INDIANS OFTHE 
 PAINTED DESERT REGION 
 
 GEORGE WHAKTON JAMES 
 
BANCROFT LIBRARY 
 
 O 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 ELEANOR ASHBY BANCROFT 
 1903-1956 
 
 Graduate of the University of California with the 
 degree of B.A. in history, 1926, and the Certificate 
 of Librarianship, 1938. Associated with the Ban- 
 croft Library for 36 years as student assistant, 
 reference librarian, and Assistant to the Director, 
 Mrs. Bancroft attained wide recognition as a bibli- 
 ographer and an authority on the history of Cali- 
 fornia and the West. In remembrance of a warm 
 and genial personality, and of long and devoted 
 service to scholarship, this gift is presented by her 
 friends. 
 
The Indians 
 
 of 
 
 The Painted Desert Region 
 
WORKS BY 
 
 <couflr SiLlljarton James 
 
 IN AND AROUND THE GRAND CANYON OF THE 
 COLORADO RIVER IN ARIZONA. 
 
 THE INDIANS OF THE PAINTED DESERT RE- 
 GION. 
 
 THE MISSIONS AND MISSION INDIANS OF 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 INDIAN BASKETRY. 
 
The Indians 
 
 of the 
 
 Painted Desert Region 
 
 Hopis, Na<vahoes, ff^allapais^ 
 Havasupais 
 
 By 
 
 George Wharton James 
 
 Author of "In and Around the Grand Canyon," etc. 
 
 With Numerous Illustrations from Photographs 
 
 Boston 
 Little, Brown, and Company 
 
 1903 
 
Copyright, 1903, 
 BY EDITH E. FARNSWORTH 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Published October, 1903 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS JOHN WILSON 
 AND SON CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
To my Wife 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY xiii 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. THE PAINTED DESERT REGION i 
 
 II. DESERT RECOLLECTIONS 10 
 
 III. FIRST GLIMPSES OF THE HOPI 29. 
 
 IV. THE HOPI VILLAGES AND THEIR HISTORY ... 44 
 V. A FEW HOPI CUSTOMS 66 
 
 VI. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE or THE HOPI 82 
 
 VII. THE HOPI SNAKE DANCE 102 
 
 VIII. THE NAVAHO AND HIS HISTORY 124 
 
 IX. THE NAVAHO AT HOME 138 
 
 X. THE NAVAHO AS A BLANKET WEAVER . . . . 160 
 
 XI. THE WALLAPAIS . 172 
 
 XII. THE ADVENT OF THE WALLAPAIS 188 
 
 XIII. THE PEOPLE OF THE BLUE WATER AND THEIR 
 
 HOME 199 
 
 XIV. THE HAVASUPAIS AND THEIR LEGENDS . . . . 209 
 XV. THE SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE HAVA- 
 SUPAIS 220 
 
 XVI. THE HAVASUPAIS' RELIGIOUS DANCES AND BELIEFS 248 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 265 
 
ILL USTRATIONS 
 
 In the Heart of the Painted Desert Frontispiece 
 
 A Son of the Desert Vignette on Title 
 
 In the Heart of the Petrified Forest .... Facing page xvi 
 
 A Freak of Erosion in the Petrified Forest . . " " 2 
 Journeying over the Painted Desert to the 
 
 Hopi Snake Dance ... " 2 
 
 Ancient Pottery dug from Prehistoric Ruins on 
 
 the Painted Desert " " 8 
 
 The Painted Desert near the Little Colorado 
 
 River " " 16 
 
 Asleep, Early Morning, on the Painted Desert " " 16 
 The Colorado River at Bass Ferry, the Vam- 
 pire of the Painted Desert " " 22 
 
 Hano, (Tewa) from the Head of the Trail . . " " 34 
 
 Hopi Women building a House at Oraibi . . " " 38 
 
 Mashonganavi from the Terrace below ... " " 38 
 The Trio of Metates, and Hopi Woman about 
 
 to grind Corn " " 42 
 
 Mashongce, an Oraibi Maiden, drying Corn 
 
 Meal " " 42 
 
 An Oraibi Woman shelling Corn in a Basket 
 
 of Yucca Fibre " " 50 
 
 The * Burro " of Hopi Transportation ... " "50 
 A Hopi, weaving a Native Cotton Ceremonial 
 
 Kilt " 54 
 
 An Aged Hopi at Oraibi "54 
 
 An Admiring Hopi Mother " 60 
 
 An Oraibi Basket Weaver " " 60 
 
 A Hopi Girl, Oraibi " " 68 
 
 Shupela, Father of Kopeli, Late Snake Priest 
 
 at Walpi " " 68 
 
 Hopi Children, at Oraibi, waiting for a Scramble 
 
 of Candy " "76 
 
x ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Group of Hopi Maidens at Shungopavi . . . Facing page 82 
 Hopi Woman weaving Basket, her Husband 
 
 Knitting Stockings " " 88 
 
 Hopi Woman preparing Corn Meal for making 
 
 Doughnuts " " 88 
 
 Hopi "Boomerangs" " " 96 
 
 Hopi Ceremonial Drums " ' 96 
 
 Blind Hopi Boy, Knitting Stockings .... "* " 100 
 
 A Hopi Belle at Shungopavi " " 100 
 
 The Beginning of the Hopi Snake Dance, 
 
 Oraibi, 1902 " " 102 
 
 The Chief Antelope Priest depositing Pahos at 
 
 the Shrine of the Spider Woman .... " " 106 
 Throwing the Snakes into the Circle of Sacred 
 
 Meal " " 106 
 
 Line-up of Snake and Antelope Priests, Ante- 
 lope Dance, Oraibi, 1902 " " no 
 
 The Snake Dance at Oraibi, 1902 " " 114 
 
 The Snakes in the Kiva at Mashonganavi, after 
 
 the Ceremony of Washing " " 1 18 
 
 After taking the Emetic. Hopi Snake Dance at 
 
 Walpi "122 
 
 Hopi Prayer Sticks or Pahos " "126 
 
 Navaho Silver Necklace and Belt " "126 
 
 An Old Hopi at Oraibi " "131 
 
 An Aged Navaho, looking over the Painted 
 
 Desert " "131 
 
 Hopi Ceremonial Head-dresses " "134 
 
 Hopi Bahos and Dance Rattles " "134 
 
 A Mashonganavi Hopi, going to hoe his Corn " " 140 
 
 Kapata, Antelope Priest, at Walpi .... " 140 
 The Antelope Priests leaving their Kiva for the 
 
 Snake Dance " "146 
 
 The Widow, Daughters, and Grandchildren of 
 
 the Navaho Chief, Manuelito " "146 
 
 The March of the Antelope Priests, Oraibi, 1902 " " 156 
 
 Wife of Leve Leve, Wallapai Chief .... "156 
 
 An Aged Navaho and her Hogan " " 1 70 
 
 Navaho Family and Hogan in the Painted 
 
 Desert " "170 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS xi 
 
 Navaho Woman on Horseback Facing page 176 
 
 The Winner of the " Gallo" Race, at Tohatchi . " 176 
 
 Wallapai Maiden and Prayer Basket . ... " " 188 
 A Wallapai, making a Meal on the Fruit of the 
 
 Tuna, or Prickly Pear " " 188 
 
 Tuasula, Wallapai Chief " "196 
 
 Susquatami, Wallapai War Chief " "196 
 
 Havasupai Fortress and Hue-gli-i-wa, or Rock 
 
 Figures " " 206 
 
 A Wallapai Woman pounding Acorns ... " " 210 
 Chickapanagie's Wife, a Havasupai, parching 
 
 Corn in a Basket " "210 
 
 A Family Group of Havasupais " "216 
 
 Havasupai Mother and Child " "216 
 
 Lanoman's Wife, a Havasupai " " 230 
 
 Waluthanca's Daughter, with Esuwa, going for 
 
 Water " "230 
 
 Sinyela, with Esuwa, going for Water . . . " " 256 
 Rock Jones, Leading Medicine Man of Hava- 
 supais " " 256 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 WILD, weird, and mystic pictures are formed in 
 the mind by the very name the Painted 
 Desert. The sound itself suggests a fabled rather than 
 a real land. Surely it must be akin to Atlantis or the 
 Island of Circe or the place where the Cyclops lived. 
 Is it not a land of enchantment and dreams, not a place 
 for living men and women, Indians though they be ? 
 
 It is a land of enchantment, but also of stern reality, 
 as those who have marched, unprepared, across its 
 waterless wastes can testify. No fabled land ever sur- 
 passed it in its wondrousness, yet a railway runs directly 
 over it, and it is not on some far-away continent, but is 
 close at hand ; a portion, indeed, of our own United 
 States. 
 
 In our schoolboy days we used to read of the Great 
 American Desert. The march of civilization has 
 marched that " desert " out of existence. Is the Painted 
 Desert a fiction of early geographers, like unto the 
 Great American Desert, to be wiped from the map when 
 we have more knowledge? 
 
 No ! It is in actual existence as it was when first seen 
 by the white men, about three hundred and fifty years ago, 
 and as it doubtless will be for untold centuries yet to 
 come. 
 
 Coronado and his band of daring conquistadors, pre- 
 ceded by Marcos de Niza and Stephen the Negro, 
 
xiv INTRODUCTORY 
 
 reaching out with gold-lustful hands, came into the 
 region from northern Mexico, conquered Cibola 
 Zuni and from there sent out a small band to inves- 
 tigate the stories told by the Zunis of a people who 
 lived about one hundred miles to the northwest, whom 
 they called A-mo-ke-vi. The Navaho Indians said the 
 home of the A-mo-ke-vi was a Ta-sa-un' a country 
 of isolated buttes so the Spaniards called the peo- 
 ple Moki (Moqui) and their land " the province of 
 Tusayan," and by those names they have ever since been 
 known. 
 
 Yet these names are not the ones by which they des- 
 ignate themselves and their land. They are the Hopi- 
 tuh, which Stephen says means " the wise people," and 
 Fewkes, " the people of peace." 
 
 It was in marching to the land of the Hopituh that 
 the Spaniards designated the region " el pintado desierto." 
 And a painted desert it truly is. Elsewhere I have 
 described some of its horrors, 1 for I have been familiar 
 with them, more or less, for upwards of twenty years. 
 I do not write of that of which I have merely heard, but 
 " mine eyes have seen," again and again, that which I 
 describe. I have been almost frozen in its piercing 
 snow-storms; choked with sand in its whirling sand- 
 storms; wet through ere I could dismount from my 
 horse in its fierce rain-storms ; terrified and temporarily 
 blinded by the brilliancy of its lightning-storms; and 
 almost sunstruck by the scorching power of the sun in 
 its desolate confines. I have seen the sluggish waters 
 of the Little Colorado River rise several feet in the 
 night and place an impassable barrier temporarily before 
 us. With my horses I have camped, again and again, 
 1 " In and Around the Grand Canyon." 
 
INTRODUCTORY xv 
 
 waterless, on its arid and inhospitable rocks and sands, 
 and prayed for morning, only to resume our exhausting 
 journey in the fiercely beating rays of the burning sun ; 
 longing for some pool of water, no matter how dirty, 
 how stagnant, that our parched tongues and throats 
 might feel the delights of swallowing something fluid. 
 And last year (1902), in a journey to the home of the 
 Hopi, my friends and I saw a part of this desert covered 
 with the waters of a fierce rain-storm as if it were an 
 ocean, and the " dry wash " of the Oraibi the scene of a 
 flood that, for hours, equalled the rapids of the Colorado 
 River. We were almost engulfed in a quicksand, and a 
 few days later covered with a sand-storm ; all these ex- 
 periences, and others, in the course of a few days. 
 
 Stand with me on the summit of one of the towering 
 mountains that guard the region and you will see such 
 a landscape of color as exists nowhere else in the world. 
 It suggests the thought of God's original palette 
 where He experimented in color ere He decided how 
 to paint the sunset, tint the sun-kissed hills at dawn, 
 give red to the rose, green to the leaves, yellow to the 
 sunflowers, and the varied colors of baby blue-eyes, vio- 
 lets, portulacas, poppies, and cacti; where He con- 
 cluded to distribute color throughout His world instead 
 of making it all sombre in grays or black. 
 
 Look! here is a vast flat of alkali, pure, dazzling 
 white, shining like a vivid and horrible leprosy in the 
 noon-day sun; close by is an area of volcanic action 
 where a veritable " tintaro " inkstand has overflowed 
 in devastating blackness over miles and miles. There 
 are pits of six hundred feet depth full of black gun- 
 powder-like substance, gardens of hellish cauliflowers 
 and cabbages of forbidding black lava, and tunnels 
 
xvi INTRODUCTORY 
 
 arched and square of pure blackness. Yonder is a 
 mural face a half thousand feet high and two hundred 
 or more miles long. It is nearly a hundred miles 
 away, yet it reveals the rich glowing red of its walls, 
 and between it and us are large " blotches " of pinks, 
 grays, greens, reds, chocolates, carmines, crimsons, 
 browns, yellows, olives, in every conceivable shade, and 
 all blending in a strange and grotesque yet attractive 
 manner, and fascinating while it awes. It is seldom 
 one can see a rainbow lengthened out into flatness and 
 then petrified ; yet you can see it here. Few eyes have 
 ever beheld a sunset painted on a desert's sands, yet all 
 may see it here. 
 
 It is a desert, surely, yet throughout its entire width 
 flows a monster river; a fiendish, evil-souled river; a 
 thievish, murderous river; a giant vampire, sucking the 
 life-blood from thousands of square miles of territory 
 and making it all barren, desolate, desert. And this 
 vampire river has vampire children which emulate their 
 mother in their insatiable thirst. Remorselessly they 
 suck up and carry away all the moisture that would 
 make the land " blossom as the rose," and thus add 
 misery to desolation, devastation to barrenness. 
 
 It is a desert, surely, yet planted in its dreary wastes 
 are verdant-clad mountains, on whose summits winter's 
 snows fall and accumulate, and in whose bosoms springs 
 of life are harbored. 
 
 It is a desert, surely, yet it is fringed here and there 
 with dense forests, and in the very heart of its direst 
 desolation threads of silvery streams lined with greenish 
 verdure seem to give the lie to the name. 
 
 It is desert, barren, inhospitable, dangerous, yet 
 thousands of people make it their chosen home. Over 
 
INTRODUCTORY xvii 
 
 its surface roam the Bedouins of the United States, 
 fearless horsemen, daring travellers, who rival in pictu- 
 resqueness, if not in evil, their compeers of the deserts 
 by the Nile. Down in the deep canyon water-ways of 
 the desert-streams dwell other peoples whose life is as 
 strange, weird, wild, and fascinating as that of any people 
 of earth. 
 
 This is the region and these the people I would make 
 the American reader more familiar with. Other books 
 have been written on the Painted Desert. One was 
 published a few years ago, written by a clever Ameri- 
 can novelist, and published by one of America's leading 
 firms, and I read it with mingled feelings of delight 
 and half anger. It was so beautifully and charmingly 
 written that one familiar with the scenes depicted could 
 not fail to enjoy it, although indignant because of the 
 errors that might have been avoided. It claims only 
 to be fiction. Yet the youth of the land reading it 
 necessarily gain distinct impressions of fact from its 
 pages. These " facts " are, unfortunately, so far from 
 true that they mislead the reader. It would have been 
 a comparatively slight task for the author to have con- 
 sulted government records and thus have made his refer- 
 ences to geography and ethnology correct. 
 
 It is needless, I hope, for me to say I have honestly 
 endeavored to avoid the method here criticised. The 
 bibliography incorporated as part of this book will 
 enable the diligent student to consult authorities about 
 this fascinating region. 
 
 But now comes an important question. What are 
 the boundaries of the Painted Desert? I am free to 
 confess I do not know, nor do I think any one else does. 
 The Spaniards never attempted to bound it, and no one 
 
xviii INTRODUCTORY 
 
 since has ever had the temerity to do so. In Ives's 
 map of the region he endeavored to explore, and of 
 which he wrote so hopelessly, he places the Painted 
 Desert in that ill-defined way that geographers used 
 to follow in suggesting the location of the Great Amer- 
 ican Desert. 
 
 The conditions of color and barrenness that first sug- 
 gested the name exist over a large area'; you find them 
 in the plateaus of southern Utah and the wild wastes 
 of southern Nevada ; they exist in much of New Mexico 
 and southwestern Colorado. In Arizona if you sweep 
 around north, west, south, and east, they are there. 
 Northward in the cliffs and ravines of the Grand Can- 
 yon country, in Blue Canyon, in the red mesas, the coal 
 deposits, and in the lava flows around the San Francisco 
 Mountains ; westward in the wild mountains and 
 wilder deserts that lead to the crossings of the Colorado 
 River, past the craters, lava flows, Calico Mountains, 
 and Mohave Desert of the country adjoining the Santa 
 Fe Route, and the Salton Sea, mud volcanoes, purple 
 cliffs, and tawny sands of the Colorado Desert of the 
 Sunset Route of the Southern Pacific ; southward in 
 the Red Rock country, Sunset Pass, the meteorite beds 
 of Canyon Diablo, the great cliffs of the Mogollon Pla- 
 teau, the Tonto Basin, the Verdi Valley, and away down, 
 over the Hassayampa, through the Salt River Valley, 
 past the Superstition and other purple and variegated 
 mountains, into the heart of northern Mexico itself; 
 eastward to the Petrified Forest, across into New 
 Mexico to Mount San Mateo, by the cliffs, craters, lava 
 flows, alkali flats, gorges and ravines of the Zuni 
 Mountain country and as far as the Rio Grande at 
 Albuquerque, where the basalt is scattered about in an 
 
INTRODUCTORY xix 
 
 irregular way, as if the molten stuff had been washed 
 over the country from some titanic bucket, and left to 
 lie in great inky blots over the bright-colored soils and 
 clays. 
 
 To me, all this is Painted Desert region, for much of 
 it is painted and much is desert. Indeed, if one Painted 
 Desert were to be staked off in any one of the above 
 named States, ten others, equally large, could be found 
 in the remaining ones. 
 
 It is a wonderful region viewed from any standpoint. 
 Scenic ! It is unrivalled for uniqueness, contrasts, variety, 
 grandeur, desolateness, and majesty. Geologic ! The 
 student may here find in a few months what a lifetime 
 elsewhere cannot reveal. Artistic ! The artist will find 
 it his rapture and his despair. Archaeologic ! Ruins 
 everywhere, cavate, cliff, and pueblo dwellings, waiting 
 for investigation, and, doubtless, scores as yet undis- 
 covered. Ethnologic ! Hopi, Wallapai, Havasupai, 
 Navaho, Apache, and the rest; with mythologies as 
 fascinating and complex as those of old Greece; with 
 histories that lose themselves in dim legend and tradi- 
 tion, and that tell of feuds and wars, massacres and 
 conflicts, that extend over centuries. 
 
 In the first chapter I have briefly named some of the 
 wonders and marvels of this fascinating land, and though 
 in barest outline, " the half has not been told." 
 
 It will be noticed that I have not rigidly adhered to 
 the subjects as indicated by the heads of the chapters. 
 I have preferred a discursive rather than a rigid style, 
 for I deem it will prove itself the more interesting to the 
 generality of my readers, and I merely call attention to 
 it so that my critics may know it is not done without 
 intent. 
 
xx INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Of the Indians of this region I have room to write 
 of four tribes only, viz., the Hopi, the Navaho, the 
 Wallapai, and the Havasupai. Of the former much has 
 been written in late years, owing to the interest centred 
 in their thrilling religious ceremony, the Snake Dance. 
 Of the Navaho considerable is known, but of the Walla- 
 pai and Havasupai there is little known and less written. 
 Indeed, of the Wallapai there is nothing in print except 
 the brief and cursory remarks of travellers, and the re- 
 ports of the teachers of the recently established schools 
 to the Indian Department. No one is better aware than 
 myself of the incomplete and fragmentary character of 
 what I have written, but this book is issued, as others 
 that have preceded it from my pen, in accord with my 
 desire to place in compact form for the general reader 
 reliable accounts of places and peoples in the United 
 States hitherto known only to the explorer and scientist. 
 
 To all the writers of the United States Bureau of 
 Ethnology and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as 
 those of other departments of the Government who 
 have written on the region, I gratefully acknowledge 
 many indebtednesses, especially to Powell, Fewkes, 
 Matthews, Stephen, Hodge, Hough, Hrdlicka, Gushing, 
 and Shufeldt. 
 
 To those who know the persistency and conscientious- 
 ness of my labors in my chosen field, and the pains I 
 take both by observation and from the works of authori- 
 ties to gain accurate knowledge, and my 0zw-willingness 
 to acknowledge by pen and voice those to whom I am 
 indebted, it will not be necessary to state that I have 
 endeavored to make this book a standard. If I have 
 failed to give credit where it was due, I do so now with 
 an open heart. 
 
