniniptu, meaning “the other which remains erect,” having reference to the one on the south side, which had fallen. When the Squash withdrew to the summit the village was then called Mashóniniptuovi, “at the place of the other which remains erect;” now that term is never used, but always its syncopated form, Mashongnavi.

The Squash village, on the south end of the Middle Mesa, was attacked by a fierce band that came from the north, some say the Ute, others say the Apache; but whoever the invaders were, they completely overpowered the people, and carried off great stores of food and other plunder. The village was then evacuated, the houses dismantled, and the material removed to the high summit, where they reconstructed their dwellings around the village which thenceforth bore its present name of Mashongnavi. Some of the Squash people moved over to Oraibi, and portions of the Katchina and Paroquet people came from there to Mashongnavi about the same time, and a few of these two groups occupied some vacant houses also in Shupaulovi; for this village even at that early date had greatly diminished in population, having sustained a disastrous loss of men in the canyon affrays east of Walpi.

Shumopavi seems to have been built by portions of the same groups who went to the adjacent Mashongnavi, but the traditions of the two villages are conflicting. The old traditionists at Shumopavi hold that the first to come there were the Paroquet, the Bear, the Bear-skin-rope, and the Blue Jay. They came from the west—probably from San Francisco Mountain. They claim that ruins on a mesa bluff about 10 miles south from the present village are the remains of a village built by these groups before reaching Shumopavi, and the Paroquets arrived first, it is said, because they were perched on the heads of the Bears, and, when nearing the water, they flew in ahead of the others. These groups built a village on a broken terrace, on the east side of the cliff, and just below the present village. There is a spring close by called after the Shunóhu, a tall red grass, which grew abundantly there, and from which the town took its name. This spring was formerly very large, but two years ago a landslide completely buried it; lately, however, a small outflow is again apparent.

The ruins of the early village cover a hillocky area of about 800 by 250 feet, but it is impossible to trace much of the ground plan with accuracy. The corner of an old house still stands, some 6 or 8 feet high, extending about 15 feet on one face and about 10 feet on the other. The wall is over 3 feet in thickness, but of very clumsy masonry, no care having been exercised in dressing the stones, which are of varying sizes and laid in mud plaster. Interest attaches to this fragment, as it is one of the few tangible evidences left of the Spanish priests who engaged in the fatal mission to the Hopituh in the sixteenth century. This bit of wall, which now forms part of a sheep-fold, is pointed out as the remains of one of the mission buildings.

Other groups followed—the Mole, the Spider, and the “Wíksrun.” These latter took their name from a curious ornament worn by the men. A piece of the leg-bone of a bear, from which the marrow had been extracted and a stopper fixed in one end, was attached to the fillet binding the hair, and hung down in front of the forehead. This gens and the Mole are now extinct.

Shumopavi received no further accession of population, but lost to some extent by a portion of the Bear people moving across to Walpi. No important event seems to have occurred among them for a long period after the destruction of Sikyátki, in which they bore some part, and only cursory mention is made of the ingress of “enemies from the north;” but their village, apparently, was not assailed.

The Oraibi traditions tend to confirm those of Shumopavi, and tell that the first houses there were built by Bears, who came from the latter place. The following is from a curious legend of the early settlement:

The Bear people had two chiefs, who were brothers; the elder was called Vwen-ti-só-mo, and the younger Ma-tcí-to. They had a desperate quarrel at Shumopavi, and their people divided into two factions, according as they inclined to one or other of the contestants. After a long period of contention Ma-tcí-to and his followers withdrew to the mesa where Oraibi now stands, about 8 miles northwest from Shumopavi, and built houses a little to the southwest of the limits of the present town. These houses were afterwards destroyed by “enemies from the north,” and the older portion of the existing town, the southwest ends of the house rows, were built with stones from the demolished houses. Fragments of these early walls are still occasionally unearthed.