INTRODUCTORY xxi 
 
 For the kindly reception my work in the printed page 
 and on the platform has received in the past I hereby 
 express rny grateful acknowledgments. 
 
 GEORGE WHARTON JAMES. 
 
 AUTHOR AMPHITHEATRE, 
 
 BASS CAMP, 
 GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA. 
 
THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Painted Desert Region 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 THE PAINTED DESERT REGION 
 
 CIVILIZATION and barbarism obtrude themselves 
 delightfully at every turn in this Wonderland 
 of the American Southwest, called the Painted Desert 
 Region. 
 
 Ancient and modern history play you many a game 
 of hide-and-seek as you endeavor to trace either one or 
 the other in a study of its aboriginal people ; you look 
 upon a ceremony performed to-day and call it modern. 
 In reality it is of the past, so old, so hoary with antiq- 
 uity that even to the participants it has lost its origin 
 and much of its meaning. 
 
 History exciting, thrilling, tragic has been made 
 in the Painted Desert Region ; was being made centu- 
 ries before Leif Ericson landed on the shores of Vin- 
 land, or John and Sebastian Cabot sailed from Bristol. 
 History that was ancient and hoar when the band of 
 pilgrims from Leyden battled with the wild waves of the 
 Atlantic's New England shore, and was lapsing into 
 sleepiness before the guns of the minute-men were fired 
 at Lexington or Allen had fallen at Bunker Hill. 
 
2 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 In the Painted Desert Region we find peoples strange, 
 peculiar, and interesting, whose mythology is more fas- 
 cinating than that of ancient Greece, and, for aught we 
 know to the contrary, may be equally ancient ; whose 
 ceremonies of to-day are more elaborate than those 
 of a devout Catholic, more complex than those of a 
 Hindoo pantheist, more weird than those of a howling 
 dervish of Turkestan. 
 
 Peoples whose origin is as uncertain and mysterious 
 as the ancients thought the source of the Nile ; whose 
 history is unknown except in the fantastic, though stir- 
 ring and improbable stories told by the elders as they 
 gather the young men around them at their mystic 
 ceremonies, and in the traditional songs sung by their 
 high priests during the performance of long and ex- 
 hausting worship. 
 
 Peoples whose government is as simple, pure, and 
 perfect as that of the patriarchs, and possibly as ancient, 
 and yet more republican than the most modern govern- 
 ment now in existence. Peoples whose women build 
 and own the houses, and whose men weave the garments 
 of the women, knit the stockings of their own wear, and 
 are as expert with needle and thread as their ancestors 
 were with bow and arrow, obsidian-tipped spear, or 
 stone battle-axe. 
 
 Here live peoples of peace and peoples of war ; wan- 
 derers and stay-at-homes; house-builders and those 
 who scorn fixed dwelling-places; poets whose songs, 
 like those of blind Homer and the early Troubadors, 
 were never written, but enshrined only in the hearts of 
 the race ; artists whose paints are the brilliant sands of 
 many-colored mountains, and whose brushes are their 
 own deft fingers. 
 
A FREAK OF EROSION IN THE PETRIFIED FOREST. 
 
 JOURNEYING OVER THE PAINTED DESERT TO THE HOPI SNAKE DANCE. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 3 
 
 Its modern history begins about three hundred and 
 fifty years ago when one portion of it was discovered by 
 a negro slave, whose amorous propensities lured him 
 to his death, and the other by a priest, of whom one 
 writer says his reports were " so disgustful in lyes and 
 wrapped up in fictions that the Light was little more 
 than Darkness." 
 
 Of its ancient history who can more than guess? To 
 most questions it remains as silent as the Sphinx. The 
 riddle of the Sphinx, though, is being solved, and so 
 by the careful and scientific work of the Bureau of 
 Ethnology, the riddles of the prehistoric life of our 
 Southwest, slowly but surely, are being resolved. 
 
 One of the countries comprised in the Painted Desert 
 Region is the theme of an epic, Homerian in style if 
 not in quality, full of wars and rumors of wars, storming 
 of impregnable citadels, and the recitals of deeds as 
 brave and heroic as those of the Greeks at Marathon or 
 Thermopylae ; a poem recently discovered, after having 
 remained buried in the tomb of oblivion for over two 
 hundred years. 
 
 Here are peoples of stupendous religious beliefs. 
 Peoples who can truthfully be designated as the most 
 religious of the world; yet peoples as agnostic and 
 sceptic, if not as learned, as Hume, Voltaire, Spencer, 
 and Ingersoll. Peoples to whom a written letter is 
 witchcraft and sorcery, and yet who can read the 
 heavens, interpret the writings of the woods, deserts, 
 and canyons with a certainty never failing and unerring. 
 Peoples who twenty-five years ago stoned and hanged 
 the witches and wizards they sincerely thought cursed 
 them, and who, ten years ago hanged, and perhaps even 
 to-day, though secretly, hang one another on a cross as 
 
4 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 an act of virtue and religious faith, after cruelly beat- 
 ing themselves and one another with scourges of deadly 
 cactus thorns. 
 
 Here are intelligent farmers, who, for centuries, have 
 scientifically irrigated their lands, and yet who cut off the 
 ears of their burros to keep them from stealing corn. 
 
 A land it is of witchcraft and sorcery, of horror and 
 dread of ghosts and goblins, of daily propitiation of 
 Fates and Powers and Princes of Darkness and Air at 
 the very thought of whom withering curses and blasting 
 injuries are sure to come. 
 
 Here dwell peoples who dance through fierce, flam- 
 ing fires, lacerate themselves with cactus whips, run 
 long wearisome races over the scorching sands of the 
 desert, and handle deadly rattlesnakes with fearless 
 freedom, as part of their religious worship. 
 
 Peoples who pray by machinery as the Burmese use 
 their prayer wheels, and who " plant " supplications as 
 a gardener " plants " trees and shrubs. 
 
 Peoples to whom a smoking cigarette is made the 
 means of holy communion, the handling of poisonous 
 reptiles a sacred and solemn act of devotion, and the 
 playing with dolls the opportunity for giving religious 
 instruction to their children. 
 
 Peoples who are pantheists, sun worshippers, and 
 snake dancers, yet who have churches and convents 
 built with incredible labor and as extensive as any mod- 
 ern cathedral. 
 
 Peoples whose conservatism in manners and religion 
 surpass that of the veriest English tories ; who, for hun- 
 dreds of years, have steadily and successfully resisted 
 all efforts to " convert " and change them, and who 
 to-day are as firm in their ancient faiths as ever. Peoples 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 5 
 
 whom Spanish conquistadors could not tame with 
 matchlock, pike, and machete, nor United States forces 
 with Gatling gun, rifle, and bayonet. 
 
 Peoples to whom fraternal organizations and secret 
 societies, for men and women alike, are as ancient as the 
 mountains they inhabit, whose lodge rooms are more 
 wonderful, and whose signs and passwords more com- 
 plex than those of any organization of civilized lands 
 and modern times. 
 
 Peoples industrious and peoples studiously lazy, 
 honest and able in thievery, truthful and consummate 
 liars, cleanly and picturesquely dirty, interesting and 
 repulsively loathsome, charming and artistically hideous, 
 religious and cursedly wicked, peaceful and unceasingly 
 warlike, lovers of home and haters of fixed habitations. 
 
 Here are peoples who dwell upon almost inaccessible 
 cliffs, peoples of the clouds, and, on the other hand, 
 peoples who dwell in canyon depths, where stupendous 
 walls, capable of enclosing Memphis, Thebes, Luxor, 
 Karnak, and all the ruins of ancient Egypt, are the 
 boundaries of their primitive residences. 
 
 The Painted Desert Region is a country where rattle- 
 snakes are washed, prayed over, caressed, carried in the 
 mouth, and placed before and on sacred altars in relig- 
 ious worship. 
 
 Where the worship of the goddess of reproduction 
 with all its phallic symbolism is carried on in public 
 processionals, dances, and ceremonials by men, women, 
 maidens, and children without shameful self-conscious- 
 ness, yet where dire penalties, even unto mutilation 
 and death, are visited upon the unchaste. 
 
 Where polygamy has been as openly practised as in 
 the days of Abraham, and possibly from as early a time, 
 
6 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 and where to-day it is as common to see a man who, 
 openly, has two or more wives, as in civilized lands it 
 is common to see him with but one. And yet it is 
 a land in which polygamy is expressly forbidden by 
 United States law, and where numbers of arrests have 
 been made for violation of that law. 
 
 Where religious rites are performed, so mystic and 
 ancient that their meaning is unknown even to the 
 most learned of those who partake in them. 
 
 Indeed, the Painted Desert Region, though a part 
 of the United States of America, is a land of peoples 
 strange, unique, complex, diverse, and singular as can 
 be found in any similar area on the earth, and the 
 physical contour of the country is as strange and 
 diverse as are the peoples who inhabit it. 
 
 It is a land of gloriously impressive mountains, 
 crowned with the snows of blessing and bathed in a 
 wealth of glowing colors, changing hues, and tender 
 tints that few other countries on earth can boast. 
 
 On its eastern outskirt is a portion of one of the 
 largest cretaceous monoclines in the world, and near by 
 is a natural inkstand, half a mile in circumference, from 
 which, centuries ago, flowed fiery, inky lava which has 
 now solidified in intensest blackness over hundreds of 
 miles of surrounding country. 
 
 It is a land of mountain-high plateaus, edged with 
 bluffs, cliffs, and escarpments that delight the distant 
 beholder with their richness of coloring and wondrous 
 variety of outline, and thrill with horror those who 
 unexpectedly stand on their brinks. 
 
 It is a land of laziness and indifferent content, where 
 everything is done " poco tiempo " "in a little while " 
 and where " to-morrow " is early enough for all 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 7 
 
 laborious tasks, and yet a land of such tireless energy, 
 never-ceasing work, and arduous labor as few countries 
 else have ever known. 
 
 A land where people live in refinement, education, 
 and all the luxuries of twentieth-century civilization 
 side by side with peoples whose dress, modes of living, 
 habits of eating and sleeping, styles of food and cookery 
 are similar to those of the subjects of Boadicea and 
 Caractacus. 
 
 In the Painted Desert Region the root of one 
 dangerous-looking prickly cactus is used for soap, and 
 the fruit of another for food. 
 
 Here horses dig for water, and mules are stimulated 
 by whiskey to draw their weighty loads over torrid 
 deserts and up mountain steeps. 
 
 It is a land of ruins, desolate and forlorn, buried and 
 forgotten, with histories tragic, bloody, romantic; ruins 
 where charred timbers, ghastly bones, and demolished 
 walls speak of midnight attacks, treacherous surprises, 
 and cruel slaughters; where whole cities have been 
 exterminated and destroyed as if under the ancient 
 commands to the Hebrews : " Destroy, slay, kill, and 
 spare not." 
 
 A desert country, and yet, in spots, marvellously 
 fertile. Barren, wild, desolate, forsaken it is, and yet, 
 here and there, fertile valleys, wooded slopes, and gar- 
 den patches may be found as rich as any on earth. 
 
 Where atmospheric colorings are so perfect and so 
 divinely artistic in their applications that weary and deso- 
 late deserts are made dreams of glory and supremest 
 beauty, and harsh rugged mountains are sublimated 
 into transcendent pictures of tender tints and ever- 
 changing but always harmonious combinations of color. 
 
8 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 A land where rain may be seen falling in fifty showers 
 all around, and yet not a drop fall, for'a year or more, 
 on the spot where the observer stands. 
 
 A land of sculptured images and fantastic carvings. 
 Where water, wind, storm, sand, frost, heat, atmosphere, 
 and other agencies, unguided and uncontrolled by man, 
 have combined to make figures more striking, more 
 real, more picturesque, more ugly, more beautiful, and 
 more fantastic than those of the angels, devils, saints, 
 and sinners that crown and adorn the ancient Pagan 
 shrines of the Orient and the more modern Christian 
 shrines of the Occident ; a veritable Toom-pin-nu- 
 wear-tu-weep Land of the Standing Rocks more 
 gigantic, wonderful, and attractive than can be found 
 elsewhere in the world. 
 
 Where sand moimtains, yielding alike to the fierce 
 winds of winter and the gentle breezes of summer, 
 slowly travel from place to place, irresistibly controlling 
 fresh sites and burying all that obstructs their path. 
 
 A land where, in summer, railway trains are often 
 stopped by drifting sands blown by scorching winds 
 over almost trackless Saharas, and where, in winter, 
 the same trains are stopped by drifting snows blown 
 over the same Saharas now made Arctic in their frozen 
 solitude. 
 
 A land where once were vast lakes in which disported 
 ugly monsters, and on the surface of which swam mighty 
 fish-birds who gazed with curious wonder upon the 
 enormous reptiles, birds, and animals which came to 
 lave themselves in the cooling waves or drink of their 
 refreshing waters. 
 
 But now lakes, fishes, reptiles, and animals have 
 entirely disappeared. Where placid lakes once were 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 9 
 
 lashed into fury by angry winds are now only sand 
 wastes and water-worn rocks where the winds howl 
 and shriek and rave, and mourn the loss of the waters 
 with which they used to sport; and the only remnants 
 of prehistoric fishes, reptiles, and animals are found in 
 decaying bones or fossilized remains deep imbedded 
 in the strata of the unnumbered ages. 
 
 A land where volcanic fires and fierce lava flows, 
 accompanied by deadly fumes, noxious gases, and 
 burning flames, have made lurid the midnight skies, 
 and driven happy people from their peaceful homes. 
 
 A land through which a mighty river dashes madly 
 and unrestrainedly to the sea, and yet where, a few 
 miles away, a spring that flows a few buckets of water 
 an hour is an inestimable treasure. Yes indeed, where, 
 in sight of that giant river, thirsty men have gone 
 raving mad for want of water, and have hurled them- 
 selves headlong down thousand-feet-high precipices in 
 their uncontrolled desire to reach the precious and 
 cooling stream. 
 
 A land of rich and florid coloring where the Master 
 Artist has revelled in matchless combinations. It is a 
 land of color, sweet, gentle, tender colors that pene- 
 trate the soul as the words of a lover ; fierce, glaring, 
 bold colors that strike as with the clenched fist of a 
 foe. 
 
 It is the stage upon which the bronze and white 
 actors of three hundred and fifty years ago played 
 their games of life with ambitions, high as they were 
 selfish, determined as they were bold, and unscrupulous 
 as they were successful. 
 
io THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 DESERT RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF the flora and fauna of the Painted Desert Region 
 I have made no study. That they are fascinating 
 the works of Hart Merriam, Coville, Lemmon, Hough, 
 and others of later days, and of the specialists of the 
 earlier government surveys, abundantly testify. There 
 are cacti of varieties into the hundreds, sagebrush, black 
 and white grama, bunch grass, salt grass, hackberry, 
 buck-brush, pines, junipers, spruces, cottonwoods, and 
 willows, besides a thousand flowering plants. There 
 are lizards, swifts, rattlesnakes, scorpions, Gila monsters, 
 vinegerones, prairie dogs, hedgehogs, turtles, squirrels, 
 cottontail and jack-rabbits, antelope, deer, mountain 
 sheep, wildcats, and some bear. 
 
 It is more of its physiographic conditions in a general 
 way, however, that I would here write. 
 
 Most people's conception of a desert is a flat, level 
 place of nothing but sand. It is sand instead of water; 
 a desert instead of an ocean. Few deserts conform to 
 this conception, none, indeed, that I know of in the 
 boundaries of the United States. This Painted Desert 
 Region is wonderfully diversified. There is sand, of 
 course, but much rock, many trees, more canyons, some 
 mountains and lava flows, extinct volcanoes, forests, and 
 pastures. The Grand Canyon runs across its northern 
 borders, and it is the vampire river that flows in that 
 never-to-be-described water-way that drains away the 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION u 
 
 water which leaves this the desert region it is ; for the 
 Colorado has many tributaries, and tributaries of tribu- 
 taries, the Little Colorado, Havasu (Cataract) Creek, 
 Canyon Padre, Canyon Diablo, Walnut Creek, Oak 
 Creek, Willow Creek, Diamond Creek, and a score or 
 hundred others. 
 
 Its great mountains are the San Francisco range, on 
 the shoulders of which Flagstaff is located, Mount San 
 Mateo, seen from the Santa Fe" train near Grants in New 
 Mexico, and Williams Mountain, west of Flagstaff, at 
 the foot of which the railway traveller will see the town 
 of Williams. 
 
 Near Flagstaff are a number of extinct volcanoes and 
 great masses of lava flow ; from the train at Blue Water 
 to the right a few miles one may see the crater Tintaro 
 the Inkstand. The Zuni Mountains have many 
 craters, chief of which is the Agua Fria crater, and lava 
 flows from the Zuni Mountains and Mount San Mateo 
 meet in the valley, and one rides alongside them for 
 miles coming west beyond Laguna. 
 
 South of Canyon Diablo is a wonderful meteoritic 
 mountain, the explanation of whose existence the scien- 
 tists have not yet determined. From Peach Springs a 
 large meteoric rock was sent to the Smithsonian, and 
 I have one dug out of a hole of its own making in the 
 Zuni Mountains, both of which weigh upwards of a ton. 
 
 To the east of the Canyon Diablo Mountain is Sun- 
 set Pass, familiar to the readers of Gen. Charles King's 
 thrilling Arizona stories, and beyond it to the south 
 are Hell's Canyon, which does not belie its name, 
 the Verdi Valley, and the interesting Red Rock Country, 
 where numerous cliff and cavate dwellings have recently 
 been discovered and explored by Dr. Fewkes. 
 
12 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Indeed, this whole region is one of cliff and cavate 
 and other forsaken dwellings. Everywhere one meets 
 with them. Desert mounds, on examination, prove to 
 be sites of long-buried cities, and hundreds, nay thou- 
 sands of exquisite vessels of clay, decorated in long-for- 
 gotten ways, have been dug up from them and sent to 
 grace the shelves of museums and speak of a people 
 long since crumbled to dust. 
 
 The miner has found it a profitable field for his 
 operations, the Jerome and Congress, with the Old 
 Vulture and similar mines, having made great fortunes 
 for their owners. More than half our knowledge of 
 the country came primarily from the daring and cour- 
 ageous prospectors who risked its dangers and deaths 
 in their search for gold. 
 
 The roads in the Painted Desert are long and tedious, 
 and the horses drag their weary way over the scorching 
 sands, the wheels of the wagon sinking in, as does also 
 the heart of the sensitive rider who sees the efforts the 
 poor beasts are making to obey his will. Yet the 
 animals seldom sweat. Such is the rapid radiation of 
 moisture in this dry, high atmosphere that one never 
 sees any of the sweat and lather so common to hard- 
 driven horses in lower altitude. 
 
 The food question for horses is often serious if one 
 goes far from the beaten path of traders or Indians. A 
 desert is not a pasture, though its scant patches of grass 
 often have to serve for one. The general custom, where 
 possible, is to carry a small amount of grain, which 
 is fed sparingly night and morning. The horses are 
 hobbled and turned loose in as good pasture as can be 
 found. Hence the first questions asked when deter- 
 mining a camping place are, " What kind of pasture 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 13 
 
 and water does it possess?" There are times when one 
 dare not run the risk of turning the horses loose. 
 Thirsty beyond endurance, they will often travel all 
 night, even though closely hobbled, back to where the 
 last water was secured. Then they must be tracked 
 back, and no more exhausting and disheartening occu- 
 pation do I know than this. 
 
 On one occasion we were compelled to camp where 
 there was little pasturage. It rained, and there were 
 two ladies in my party. The covered wagon was 
 emptied and their blankets rolled down in it, so that 
 they could be in shelter. Our driver was a German 
 named Hank. Two of " his horses were mules," and 
 these were tied one to each of the front wheels. The 
 two real horses were tied to the rear wheels. During 
 the night " Pete," one of the mules, got his fore legs 
 over the pole of the wagon, and began to tug and pull 
 so that the ladies were afraid the vehicle might be over- 
 turned. Calling to Hank, the poor fellow was compelled 
 to get out of his blankets and in the rain go to Pete's 
 rescue. To their intense amusement the ladies heard 
 him remonstrating with the refractory mule, and almost 
 exploded when he wound up his remonstrances, hitherto 
 couched in quiet and dignified language, " Pete, you 
 are von little tefel." 
 
 Some people do not like to hobble a horse, and so 
 they picket him. There are different ways of " picket- 
 ing" a horse. He may be tied by the halter to a bush, 
 tree, wagon, or stake driven into the ground. But these 
 methods are fraught with danger. I once had a valuable 
 horse at a time when Dr. Joseph LeConte, the beloved 
 professor of geology of the University of California, was 
 spending a month with me in the mountains. We had 
 
14 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 six horses, and all were " picketed " from the halter, or 
 a rope around the neck. Three times a day we changed 
 them to fresh pasturage. At one of the changing times 
 we found the beautiful black stretched out cold and 
 stiff. In scratching his head the hoof of his hind foot 
 had caught in the rope, and in seeking to free himself 
 he had pulled the rope tighter and tighter until he had 
 strangled himself. The gentle-hearted professor sat down 
 and wept at the tragic end of the noble horse " Duke " 
 he had already learned to love. 
 
 To prevent this danger I have often picketed a horse's 
 hind foot to a log heavy enough to drag, so that the hun- 
 gry animal could move a little in search of food, but not 
 run or get far away. There have been two or three 
 times, however, in my experience, where I could find 
 neither tree, bush, nor stake. Not a rock or log could 
 be found for miles to which the saddle horse I rode 
 could be picketed. What then could I do ? Sit up all 
 night to care for my horse? Ride all night? Or do 
 as I heard of one or two men having done, viz., picket 
 the horse to my own foot? I once heard of a man 
 who was dragged to his death that way. His cayuse 
 was startled during the night and started to run. As 
 the rope tightened and he dragged the unhappy wretch 
 attached to him, his fear increased his speed, and not 
 until he was exhausted and breathless did he stop in 
 his wild, mad race. He was found with the corpse, 
 bruised and mangled beyond all recognition, still drag- 
 ging at the end of the rope. 
 
 I had no desire to run such risk. So I did the impos- 
 sible, picketed my horse to a hole in the ground. 
 
 " Nonsense ! Picket a horse to a hole in the ground ? 
 It can't be done ! " 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 15 
 
 Indeed! But I did it. Watch me. Cut into the 
 ground (especially if it is a little grassy) and make a hole 
 a little larger than to allow your full fist to enter. As 
 you dig deeper widen the hole below so that it is 
 a kind of a chimney towards the top. Dig fully a foot 
 or a foot and a half down. Then take the rope, which 
 is already fastened at the other end to your horse, wrap 
 the end around a piece of grass, or paper, or a small 
 stone, or anything ; put the knot into the hole, and 
 " tamp " in the earth as vigorously as you can. Your 
 horse is then fast, unless he grows desperately afraid 
 and pulls with more than ordinary vigor. 
 
 The scarcity of water makes journeying on the Painted 
 Desert a grave and serious problem. The springs are 
 few and far between, and only in the rainy season can 
 one rely upon stony or clay pockets that fill up with the 
 precious fluid. In going from Canyon Diablo to Oraibi 
 there are four places where water may be obtained. 
 First in a small canyon a few miles west of Volz's 
 Crossing of the Little Colorado ; then at the Lakes, 
 small ponds of dirty, stagnant water, where a trading- 
 post is located and where the journey is generally 
 broken for a night. Next day, twenty-two miles must 
 be driven to Little Burro Spring before water is again 
 found, and a few miles further on, on the opposite side 
 of the valley, is Big Burro Spring. Then no more water 
 is found until Oraibi is reached. There are two springs 
 on the western side of the Oraibi mesa, and three miles 
 on the eastern side in the Oraibi Wash is a good well, 
 some sixty feet deep, of cold and good but not over- 
 clear water. There are small pools near Mashonganavi, 
 Shipauluvi, and Shungopavi, but the water is poor at 
 best and very limited in quantity to those who are used 
 
1 6 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 to the illimitable flow of ordinary Eastern cities. The 
 whole water supply at Mashonganavi, which is by far 
 the best watered town of the middle mesa, would not 
 more than suffice for the needs of a New York or Boston 
 family of six or eight persons, and consternation would 
 sit upon the face of the mistress of either household if 
 such water were to flow through the faucets of her 
 home. 
 
 At Walpi there are three pool springs on the west 
 side, but all flow slowly. One is good (for the desert), 
 another is fair, and the third is horrible. Yet this last is 
 almost equal to the supply on the eastern side, where 
 there are three pool springs, only two of which can be 
 used for domestic purposes. 
 
 Storms fearful and terrible often sweep across this 
 desert region. I have "enjoyed" several notable ex- 
 periences in them, storms of sand, of rain, of wind, of 
 lightning, and of thunder, sometimes one kind alone, 
 other times of a combination of kinds. At one time 
 we were camped in the Oraibi Wash not far from the 
 home of the Mennonite missionary, my friend Rev. 
 H. R. Voth. There were seven of us in my party, 
 five men, two women. Our general custom on making 
 a camp was first of all to choose the best place for the 
 beds of the ladies, and then the men arranged their 
 blankets in picturesque irregularity around them at 
 some distance away, thus forming a complete guard, 
 not because of any necessity, but to make the ladies 
 feel less timid. As my daughter was one of the ladies, 
 I invariably rolled out my blankets near enough to be 
 called readily should there be any occasion during the 
 night. 
 
 We had not been in our blankets long, that night, 
 

 THE PAINTED DESERT NEAR THE LITTLE COLORADO RIVER. 
 
 ASLEEP, EARLY MORNING, ON THE PAINTED DESERT. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 17 
 
 before a fearful thunder and rain-storm burst upon us. 
 We had all gone to bed tired after our long and weary 
 day watching the Hopi ceremonies, and the camp equi- 
 page was not prepared for a storm. It was pitch dark 
 except for the sharp flashes of lightning which occa- 
 sionally cut the blackness into jagged sections, and the 
 deluge of rain waited for no squeamishness on my part. 
 Hastily jumping up, I ran to and fro in my bare feet 
 and night garments, caught up a big wagon sheet, and 
 endeavored to spread it over the exposed beds of the 
 ladies. The wind was determined I should not succeed, 
 but I am English and obstinate. So I seized camera 
 cases, valises, boxes of canned food, and anything 
 heavy, and placed them upon the edges of the flapping 
 canvas. Running back and forth to the wagon, the 
 lightning every now and again revealed a drenched, 
 fantastic figure, and I could hear suppressed laughter 
 and giggles from under the blankets whence should 
 have issued songs of thankfulness to me. But " it was 
 ever thus ! " I succeeded finally in pinning down the 
 canvas, and had just rolled my wet and shivering form 
 in my own drenched blankets, when Mr. Voth, with a 
 lantern in his hand, came and simply demanded that the 
 ladies come over to warmth and shelter in his hospitable 
 house. Hastily wrapping themselves up, they started, 
 blown about by the wind and flaunted by the tempest. 
 The sand made it harder still to walk, and out of breath 
 and wildly dishevelled, they struggled up the bank of 
 the Wash and were soon comfortably ensconsed indoors. 
 Then, strange irony of events, the storm immediately 
 ceased, the heavens cleared, the stars shone bright, the 
 cool night air became delicious to the nostrils and tired 
 bodies, and we who remained outside had a sleep as 
 
 2 
 
i8 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 ineffably sweet as that of healthful babes, while the 
 ladies sweltered and rolled and tossed with discomfort 
 in the moist heat that had accumulated in the closed 
 rooms. 
 
 A few years later I was again at Oraibi, and 
 strangely near the same camping place. This time my 
 companions were W. W. Bass, whose early adventures 
 have been recounted in my " In and Around the Grand 
 Canyon," a photographer, and a British friend of his who 
 had stopped off in California on his way home from 
 Japan. Mr. Britisher had contributed a small share 
 towards the expenses of the expedition, but with insular 
 ignorance he had presumed that his small mite would 
 pay the expenses of the whole outfit for a long period. 
 It must be confessed that we had had a most arduous 
 trip. The Painted Desert had shown its ugly side from 
 the very moment we left the railway. Four miles out 
 we had been stopped by the most terrific and vivid 
 lightning-storm it has ever been my good fortune to 
 witness and to be scared half out of my wits with. At 
 Rock Tanks we had another storm. We had been 
 jolted and shaken on our way out to Hopi Point of the 
 Grand Canyon, and had come so near to perishing for 
 want of water that we fell on our knees and greedily 
 drank the vilest liquid from an alkali pool, a standing 
 place of horses, on our way to the Little Colorado. At 
 the old Tanner Crossing of that stream we had had another 
 rain and lightning-storm near unto the first in fury, and 
 in which our British friend had been caught in his 
 blankets and nearly frightened to death. In the Moen- 
 kopi Wash he was offended because I left the wagon 
 to ride to the home and accept the hospitality of the 
 Mormon bishop, which he interpreted again with insular 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 19 
 
 ignorance to mean a palace, a place of luxury, exquisite 
 restfulness, good foods, and delicious iced wines, while 
 he was left to beans, bacon, flapjacks, and dried fruit, 
 and a roll of blankets on the rough and uneven ground. 
 (It did n't make any difference that I explained to him 
 next day that I had slept on a grass plot with one quilt 
 and no pillow, cold, shivering, and longing for my good 
 substantial roll of Navaho blankets, left for him to use 
 if he so desired, and that our " banquet " had been coarse 
 bread and a bowl of milk.) Then we had had another 
 storm at Toh-gas-je, which I had partially avoided by 
 riding on ahead in the light wagon of the Indian agent 
 who piloted us, while he Mr. Britisher was in the 
 heavier ambulance. The next night we camped, at- 
 tempting to sleep on the stony slopes of the hillside at 
 Blue Canyon in wretchedness and misery, because it 
 was too late when we arrived to dare to drive down into 
 the canyon. The next day we drove over the Sahara 
 of America, a sandy desert which even to the Hopis is 
 the most a-tu-u-u (hot) of all earthly places. That 
 noon we camped in the dry wash of Tnebitoh, where we 
 had to dig for water, waiting for it slowly to seep into 
 the hole we had dug. It was a sandy, alkaline decoc- 
 tion, but we were glad and thankful for it, and the way 
 the poor horses stood and longingly looked on as we 
 waited for the inflow was pitiable. At night we camped 
 some twelve or fifteen miles farther on, without water, 
 hobbling the horses and turning them loose. I had 
 engaged an Indian to go with us from Blue Canyon as 
 helper and guide, so I sent him, in the morning, to 
 bring in the horses. Two or three hours later he re- 
 turned, with but one of the animals, and said he had 
 tried to track the others, but could not do so. Imagine 
 
20 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 what our predicament would have been, in the heart of 
 the desert, without horses and water, and many miles 
 away from any settlement. There was but one thing 
 to be done, and Mr. Bass at once did it. Putting a 
 bridle on the one horse, he rode off barebacked after 
 the runaways. Knowing the character of his mules, he 
 aimed directly for the Tnebitoh. When he arrived at the 
 spot where we had watered the day before, he found 
 that, with unerring instinct, the horses had returned to 
 this spot and had dug new watering places for them- 
 selves. Then, scenting the cool grass of the San 
 Francisco Mountains, they had aimed directly west, and, 
 hobbled though they were, the tracks showed they were 
 travelling at a lively rate of speed. Knowing the ur- 
 gency and desperateness of our case, Bass followed as 
 fast as he could make his almost exhausted animal go, 
 and after an hour's hard riding saw, in the far-away 
 distance, the three perverse creatures "hitting" the 
 trailless desert as hard as they could. Jersey, a know- 
 ing mule, was in the lead. He soon saw Bass, and, 
 seeming to communicate with the others, they turned 
 and saw him also. Jack (the other mule) and the 
 horse at once showed a disposition to stop, but Jersey 
 with bite and whinney tried to drive them on. Finding 
 his efforts useless, he stopped with the others, and, when 
 Bass rode up, allowed himself to be " necked " (tied neck 
 to neck) with the other two. Horses and man were as 
 near " played out " as we cared to see them when, later 
 in the day, they returned to camp. 
 
 It does not do to go out upon the Painted Desert 
 without some practical person who is capable of meeting 
 all serious emergencies that are likely to arise. 
 
 The next day we drove on to Oraibi, in the scorch- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 21 
 
 ing sun, over the sandy hillocks, where no road would 
 last an hour in a wind-storm unless it were thoroughly 
 blanketed and pegged down. We were all hot, weary, 
 and ill-tempered. Thinking to help out, I volunteered 
 to walk up the steep western trail to the mesa top and 
 secure some corn at Oraibi for our horses, so that they 
 could be fed at once on reaching our stopping place on 
 the east side. When we started I had suggested the 
 hope that we might be able to stop in the schoolhouse 
 below the Oraibi mesa, as I had several times done in 
 times before; but when the wagon arrived there, and 
 I came down from the mesa, it was found to be already 
 occupied by persons to whom it had been prpmised by 
 the Indian agent. Camping, then, was the only thing left 
 open to us, until I could see the Hopis and rent one of 
 their houses. Down we drove to the camp, where alone 
 a sufficiency of water was to be found. This explains 
 our close proximity to the camp of the earlier year. 
 We were just preparing our meal when a fierce sand- 
 storm blew up. Cooking was out of the question ; the 
 fire blew every which way, and the sand filled meat, 
 beans, corn, tomatoes with too much grit for comfort. 
 This was the last straw that broke the back of Mr. 
 Britisher's complacency. He had bemoaned again and 
 again the leaving of his comfortable home to come into 
 this " God-forsaken region," in a quest of what our crazy 
 westernism called pleasure, and now his fury burst upon 
 me in a manner that dwarfed the passion of the heavens 
 and the earth. While there was a refinement in his vitu- 
 peration, there was an edge upon it as keen as fury, 
 passion, and culture could give it. I was scorched by 
 his scarifying lightnings, struck again and again by his 
 vindictive thunderbolts, tossed hither and thither by 
 
22 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 his stormy winds, and lifted heavenwards and then 
 dashed downwards by the tornadoes and whirlwinds 
 of his passion. It was dazzling, bewildering, intensely 
 interesting, and then fiercely irritating. I stood it all 
 until he denounced my selfishness. There's no doubt 
 I am selfish, but there is a limit to a fellow's endurance 
 when another fellow claims the discovery and rubs it in 
 upon you until he abrades the skin. So I raised my 
 hand and also my voice : " Stop, that 's enough. Dare 
 to repeat that and I '11 tie you on a horse and send you 
 back to the railway in charge of an Indian so quickly 
 that you '11 wonder how you got there. Selfish, am I ? 
 I permitted you to come on this trip as a favor to my 
 photographer. The paltry sum you paid me has not 
 found one-fourth share of the corn for one horse, 
 let alone your own food, the hire of the horses, wagon, 
 and driver. To oblige you I have allowed you the whole 
 way to ride inside my conveyance that you might talk 
 together, while I have sat out in the hot sun. If any 
 help has been needed by Mr. Bass in driving, I have 
 willingly given it instead of calling upon you. I have 
 done all the unpacking and the packing of the wagon 
 at each camp, morning, noon, and night. I have done 
 all the cooking and much of the dish-washing, and yet 
 you have the impudence and mendacity to say I have 
 been selfish. Very well ! I '11 take myself at your 
 estimate. In future I '11 take my seat inside the ambu- 
 lance ; you shall do your share of helping the driver. 
 You shall do your share of the packing; and if you eat 
 another mouthful, so long as you remain in my camp, 
 you shall cook it yourself. I have spoken ! And when 
 I thus speak I speak as the laws of the Medes and 
 Persians, which alter not, nor change ! " 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 23 
 
 " Well, says you are selfish ! " burst out the some- 
 what cowed man. 
 
 " Then I put him on the same plane as I put you ; 
 and if ever either of you dares to make that charge 
 again, I will " 
 
 Well, never mind what I, in my, what I still believe 
 to be, just anger threatened. I turned away, went and 
 secured an Indian's house, and that night we removed 
 there. 
 
 But I wish I had the space to recount how those two 
 unfortunates and misfortunates cooked their own meals 
 and mine and Bass's. It is a subject fit for a Dickens 
 or a Kipling. No minor pen can do justice to it. How 
 they came and asked with quiet humility, " What are 
 we going to have for supper?" and how I replied, 
 " Raw potatoes, so far as I am concerned ! " Neither 
 knew whether a frying-pan was for skimming cream 
 from a can of condensed milk or for making charlotte 
 russes. Neither could boil water without scorching it. 
 But surreptitiously (with my secret connivance) Bass 
 gave the tyros gentle hints and finally " licked them " 
 into fourth-rate cooks, so that I reaped the reward of 
 their labors in selfishly and shamelessly taking some 
 of the concoctions they had slaved over. 
 
 I know this plain, unvarnished tale reveals me a " bad 
 man from Bodie," but I started out to give a truthful 
 account of the Painted Desert and its storms, and this 
 " tempest in a frying-pan " in camp cannot well be ignored 
 by a veracious chronicler. 
 
 Last year, fate designed that we camp at exactly the 
 same spot. The two wagons came to rest at about 
 the same place where the ambulance stood, and exactly 
 the same wind and sand-storm blew up before we had 
 
24 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 been there half an hour. I had with me a long, eight- 
 feet-high strip of canvas belonging to a very large 
 circular tent. To ward off the force of some part of 
 the storm we stretched this canvas from the trunk of 
 one cottonwood tree to another, and moved our camp 
 to the sheltered side. That was an insult to the powers 
 of the storm. The wind fairly howled with rage, and 
 pulled and tugged and flapped that canvas in a perfect 
 fury of anger. Then as we huddled in its shelter, a 
 sudden jerk came, and up it was ripped, from top to 
 bottom, in a moment, and the loose ends went wildly 
 flying and flapping every way. In the blowing sand I 
 fled with the ladies to Mr. Voth's ever-hospitable house, 
 but it was as hot as well ! no matter in there. 
 Outside, the cottonwoods were bowed over in the fury 
 of the wind, and the sand went flying by in sheets. It 
 was easy then to understand the remark of one experi- 
 enced in the ways of the Painted Desert Region : " If 
 you ever buy any real estate here, contract to have it 
 anchored, or you '11 wake up some morning and find 
 it all blown into the next county." The flying sand 
 literally obliterated every object more than a few feet 
 away. 
 
 Now in this last case I had the pleasure as peculiar 
 a pleasure as it is to watch the coming of a hurricane 
 at sea to see the oncoming of this storm. We were 
 enjoying perfect calm. Suddenly over the Oraibi mesa 
 there came a great brown mass that stretched entirely 
 acros*s the country. It was the tawny sand risen in 
 power and majesty to drive us from its lair. It was so 
 grand, so sublime, so alive, that just as I instinctively 
 rush to my camera at sight of an interesting face, I 
 dashed towards it to secure a photograph of this new, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 25 
 
 gigantic, living manifestation. But in its fierce fury 
 it swept upon us with such rapidity that I was too late. 
 We were covered with it, buried in it. As darkness 
 leaps upon one and absorbs him, so did this storm 
 absorb us. In an hour or so its greatest fury subsided ; 
 then we thought we would build our camp-fire and 
 proceed to our regular cooking. How the wind veered 
 and changed, and changed again as soon as the fire began 
 to ascend. That is a point to watch in building a camp- 
 fire. Be sure and locate it so that its smoke won't 
 blow upon you when you sit down to eat. In this case, 
 however, it would not have mattered. In my note- 
 book I read : " We have changed the camp-fire three 
 times, and no matter where we put it, the smoke swoops 
 down upon us. Even now while I write I am half 
 blinded by the smoke, which ten minutes ago was being 
 blown in the opposite direction." So that if these few 
 pages have an unpleasant odor of camp-fire smoke 
 about them, the reader must charge it to the wilful 
 ways of the wind on the Painted Desert. 
 
 Elsewhere I have spoken of the mystery brooding 
 over the peoples of this land. It is also existent in the 
 very colors of it, whether noted in early morning, in 
 the glare of the pitiless Arizona noon, or at sunset ; in the 
 storm, with the air full of sand, or in the calm and quiet 
 of a cloudless sky ; when the sky is cerulean or black 
 with lowering clouds ; ever, always, the color is weird, 
 strange, mysterious. One night at Walpi several of 
 us sat and watched the colorings in the west. ^Jo 
 unacquainted soul would -have believed such could 
 exist. To describe it is as impossible as to analyze 
 the feelings of love. It was raining everywhere in the 
 west ; and " everywhere " means so much where one's 
 
26 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 horizon is not limited. The eye there roams over what 
 seem to be boundless distances. In all this space rain 
 was falling. The sun had but half an hour more to live, 
 and it flooded the sky with an orange crimson. The 
 rain came down in hairy streaks brilliantly illuminated. 
 The sun could be discerned only as a dimly veiled 
 face, with the light shed below it none above in 
 graceful curves. Then the orange and crimson changed 
 to purple, deepening and deepening into blackness until 
 day was done. 
 
 Sometimes the lighting up of the desert in the early 
 morning gives it the effect of a sea-green ocean, and 
 then the illusion is indescribably wonderful. At such 
 times, if there are clouds in the sky, the reflections of 
 color are as delicate and beautiful as the tintings of the 
 sea-shells. 
 