After Ma-tcí-to and his people were established there, whenever any of the Shumopavi people became dissatisfied with that place they built at Oraibi, Ma-tcí-to placed a little stone monument about halfway between these two villages to mark the boundary of the land. Vwenti-so´-mo objected to this, but it was ultimately accepted with the proviso that the village growing the fastest should have the privilege of moving it toward the other village. The monument still stands, and is on the direct Oraibi trail from Shumopavi, 3 miles from the latter. It is a well dressed, rectangular block of sandstone, projecting two feet above the ground, and measures 8½ by 7 inches. On the end is carved the rude semblance of a human head, or mask, the eyes and mouth being merely round shallow holes, with a black line painted around them. The stone is pecked on the side, but the head and front are rubbed quite smooth, and the block, tapering slightly to the base, suggests the ancient Roman Termini.

There are Eagle people living at Oraibi, Mashongnavi, and Walpi, and it would seem as if they had journeyed for some time with the later Snake people and others from the northwest. Vague traditions attach them to several of the ruins north of the Moen-kopi, although most of these are regarded as the remains of Snake dwellings.

The legend of the Eagle people introduces them from the west, coming in by way of the Moen-kopi water course. They found many people living in Tusayan, at Oraibi, the Middle Mesa, and near the East Mesa, but the Snake village was yet in the valley. Some of the Eagles remained at Oraibi, but the main body moved to a large mound just east of Mashongnavi, on the summit of which they built a village and called it Shi-tái-mu. Numerous traces of small-roomed houses can be seen on this mound and on some of the lower surroundings. The uneven summit is about 300 by 200 feet, and the village seems to have been built in the form of an irregular ellipse, but the ground plan is very obscure.

While the Eagles were living at Shi-tái-mu, they sent “Yellow Foot” to the mountain in the east (at the headwaters of the Rio Grande) to obtain a dog. After many perilous adventures in caverns guarded by bear, mountain lion, and rattlesnake, he got two dogs and returned. They were wanted to keep the coyotes out of the corn and the gardens. The dogs grew numerous, and would go to Mashongnavi in search of food, and also to some of the people of that village, which led to serious quarrels between them and the Eagle people. Ultimately the Shi-tái-mu chief proclaimed a feast, and told the people to prepare to leave the village forever. On the feast day the women arranged the food basins on the ground in a long line leading out of the village. The people passed along this line, tasting a mouthful here or there, but without stopping, and when they reached the last basin they were beyond the limits of the village. Without turning around they continued on down into the valley until they were halted by the Snake people. An arrangement was effected with the latter, and the Eagles built their houses in the Snake village. A few of the Eagle families who had become attached to Mashongnavi chose to go to that village, where their descendants still reside, and are yet held as close relatives by the Eagles of Walpi. The land around the East Mesa was then portioned out, the Snakes, Horns, Bears, and Eagles each receiving separate lands, and these old allotments are still approximately maintained.

According to the Eagle traditions the early occupants of Tusayan came in the following succession: Snake, Horn, Bear, Middle Mesa, Oraibi, and Eagle, and finally from the south came the Water families. This sequence is also recognized in the general tenor of the legends of the other groups.

Shupaulovi, a small village quite close to Mashongnavi, would seem to have been established just before the coming of the Water people. Nor does there seem to have been any very long interval between the arrival of the earliest occupants of the Middle Mesa and this latest colony. These were the Sun people, and like the Squash folk, claim to have come from Palátkwabi, the Red Land, in the south. On their northward migration, when they came to the valley of the Colorado Chiquito, they found the Water people there, with whom they lived for some time. This combined village was built upon Homólobi, a round terraced mound near Sunset Crossing, where fragmentary ruins covering a wide area can yet be traced.

Incoming people from the east had built the large village of Awatubi, high rock, upon a steep mesa about nine miles southeast from Walpi. When the Sun people came into Tusayan they halted at that village and a few of them remained there permanently, but the others continued west to the Middle Mesa. At that time also they say Chukubi, Shitaimu, Mashongnavi, and the Squash village on the terrace were all occupied, and they built on the terrace close to the Squash village also. The Sun people were then very numerous and soon spread their dwellings over the summit where the ruin now stands, and many indistinct lines of house walls around this dilapidated village attest its former size. Like the neighboring village, it takes its name from a rock near by, which is used as a place for the deposit of votive offerings, but the etymology of the term can not be traced.

Some of the Bear people also took up their abode at Shupaulovi, and later a nyumu of the Water family called Batni, moisture, built with them; and the diminished families of the existing village are still composed entirely of these three nyumu.

The next arrivals seem to have been the Asanyumu, who in early days lived in the region of the Chama, in New Mexico, at a village called Kaékibi, near the place now known as Abiquiu. When they left that region they moved slowly westward to a place called Túwii (Santo Domingo), where some of them are said to still reside. The next halt was at Kaiwáika (Laguna) where it is said some families still remain, and they staid also a short time at A´ikoka (Acoma); but none of them remained at that place. From the latter place they went to Sióki (Zuñi), where they remained a long time and left a number of their people there, who are now called Aiyáhokwi by the Zuñi. They finally reached Tusayan by way of Awatubi. They had been preceded from the same part of New Mexico by the Honan nyumu (the Badger people), whom they found living at the last-named village. The Magpie, the Pute Kóhu (Boomerang-shaped hunting stick), and the Field-mouse families of the Asa remained and built beside the Badger, but the rest of its groups continued across to the Walpi Mesa. They were not at first permitted to come up to Walpi, which then occupied its present site, but were allotted a place to build at Coyote Water, a small spring on the east side of the mesa, just under the gap. They had not lived there very long, however, when for some valuable services in defeating at one time a raid of the Ute (who used to be called the Tcingawúptuh) and of the Navajo at another, they were given for planting grounds all the space on the mesa summit from the gap to where Sichumovi now stands, and the same width, extending across the valley to the east. On the mesa summit they built the early portion of the house mass on the north side of the village, now known as Hano. But soon after this came a succession of dry seasons, which caused a great scarcity of food almost amounting to a famine, and many moved away to distant streams. The Asa people went to Túpkabi (Deep Canyon, the de Chelly), about 70 miles northeast from Walpi, where the Navajo received them kindly and supplied them with food. The Asa had preserved some seeds of the peach, which they planted in the canyon nooks, and numerous little orchards still flourish there. They also brought the Navajo new varieties of food plants, and their relations grew very cordial. They built houses along the base of the canyon walls, and dwelt there for two or three generations, during which time many of the Asa women were given to the Navajo, and the descendants of these now constitute a numerous clan among the Navajo, known as the Kiáini, the High-house people.

The Navajo and the Asa eventually quarreled and the latter returned to Walpi, but this was after the arrival of the Hano, by whom they found their old houses occupied. The Asa were taken into the village of Walpi, being given a vacant strip on the east edge of the mesa, just where the main trail comes up to the village. The Navajo, Ute, and Apache had frequently gained entrance to the village by this trail, and to guard it the Asa built a house group along the edge of the cliff at that point, immediately overlooking the trail, where some of the people still live; and the kiva there, now used by the Snake order, belongs to them. There was a crevice in the rock, with a smooth bottom extending to the edge of the cliff and deep enough for a ki´koli. A wall was built to close the outer edge and it was at first intended to build a dwelling house there, but it was afterward excavated to its present size and made into a kiva, still called the wikwálhobi, the kiva of the Watchers of the High Place. The Walpi site becoming crowded, some of the Bear and Lizard people moved out and built houses on the site of the present Sichumovi; several Asa families followed them, and after them came some of the Badger people. The village grew to an extent considerably beyond its present size, when it was abandoned on account of a malignant plague. After the plague, and within the present generation, the village was rebuilt—the old houses being torn down to make the new ones.

After the Asa came the nest group to arrive was the Water family. Their chief begins the story of their migration in this way:

In the long ago the Snake, Horn, and Eagle people lived here (in Tusayan), but their corn grew only a span high, and when they sang for rain the cloud god sent only a thin mist. My people then lived in the distant Pa-lát Kwá-bi in the South. There was a very bad old man there, who, when he met any one, would spit in his face, blow his nose upon him, and rub ordure upon him. He ravished the girls and did all manner of evil. Baholikonga got angry at this and turned the world upside down, and water spouted up through the kivas and through the fireplaces in the houses. The earth was rent in great chasms, and water covered everything except one narrow ridge of mud; and across this the serpent deity told all the people to travel. As they journeyed across, the feet of the bad slipped and they fell into the dark water, but the good, after many days, reached dry land. While the water was rising around the village the old people got on the tops of the houses, for they thought they could not struggle across with the younger people; but Baholikonga clothed them with the skins of turkeys, and they spread their wings out and floated in the air just above the surface of the water, and in this way they got across. There were saved of our people Water, Corn, Lizard, Horned Toad, Sand, two families of Rabbit, and Tobacco. The turkey tail dragged in the water—hence the white on the turkey tail now. Wearing these turkey-skins is the reason why old people have dewlaps under the chin like a turkey; it is also the reason why old people use turkey-feathers at the religious ceremonies.