 One night standing on the mesa at Mashonganavi 
 looking east and south, the vast ocean-like expanse 
 of tawny sand and desert was converted by the hues of 
 dying day into a gorgeous and resplendent sea of ex- 
 quisite and delicate color. On the further side were 
 the Mogollon Buttes, the Giant's Chair, Pyramid 
 Butte, and others, with long walls, which, in the early 
 morning black and forbidding, were now illumined and 
 etherealized by the magic wand of sunset. 
 
 If, however, one would know another of the marvel- 
 lous charms of this Painted Desert Region let him see 
 it in the early summer, after the first rains. This may 
 be the latter part of June or in July and August. Then 
 what a change ! One seeing it for the first time would 
 naturally exclaim in protest: "Desert? Why, this is 
 a garden ! " 
 
 A thin and sparse covering of grass, but enough to 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 27 
 
 the casual observer to relieve the whole land from 
 the charge of barrenness; the black and white grama 
 grasses, with their delicate shades of green ; and a host 
 of wild flowers of most exquisite colors in glorious com- 
 binations. Here masses of flaming marigolds and sun- 
 flowers ; yonder patches of the white and purple tinted 
 flowers of the jimson-weed, while its rich green leaves 
 form a complete covering for the tawny sand or rocky 
 desolation beneath. Here are larkspurs, baby blue-eyes, 
 Indian's paint brush, daisies, lilies, and a thousand and 
 one others, the purples, blues, reds, pinks, whites, and 
 browns giving one a chromatic feast, none the less 
 delightful because it is totally unexpected. 
 
 Then who can tell of the glory of the hundreds of 
 cacti in bloom, great prickly monsters, barrel shaped, 
 cylindrical, lobe formed, and yet all picked out in the 
 rarest, most dainty flowers the eye of man ever gazed 
 upon? Look yonder at the " hosh-kon," one of the 
 yucca family, a sacred plant to the Navahoes. Its 
 dagger-like green leaves are crowned and glorified with 
 the central stalk, around which cluster a thousand waxen 
 white bells, and this one is only a beginning to the mar- 
 vellous display of them we shall see as we ride along. 
 The greasewood veils its normal ugliness in reviv- 
 ified leaves and a delicate flossy yellow bloom that 
 makes it charming to the eye. Even the sagebrush 
 attains to some charm of greenness, and where the juniper 
 and cedar and pine lurk in the shades of some of the 
 rocky slopes, the deepest green adds its never-ending 
 comfort and delight to the scene. 
 
 Yet you look in vain for the rivers, the creeks, the 
 babbling brooks, the bubbling fountains, the ponds, that 
 charm your eye in Eastern landscapes. Oh, for the 
 
28 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Adirondacks, the lakes and streams which abound on 
 every hand. If only these could be transplanted into 
 this desert to give their peculiar delights without any 
 of their drawbacks, then the Painted Desert Region 
 would be the ideal land. 
 
 It would never do to bring the Adirondack flies and 
 gnats and mosquitoes ; its hot, sultry nights and muggy, 
 sweltering days. No! These we can do without. 
 We would have its advantages, but with none of its 
 disadvantages. 
 
 How futile such wishes ; how childish such longings ! 
 Each place is itself; and, for myself, I love the Painted 
 Desert even in its waterlessness, its barrenness, and its 
 desolation. Think of its stimulating altitude, its colors, 
 its clear, cloudless sky, its glorious, divine stars, its de- 
 licious evening coolness, its never-disturbed solitudes, 
 its speaking silences, its romances, its mysteries, its 
 tragedies, its histories. These are some of the things 
 that make the Painted Desert what it is a region of 
 unqualified fascination and allurement. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 29 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 FIRST GLIMPSES OF THE HOPI 
 
 THREE great fingers of rock from a gigantic and 
 misshapen hand, roughly speaking, pointing south- 
 ward, the hand a great plateau, the fingers mesas of 
 solid rock thrust into the heart of a sandy valley, 
 this is the home of the Hopi, commonly and wrongly 
 termed the Moki. The fingers are from seven to ten 
 miles apart, and a visitor can go from one finger-nail to 
 another either by descending and ascending the steep 
 trails zigzagged on the fingers' sides, or he can circle 
 around on the back of the hand and thus in a round- 
 about manner reach any one of the three fingers. These 
 mesa fingers are generally spoken of as the first or 
 east mesa, the second or middle mesa, and the third 
 or west mesa. They gain their order from the fact 
 that in the early days of American occupancy Mr. 
 T. V. Keam established a trading-post in the canyon 
 that bears his name, and this canyon being to the east 
 of the eastern mesa, this mesa was reached first in 
 order, the western mesa naturally being third. 
 
 On the east mesa are three villages. The most im- 
 portant of all Hopi towns is Walpi, which occupies the 
 " nail " of this first " finger." It is not so large as 
 Oraibi, but it has always held a commanding influence, 
 which it still retains. Half a mile back of Walpi is 
 Sichumavi, and still further back Hano, or, as it is com- 
 monly and incorrectly called, Tewa. 
 
3 o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 About seven miles as the crow flies to the west is 
 the second or middle mesa, and here are Mashonganavi, 
 Shipauluvi, and on an offshoot from this second mesa, 
 separated from it by a deep, sand-filled ravine, is 
 Shungopavi. 
 
 Ten miles farther to the west is Oraibi, which marks 
 the farthest western boundary of pueblo civilization. 
 
 Oh! the pathos, the woe, the untold but clearly 
 written misery of the centuries in these cliff-built houses 
 of the mesas, these residences that are fortresses, these 
 steep trail-approached and precipice-protected homes. 
 In a desert land, surrounded by relentless, wary, and 
 vigilant foes, ever fighting a hard battle with the 
 adverse conditions of their environment, short of 
 water, of firewood, and with food grown in the desert- 
 rescued lands below where at any moment the ruthless 
 marauder might appear, there is no wonder that almost 
 every elderly face is seamed and scarred; furrowed 
 deeply with the accumulated centuries of never-ceasing 
 care. Mystery here seems at first to reign supreme. 
 It stands and faces one as a Presence. It hovers and 
 broods, and you feel it even in your sleep. The air is 
 full of it. The very clouds here are mysterious. Who 
 are these people? From whence came they? What is 
 their destiny? What fearful battles, race hatreds, dev- 
 astating wars, led them to make their homes on these 
 inaccessible cliffs? How did they ever conceive such a 
 mass of elaborate ceremonial as now controls them? 
 Solitary and alone they appear, a vast question mark, 
 viewed from every standpoint. Whichever way one 
 looks at them a great query stares him in the face. 
 They are the chief mystery of our country, an anachro- 
 nism, an anomaly in our twentieth-century civilization. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 31 
 
 When we see the ruins of Egypt, India, Assyria, we 
 look upon something that is past. Those peoples were: 
 they pertain to the ages that are gone. Their mysteries 
 are of lives lived in the dim ages of antiquity. But 
 here are antique lives being lived in our own day; 
 pieces of century-old civilizations transplanted, in time 
 and place, and brought into our time and place; the 
 past existent in the present; the lapse of centuries 
 forgotten, and the days of thousands of years ago bodily 
 transferred into our commercial, super-cultured, hyper- 
 refined age. 
 
 The approach to the first mesa from Ream's Canyon 
 is through a sandy country, which, in places, is dry, 
 desolate, and bare. But here and there are patches of 
 ground upon which weeds grow to a great height, 
 plainly indicating that with cultivation and irrigation 
 good crops could be raised. As we leave the mouth 
 of the canyon the singular character of this plateau 
 province is revealed. To the south the sandy desert, 
 in lonesome desolation, stretches away as far as the 
 eye can reach, its wearisome monotony relieved only 
 by the close-by corn-fields of the Hopis and the peculiar 
 buttes of the Mogollons. With the sun blazing down 
 upon it, its forbidding barrenness is appalling. Neither 
 tree, shrub, blade of grass, animal, or human habitation 
 is to be seen. The sand reflects the sun's rays in a 
 yellow glare which is irritating beyond measure, and 
 which seems as if it would produce insanity by its 
 unchangeableness. 
 
 To the right of us are the extremities of the sandstone 
 plateaus, of which the Hopi mesas are the thrust out 
 fingers. Here and there are breaks in the plateau 
 which seem like openings into rocky canyons. Before 
 
32 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 us, ten or more miles away, is the long wall of the first 
 mesa, its falling precipices red and glaring in the sun. 
 Immense rocks of irregular shape lie about on its 
 summit as if tumbled to and fro in some long-ago- 
 forgotten frolic of prehistoric giants. Right before us, 
 and at about the mid distances of the " finger " from 
 the main plateau, the mesa wall is broken down in the 
 form of a U-shaped notch or gap, from which Walpi, 
 " the place of the gap," obtains its name ; and it is on 
 the extremity of the mesa, beyond this notch, that the 
 houses of the Hopi towns can now clearly be discerned. 
 Just beyond the notch a little heap of houses, apparently 
 of the same color as the mesa itself, appears. Then a 
 little vacant space and another small heap, followed by 
 another vacancy with a larger heap at the extreme 
 end of the mesa. These heaps, beginning at the notch, 
 are respectively Tewa, Sichumavi, and Walpi. 
 
 Dotting the slopes of the talus at the foot of the 
 mesa precipices are corn-fields, peach orchards, and 
 corrals for burros, sheep, and goats. 
 
 As we approach nearer we see that the first mesa 
 is rapidly losing its distinctively Indian character. The 
 policy of the United States Government, in its treatment 
 of these Indians, is to induce them, so far as possible, 
 to leave their mesa homes and reside in the valley 
 nearer to their corn-fields. As their enemies are no 
 longer allowed to molest them, their community life 
 on these mesa heights is no longer necessary, and the 
 time lost and the energy wasted in climbing up and 
 down the steep trails could far better be employed in 
 working in the fields, caring for their orchards, or 
 attending to their stock. But while all this sounds 
 well in theory, and on paper appears perfectly reason- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 33 
 
 able, it fails to take into consideration the influence of 
 heredity and the personal passions, desires, and feelings 
 of volitional beings. As a result, the government plan 
 is not altogether a success. The Indian agents, how- 
 ever, have induced certain of the Hopis, by building 
 houses for them, to consent to a partial abandonment 
 of their mesa homes. Accordingly, as one draws 
 nearer, he sees the stone houses with their red-painted 
 corrugated-iron roofs, the schoolhouse, the blacksmith's 
 shop, and the houses of the teachers, all of which speak 
 significantly of the change that is slowly hovering over 
 the Indian's dream of solitude and desolation. 
 
 But after our camp is made and the horses sent out 
 in the care of willing Indians to the Hopi pastures, we 
 find that the trails to the mesa summit are the same ; 
 the glaring yellow sand is the same ; the red and gray 
 rocks are the same ; the fleecy and dark clouds that 
 occasionally appear at this the rainy time are the 
 same ; the glaring, pitiless sun with its infernal scorch- 
 ing is the same; and we respire and perspire and 
 pant and struggle in our climb to the summit in the 
 same old arduous fashion. Above, in Hano, Sichumavi, 
 and Walpi, the pot-bellied, naked children, the lithe and 
 active young men, the not unattractive, shapely, and 
 kindly-faced young women, with their peculiar sym- 
 bolic style of hair-dressing, the blear-eyed old men 
 and women, the patient and stolid burros, the dim-eyed 
 and pathetic captive eagles, the quaint terraced-houses 
 with their peculiar ladders, grotesque chimneys, passage-^ 
 ways, and funny little steps, are practically the same as 
 they have been for centuries. 
 
 There are two trails from the valley to the summit 
 of the first mesa on the east side, one at the point, and 
 
 3 
 
34 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 three on the west side. We ascend by the northeastern 
 trail, which, on reaching the " Notch " or " Gap," winds 
 close by an enclosure in which is found a large fossil, 
 bearing a rude resemblance to a stone snake. All 
 around this fossil, within the stone enclosure, are to 
 be found "*bahos," or prayer sticks, which have been 
 brought by the devout as their offerings to the Snake 
 Divinities. From time immemorial this shrine has 
 been in existence, and no Hopi ever passes it without 
 some offering to " Those Above," either in the form 
 of a baho, a sprinkling of the sacred meal, the cere- 
 monial smoking to the six cardinal points, or a few 
 words of silent but none the less devout and earnest 
 prayer. 
 
 At the head of this trail is Hano, and from this pueblo 
 we can gain a general idea of Hopi architecture, for, 
 with differences in minor details, the general styles are 
 practically the same. Where they gained their archi- 
 tectural knowledge it is hard to tell, and who they are 
 is yet an unsolved problem. It is pretty generally con- 
 ceded, however, that all the pueblo peoples of Arizona 
 and New Mexico of whom the Hopis are the most 
 western are the descendants of the race, or races, 
 who dotted these territories and southern Colorado 
 with ruins, and who are commonly known as the Cliff 
 and Cave Dwellers. But this is thrusting the diffi- 
 culty only a few generations, or scores of generations, 
 further back. For we are at once compelled to the 
 agnostic answer, " I don't know ! " when asked who are 
 the Cliff Dwellers. Who they are and whence they 
 came are still problems upon which such patient in- 
 vestigators as J. Walter Fewkes is working. He has 
 clearly confirmed the decision of Bancroft and others 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 35 
 
 which affirmed the identity of the Cliff and Cave Dwell- 
 ers with the Hopis and other pueblo-inhabiting Indians 
 of the Southwest. 
 
 Although of different linguistic stocks and religion, 
 the homes of the pueblo Indians are very similar. Al- 
 most without exception the pueblos built on mesa 
 summits are of sandstone or other rock, plastered 
 with adobe mud brought up from the water-courses 
 of the valley. Those pueblos that are located in the 
 valley, on the other hand, are generally built of 
 adobe. 
 
 No one can doubt that the Indians chose these ele- 
 vated mesa sites for purposes of protection. With 
 but one or two almost inaccessible trails reaching the 
 heights, and these easily defendable, their homes were 
 their fortresses. Their fields, gardens, and hunting- 
 grounds were in the valleys or far-away mountains, 
 whither they could go in times of peace; but, when 
 attacked by foes, they fled up the trails, established 
 elaborate methods of defence, and remained in their 
 fortress-homes until the danger was past. 
 
 The very construction of the houses reveals this. In 
 none of the older houses is there any doorway into 
 the lowest story. A solid wall faces the visitor, with 
 perhaps a small window-hole. A rude ladder outside 
 and a similar one inside afford the only means of 
 entrance. One climbs up the ladder outside, drops 
 through a hole in the roof, and descends the ladder 
 inside. When attacked, the outer ladder could be 
 drawn up, and thus, if we remember the crude weapons 
 of the aborigines when discovered by the white man, it 
 is evident that the inhabitants would remain in com- 
 parative security. 
 
36 THE INDIANS OF THE, 
 
 Of late years doors and windows have been intro- 
 duced into many of the ancient houses. 
 
 It is a picturesque sight that the visitor to the Hopi 
 towns enjoys as he reaches the head of the trail at 
 Hano. The houses are built in terraces, two or three 
 stories high, the second story being a step back from 
 the first, so that a portion of the roof of the first story 
 can be used^as the courtyard or children's playground 
 of the people who inhabit the second story. The third 
 story recedes still farther, so that its people have a front 
 yard on the roof of the second story. At Zuni and 
 Taos these terraces continue for six and seven stories, 
 but with the Hopis never exceed three. The first climb 
 is generally made on a ladder, which rests in the street 
 below. The ladder-poles, however, are much longer than 
 is necessary, and they reach up indefinitely towards 
 the sky. Sometimes a ladder is used to go from the 
 second to the third story, but more often a quaint little 
 stairway is built on the connecting walls. Equally 
 quaint are the ollas used as chimneys. These have 
 their bottoms knocked out, and are piled one above 
 another, two, three, four, and sometimes five or six high. 
 Some of the " terraces " are partially enclosed, and here 
 one may see a weaver's loom, a flat stone for cooking 
 piki (wafer bread), or a beehive-like oven used for gen- 
 eral cooking purposes. Here and there cord-wood is 
 piled up for future use, and now and again a captive 
 eagle, fastened with a rawhide tether to the bars of a 
 rude cage, may be seen. The " king of birds " is highly 
 prized for his down and feathers, which are used for the 
 making of prayer plumes (bahos). 
 
 There does not seem to have been much planning in ' 
 the original construction of the Hopi pueblos. There 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 37 
 
 was little or no provision made for the future. The 
 first houses were built as needed, and then as occasion 
 demanded other rooms were added. 
 
 It will doubtless be surprising to some readers to 
 learn that the Hopi houses are owned and built (in the 
 main) by the women, and that the men weave the 
 women's garments and knit their own stockings. Here, 
 too, the women enjoy other "rights" that their white 
 sisters have long fought for. The home life of the 
 Hopis is based upon the rights of women. They own 
 the houses; the wife receives her newly married hus- 
 band into her home ; the children belong to her clan, 
 and have her clan name, and not that of the father ; the 
 corn, melons, squash, and other vegetables belong to 
 her when once deposited in her house by the husband. 
 She, indeed, is the queen of her own home, hence the 
 pueblo Indian woman occupies a social relationship 
 different from that of most aborigines, in that she is on 
 quite equal terms with her husband. 
 
 In the actual building of the houses, however, the 
 husband is required to perform his share, and that is 
 the most arduous part of the labor. He goes with 
 his burros to the wooded mesas or cottonwood-lined 
 streams and brings the roof-timbers, ladder-poles, and 
 door-posts. He also brings the heavier rocks needed 
 in the building. Then the women aid him in placing 
 the heavier objects, after which he leaves them to their 
 own devices. 
 
 Being an intensely religious people, the shamans or 
 priests are always called upon when a new house is to 
 be constructed. Bahos prayer plumes or sticks are 
 placed in certain places, sacred meal is lavishly sprinkled, 
 and singing and prayer offered, all as propitiation to 
 
38 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 those gods whose especial business it is to care for the 
 houses. 
 
 It is exceedingly interesting to see the women at 
 work. Without plumb-line, straight line, or trowel they 
 proceed. Some women are hod-carriers, bringing the 
 pieces of sand or limestone rock to the " bricklayers " 
 in baskets, buckets, or dish pans. Others mix the adobe 
 to the proper consistency and see that the workers are 
 kept supplied with it. And what a laughing, chattering, 
 jabbering group it is ! Every tongue seems to be going, 
 and no one listening. Once at Oraibi I saw twenty- 
 three women engaged in the building of a house, and I 
 then got a new " side light " on the story of the Tower 
 of Babel. The builders of that historic structure were 
 women, and the confusion of tongues was the natural 
 result of their feminine determination to all speak at 
 once and never listen to any one else. 
 
 I photographed the builders at Oraibi, and the next 
 day contributed a new dress to each of the twenty-three 
 workers. Here are some of their names : Wa-ya-wei-i- 
 ni-ma, Mo-o-ho, Ha-hei-i, So-li, Ni-vai-un-si, Si-ka-ho- 
 in-ni-ma, Na-i-so-wa, Ma-san-i-yam-ka, Ko-hoi-ko-cha, 
 Tang-a-ka-win-ka, Hun-o-wi-ti, Ko-mai-a-ni-ma, Ke-li- 
 an-i-ma. 
 
 The finishing of the house is as interesting as the 
 actual building. With a small heap of adobe mud the 
 woman, using her hand as a trowel, fills in the chinks, 
 smooths and plasters the walls inside and out. Splashed 
 from head to foot with mud, she is an object to behold, 
 and, as is often the case, if her children are there to 
 " help " her, no mud-larks on the North River, the 
 Missouri, or the Thames ever looked more happy in 
 their complete abandonment to dirt than they. Then 
 
HOPI WOMEN BUILDING A HOUSE AT ORAIBI. 
 
 MASHONGANAVI FROM THE TERRACE BELOW. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 39 
 
 when the whitewashing is done with gypsum, or the 
 coloring of the walls with a brown wash, what fun the 
 children have. No pinto pony was ever more speckled 
 and variegated than they as they splash their tiny hands 
 into the coloring matter and dash it upon the walls. 
 
 Inside the houses the walls also are whitewashed 
 or colored, and generally there is some attempt made 
 to decorate them by painting rude though symbolic 
 designs half-way between the floor and ceiling. The 
 floor is of earth, well packed down with water generally 
 mixed with plaster, and the ceiling is of the sustaining 
 poles and cross-beams, over which willows and earth 
 have been placed. Invariably one can find feathered 
 bahos, or prayer plumes, in the beams above, and no 
 house could expect to be prospered where these offer- 
 ings to " Those Above " were neglected. 
 