In the story of the wandering of the Water people, many vague references are made to various villages in the South, which they constructed or dwelt in, and to rocks where they carved their totems at temporary halting places. They dwelt for a long time at Homólobi, where the Sun people joined them; and probably not long after the latter left the Water people followed on after them. The largest number of this family seem to have made their dwellings first at Mashongnavi and Shupaulovi; but like the Sun people they soon spread to all the villages.

The narrative of part of this journey is thus given by the chief before quoted:

It occupied 4 years to cross the disrupted country. The kwakwanti (a warrior order) went ahead of the people and carried seed of corn, beans, melons, squashes, and cotton. They would plant corn in the mud at early morning and by noon it was ripe and thus the people were fed. When they reached solid ground they rested, and then they built houses. The kwakwanti were always out exploring—sometimes they were gone as long as four years. Again we would follow them on long journeys, and halt and build houses and plant. While we were traveling if a woman became heavy with child we would build her a house and put plenty of food in it and leave her there, and from these women sprang the Pima, Maricopa, and other Indians in the South.

Away in the South, before we crossed the mountains (south of the Apache country) we built large houses and lived there a long while. Near these houses is a large rock on which was painted the rain-clouds of the Water phratry, also a man carrying corn in his arms; and the other phratries also painted the Lizard and the Rabbit upon it. While they were living there the kwakwanti made an expedition far to the north and came in conflict with a hostile people. They fought day after day, for days and days—they fought by day only and when night came they separated, each party retiring to its own ground to rest. One night the cranes came and each crane took a kwakwanti on his back and brought them back to their people in the South.

Again all the people traveled north until they came to the Little Colorado, near San Francisco Mountains, and there they built houses up and down the river. They also made long ditches to carry the water from the river to their gardens. After living there a long while they began to be plagued with swarms of a kind of gnat called the sand-fly, which bit the children, causing them to swell up and die. The place becoming unendurable, they were forced again to resume their travels. Before starting, one of the Rain-women, who was big with child, was made comfortable in one of the houses on the mountain. She told her people to leave her, because she knew this was the place where she was to remain forever. She also told them, that hereafter whenever they should return to the mountain to hunt she would provide them with plenty of game. Under her house is a spring and any sterile woman who drinks of its water will bear children. The people then began a long journey to reach the summit of the table land on the north. They camped for rest on one of the terraces, where there was no water, and they were very tired and thirsty. Here the women celebrated the rain-feast—they danced for three days, and on the fourth day the clouds brought heavy rain and refreshed the people. This event is still commemorated by a circle of stones at that place. They reached a spring southeast from Káibitho (Kumás Spring) and there they built a house and lived for some time. Our people had plenty of rain and cultivated much corn and some of the Walpi people came to visit us. They told ns that their rain only came here and there in fine misty sprays, and a basketful of corn was regarded as a large crop. So they asked us to come to their land and live with them and finally we consented. When we got there we found some Eagle people living near the Second Mesa; our people divided, and part went with the Eagle and have ever since remained there; but we camped near the First Mesa. It was planting time and the Walpi celebrated their rain-feast but they brought only a mere misty drizzle. Then we celebrated our rain-feast and planted. Great rains and thunder and lightning immediately followed and on the first day after planting our corn was half an arm’s length high; on the fourth day it was its full height, and in one moon it was ripe. When we were going up to the village (Walpi was then north of the gap, probably), we were met by a Bear man who said that our thunder frightened the women and we must not go near the village. Then the kwakwanti said, “Let us leave these people and seek a land somewhere else,” but our women said they were tired of travel and insisted upon our remaining. Then “Fire-picker” came down from the village and told us to come up there and stay, but after we had got into the village the Walpi women screamed out against us—they feared our thunder—and so the Walpi turned us away. Then our people, except those who went to the Second Mesa, traveled to the northeast as far as the Tsegi (Canyon de Chelly), but I can not tell whether our people built the louses there. Then they came hack to this region again and built houses and had much trouble with the Walpi, but we have lived here ever since.