 The chief family room serves as kitchen, dining-room, 
 corn-grinding-room, bedroom, parlor, and reception- 
 room. In one corner a quaint, hooded fireplace is 
 built, and here the housewife cooks her piki and other 
 corn foods, boils or bakes her squash, roasts, broils, or 
 boils the little meat she is able to secure, and sits during 
 the winter nights while " the elders " tell stories of the 
 wondrous past, when all the animals talked like human 
 beings and the mysterious people the gods from 
 the upper world came down to earth and associated with 
 mankind. 
 
 The corn-grinding trough is never absent. Some- 
 times it is on a little raised platform, and is large or 
 small as the size of the family demands. The trough is 
 composed either of wooden or stone slabs, cemented 
 into the floor and securely fastened at the corners with 
 rawhide thongs. This trough is then divided into 
 
4 o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 three, four, or more compartments (according to its 
 size), and in each compartment a sloping slab of basic 
 rock is placed. Kneeling behind this, the woman who 
 is the grinder of the meal (the true lady, laf-dig, even 
 though a Hopi) seizes in both hands a narrower flat 
 piece of the same kind of rock, and this, with the motion 
 of a woman over a washboard, she moves up and down, 
 throwing a handful of corn every few strokes on the 
 upper side of her grinder. This is arduous work, and 
 yet I have known the women and maidens to keep 
 steadily at it during the entire day. 
 
 When the meal is ground, a small fire is made of corn 
 cobs, over which an earthern olla is placed. When this 
 is sufficiently heated the meal is stirred about in it by 
 means of a round wicker basket, to keep it from burn- 
 ing. This process partially cooks the meal, so that it is 
 more easily prepared into food when needed. 
 
 In one corner of the house several large ollas will be 
 found full of water. Living as they do on these mesa 
 heights, where there are no springs, water is scarce and 
 precious. Every drop, except the little that is caught 
 in rain-time or melted from the snows, has to be carried 
 up on the backs of the women from the valley below. 
 In the heat of summer, this is no light task. With the 
 fierce Arizona sun beating down upon them, the feet 
 slipping in the hot sand or wearily pressing up on the 
 burning rocks, the olla, filled with water, wrapped in a 
 blanket and suspended from the forehead on the back, 
 becomes heavier and heavier at each step. Those of us 
 who have, perforce, carried cameras and heavy plates to 
 the mesa tops know what strength and endurance this 
 work requires. 
 
 For dippers home-made pottery and gourcl shells are 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 41 
 
 commonly used. Now and again one-will find the horn 
 of a mountain sheep, which has been heated, opened 
 out into a large spoon-like dipper; or a gnarled or knotty 
 piece of wood, hacked out with flint knife into a pretty 
 good resemblance to a dipper. 
 
 Near the water ollas one can generally see a shelf 
 upon which the household utensils are placed. Here, 
 too, when corn is being ground, a half-dozen plaques 
 of meal will stand. This shelf serves as pantry and 
 meat safe (when there is meat), and the hungry visitor 
 will seldom look there in vain for a basket-platter or 
 two piled high with piki, the fine wafer bread for which 
 the Hopis are noted. Piki is colored in a variety of 
 ways. Dr. Hough says the ashes of Atriplex canescens 
 James are used to give the gray color, and that Amaran- 
 thus sp. is cultivated in terrace gardens around the 
 springs for use in dyeing it red ; a special red dye from 
 another species is used for coloring the piki used in the 
 Katchina dances; and the ashes of Parryella filifolia 
 are used for coloring. Saffron (Carthamus tinctorius) 
 is used to give the yellow color. 
 
 It is fascinating in the extreme to see a woman make 
 piki. Dry corn-meal is mixed with coloring matter and 
 water, and thus converted into a soft batter. A large, 
 flat stone is so placed on stones that a fire can be kept 
 continually burning underneath it. As soon as the slab 
 is as hot as an iron must be to iron starched clothes it is 
 greased with mutton tallow. Then with fingers dipped 
 in the batter the woman dexterously and rapidly sweeps 
 them over the surface of the hot stone. Almost as 
 quickly as the batter touches, it is cooked ; so to cover 
 the whole stone and yet make even and smooth piki re- 
 quires skill. It looks so easy that I have known many 
 
42 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 a white woman (and man) tempted into trying to make 
 it. Once while attending the Snake Dance ceremonials 
 at Mashonganavi, a young lady member of my party 
 was sure she could perform the operation successfully. 
 My Hopi friend, Kuchyeampsi, gladly gave place to the 
 white lady, and laughingly looked at me as the latter 
 dipped her fingers into the batter, swept them over the 
 stone, gave a suppressed exclamation of pain, tried 
 again, and then hastily rose with three fingers well 
 blistered. My cook, who was a white man, was sure he 
 could accomplish the operation, so he was allowed to 
 try. Once was enough. He was a religious man, and 
 bravely kept silence, which was a good thing for us. 
 
 When the piki is sufficiently cooked, it is folded up 
 into neat little shapes something like the shredded wheat 
 biscuits. One thing I have often noticed is that a quick 
 and skilful piki maker will keep a sheet flat, without 
 folding, so that she may place it over the next sheet 
 when it is about cooked. This seems to make it easier 
 to remove the newly cooked sheet from the cooking 
 slab. 
 
 If you are ever invited into a Hopi house you may 
 rest assured you will not be there long before a piled- 
 up basket of piki will be brought to you, for the Hopis 
 are wonderfully hospitable and enjoy giving to all who 
 become their guests. 
 
 Another object seldom absent is the " pole of the soft 
 stuff." This is a pole suspended from the roof beams 
 upon which all the blankets, skins, bedding, and wear- 
 ing apparel are placed. Once upon a time these were 
 very few and very crude. The skins of animals tanned 
 with the hair on, blankets made of rabbit skins, and 
 cotton garments made from home grown, spun, and 
 
O 
 
 o O 
 z 
 
 < Q 
 
 IS 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 43 
 
 woven cotton, comprised their " soft stuff." But when 
 the Spaniards brought sheep into the province of 
 Tusayan, and the Hopis saw the wonderful improvement 
 a wool staple was over a cotton one, blankets and 
 dresses of wool were slowly added to the household 
 treasures, until now the " garments of the old," except 
 antelope, deer, fox, and coyote skins, are seldom seen. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that the Hopis wore garments 
 made from cotton which they grew themselves, prior to 
 the time of the Spanish invasion. They also knew how 
 to color the cotton from unfading mineral and vegetable 
 dyes, and in the graves of ancient cliff and cave dwell- 
 ings, well-woven cotton garments often have been taken. 
 
 Sometimes to-day one may see an old man or woman 
 weaving a blanket from the tanned skins of rabbits. 
 Such a garment is far warmer and more comfortable 
 than one would imagine. The dressed pelts are twisted 
 around a home-woven string made of shredded yucca 
 fibre, wild flax, or cotton, and thus a long rope is formed 
 many yards in length. This rope is then woven in 
 parallel strings with cross strands of the same kind of 
 fibre, and a robe made some five or six feet square. 
 
 The windows of the ancient Hopi houses were either 
 small open holes or sheets of gypsum. Of late years 
 modern doors and windows have been introduced, yet 
 there are still many of the old ones in existence. 
 
 Having thus taken a general and cursory survey of 
 Hano, let us, in turn, visit the six other villages on the 
 mesa heights ere we look further into the social and 
 ceremonial life of this interesting people. 
 
44 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 THE HOPI VILLAGES AND THEIR HISTORY 
 
 THE province of Tusayan is dotted over in every 
 direction with ruins, all of which were once in- 
 habited by the Hopi people. Indeed, even in the 
 " pueblo " stage of their existence they seem to have 
 retained much of the restlessness and desire for change 
 which marked them when " nomads." 
 
 Traditionary lore among modern Hopis asserts that the 
 well-known ruin of Casa Grande was once the home of 
 their ancestors, and Dr. Fewkes has conclusively shown 
 a line of ruins extending from the Gila and Salt River 
 valleys to the present Hopi villages. So there is no 
 doubt but that some, at least, of the Hopis came to 
 their modern homes from the South. It is, therefore, 
 quite possible that such ruins as Montezuma's Castle 
 were once Hopi homes. Every indication seems to point 
 to the fact that all these ancient ruins some of which 
 are caveate, others cliff, and still others independent 
 pueblos, built in the open, away from all cliffs were 
 occupied by a people in dread of attack from enemies. 
 Every home has its lookout. Every field could be 
 watched. Nearly all the cliff and cave dwellings were 
 naturally fortresses, and the open pueblos were so con- 
 structed as to render them castles of defence to their 
 inhabitants on occasion. 
 
 In these facts alone we can see an interesting, though 
 to those primarily concerned a tragic state of affairs; 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 45 
 
 a home-loving people, sedentary and agricultural, will- 
 ing and anxious to live at peace, surrounded and per- 
 petually harassed by wild and fierce nomads, whose 
 delight was war, their occupation pillage, and their chief 
 gratifications murder and rapine. The cliff- or cave- 
 dwelling husband left his home in the morning to plant 
 his corn or irrigate his field, uncertain whether the 
 night would see him safe again with his loved ones, 
 a captive in the hands of merciless torturers, or lying 
 dead and mutilated upon the fields he had planted. 
 
 No wonder they are the Hopituh the people of 
 peace. Who would not long for peace after many 
 generations of such environment? Poor wretches! 
 Every field had its memories of slaughter, every canyon 
 had echoed the fierce yells of attacking foes, the shrieks 
 of the dying, or the exultant shouts of the victors, and 
 every dwelling-place had heard the sad wailing of 
 widows and orphans. 
 
 The union of these people, under such conditions, in 
 towns became a necessity self-preservation demanded 
 cohesion. That isolation and separation were not un- 
 natural or repulsive to them is shown by the readiness 
 with which in later times they branched out and estab- 
 lished new towns. These separations often led to bitter 
 and deadly quarrels among themselves, and elsewhere l 
 I have related the traditional story of the destruction of 
 a Hopi city, Awatobi, by the inhabitants of rival cities, 
 who in their determination to be " Hopituh " people 
 of peace were willing to fight and exterminate their 
 neighbors and thus compel peace. 
 
 Of the present seven mesa cities, towns, or villages of 
 the Hopis, it is probable that Oraibi only occupies the 
 l "The Storming of Awatobi," The Chautattquan, August, 1901. 
 
46 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 same site that it had when first seen by white men in 
 1540. 
 
 It will readily be recalled that when Coronado reached 
 Cibola (Zuni) and conquered it he was sadly disap- 
 pointed at not finding the piles of gold, silver, and pre- 
 cious stones he and his conquistadors had hoped for. 
 The glittering stories of the gold-strewn " Seven Cities 
 of Cibola " were sadly proven to be mythical. But hope 
 revived when the wounded general was told of seven 
 other cities, about a hundred miles to the northwest. 
 These might be the wealthy cities they sought. Unable 
 to go himself, he sent his ensign Tobar, with a handful 
 of soldiers and a priest, and it fell to the lot of these to 
 be the first white men to gaze upon the wonders of the 
 Hopi villages. 
 
 Instead of finding them as we now see them, however, 
 it is pretty certain that the first village reached was that 
 of Awatobi, a town now in ruins and whose history is 
 only a memory. Standing on the mesa at Walpi and 
 looking a little to the right of the entrance to Ream's 
 Canyon, the location of this " dead city " may be seen. 
 
 Walpi occupied a terrace below where it now is, and 
 Sichumavi and Hano were not founded. At the mid- 
 dle mesa Mashonganavi and Shungopavi occupied the 
 foothills or lower terraces, and Shipauluvi was not in 
 existence. 
 
 What an interesting conflict that was, in 1540, be- 
 tween the few civilized and well-armed soldiers of Coro- 
 nado and the warrior priests of Awatobi. Tobar and 
 his men stealthily approached the foot of the mesa under 
 the cover of darkness, but were discovered in the early 
 morning ere they had made an attack. Led by the 
 warrior priests, the fighting men of the village de- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 47 
 
 scended the trail, where the priests signified to the 
 strangers that they were unwelcome. They forbade 
 their ascending the trail, and with elaborate ceremony 
 sprinkled a line of sacred meal across it, over which no 
 * one must pass. To cross that sacred and mystic line 
 was to declare one's self an enemy and to invite the 
 swift punishment of gods and men. But Tobar and his 
 warriors knew nothing of the vengeance of Hopi gods 
 and cared little for the anger of Hopi men, so they made 
 a fierce and sharp onslaught. When we remember that 
 this was the first experience of the Hopis with men on 
 horseback, protected with coats of mail and metal hel- 
 mets, who fought not only with sharpened swords, but 
 also slew men at a distance with sticks that belched forth 
 fire and smoke, to the accompaniment of loud thunder, 
 it can well be understood that they speedily fell back 
 and soon returned with tokens of submission. Thus 
 was Awatobi taken. After this Walpi, Mashonganavi, 
 Shungopavi, and Oraibi were more or less subjugated. 
 
 In 1680, as is well known, Popeh, a resident of one of 
 the eastern pueblos near the Rio Grande, conceived a 
 plan to rid the whole country of the hated white men, 
 and especially of the " long robes " the priests 
 who had forbidden the ancient ceremonies and dances, 
 and forcibly baptized their children into a new faith, 
 which to their superstitious minds was a catastrophe 
 worse than death. The Hopis joined in the plan, 
 though Awatobi went into it with reluctance, owing to 
 the kindly ministrations of the humane Padre Porras. 
 
 The plot was betrayed, but not early enough to enable 
 the Spaniards to protect themselves, and on the day of 
 Santa Ana, the loth of August, 1680, the whole white 
 race was fallen upon and mercilessly slain or driven out. 
 
48 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 For the next nearly twenty years the more timid of 
 the people lived in dread of Spanish retaliation. Then 
 it was that Hano was founded. Anticipating the ar- 
 rival of a large force, a number of Tanoan and Tewan 
 people fled from the Rio Grande to Tusayan. Some* 
 of the former went to Oraibi, and the latter asked per- 
 mission to settle at the head of the Walpi trail near to 
 " the Gap." 
 
 Possibly about this same time, too, the villages located 
 on the lower terraces or foothills moved to the higher 
 sites, as they were thus afforded better protection. 
 
 Sichumavi " the mound of flowers " was founded 
 about the year 1750 by Walpians of the Badger Clan, 
 who for some reason or other grew discontented and 
 wished a town of their own. Here they were joined by 
 Tanoans of the Asa Clan from the Rio Grande, who for 
 a time had lived in the seclusion of the Tsegi, as the 
 Navahoes term the Canyon de Chelly in New Mexico. 
 
 Exactly when Shipauluvi was founded is not known, 
 though its name " the place of peaches " clearly de- 
 notes that it must have been after the Spanish inva- 
 sion, for it was the conquerors who brought with them 
 peaches. Nor were peaches the only good things the 
 Hopis and other American aborigines owed to the 
 hated foreigners. They introduced horses, cows, sheep 
 (which latter have afforded them a large measure of 
 sustenance and given to them and the Navahoes the 
 material with which to make their useful rugs and blan- 
 kets)-, and goats, besides a number of vegetables. 
 
 Here, then, about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury the Hopi mesa towns were settled as we now find 
 them, and doubtless with populations as near as can be 
 to their present numbers. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 49 
 
 Hano we have already visited. Let us now, hastily 
 but carefully, glance at each of the other villages as 
 they appear at the present time. 
 
 Passing on to Sichumavi from Hano we find it 
 similar in all its main features to Hano, except that 
 none of its houses are as high. In the centre of the 
 town is a large plaza where, in wet weather, a large body 
 of rain-water collects. This is used for " laundry " 
 purposes, as drink for the burros and goats, and a bath- 
 ing pond for all the children of the pueblo. It is one of 
 the funniest sights imaginable to see the youngsters 
 playing and frolicking in the water by the hour, I 
 should have said liquid mud, for the filth that accu- 
 mulates in this plaza reservoir is simply indescribable. 
 Children of both sexes, their brown, swarthy bodies 
 utterly indifferent to the piercing darts of the sun, lie 
 down in this liquid filth, roll over, splash one another, 
 run to and fro, and enjoy themselves hugely, even in 
 the presence of the white visitor, until a glimpse of the 
 dreaded camera sends them off splashing, yelling, ges- 
 ticulating, and some of them crying, to the nearest 
 shelter. 
 
 That supereminence of Hopi character is conserva- 
 tism is shown as one walks from Sichumavi to Walpi. 
 Here is a literal exemplification demonstrating how 
 the present generations " tread in the footsteps " of 
 their forefathers. The trail over which the bare and 
 moccasined feet of these people have passed and re- 
 passed for years is worn down deep into the solid sand- 
 stone. The springy and yielding foot, unprotected 
 except by its own epidermis or the dressed skin of the 
 goat, sheep, or deer, has cut its way into the unyield- 
 ing rock, thus symbolizing the power of an unyielding 
 
50 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 purpose and demonstrating the force of an unchangeable 
 conservatism. 
 
 Between these two pueblos the mesa becomes so 
 narrow that we walk on a mere strip of rock, deep 
 precipices on either side. To the left are Ream's Can- 
 yon and the road over which we came ; to the right are 
 the gardens, corn-fields, and peach orchards, leading 
 the eye across to the second mesa, on the heights of 
 which are Mashonganavi and Shipauluvi. 
 
 These gardens and corn-fields are the most potent 
 argument possible against the statements of ignorant 
 and prejudiced white men who claim that the Indians 
 Hopis as well as others are lazy and shiftless. 
 
 If a band of white men were placed in such a sit- 
 uation as the Hopis, and compelled to wrest a living 
 from the sandy, barren, sun-scorched soil, there are 
 few who would have faith and courage enough to at- 
 tempt the evidently hopeless task. But with a patience 
 and steadiness that make the work sublime, these heroic 
 bronze men have sought out and found the spots of 
 sandy soil under which the water from the heights per- 
 colates. They have marked the places where the sum- 
 mer's freshets flow, and thus, relying upon sub-irrigation 
 and the casual and uncertain rainfalls of summer, have 
 planted their corn, beans, squash, melons, and chili, 
 carefully hoeing them when necessary, and each season 
 reap a harvest that would not disgrace modern scientific 
 methods. 
 
 All throughout these corn-fields temporary brush 
 sun-shelters are seen, under which the young boys and 
 girls sit, scaring away the birds and watching lest any 
 stray burro should enter and destroy that which has 
 grown as the result of so much labor. 
 
AN ORAIBI WOMAN SHELLING CORN IN A BASKET OF YUCCA FIBRE. 
 
 THE " BURRO" OF HOPI TRANSPORTATION. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 51 
 
 Here, too, in the harvesting time one may witness 
 busy and interesting scenes. Whole families move 
 down into temporary brush homes, and women and 
 children aid the men in gathering the crops. Tethered 
 and hobbled burros stand patiently awaiting their share 
 of the common labor. 
 
 Yonder is a group of men busy digging a deep pit. 
 Watch them as it nears completion. It is made with 
 a narrow neck and " bellies " out to considerable width 
 below. Indeed, it is shaped not unlike an immense vase 
 with a large, almost spherical body and narrow neck. 
 In depth it is perhaps six, eight, ten, or a dozen feet 
 On one side a narrow stairway is cut into the earth 
 leading down to its base, and at the foot of this stairway 
 a small ..hole is cut through into the chamber. Our 
 curiosity is aroused. What is this subterranean place 
 for? As we watch, the workers bring loads of grease- 
 wood and other inflammable material, kindle a fire in the 
 chamber, and fill it up with the wood. Now we see the 
 use of the small hole at the foot of the stairway. It 
 acts as a draught hole, and soon a raging furnace fire is 
 in the vault before us. When a sufficient heat has been 
 obtained, the bottom hole is closed, and then scores of 
 loads of corn on the cob are dropped into the heated 
 chamber. When full, every avenue that could allow air 
 to enter is sealed, and there the corn remains over 
 night or as long as is required to cook it, self-steam 
 it. It is then removed, packed in sacks or blankets on 
 the backs of the patient burros, and removed to the corn- 
 rooms of the houses on the mesa above. 
 
 Other fresh corn is carried up and spread out on the 
 house-tops to dry. 
 
 All this is stored away in the corn-rooms, into which 
 
52 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 strangers sometimes are invited, but oftener kept away 
 from. It is stacked up in piles like cord- wood, and 
 happy is that household whose corn-stack is large at 
 the beginning of a hard winter. 
 