Groups of the Water people, as already stated, were distributed among all the villages, although the bulk of them remained at the Middle Mesa; but it seems that most of the remaining groups subsequently chose to build their permanent houses at Oraibi. There is no special tradition of this movement; it is only indicated by this circumstance, that in addition to the Water families common to every village, there are still in Oraibi several families of that people which have no representatives in any of the other villages. At a quite early day Oraibi became a place of importance, and they tell of being sufficiently populous to establish many outlying settlements. They still identify these with ruins on the detached mesas in the valley to the south and along the Moen-kopi (“place of flowing water”) and other intermittent streams in the west. These sites were occupied for the purpose of utilizing cultivable tracts of land in their vicinity, and the remotest settlement, about 45 miles west, was especially devoted to the cultivation of cotton, the place being still called by the Navajo and other neighboring tribes, the “cotton planting ground.” It is also said that several of the larger ruins along the course of the Moen-kopi were occupied by groups of the Snake, the Coyote, and the Eagle who dwelt in that region for a long period before they joined the people in Tusayan. The incursions of foreign bands from the north may have hastened that movement, and the Oraibi say they were compelled to withdraw all their outlying colonies. An episode is related of an attack upon the main village when a number of young girls were carried off, and 2 or 3 years afterward the same marauders returned and treated with the Oraibi, who paid a ransom in corn and received all their girls back again. After a quiet interval the pillaging bands renewed their attacks and the settlements on the Moen-kopi were vacated. They were again occupied after another peace was established, and this condition of alternate occupancy and abandonment seems to have existed until within quite recent time.

While the Asa were still sojourning in Canyon de Chelly, and before the arrival of the Hano, another bloody scene had been enacted in Tusayan. Since the time of the Antelope Canyon feuds there had been enmity between Awatubi and some of the other villages, especially Walpi, and some of the Sikyatki refugees had transmitted their feudal wrongs to their descendants who dwelt in Awatubi. They had long been perpetrating all manner of offenses; they had intercepted hunting parties from the other villages, seized their game, and sometimes killed the hunters; they had fallen upon men in outlying corn fields, maltreating and sometimes slaying them, and threatened still more serious outrage. Awatubi was too strong for Walpi to attack single-handed, so the assistance of the other villages was sought, and it was determined to destroy Awatubi at the close of a feast soon to occur. This was the annual “feast of the kwakwanti,” which is still maintained and is held during the month of November by each village, when the youths who have been qualified by certain ordeals are admitted to the councils. The ceremonies last several days, and on the concluding night special rites are held in the kivas. At these ceremonies every man must be in the kiva to which he belongs, and after the close of the rites they all sleep there, no one being permitted to leave the kiva until after sunrise on the following day.

There was still some little intercourse between Awatubi and Walpi, and it was easily ascertained when this feast was to be held. On the day of its close, the Walpi sent word to their allies “to prepare the war arrow and come,” and in the evening the fighting bands from the other villages assembled at Walpi, as the foray was to be led by the chief of that village. By the time night had fallen something like 150 marauders had met, all armed, of course; and of still more ominous import than their weapons were the firebrands they carried—shredded cedar bark loosely bound in rolls, resinous splinters of piñon, dry greasewood (a furze very easily ignited), and pouches full of pulverized red peppers.

Secure in the darkness from observation, the bands followed the Walpi chief across the valley, every man with his weapons in hand and a bundle of inflammables on his back. Beaching the Awatubi mesa they cautiously crept up the steep, winding trail to the summit, and then stole round the village to the passages leading to the different courts holding the kivas, near which they hid themselves. They waited till just before the gray daylight came, then the Walpi chief shouted his war cry and the yelling bands rushed to the kivas. Selecting their positions, they were at them in a moment, and quickly snatching up the ladders through the hatchways, the only means of exit, the doomed occupants were left as helpless as rats in a trap. Fire was at hand in the numerous little cooking pits, containing the jars of food prepared for the celebrants, the inflammable bundles were lit and tossed into the kivas, and the piles of firewood on the terraced roofs were thrown down upon the blaze, and soon each kiva became a furnace. The red pepper was then cast upon the fire to add its choking tortures, while round the hatchways the assailants stood showering their arrows into the mass of struggling wretches. The fires were maintained until the roofs fell in and buried and charred the bones of the victims. It is said that every male of Awatubi who had passed infancy perished in the slaughter, not one escaping. Such of the women and children as were spared were taken out, and all the houses were destroyed, after which the captives were divided among the different villages.

The date of this last feudal atrocity can be made out with some degree of exactness, because in 1692, Don Diego Vargas with a military force visited Tusayan and mentions Awatubi as a populous village at which he made some halt. The Hano (Tewa) claim that they have lived in Tusayan for five or six generations, and that when they arrived there was no Awatubi in existence; hence it must have been destroyed not long after the close of the seventeenth century.

Since the destruction of Awatubi only one other serious affray has occurred between the villages; that was between Oraibi and Walpi. It appears that after the Oraibi withdrew their colonies from the south and west they took possession of all the unoccupied planting grounds to the east of the village, and kept reaching eastward till they encroached upon some land claimed by the Walpi. This gave rise to intermittent warfare in the outlying fields, and whenever the contending villagers met a broil ensued, until the strife culminated in an attack upon Walpi. The Oraibi chose a day when the Walpi men were all in the field on the east side of the mesa, but the Walpi say that their women and dogs held the Oraibi at bay until the men came to the rescue. A severe battle was fought at the foot of the mesa, in which the Oraibi were routed and pursued across the Middle Mesa, where an Oraibi chief turned and implored the Walpi to desist. A conciliation was effected there, and harmonious relations have ever since existed between them. Until within a few years ago the spot where they stayed pursuit was marked by a stone, on which a shield and a dog were depicted, but it was a source of irritation to the Oraibi and it was removed by some of the Walpi.

In the early part of the eighteenth century the Ute from the north, and the Apache from the south made most disastrous inroads upon the villages, in which Walpi especially suffered. The Navajo, who then lived upon their eastern border, also suffered severely from the same bands, but the Navajo and the Tusayan were not on the best terms and never made any alliance for a common defense against these invaders.

Hano was peopled by a different linguistic stock from that of the other villages—a stock which belongs to the Rio Grande group. According to Polaka, the son of the principal chief, and himself an enterprising trader who has made many journeys to distant localities—and to others, the Hano once lived in seven villages on the Rio Grande, and the village in which his forefathers lived was called Tceewáge. This, it is said, is the same as the present Mexican village of Peña Blanca.

The Hano claim that they came to Tusayan only after repeated solicitation by the Walpi, at a time when the latter were much harassed by the Ute and Apache. The story, as told by Kwálakwai, who lives in Hano, but is not himself a Hano, begins as follows:

Long ago the Hopi´tuh were few and were continually harassed by the Yútamo (Ute), Yuíttcemo (Apache), and Dacábimo (Navajo). The chiefs of the Tcuin nyumu (Snake people) and the Hánin nyumu (Bear people) met together and made the ba´ho (sacred plume stick) and sent it with a man from each of these people to the house of the Tewa, called Tceewádigi, which was far off on the Múina (river) near Alavia (Santa Fé).

The messengers did not succeed in persuading the Tewa to come and the embassy was sent three times more. On the fourth visit the Tewa consented to come, as the Walpi had offered to divide their land and their waters with them, and set out for Tusayan, led by their own chief, the village being left in the care of his son. This first band is said to have consisted of 146 women, and it was afterwards followed by another and perhaps others.

Before the Hano arrived there had been a cessation of hostile inroads, and the Walpi received them churlishly and revoked their promises regarding the division of land and waters with them. They were shown where they could build houses for themselves on a yellow sand mound on the east side of the mesa just below the gap. They built there, but they were compelled to go for their food up to Walpi. They could get no vessels to carry their food in, and when they held out their hands for some the Walpi women mockingly poured out hot porridge and scalded the fingers of the Hano.

After a time the Ute came down the valley on the west side of the mesa, doing great harm again, and drove off the Walpi flocks andiron Then the Hano got ready for war; they tied buckskins around their loins, whitened their legs with clay, and stained their body and arms with dark red earth (ocher). They overtook the Ute near Wípho (about 3 miles north from Hano), but the Ute had driven the flocks up the steep mesa side, and when they saw the Tewa coming they killed all the sheep and piled the carcasses up for a defense, behind which they lay down. They had a few firearms also, while the Hano had only clubs and bows and arrows; but after some fighting the Ute were driven out and the Tewa followed after them. The first Ute was killed a short distance beyond, and a stone heap still (?) marks the spot. Similar heaps marked the places where other Ute were killed as they fled before the Hano, but not far from the San Juan the last one was killed.