 Walpi the place of the gap though not a large 
 town, is better known to whites than any of the other 
 Hopi towns. Here it was that the earliest visitors came 
 and saw the thrilling Snake Dance. Its southeastern 
 trail, with the wonderful detached rock leaning over 
 on one side and the cliff on the other, between which 
 the steep and rude stairway is constructed, has been so 
 often pictured, as well as the so-called " Sacred Rock " 
 of the Walpi* dance plaza, that they are now as familiar 
 as photographs of Trinity Church, New York, or St. 
 Paul's, London. As one stands on the top of one of 
 the houses he sees how closely Walpi has been built. 
 It covers the whole of the south end of the mesa, tip 
 to the very edges of the precipice walls in three of its 
 four directions, and, as already shown, the fourth is the 
 narrow neck of rock connecting Walpi with Sichumavi 
 and Hano. The dance plaza is to the east, a long, 
 narrow place, at the south end of which is the " Sacred 
 Rock." It is approached from south and north by the 
 regular "street" or trail, and one may leave it to the 
 west through an archway, over which is built one of 
 the houses. 
 
 Several ruins on the east mesa are pointed out as 
 " Old " Walpi, and the name of one of these Nusaki 
 (also known as Kisakobi) is a clear indication that at 
 one time the Spaniards had a mission church there. 
 A Walpian, Pauwatiwa, shows, with pride, an old 
 carved beam in his house which all Hopis say came 
 from the mission when it was destroyed. On the ter- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 53 
 
 races just below the mesa-top perhaps a hundred or 
 two hundred feet down are a number of tiny corrals, 
 to and from which, morning and evening, the boys, 
 young men, and sometimes the women and girls may be 
 seen driving their herds of sheep and goats, and in 
 which the burros are kept when not in use. These pic- 
 turesque corrals from below look almost like swallows' 
 nests stuck on the face of the cliffs. 
 
 As we wander about in the narrow and quaint streets 
 of Walpi we cannot fail to observe the ladder-poles 
 which are thrust through hatchways, down which we 
 peer into the darkness below with little satisfaction. 
 These lead to the kivas, or sacred ceremonial chambers, 
 where all the secret rites of the different clans are held. 
 Here we shall be privileged to enter if no ceremony is 
 going on. The kivas are generally hewn out of the solid 
 rock, or partially so, and are from twelve to eighteen 
 feet square. When not otherwise occupied it is no un- 
 common sight to see in a kiva a Hopi weaver squatted 
 before his rude loom, making a dress for his wife or 
 daughter, or weaving a ceremonial sash or kilt for his 
 own use in one of the many dances. 
 
 In every Hopi town one cannot fail to be struck with 
 the nudity of the children of all ages, from the merest 
 babies up to eight and even ten years. With what 
 Victor Hugo calls " the chaste indecency of childhood " 
 these fat, bronze Cupids and embryo Venuses romp and 
 play, as unconscious of their nakedness as Adam and 
 Eve before their fall. 
 
 From Walpi we descend to the corn-fields, and, after 
 a slow and tedious drag across the sandy plain to the 
 west, find ourselves at Mashonganavi, or at least at the 
 foot of the trail which leads to the heights above. Here, 
 
54 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 as at the other mesas, there are two or three trails, all 
 steep, all nerve-wrenching, all picturesque. Arrived at 
 the village, we find Mashonganavi an interesting place, 
 for it is so compactly built that one often hunts in vain 
 (for a while, at least) to find the hidden dance plaza, 
 around which the whole town seems to be built. Some 
 of the houses are three stories high, and there are quaint, 
 narrow alley-ways, queer dark tunnels, and underground 
 kivas as at Walpi. The Antelope and Snake kivas are 
 situated on the southeastern side of the village, on the 
 very edge of the mesa, and with the tawny stretch of 
 the Painted Desert leading the eye to the deep purple 
 of the Giant's Chair and others of the Mogollon buttes, 
 which Ives conceived as great ships in the desert, sud- 
 denly and forever arrested and petrified. 
 
 About one hundred and fifty feet below the village is 
 a terrace which almost surrounds the Mashonganavi 
 mesa, as a rocky ruff around its neck. This terrace is 
 so connected with the main plateau that one can drive 
 upon it with a wagon and thus encamp close to the 
 village. Here in 1901 the two wagon loads of sight- 
 seers and tourists which I had guided to the mysteries 
 and delights of Tusayan, over the sandy and scorched 
 horrors of a portion of the Painted Desert, encamped, 
 during the last days of the Snake Dance ceremonies. 
 
 From here a trail at its head an actual rock stair- 
 way leads down to a spring in the valley, where the 
 government school is situated, and from whence all our 
 cooking and drinking water had to be brought. Each 
 morning and evening droves of sheep and goats passed 
 our camp, coming up from below and going down to the 
 scant pasturage of the valley. Scarcely an hour passed 
 when some Indian oftener half a dozen came to 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 55 
 
 our camp, and failed to pass. Especially at meal times, 
 when the biscuits were in the oven, the stew on the fire, 
 the beans in the pot, and the dried fruit in the stew- 
 kettle, did they seem to enjoy visiting us. And they 
 liked to come close, too ; far too close for our comfort, 
 as their persons are not always of the most cleanly 
 character, and their habits of the most decorous and 
 refined. Hence rules had to be laid down which it was 
 my province to see observed, one of which was that visit- 
 ing Indians must keep to a distance, especially at meal 
 times. Another was that if our blankets were allowed 
 to remain unrolled (in order to get the direct benefit 
 of the sun's rays) they were not so left for our Indian 
 friends to lounge upon. 
 
 We were generally a hungry lot as we sat or squatted 
 around our canvas tablecloth, our table the rocky 
 ground, and there was scant ceremony when ceremony 
 stood in the way of appeasing our appetites. But we 
 were not wasteful. If there were any " scraps " or any 
 small remains on a plate or dish they were " saved 
 for the Indians." So that at length it became a catch- 
 word with us. If there was anything, anywhere, at any 
 time, that we did not like, some one of the party was 
 sure to suggest that it be " saved for the Indians." And 
 that has often since suggested to me our national policy 
 in treating the Amerind. There is too much national 
 " Save that for the Indians." Land that is no good to 
 a white man save it for the Indians. Beef cattle that 
 white men don't buy save them for the Indians. 
 Spoiled flour save it for the Indians. Seeds that 
 won't grow ship 'em to the Indians. 
 
 And that reminds me of a now not undistinguished 
 artist who once accompanied a small party of mine 
 
56 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 some years ago to the Snake Dance at Oraibi. I came 
 down to camp one day and found him cooking several 
 slices of our finest ham, dishing up our choicest and 
 scarcest vegetables, crackers, and delicacies, with a 
 large pot of our most expensive coffee simmering and 
 steaming by the camp-fire ; and when I asked, " For 
 whom?" was coolly told it was for three lazy, fat, 
 lubberly, dirty Oraibis, who sat in delightful anticipation 
 around the pump close by. 
 
 My .objection to this use of our provisions was ex- 
 pressed in forceful and vigorous Anglo-Saxon, and 
 when I was told it was " none of my business," I em- 
 phasized my objection with a distinct refusal to allow 
 my provisions to be thus used. Then for half an hour 
 immediately afterwards, and for days subsequently, at 
 intervals, I was regaled with vocal chastisement worthy 
 to be ranked with Demosthenes' " Philippics." " The 
 Indian was a man and a brother. We were Christians, 
 indeed, and of a truth when we would see our poor 
 red brother starve to death before our sight," etc., 
 ad libitum. 
 
 Now between my artist friend's course and the one 
 first named the happy mean lies. I do not believe we 
 should give to the Indian only the scraps that fall 
 from our national table; neither, on the other hand, 
 do I believe we are called upon to give him the very 
 best of our foods and provide special coffee at seventy- 
 five cents a pound. 
 
 And this sermon has occupied our time, by the way, 
 as we have walked up the trail, by the Mashonganavi 
 kivas to a spot from which we gain a good view of the 
 village and of Shipauluvi on its higher and detached 
 pinnacle a mile farther back. Again descending the 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 57 
 
 trail to the terrace below, we walk half a mile and then 
 begin the ascent of a steep stone stairway, carefully 
 constructed, that leads us directly to Shipauluvi. This 
 is a small town, occupying almost the whole of the dizzy 
 site, with its few houses built around its rectangular 
 plaza. 
 
 Here I was once present at a witchcraft trial. It was 
 a complicated affair, in which the dead and living, 
 Navahoes and Hopis, were intertwined. A Hopi woman 
 accused a Navaho of having bewitched her husband, 
 thus causing his death, and of stealing from him a 
 blanket and some sheep. The evidence showed that 
 the Navaho had met the Hopi, and that soon afterwards 
 he was taken sick and died, whereupon the sheep and 
 blanket were found in the possession of the Navaho. 
 There was little doubt of its being a case of theft, and 
 the Navaho was ordered to return sheep and blanket, 
 but he was exonerated from the charge of witchcraft. 
 
 Living in Shipauluvi is one of those singular anom- 
 alies so often found in the pueblos, an albino woman. 
 There are a dozen or so living in the other villages. 
 With Hopi face, but white hair and skin, pink eyes, 
 and general bleached-out appearance, they never fail 
 to excite the greatest surprise in the mind of the 
 stranger, and to those who see them often there is still 
 a lingering wonder as to the cause of so singular a 
 variation of physical appearance. At Mashonganavi 
 there are two men albinos, one of them one of the 
 Snake priests. It is claimed by the Indians that these 
 albinos are of as pure Hopi blood as those who are 
 normal in color, and the fact is incontrovertible that 
 they are born of pure-blooded parents on both sides. 
 
 Returning now to the terrace below, common to both 
 
58 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Mashonganavi and Shipauluvi, the trail is descended to 
 Shungopavi. A deep canyon separates the mesa upon 
 which this village is built from the one upon which the 
 two former are located. Near the foot of the trail the 
 government has established a schoolhouse, and close by 
 are the springs and pools of water. It is a sandy ride 
 or walk, and on a hot day "a-tu-u-u" wearisome 
 and exhausting. For half a dollar or so one may hire 
 a burro and his owner as guide, and it is much 
 easier to go burro-back over the yielding sand than to 
 walk. There are straggling peach trees on the way, 
 and a trail, rocky and steep, to ascend ere we see 
 Shungopavi. 
 
 The wagons may be driven to the village (as mine 
 were), but it is a long way around. The road to Oraibi 
 across the mesa is taken, and when about half-way 
 across a crude road is followed which runs out upon 
 the " finger tip " where Shungopavi stands. Here the 
 governor in 1901 was Lo-ma-win-i, and he and I became 
 very good friends. Knowing my interest in the Snake 
 Dance, he sent for the chief priests of the Snake and 
 Antelope Clans (Kai-wan-i-wi-ya-u-ma' and Lo-ma-ho- 
 in-i-wa), and from them I received a cordial invitation to 
 be present and participate in the secret ceremonials of 
 the kiva at their next celebration. I have been privi- 
 leged to be present, but was never invited before. 
 
 The governor is an expert silversmith, the necklace 
 he wears being a specimen of his own art. It is won- 
 derful how, with their crude materials and tools, such 
 excellent work can be produced. Mexican dollars 
 are melted in a tiny home-made crucible, rude moulds 
 are carved out of sand- or other stone into which the 
 melted metal is poured, and then hand manipulation, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 59 
 
 hammering, and brazing complete the work. Their 
 silver articles of adornment are finger rings, bracelets, 
 and necklaces. 
 
 Oraibi is the most western and conservative of the 
 Hopi villages. It is by far the largest, having perhaps 
 a third of the whole population. It is divided into two 
 factions, the so-called hostiles and friendlies, the former 
 being the conservative element, determined not to for- 
 sake " the ways of the old," the ways of their ancestors ; 
 and the latter being generally willing to obey orders 
 ostensibly issued by " Wasintonia " as they call the 
 mysterious Indian Department. These divisions are 
 a source of great sorrow to the former leaders of the 
 village. In the introduction to "The Oraibi Soyal 
 Ceremony " by Professor George A. Dorsey, of the Field 
 Columbian Museum, and Rev. H. R. Voth, his assist- 
 ant, and formerly a Mennonite missionary at Oraibi, this 
 dissension is spoken of as follows : " During the year 
 1891 representatives of the Indian Department made 
 strenuous efforts to secure pupils for the government 
 school located at Ream's Canyon, about forty miles 
 from Oraibi. This effort on the part of the government 
 was bitterly resented by a certain faction of the people 
 of Oraibi, who seceded from Lolulomai, the village 
 chief, and soon after began to recognize Lomahungyoma 
 as leader. The feeling on the part of this faction 
 against the party under Lolulomai was further intensi- 
 fied by the friendly attitude the Liberals took toward 
 other undertakings of the government, such as allot- 
 ment of land in severalty, the building of dwelling-houses 
 at the foot of the mesa, the gratuitous distribution of 
 American clothing, agricultural implements, etc. The 
 division thus created manifested itself not only in the 
 
60 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 everyday life of the people, but also in their religious 
 ceremonies. Inasmuch as the altars and their acces- 
 sories are the chief elements in these ceremonies, they 
 soon became the special object of controversy, each 
 party contending for their possession ; and so it came 
 about that the altars remained to that faction to which 
 the chief priests and those who had them in charge 
 belonged, the members of the opposing faction, as 
 a rule, withdrawing from further participation in the 
 celebration of the ceremony." 
 
 The dance plaza is on the wesjtern side of the village, 
 and there the dances and other outdoor ceremonies take 
 place. 
 
 One of my earliest visits to Oraibi was made in the 
 congenial company of Major Constant Williams, who 
 was then the United States Indian Agent, at Fort 
 Defiance, for the Navahoes and Hopis. We had driven 
 across the Navaho Reservation from Fort Defiance to 
 Keam's Canyon, and then visited the mesas in succes- 
 sion. We drove to the summit of the Oraibi mesa in 
 his buckboard, a new conveyance which he had had 
 made to order at Durango, Colo. The road was the 
 same one up which the soldiers had helped the horses 
 drag the Gatling gun at the time of the arrest of the 
 so-called " hostiles," who were sent to Alcatraz for their 
 refusal to forsake their Oraibi ways and follow the 
 " Washington way." It was a steep, ugly road, rough, 
 rocky, and dangerous. The Major's horses, however, 
 were strong, intelligent, and willing, so we made the 
 ascent with comparative ease. The return, however, 
 was different. There were so many things of interest 
 at Oraibi that I found it hard to tear myself away, and 
 the " shades of night were falling fast " far too fast 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 61 
 
 for the Major's peace of mind ere I returned to the 
 buckboard. By the time we had traversed the summit 
 of the mesa to the head of the "trail" part of the 
 descent, it was dark enough to make the cold tremors 
 perambulate up and down one's spine. But I had every 
 confidence in the Major's driving, his horses, and his 
 knowledge of that fearfully precipitous and dangerous 
 road. Slowly we descended, the brake scraping and 
 often entirely holding the wheels. We could see and 
 feel the dark abysses, first on one side and then on the 
 other, or feel the overshadowing of the mighty rock 
 walls which towered above us. I was congratulating 
 myself that we had passed all the dangerous places, and 
 in a few moments should be on the drifted sand, which, 
 though steep, was perfectly safe, when we came to the 
 last " drop off." This can best be imagined by calling 
 it what it was, a steep, rocky stairway, of two or three 
 steps, with a precipice on one side, and a towering wall 
 on the other. Hugging the wall, the upper step ex- 
 tended like a shelf for eight or ten feet, and the nigh 
 horse, disliking to make the abrupt descent of the step, 
 clung close to the wall and walked along the shelf. The 
 off horse dropped down. The result can be imagined. 
 One horse's feet were up at about the level of the 
 other's back. The wheels followed their respective 
 horses. The nigh wheels stayed on the shelf, the off 
 wheels came down the step. The Major and I decided, 
 very suddenly, to leave the buckboard. We were rudely 
 toppled out, down the precipice on the left, I at the 
 bottom of the heap. Down came camera cases, tripods, 
 boxes of plates, and all the packages of odds and ends 
 I had bought from the Indians, bouncing about our 
 ears. Like a flash the two horses took fright and started 
 
62 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 off, dragging that overturned buckboard after them. 
 They did not swirl around to the left down the sandy 
 road, but to the right upon a terrace of the rocky mesa, 
 and we saw the sparks, fly as the ironwork of the wagon 
 struck and restrack the rocks. The noise and roar and 
 clatter were terrific. Great rocks were started to roll- 
 ing, and the echoes were enough to awaken the dead. 
 Suddenly there was a louder crash than ever, and then 
 all was silent. We felt our hearts thumping against 
 our ribs, and the only sounds we could hear were 
 their fierce beatings and our own hard breathing. 
 Fortunately, we had landed on a narrow shelf some 
 seven feet down, covered deep with sand, so neither of 
 us was seriously hurt except in our feelings; but 
 imagine the dismay that swept aside all thoughts of 
 thankfulness for our narrow escape when that crash 
 and dread silence came. No doubt horses and buck- 
 board were precipitated over one of the cliffs and had 
 all gone to "eternal smash." My conscience made 
 me feel especially culpable, for had I not detained the 
 Major we should have left the mesa long before it was 
 so dark. I had caused the disaster! It was nothing 
 that I had been " spilt out," that doubtless my cameras 
 were smashed, and the plates I had exposed with so 
 much care and in spite of the opposition of the Hopis 
 were in tiny pieces for I had clearly heard that 
 peculiar " smash " that spoke of broken glass as I 
 myself landed on the top of my head. Think of that 
 span of fine horses, and the Major's new buckboard ! 
 The thought about completed the work of mental and 
 physical paralysis the shock of falling had begun. I 
 was suddenly awakened, not by the Major's voice, for 
 neither of us had yet spoken a word, and indeed, I 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 63 
 
 did n't know but that he was dead, but by the scratch- 
 ing of a match. Then he was alive ! That was cause for , 
 thankfulness. Setting fire to a dried cactus, the Major, 
 after thoroughly picking himself up and shaking him- 
 self together, proceeded to gather up the photographic 
 debris. Silently I aided him. Still silently we piled it 
 all together, as much under the shelter of the rocks as 
 possible, and then, still without a word, we climbed 
 back upon the road and started to walk to the house of 
 Mr. Voth, the missionary, where we were stopping. 
 For half a mile or more we trudged on wearily through 
 the deep and yielding sand. Still never a word. We 
 both breathed heavily, for the sand was dreadfully soft 
 I was wondering what I could say. My conscience so 
 overpowered me that I dared not speak. I was humbling 
 myself, inwardly, into the very dust for having been 
 the unconscious and innocent, yet nevertheless actual 
 cause of this disaster. I simply could n't break the 
 silence. To offer to pay for the horses and buckboard 
 was easy (though that would be a serious matter to my 
 slender purse) compared with appeasing the sturdy 
 Major for the shock to his mental and physical system. 
 Then, too, how he must feel ! At the very thought the 
 cold sweat started on my brow and I could feel it trick- 
 ling down my chest and back. 
 
 Suddenly the Major stopped, and in the darkness I 
 could dimly see him take out his large white handker- 
 chief, mop his brow and head, and then, with explosive 
 force, but in a voice charged with deepest and sincerest 
 feeling he broke the painful silence : " Thank God, the 
 sun is n't shining." 
 
 Brave-hearted, generous Major Williams! Not a 
 word of reproach, no suggestion of blame. What a re- 
 
64 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 lief to my burdened soul. I was almost hysterical in 
 my ready response. Yes, we could be thankful that 
 our lives and limbs were spared. We were both unhurt. 
 New horses and buckboard could be purchased, but 
 life and health preserved called for thankfulness to the 
 Divine Protector. 
 
 Thus we congratulated ourselves as we slowly plodded 
 along through the sand. Arrived at Mr. Voth's, we 
 soon retired, he in the bedroom prepared for him by 
 kindly Mrs. Voth, I in my blankets outside. The calm 
 face of the sky soon soothed my disquieted feelings and 
 nerves, and in a short time I fell asleep. Not a thought 
 disturbed me until just as the faintest peepings of dawn 
 began to show on the eastern ridges, when, awakening, 
 I heard a noise as of a horse shaking his harness close 
 by. Like a flash- I jumped up, and, in my night-robe 
 though I was, rushed to the entrance to the corral. 
 There, unharmed and uninjured, with harness upon 
 them complete, the lines dangling down behind, the 
 neck yoke holding them together, as if they were just 
 brought from the stable ready to be hitched to the 
 wagon, were the two horses which I had vividly pictured 
 to myself as dashed to pieces upon the cruel rocks at 
 the foot of one of the mesa precipices. 
 