Upon the return of the Hano from this successful expedition they were received gratefully and allowed to come up on the mesa to live—the old houses built by the Asa, in the present village of Hano, being assigned to them. The land was then divided, an imaginary line between Hano and Sichumovi, extending eastward entirely across the valley, marked the southern boundary, and from this line as far north as the spot where the last Utah was killed was assigned to the Hano as their possession.

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.

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).

This was after the Asa had been in Walpi for some time; probably about 125 years ago. Some of the Asa, and the Badger, the latter descendants of women saved from the Awatubi catastrophe, also moved to Sichumovi, but a plague of smallpox caused the village to be abandoned shortly afterward. This pestilence is said to have greatly reduced the number of the Tusayan, and after it disappeared there were many vacant houses in every village. Sichumovi was again occupied by a few Asa families, but the first houses were torn down and new ones constructed from them.

[ LIST OF TRADITIONARY GENTES.]

In the following table the early phratries (nyu-mu) are arranged in the order of their arrival, and the direction from which each came is given, except in the case of the Bear people. There are very few representatives of this phratry existing now, and very little tradition extant concerning its early history. The table does not show the condition of these, organizations in the present community but as they appear in the traditional accounts of their coming to Tusayan, although representatives of most of them can still be found in the various villages. There are, moreover, in addition to these, many other gentes and sub-gentes of more recent origin. The subdivision, or rather the multiplication of gentes may be said to be a continuous process; as, for example, in “corn” can be found families claiming to be of the root, stem, leaf, ear, blossom, etc., all belonging to corn; but there may be several families of each of these components constituting district sub-gentes. At present there are really but four phratries recognized among the Hopituh, the Snake, Horn, Eagle, and Rain, which is indifferently designated as Water or Corn:

The foregoing is the Water or Rain phratry proper, but allied to them are the two following phratries, who also came to this region with the Water phratry.

Polaka gives the following data:

The gentes bracketed are said to “belong together,” but do not seem to have distinctive names—as phratries.

[ SUPPLEMENTARY LEGEND.]

An interesting ruin which occurs on a mesa point a short distance north of Mashongnavi is known to the Tusayan under the name of Payupki. There are traditions and legends concerning it among the Tusayan, but the only version that could be obtained is not regarded by the writer as being up to the standard of those incorporated in the “Summary” and it is therefore given separately, as it has some suggestive value. It was obtained through Dr. Jeremiah Sullivan, then resident in Tusayan.

The people of Payupki spoke the same language as those on the first mesa (Walpi). Long ago they lived in the north, on the San Juan, but they were compelled to abandon that region and came to a place about 20 miles northwest from Oraibi. Being compelled to leave there, they went to Canyon de Chelly, where a band of Indians from the southeast joined them, with whom they formed an alliance. Together the two tribes moved eastward toward the Jemez Mountains, whence they drifted into the valley of the Rio Grande. There they became converts to the fire-worship then prevailing, but retained their old customs and language. At the time of the great insurrection (of 1680) they sheltered the native priests that were driven from some of the Rio Grande villages, and this action created such distrust and hatred among the people that the Payupki were forced to leave their settlement. Their first stop was at Old Laguna (12 miles east of the modern village) and they had with them then some 35 or 40 of the priests. After leaving Laguna they came to Bear Spring (Fort Wingate) and had a fight there with the Apache, whom they defeated. They remained at Bear Spring for several years, until the Zuñi compelled them to move. They then attempted to reach the San Juan, but were deceived in the trail, turned to the west and came to where Pueblo Colorado is now (the present post-office of Ganado, between Fort Defiance and Keam’s Canyon). They remained there a long time, and through their success in farming became so favorably known that they were urged to come farther west. They refused, in consequence of which some Tusayan attacked them. They were captured and brought to Walpi (then on the point) and afterwards they were distributed among the villages. Previous to this capture the priests had been guiding them by feathers, smoke, and signs seen in the fire. When the priest’s omens and oracles had proved false the people were disposed to kill them, but the priests persuaded them to let it depend on a test case—offering to kill themselves in the event of failure. So they had a great feast at Awatubi. The priests had long, hollow reeds inclosing various substances—feathers, flour, corn-pollen, sacred water, native tobacco (piba), corn, beans, melon seeds, etc., and they formed in a circle at sunrise on the plaza and had their incantations and prayers. As the sun rose a priest stepped forth before the people and blew through his reed, desirous of blowing that which was therein away from him, to scatter it abroad. But the wind would not blow and the contents of the reed fell to the ground. The priests were divided into groups, according to what they carried. In the evening all but two groups had blown. Then the elder of the twain turned his back eastward, and the reed toward the setting sun, and he blew, and the wind caught the feather and carried it to the west. This was accepted as a sign and the next day the Tusayan freed the slaves, giving each a blanket with corn in it. They went to the mesa where the ruin now stands and built the houses there. They asked for planting grounds, and fields were given them; but their crops did not thrive, and they stole corn from the Mashongnavi. Then, fearful lest they should be surprised at night, they built a wall as high as a man’s head about the top of their mesa, and they had big doorways, which they closed and fastened at night. When they were compelled to plant corn for themselves they planted it on the ledges of the mesa, but it grew only as high as a man’s knees; the leaves were very small and the grains grew only on one side of it. After a time they became friendly with the Mashongnavi again, and a boy from that village conceived a passion for a Payupki girl. The latter tribe objected to a marriage but the Mashongnavi were very desirous for it and some warriors of that village proposed if the boy could persuade the girl to fly with him, to aid and protect him. On an appointed day, about sundown, the girl came down from the mesa into the valley, but she was discovered by some old women who were baking pottery, who gave the alarm. Hearing the noise a party of the Mashongnavi, who were lying in wait, came up, but they encountered a party of the Payupki who had come out and a fight ensued. During the fight the young man was killed; and this caused so much bitterness of feeling that the Payupki were frightened, and remained quietly in their pueblo for several days. One morning, however, an old woman came over to Mashongnavi to borrow some tobacco, saying that they were going to have a dance in her village in five days. The next day the Payupki quietly departed. Seeing no smoke from the village the Mashongnavi at first thought that the Payupki were preparing for their dance, but on the third day a band of warriors was sent over to inquire and they found the village abandoned. The estufas and the houses of the priests were pulled down.

The narrator adds that the Payupki returned to San Felipe whence they came.

[ CHAPTER II.]

RUINS AND INHABITED VILLAGES OF TUSAYAN.

[ PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE PROVINCE.]

That portion of the southwestern plateau country comprised in the Province of Tusayan has usually been approached from the east, so that the easternmost of the series of mesas upon which the villages are situated is called the “First Mesa.” The road for 30 or 40 miles before reaching this point traverses the eastern portion of the great plateau whose broken margin, farther west, furnishes the abrupt mesa-tongues upon which the villages are built. The sandstone measures of this plateau are distinguished from many others of the southwest by their neutral colors. The vegetation consisting of a scattered growth of stunted piñon and cedar, interspersed with occasional stretches of dull-gray sage, imparts an effect of extreme monotony to the landscape. The effect is in marked contrast to the warmth and play of color frequently seen elsewhere in the plateau country.

The plateaus of Tusayan are generally diversified by canyons and buttes, whose precipitous sides break down into long ranges of rocky talus and sandy foothills. The arid character of this district is especially pronounced about the margin of the plateau. In the immediate vicinity of the villages there are large areas that do not support a blade of grass, where barren rocks outcrop through drifts of sand or lie piled in confusion at the bases of the cliffs. The canyons that break through the margins of these mesas often have a remarkable similarity of appearance, and the consequent monotony is extremely embarrassing to the traveler, the absence of running water and clearly defined drainage confusing his sense of direction.

The occasional springs which furnish scanty water supply to the inhabitants of this region are found generally at great distances apart, and there are usually but few natural indications of their location. They often occur in obscure nooks in the canyons, reached by tortuous trails winding through the talus and foothills, or as small seeps at the foot of some mesa. The convergence of numerous Navajo trails, however, furnishes some guide to these rare water sources.