 I could scarcely refrain from shouting my joy. 
 Hastily I dressed, and while dressing thought : " The 
 horses are here ; I '11 go and hunt for the wagon." So 
 noiselessly I hitched them to Mr. Voth's buckboard and 
 drove off. When I came to the scene of the disaster, I 
 found I could drive upon the rocky terrace. There 
 was no difficulty in following the course of the runa- 
 ways. Here was part of the seat, farther on some of 
 the ironwork, and still farther the dashboard. At last I 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 65 
 
 reached the overturned and dismantled vehicle. It was 
 in a sorry state. Two of the wheels were completely 
 dished, the seat and dashboard were " scraped " off, one 
 whiffletree was broken, and the whole thing looked as 
 if it had been rudely treated in a tornado. I turned 
 it over, tied the wheels so that they would hold, and 
 then, fastening it behind Mr. Voth's buckboard, slowly 
 drove back to the house. 
 
 When this Major awoke he was as much surprised and 
 pleased as I was to find the horses safe and sound and 
 the buckboard in a repairable condition. With a little 
 manoeuvring we got the vehicle as far as Ream's 
 Canyon, where old Jack Tobin, the blacksmith, fixed it 
 up so that it could be driven back to Fort Defiance, 
 and thither, with care and caution, the Major drove 
 me. A few weeks later, under the healing powers of 
 the agency blacksmith, the buckboard renewed its 
 youth, new wheels, new seat, new dashboard, and an 
 all covering new coat of paint wiped out the memories 
 of our trip down from the Oraibi mesa, except those we 
 carried in the depths of our own consciousness. 
 
66 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 A FEW HOPI CUSTOMS 
 
 TO know any people thoroughly requires many 
 years of studied observation. The work of such 
 men as A. M. Stephen, Dr. Fewkes, Rev. H. R. Voth, 
 and Dr. George A. Dorsey reveals the vast field the 
 Hopis offer to students. To the published results of 
 these indefatigable workers the student is referred for 
 fuller knowledge. There are certain things of interest, 
 however, that the casual observer cannot fail to note. 
 
 The costume of the men is undoubtedly a modifica- 
 tion of the dress of the white man. Trousers are worn, 
 generally of white muslin, and from the knee down on 
 the outer side they are split open at the seam. Soleless 
 stockings, home-spun, dyed and knit, are worn, fastened 
 with garters, similar in style and design, though smaller, 
 to the sashes worn by the women. The feet are covered 
 with rawhide moccasins. The shirt is generally of 
 colored calico, though on special occasions the " dudes " 
 of the people appear in black or violet velvet shirts or 
 tunics, which certainly give them a handsome appear- 
 ance. The never-failing banda, wound around the fore- 
 head, completes the costume, though accessories in the 
 shape of silver and wampum necklaces, finger rings, etc., 
 are often worn. 
 
 The costume of the women is both picturesque and 
 adapted to their life and customs. It is neat, appropri- 
 ate, and modest. The effort our government feels called 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 67 
 
 upon to make to lead them to change it for calico 
 " wrappers," in accordance with a principle adopted 
 which regards as " bad " and " a hindrance to civiliza- 
 tion " anything native, is to my mind vicious and sense- 
 less. The Indians are not to be civilized by making 
 them wear white people's costumes, nor by any such 
 nonsense. There are those who condemn their basket 
 weaving, because, forsooth, it is not a Christian art. 
 True civilizing processes come from within, and desire 
 for change must precede the outward manifestation if 
 permanent results are desired. 
 
 To return to the costume. It consists mainly of a 
 home-woven robe, dyed in indigo. When made, it 
 looks more like an Indian blanket than a dress, but 
 when the woman throws it over her right shoulder, sews 
 the two sides together, leaving an opening for the right 
 arm, and then wraps one of the highly colored and 
 finely woven sashes around her waist, the beholder sees 
 a dress at once healthful and picturesque. As a rule, 
 it comes down a little below the knee, and the left 
 shoulder is uncovered. Of late years many of the 
 women and girls have learned to wear a calico slip 
 under the picturesque native dress, so that both arms 
 and shoulders are covered. 
 
 Most of the time the legs and feet are naked, but 
 when a woman wishes to be fully attired, she wraps 
 buckskins, cut obliquely in half, around her legs, adroitly 
 fastening the wrappings just above the knee with thongs 
 cut from buckskin, and then encases her feet in shapely 
 moccasins. There is no compression of her solid feet, 
 no distortion with senseless high heels. She is too self- 
 poised, mentally, to care anything about Parisian fashions. 
 Health, neatness, comfort, are the desiderata sought and 
 
68 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 obtained in her dress. The question is sometimes asked, 
 however, if the heavy leg swathings of buckskin are not 
 a mere fashion of Hopi dress. Undoubtedly there is a 
 following of custom here as well as elsewhere, and, as I 
 have before remarked, one of the keys to the Hopi char- 
 acter is his conservatism. But the buckskin leggings 
 have a decided reason for their existence. In a desert 
 country where^ cacti, cholla, many varieties of prickly 
 shrubs, sharp rocks, and dangerous reptiles abound, it is 
 necessary that the women whose work calls them into 
 these dangers should so dress as to be prepared to over- 
 come them. Many a man wearing the ordinary trousers 
 of civilization and finding himself off the beaten paths of 
 these desert regions has longed for just such protection 
 as the Hopi women give themselves. The cow-boys who 
 ride pell-mell through the brush wear leather trousers, 
 and their stirrups are covered with tough and thick 
 leather to protect their shoes from being pierced by the 
 searching needles of the cactus, cholla, and buck-brush. 
 
 The adornments that a Hopi maiden of fashion affects 
 are silver rings and bracelets made by native silversmiths, 
 and necklaces of coral, glass, amber, or more generally 
 of the shell wampum found all over the continent. The 
 finer necklets of wampum are highly prized, and when 
 very old and ornamented with pieces of turquoise, can 
 not be purchased for large sums. Occasionally ear 
 pendants are worn. These are made of wood, half an 
 inch broad and an inch long, inlaid on one side with 
 pieces of bright shell, turquoise, etc. 
 
 When a girl reaches the marriageable age, she is 
 required by the customs of her people to fix up her hair 
 in two large whorls, one on each side of her head. 
 This gives her a most striking appearance. The whorl 
 
1 1 * 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 69 
 
 represents the squash blossom, which is the Hopi em- 
 blem of purity and maidenhood. Girls mature very 
 early, the young maidens herewith represented being not 
 more than from twelve to fifteen years of age. 
 
 When a woman marries she must no longer wear the 
 nash-mi (whorls). A new symbolism must be intro- 
 duced. The hair is done up in two pendant rolls, in 
 imitation of the ripened fruit of the long squash, which 
 is the Hopi emblem of fruitfulness. 
 
 In my book on " Indian Basketry " I have described 
 in detail the basketry of the Hopis. There are two dis- 
 tinct varieties made at the four villages of the middle 
 and western mesas. Those made on the middle mesa 
 are of yucca fibre (mo-hu) coiled around a core of grass 
 or broom-corn (sii-ii). Those of Oraibi are of willow 
 and approximate as nearly to the crude willow work of 
 civilization as any basketry made by the aborigines. In 
 both cases the splints are dyed, commonly nowadays 
 with the startling aniline dyes, and with marvellous 
 fertility of invention the weavers make a thousand and 
 one geometrical designs, in imitation of natural objects, 
 katchinas, etc. These are mainly plaques, but the yucca 
 fibre weavers make a treasure or trinket basket, some- 
 what barrel-shaped, oftentimes with a lid, that is both 
 pretty and useful. The name for all the yucca variety 
 is pii-ii-ta. The Oraibi willow plaques are called yung- 
 ya-pa, while a bowl-shaped basket is sa-kah-ta, and the 
 bowls made of coiled willow splints bought from the 
 Havasupai are sii-kii-wii-ta. 
 
 The Hopi weavers when at work invariably keep a 
 blanket full of moist sand near them in which the splints 
 are buried. This keeps them flexible, and the moist 
 sand is better than water. 
 
7 o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 A reddish-brown native dye is made from Ohaishi 
 (Thelesperma gracile)> with which the splints are colored. 
 
 Unfortunately, the introduction of aniline dyes has 
 almost killed the industry of making native dyes, but 
 there are some few conservatives God bless them ! 
 who adhere to the ancient colors and methods of pre- 
 paring them. 
 
 It cannot be said that the Hopis are devoid of musi- 
 cal taste, for in the early morning especially, as the 
 youths and men take their ponies or flocks of goats and 
 sheep out to pasture, they sing with sweet and far- 
 reaching voices many picturesque melodies. 
 
 Of the weird singing at their religious ceremonials I 
 have spoken in the chapter devoted to that purpose. 
 
 To most civilized ears Hopi instrumental music, how- 
 ever, is as much a racket and din as is Chinese music. 
 The lelentu, or flute, however, produces weird, soft, 
 melancholy music. Their rattles are of three kinds, the 
 gourd rattle (ai-i-ya), the rattle used by the Ante- 
 lope priests, and the leg rattle of turtle shell and sheep's 
 trotters (yong-ush-o-na). The drum and hand tombe 
 are crude affairs, the former made by hollowing out a 
 tree trunk and stretching over each end wet rawhide, the 
 lashings also being of strips of wet rawhide (with the 
 hair on), which, when dry, tightens so as to give 
 the required resonance. The hand tombe is as near 
 like a home-made tambourine as can be. It has no 
 jingles, however. Another instrument is the strangest 
 conception imaginable. It consists of a large gourd 
 shell, from the top of which a square hole has been cut. 
 Across this is placed a notched stick, one end of which 
 is held in the performer's left hand. In the other hand 
 is a sheep's thigh-bone, which is worked back and forth 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 71 
 
 over the notched stick, and the resultant noise is the 
 desired music. This instrument is the zhe-gun'-pi. 
 
 They do not seem to have many games, so many 
 of their religious ceremonials affording them the diver- 
 sion other peoples seek in athletic sports. Their 
 racing is purely religious, as I have elsewhere shown, 
 and they get much fun out of some of their semi- 
 religious exercises. 
 
 A game that they are very fond of, and that requires 
 considerable skill to play, is we-la. The game consists 
 in several players, each armed with a feathered dart, or 
 ma-te'-va, rushing after a small hoop made of corn 
 husks or broom-corn well bound together the we-la, 
 and throwing their darts so that they stick into it 
 The hoop is about a foot in diameter and two inches 
 thick, the ma-te'-va nearly a foot long. Each player's 
 dart has a different color of feathers, so that each can 
 tell when he scores. To see a dozen swarthy and 
 almost nude youths darting along in the dance plaza, 
 or streets, or down in the valley on the sand, laughing, 
 shouting, gesticulating, every now and then stopping 
 for a moment, jabbering over the score, then eagerly 
 following the motion of the thrower of the we^la so as 
 to be ready to strike the ma-te'-va into it, and then, 
 suddenly letting them fly, is a picturesque and lively 
 sight. 
 
 The Hopi is quite a traveller. Though fond of home, 
 I have met members of the tribe in varied quarters of 
 the Painted Desert Region. They get a birch bark 
 from the Verdi Valley with which they make the dye 
 for their moccasins. A yellowish brown color, called 
 pavissa, is obtained from a point near the junction of 
 the Little Colorado and Marble Canyon. Here they 
 
72 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 obtain salt, and at the bottom of the salt springs, where 
 the waters bubble up in pools, this pavissa settles. 
 Bahos, or prayer sticks, are always deposited at the 
 time of obtaining this ochre, as it is to be used in the 
 painting of the face of the bahos used in most sacred 
 ceremonies. The so-called Moki trail is evidence of the 
 long association between the Hopis and the Havasupais 
 in Havasu (Cataract) Canyon, and I have often met 
 them there trading blankets, horses, etc., for buckskin 
 and the finely woven wicker bowl-baskets kii-iis 
 of the Havasupais, which are much prized by the Hopis. 
 
 Occasionally he reaches as far northeast as Lee's 
 Ferry and even crosses into southern Utah, and at Zuni 
 to the southeast he is ever a welcome visitor. The 
 Apaches in the White Mountains tell that on occasions 
 the Hopis will visit them, and when visiting the Yumas in 
 1902 they informed me that long ago the Snake Danc- 
 ing Mokis were their friends, and sometimes came to 
 see them. 
 
 Dr. Walter Hough has written a most interesting 
 paper on " Environmental Interrelations in Arizona," 
 in which are many items about the Hopis. He says 
 they brought from their priscan home corn, beans, 
 melons, squash, cotton, and some garden plants, and 
 that they have since acquired peaches, apricots, and 
 wheat, and among other plants which they infrequently 
 cultivate may be named onions, chili, sunflowers, 
 sorghum, tomatoes, potatoes, grapes, pumpkins, garlic, 
 coxcomb, coriander, saffron, tobacco, and nectarines. 
 They are great beggars for seeds and will try any kind 
 that may be given to them. 
 
 Owing to their dependence upon wild grasses for 
 food when their corn crops used to fail, that is, in the 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 73 
 
 days before a paternal government helped them out 
 at such times, every Hopi child was a trained botanist 
 from his earliest years; not trained from our stand- 
 point, but from theirs. We should say much of his 
 knowledge was unscientific, and it goes far beyond the 
 use of grasses and plants as food. Dr. Hough in his 
 paper gives a number of examples of the uses to which 
 the various seeds, etc., are put. The botanist as well 
 as the ethnologist will find this a most comprehensive 
 and useful list. For food forty-seven seeds, berries, 
 stems, leaves, or roots are eaten. The seeds of a 
 species of sporobolus are ground with corn to make 
 a kind of cake, which the Hopis greatly enjoy. The 
 leaves of a number are cooked and eaten as greens. 
 
 A large amount of folk-lore connected with plants has 
 been collected by Drs. Fewkes and Hough. From the 
 latter's extensive list I quote. For headache the leaves 
 of the Astragalus mollissimus are bruised and rubbed 
 on the temples ; tea is made from the root of the Gaura 
 parviflora for snake bite ; women boil the Townsendia 
 arizonica into a tea and drink it to induce pregnancy ; 
 a plant called by the Hopi wiitakpala is rubbed on the 
 breast or legs for pain ; Verbesina enceloides is used on 
 boils or for skin diseases ; Croton texlusis is taken as 
 an emetic ; Allionia line arts is boiled to make an in- 
 fusion for wounds; the mistletoe that grows on the 
 juniper (Phoradendron juniperinuni) makes a beverage 
 which both Hopi and Navaho say is like coffee, and a 
 species that grows on the cottonwood, called lo rnapi, 
 is used as medicine ; the leaves of Gilia longiflora are 
 boiled and drank for stomach ache ; the leaves of the 
 Gilia multiflora (which is collected forty miles south 
 of Walpi at an elevation of six thousand feet), when 
 
74 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 bruised and rubbed on ant bites is said to be a specific ; 
 Oreocarya suffruticosa is pounded up and used for pains 
 in the body ; Carduus rothrockii is boiled and drank as 
 tea for colds which give rise to a prickling sensation 
 in the throat; the leaves of Coleosanthus wrightii are 
 bruised and rubbed on the temples for headache, as 
 also is the Artemisia canadensis; and so on throughout 
 a list as long again as this. 
 
 In connection with this list Dr. Hough calls attention 
 to the workings of the Hopi mind in a manner which 
 justifies an extensive quotation : 
 
 L. 
 
 " The word ' medicine ' as applied by the Hopi and other 
 tribes is very comprehensive, including charms to influence gods, 
 men, and animals, or to cure a stomach ache. As stated, from 
 experiments with the plants some have been discovered which 
 are uniform in action and which would have place in a standard 
 pharmacopoeia. Thus there are heating plasters, powders for 
 dressing wounds, emetics, diuretics, purges, sudorific infusions, 
 etc. Other plants are of doubtful value, and in their use other 
 animistic ideas may enter, though some of them, such as those 
 infused for colds, headache, rheumatism, fever, etc., may have 
 therapeutic properties. The obligation of the civilized to the 
 uncivilized for healing plants is very great Another class is 
 clearly out of the domain of empirical medicine. Tea made 
 from the thistle is a remedy for prickling pains in the larynx, 
 milkweed will induce a flow of milk, and there are other ex- 
 amples of inferential medicine. Perhaps another class is shown 
 by the employment of the plant named for the bat, in order to 
 induce sleep in the daytime. 
 
 " It may be interesting to look into the workings of the 
 Indian mind as shown by his explanation of the uses of certain 
 of these plants. 
 
 "A beautiful scarlet gilia (Gilia aggrcgatatyrtng) grows on 
 the talus of the giant mesa on which ancient Awatobi stood. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 75 
 
 This is the only locality where the plant has been collected in 
 this region, but it grows in profusion on the White Mountains, 
 one hundred and twenty-five miles southeast 
 
 " The herdsman of our party was asked the name and use 
 of the plant. He replied: * It is the pala katchi, or red male 
 flower, and it is very good for catching antelope. Before going 
 out to kill antelope, hunters rub up the flowers and leaves of 
 the plant and mix them with the meal which they offer during 
 their prayer to the gods of the chase.' 
 
 " * Why is that? ' was asked. 
 
 " f Because,' he replied, < the antelope is very fond of this 
 plant and eats it greedily when he can find it. 1 (Animistic 
 idea.) 
 
 " Another creeping plant (Solatium triflorum Nutt.), which 
 bears numerous green fruit about the size of a cherry, filled 
 with small seeds, is called cavayo ngahu, or watermelon medi- 
 cine. The plant may be likened to a miniature watermelon 
 vine. It was explained that if one took the fruit and planted 
 it in the same hill with the watermelon seeds, would there 
 be many watermelons, that is, the watermelon would be 
 influenced to become as prolific as the small plant. 
 
 "Every one is familiar with the clematis bearing fluffy 
 bunches of seeds having long, hair-like appendages. An 
 Indian lecturing on a collected specimen of the clematis said : 
 ' This is very good to make the hair grow. You make a tea 
 of it and rub it on the head, and pretty quick your hair will 
 hang down to your hips/ indicating by a gesture the extraor- 
 dinary length. For the same reason the fallugia is a good 
 hair tonic." 
 
 The Hopi uses a weapon for catching rabbits which, 
 for want of a better name, white men call a boomerang. 
 It possesses none of the strange properties of the Aus- 
 tralian weapon, yet in the hands of a skilled Hopi it is 
 wonderfully effective. I have seen fifty Oraibis on horse- 
 back, and numbers of men and boys on foot, each armed 
 
76 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 with one of these weapons, on their rabbit drive. They 
 determine on a certain area and then beat it thoroughly 
 for rabbits, and woe be to the unhappy cottontail or even 
 lightning-legged jack-rabbit if a Hopi throws his boom- 
 erang. Like the wind it speeds true to its aim and 
 seldom fails to kill or seriously wound. 
 
 Though most of the men have guns and many of the 
 youths revolvers, the bow and arrow as a weapon is not 
 entirely discarded. All the young boys, even little tots 
 that can scarcely walk, use the bow and arrow with 
 dexterity. A small hard melon or pumpkin is thrown 
 into the air and a child will sometimes put two or even 
 three arrows into it before it reaches the ground. Old 
 men who are too poor to own modern weapons are often 
 seen sitting like the proverbial and oft-pictured fox, 
 stealthily watching for a ground squirrel, prairie-dog, 
 or rat to come out of his hole, when the speedy and 
 certain arrow is let fly to his undoing. 
 
 Except for a little wild meat of this kind, secured 
 seldom, or a sheep, which is too valuable for its wool to 
 kill on any except very special and rare occasions, the 
 Hopis are practically vegetarians. They are not above 
 taking what the gods send them, however, in the shape 
 of a dead horse. A few years ago Mr. D. M. Riordan, 
 formerly of Flagstaff, conducted a party of friends over a 
 large section of the region presented in these pages, and 
 when near Oraibi a beautiful mare of one of the teams 
 suddenly bloated and speedily died. In less than an 
 hour after they were told they might take the flesh ; the 
 Hopis had skinned it, cut up the carcass, and removed 
 every shred of it. I afterwards saw the flesh cut into 
 strips, hung outside the houses of the fortunate pos- 
 sessors to dry, and I doubt not that horse meat made 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 77 
 
 many a happy meal for them during the months that 
 followed. 
 
 When a Hopi feels rich he may buy a sheep or a goat 
 from a Navaho, or even kill a burro in order to vary 
 his dietary. 
 
 Corn is his staple food. It is cooked in a variety of 
 ways, but the three principal methods are piki, pikami, 
 and pu-vu-lu. Piki is a thin, wafer-like bread, cooked 
 as I have before described. 
 
 On one occasion, at Oraibi, an old friend, Na-wi-so-ma, 
 was making piki for the Snake Dancers. When I took 
 my friends to see her, they all ate of the bread and asked 
 her all manner of questions about it. 
 
 Na-wi-so-ma was very kind and obliging. One of my 
 party wished to make moving photographs of the opera- 
 tion of making piki, so she cheerfully moved her too-ma 
 (cooking stone) outside. She insisted upon placing it, 
 however, so that her back was to the blazing sun, which 
 rendered it impossible to make the photographs. It 
 was in vain that I explained to her why she must face 
 the sun, and, at last, in desperation, I seized the heavy 
 too-ma and carried it where I desired it to be. In my 
 haste in putting it down rather, dropping it it 
 snapped in two, and I had to repair the damage to her 
 stone and feelings with a piece of silver ere we could 
 proceed. 
 
 Pikami is made as follows : A certain amount of corn- 
 meal is mixed with a small amount of sugar, and color- 
 ing matter made from squash flowers. This mixture is 
 then placed in an earthenware vessel, or olla, and a 
 cover tightly sealed on the vessel with mud. It is now 
 ready to go into the oven. The pikami oven is generally 
 out of doors. Sometimes it is a mere hole in the 
 
78 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 ground, without a covering, but the better style is where 
 the hole is located in the angle of two walls and partially 
 covered. A broken olla is made to serve as a chimney. 
 To prepare the oven, sticks of wood are placed inside it 
 and set on fire. When these are reduced to flaming 
 coals and the oven is red hot, the coals are withdrawn, 
 and the olla containing the corn-meal mixture is lowered 
 into the hole. This is then covered with a stone slab, 
 sealed with mud, and allowed to remain closed for 
 several hours. When the oven is unsealed and the olla 
 withdrawn, the corn-meal is thoroughly cooked now 
 pikami and the dish is both nutritious and delicious. 
 
 Pu-vii-lu is a corn-meal preparation that corresponds 
 somewhat to the New England doughnut. On one 
 occasion, just before the Snake Dance at Mashonganavi, 
 I found Ma-sa-wi-ni-ma, Kuchyeampsi's mother, busy 
 preparing the dish. When I induced her to come into 
 the sunshine to be photographed, stirring the meal, just 
 eight other kodak and camera fiends insisted upon 
 " shooting " her at the same time. She was very com- 
 placent about it, especially when I collected ten cents a 
 head for her, and handed her ninety cents for her five 
 minutes' pose. 
 
 Her method was as follows : Into a cha-ka-ta (bowl) 
 she placed corn-meal and a little coloring matter. Then 
 adding sugar and water, she stirred it with a stick, as 
 shown in the photograph. It was made to a thick 
 dough. In the meantime a pan of water, into which 
 mutton fat had been placed, was on the fire, and when it 
 was hot enough small balls of the corn-meal dough were 
 dropped into the water and fat and allowed to remain 
 until cooked. The result is a not unpleasant food, 
 of which the Hopis are very fond. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 79 
 
 One of the common dishes, when a sheep has been 
 killed, is the neii-euck'-que-vi, a stew composed of corn, 
 mutton, and chili. 
 
 So far the Hopis have not been a success as traders. 
 It is a slow and long journey from aboriginal life to 
 civilization. One of the young men who had been to 
 school, a bright youth of some twenty-three years, 
 Kuy-an-im'-ti-wa, was fired with a desire to trade with 
 his people on his own account. Permission was given 
 him by the agent to start a store. A small building was 
 speedily erected at the foot of the Mashonganavi mesa 
 and a stock of goods purchased. For a while things 
 went well. Then Kuyanimtiwa had to go away on 
 business, and an elderly uncle (I think it was) took 
 charge of the store in his absence. When the embryo 
 trader returned he found his shelves nearly empty, and 
 a lot of trash accumulated under his counter, which the 
 old man had taken " in trade." The credits of many 
 Hopis had been extended and enlarged without proper 
 consulting of Bradstreet's or Dun's, and blank ruin 
 stared poor Kuyanimtiwa in the face. I purchased 
 about eighty dollars' worth of baskets and " truck " from 
 him, for which, however, I was compelled to give him 
 my check. For long weeks, indeed months, the check 
 did .not come in, until I feared the poor fellow had lost 
 it. When I inquired I found it was in the hands of 
 the agent, being held as security until some disposal 
 was made of a suit between the old man and Kuyan- 
 imtiwa. It ultimately reached the bank, so I assume 
 the trouble was ended, but it will be some time, if what 
 he said has lasting force, before the young Hopi will 
 open store again with an untrained assistant. 
 
 In an earlier chapter I have shown that the women 
 
80 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 build and own the houses. In return the men knit the 
 stockings and weave the women's dresses and sashes. 
 With looms very similar to those described in the 
 chapter on " Navaho Blanketry," they make the dresses 
 we have seen the women wearing. In the days before 
 the Spaniards introduced sheep the Hopis grew cotton 
 quite extensively, dyed it with the simple but beautiful 
 and permanent dyes, and wove it into garments. 
 The blue of the dresses was originally obtained and 
 is yet by some from the seeds of the sunflower. 
 
 In several cases I have found blind men engaged in 
 knitting stockings. With needles of wood, long and slen- 
 der, their fingers busily moved as those of the old house- 
 wives used to do in my boyhood's days. One was an old 
 man, Tu-ki-i'-ma. He was " si-bo'-si " (blind), and ex- 
 pressed his thankfulness for the occupation. Another 
 poor old man, stone blind, was winding yarn into a ball. 
 He was squatted upon the ground, with the yarn around 
 his feet and knees. It was a pathetic sight to see the old 
 and forlorn creature anxious to make himself useful, 
 even though blind and aged. 
 
 There are a score of other interesting matters I should 
 enjoy referring to did space permit, but these must be 
 left for some future time. 
 
 That they are picturesque and interesting, and in some 
 of their ceremonies fascinating, there is no question. 
 They are religious (in their way), domestic, honest, 
 faithful, industrious, and chaste. But there is no denying 
 that many of them are dirty, really, indescribably filthy. 
 One of my old drivers, Franklin French, used to say 
 with a turn up of his nose : " I 'd rather associate with 
 a good skunk who was up in the skunk business than get 
 to leeward of a Moki town." Their sanitary accommo- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 81 
 
 dations are nil, and their habits accord with their ac- 
 commodations. Were it not for the fierce rays of the 
 sun and the strong winds that purify their elevated mesa- 
 tops, the accumulated evils would soon render habitation 
 impossible. Water being so scarce, they are not habit- 
 ually cleanly in person, as are some of the other peoples. 
 Hence the contempt with which many of the Navahoes 
 regard them. 
 
 Of course there are exceptions, where both houses 
 and individuals are as neat and clean as can be. Among 
 Hopis as well as among whites, it is not possible to 
 generalize too widely. 
 
82 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE HOPI 
 
 THE Hopi is essentially religious. As a ritualist 
 he has no superior on the face of the earth. 
 From the ceremonial standpoint the Hopi people are 
 the most religious nation known. From four to sixteen 
 days of every month are employed by one society or 
 another in the performance of secret religious rites, or 
 in public ceremonies, which, for want of a better name, 
 the whites call dances. So complex, indeed, is the 
 Hopi's religious life that we have no complete calendar 
 as yet of all the ceremonies that he feels called upon 
 to observe. Every act of his life from the cradle to the 
 grave has a religious side. Fear and the need for pro- 
 pitiation are the motive powers of his religious life, and 
 these, combined with his stanch conservatism, render 
 him a wonderfully fertile subject for study as to the 
 workings of the child mind of the human race. 
 
 With such a complex and vast religious system this 
 chapter can attempt no more than merely to outline or 
 suggest the thoughts upon which his religion is based, 
 and then, in brief, describe two or three of the most 
 important of his religious ceremonials. 
 
 I can do better than attempt a difficult matter, and 
 one that requires years of study, viz., to account for 
 the religious concepts of the Indian. I can urge the 
 reader to obtain Major J. W. Powell's " Lessons of 
 
GROUP OF HOPI MAIDENS AT SHUNGOPAVI. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 83 
 
 Folk-lore," which appeared in the American Anthropol- 
 ogist for January-March, 1900. In it he has written 
 a most fascinating account of the thought movements 
 of the Amerind ; and Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, in his 
 " Interpretation of Katchina Worship," has given a 
 clearer idea of Hopi religious belief than has ever before 
 been penned. 
 
 The Hopis themselves are not aware of the why and 
 wherefore of all they do. For centuries they have fol- 
 lowed " the ways of the old," until they are ultra con- 
 servatives, especially in matters pertaining to religion. 
 
 I have already referred to and described the kivas 
 or underground ceremonial chambers, where many of 
 their rites are performed. 
 
 Six objects closely connected with their worship 
 should be thoroughly understood, as such knowledge 
 will simplify a thousand and one things that will other- 
 wise appear mysterious to one who visits the Hopis for 
 the first time. These objects are the baho (prayer stick 
 or plume), the puhtabi (road marker), the tiponi, the 
 natchi, the shrine, and the katchina. 
 
 The baho is inseparably connected with all religious 
 ceremonies and prayers. Without it prayers would 
 be inefficacious. Generally, before every ceremony is 
 performed, a certain time is given to the making of 
 bahos. One form of baho is made of two sticks, painted 
 green with black points, one male and the other female, 
 tied together with a string made of native cotton, and 
 cut to a prescribed length. A small corn husk, shaped 
 like a funnel and holding a little prayer meal and honey, 
 is attached to the sticks at their place of union. Tied 
 to this husk is a short, four-stranded cotton string, on 
 the end of which are two small feathers. A turkey 
 
84 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 wing-feather and a sprig of two certain herbs are tied so 
 as to protrude above the butt ends of the sticks, and 
 the baho is complete. 
 
 Other bahos are made of flat pieces of board, any- 
 where from a foot to three feet in length, and two 
 inches or more wide, to which feathers and herbs are 
 attached. On the face of these figures of katchinas, 
 animals, reptiles, and natural objects, such as rain- 
 clouds, descending rain, corn, etc., are painted, every 
 object having a distinct and symbolic meaning. In other 
 cases the bahos are carved into the zigzag shape of the 
 lightning. The Soyal bahos are many and various. 
 Some are long, thin sticks, with cotton strings and feathers 
 attached near the ends ; others are thicker, with many 
 feathers tied to the centre; some are bent or crook- 
 shaped, while still others are long willow switches to 
 which eagle, hawk, turkey, flicker, and other feathers 
 are tied. They are made with great care and solemnity 
 and prayed over and " consecrated " before being used. 
 They are " prayer bearers," the feathers symbolizing 
 the birds who used to fly to and from the World of the 
 Powers with their messages to mankind and the answers 
 thereto. 
 
 The puhtabi (or road marker) is a long piece of 
 native cotton string, to which a feather or feathers are 
 attached, and it is placed on the trails to mark the be- 
 ginning of the road (hence its name) to the shrines 
 which are to be visited during the ceremonies. 
 
 The tiponi is to the Hopi what the cross is to the 
 devout Catholic. No altar is complete without it. 
 Altars are often set up with a substitute for a tiponi, 
 but all recognize its insufficiency. Tiponis vary, that 
 of the Antelope Society being a bunch of long feathers 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 85 
 
 (see the photograph in the chapter on the " Snake 
 Dance"), while that of the Soyal ceremony is of a 
 quartz crystal inserted into a cylindrical-shaped vessel 
 of cottonwood root. 
 
 In the Lelentu and Lalakonti ceremonies part of the 
 rites consist in an unwrapping of the tiponis. In both 
 of them either kernels of corn or other seeds formed 
 essential parts. Dr. Fewkes says : " From chiefs of 
 other societies it has been learned that their tiponis 
 likewise contained corn, either in grains or on the ear. 
 Although from this information one is not justified in 
 concluding that all tiponis contain corn, it is probably 
 true with one or two exceptions. The tiponi is called 
 the " mother," and an ear of corn given to a novice has 
 the same name. There is nothing more precious to an 
 agricultural people than seed, and we may well imagine 
 that during the early Hopi migrations the danger of 
 losing it may have led to every precaution for its safety. 
 Thus it may have happened that it was wrapped in the 
 tiponi and given to the chief to guard with all care as 
 a most precious heritage. In this manner it became 
 a mere symbol, and as such it persists to-day." 
 
 Whenever ceremonies are about to take place in the 
 kivas the chief priest puts in place on the ladder-poles 
 or near the hatchway of each participating kiva a sign 
 of the fact, called the natchi. This I have later de- 
 scribed on the Snake and Antelope kivas. At the 
 Soyal ceremony on the Kwan (Agave) kiva, the natchi 
 consisted of a bent stick, to which were fastened six 
 feathers, representing the Hopi six world-quarters. For 
 the north, a yellow feather of the flycatcher or warbler ; 
 for the west, a blue feather of the bluebird; for the 
 south, a red feather of the parrot; for the east, a black- 
 
86 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 and-white feather of the magpie; for the northeast 
 (above), a black feather of the hepatic tanager ; and for 
 the southwest (below), a feather from an unknown source 
 and called toposhkwa y representing different colors. 
 
 The natchis of two of the kivas in the New Fire 
 ceremony held in Walpi in 1898 were sticks, about a 
 foot long, to the ends of which bundles of hawk feathers 
 were attached. At another kiva it was an agave stalk, 
 at one end of which were attached several crane feathers 
 and a circlet of corn husks. A natchi used later by 
 another society consisted of a cap-shaped object of 
 basketry, to which were attached two small whitened 
 gourds in imitation of horns. 
 
 That the natchi is more than a sign of warning to 
 outsiders to keep away from the secret rites of the kiva 
 is evidenced by the variety of materials used; and, 
 indeed, the things themselves are now known to be 
 symbols, to some of which Mr. Voth has learned the 
 key. For instance, on the natchi of the Snake and 
 Antelope Societies, the skins of the piwani which is 
 supposed to be the weasel are attached. The Hopis 
 say of the animal to whom the skin belongs that when 
 chased into a hole, he works his way through the 
 ground so quickly that he escapes and " gets out " at 
 some other place. Now see the ceremonial signifi- 
 cance of the use of this weasel's skin on the Snake 
 natchi. They are supposed to affect the clouds and com- 
 pel them to " come out," so that rain will come quickly. 
 
 Near all the villages, or on the terraces below, a 
 number of shrines may be found where certain of the 
 " Powers " are worshipped. In the account of the Snake 
 Dance I speak of the shrine of the Spider Woman, and 
 show the photograph made when I followed Tubang- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 87 
 
 ointiwa (the Antelope chief), and watched him deposit 
 bahos and offer prayers to her. The number of shrines 
 is large. I have seen many, but there is not space 
 here to describe them. It is an interesting occupation, 
 during the ceremonies, to follow the priests, after they 
 have deposited the puhtabi and begun to sprinkle the 
 sacred meal, to the shrines. If the observer can then 
 have explained to him the deity to whom the shrine is 
 dedicated, and his or her place in the Hopi pantheon, 
 his knowledge of Hopi worship will be considerably 
 increased. 
 
 Of katchinas much might be written. They are 
 ancient ancestral representatives of certain Hopi clans 
 who, as spirits of the dead, are endowed with powers 
 to aid the living members of the clan in material ways. 
 The clans, therefore, pray to them that these material 
 blessings may be given. " It is an almost universal 
 idea of primitive man," says Fewkes, " that prayers 
 should be addressed to personations of the beings 
 worshipped. In the carrying out of this conception 
 men personate the katchinas, wearing masks and dress- 
 ing in the costumes characteristic of these beings. These 
 personations represent to the Hopi mind their idea of 
 the appearance of these katchinas or clan ancients. 
 The spirit beings represented in these personations 
 appear at certain times in the pueblo, dancing before 
 spectators, receiving prayer for needed blessings, as 
 rain and good crops." 
 
 The katchinas are supposed to come to the earth 
 from the underworld in February and remain until July, 
 when they say farewell. Hence there are two specific 
 times which dramatically celebrate the arrival and 
 departure of the katchinas. The former of these times 
 
88 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 is called by the Hopi Powamti, and the latter Niman. 
 At these festivals, or merry dances, certain members 
 of the participating clans wear masks representing 
 the katchinas, hence katchina masks are often to 
 be found in Hopi houses when one is privileged to 
 see the treasures stored away. In order to instruct 
 the children in the many katchinas of the Hopi pan- 
 theon, tih&s, or dolls, are made in imitation of the 
 ancestral supernal beings, and these quaint and curious 
 toys are eagerly sought after by those interested in 
 Indian life and thought. Dr. Fewkes has in his private 
 collection over two hundred and fifty different katchina 
 tihus, and in the Field Columbian Museum there is an 
 even larger collection. 
 
 Of the altars, screens, fetishes, cloud-blowers, cere- 
 monial pipes, bull-roarers, etc., I have not space here 
 to write. Suffice it to say they have a large place in 
 the Hopi's ritual and all should be carefully studied. 
 
 When I first began to visit the Hopis my camps were 
 generally at the foot of the trail, as near to water as 
 possible. Every morning at a very early hour I was 
 awakened by a loud ringing of cowbells, and at first 
 I thought it must be that the Hopis had a herd of 
 cows and they were driving them out to pasture. They 
 were evidently going at a good speed, for the bells 
 clanged and clattered and jangled as if being fiercely 
 shaken. But when I looked for the cows they were 
 never to be seen. Then, too, as on succeeding morn- 
 ings I listened I found the animals must be driven very 
 hastily, for the sound moved with great rapidity towards, 
 past, away from me. 
 
 One morning I determined to get up and watch as 
 soon as I heard the noise approaching. It was just 
 
HOPI WOMAN WEAVING BASKET, HER HUSBAND KNITTING STOCKINGS. 
 
 HOPI WOMAN PREPARING CORN MEAL FOR MAKING DOUGHNUTS. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 89 
 
 as the earliest premonitions of dawn were being given 
 that I was awakened, and, hurriedly jumping up, stood 
 on my blankets and watched. Soon one, two, four, and 
 more figures darted by in the dim light, each carrying 
 a jangling cowbell, and to my amazement I found they 
 were not cows, but Hopi young men, naked except 
 for a strap or girdle around the loins, from which hung 
 the bell, resting upon the haunch. They were out for 
 their morning run, and it was not merely a physical 
 exercise, but had a distinct religious meaning to them. 
 As I have elsewhere written : 
 
 "The Hopi has lived for many centuries among the 
 harsh conditions of the desert land. Everything is 
 wrested from nature. Nothing is given freely, as in 
 such a land as southern California for instance. Water 
 is scarce and has to be caught in the valley and carried 
 with heavy labor to the mesa summit. The soil is 
 sandy and not very productive unless every particle of 
 seed corn is watered by irrigation. Firewood is far 
 away and must be cut and brought to their mesa homes 
 with labor. Wild grass seeds must be sought where 
 grass abounds, perhaps scores of miles away, and car- 
 ried home. Pinion nuts can only be gathered in the 
 pinion forests afar off, and to gain mescal the pits must 
 be dug and the fibres cooked deep down in the myste- 
 rious recesses of the Grand Canyon. The deer and 
 antelope are swift, and can only be caught for food by 
 those who are stout of limb, powerful of lung, and crafty 
 of mind. Hence in the very necessities of their lives 
 they have found the use for physical development. 
 And this imperative physical need soon graduated into 
 a spiritual one. And the steps or processes of reasoning 
 by which the chief motive is transferred from the physi- 
 
9 o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 cal to the spiritual are readily traceable. Of course, 
 they are a ' chosen people/ ' Those Above ' have given 
 especial favors to them. They must be a credit to 
 those Powers who have thus favored them. This im- 
 plies a steady cultivation of their muscular powers. 
 Not to be strong is to be a bad Hopi, and to be a bad 
 Hopi is to court the disfavor of the gods. Hence the 
 shamans or priests urge the religious necessity of being 
 swift and strong." 
 
 Nor is this all. In days gone by they were sur- 
 rounded by predatory foes. Physical endurance was 
 an essential condition of national preservation. With- 
 out it they would long ago have been starved or hunted 
 out of existence. The gods called upon them to pre- 
 serve their national life, to live by cultivation of endur- 
 ance, hence the imposition of physical tasks as a 
 religious exercise. 
 
 And these morning runs of the young men were of 
 ten, twenty, and even more miles, taken without any 
 other food than a few grains of parched corn. 
 
 It is no uncommon thing for an Oraibi or Mashonga- 
 navi to run from his home to Moenkopi, a distance of 
 forty miles, over the hot blazing sands of a real Ameri- 
 can Sahara, there hoe his corn-field, and return to his 
 home, within twenty-four hours. The accompanying 
 photograph of an old man who had made this eighty- 
 mile run was made the morning after his return, and he 
 showed not the slightest trace of fatigue. 
 
 For a dollar I have several times engaged a young 
 man to take a message from Oraibi to Ream's Canyon, 
 a distance of seventy-two miles, and he has run on foot 
 the whole distance, delivered his message, and brought 
 me an answer within thirty-six hours. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 91 
 
 One Oraibi, Ku-wa-wen-ti-wa, ran from Oraibi to 
 Moenkopi, thence to Walpi, and back to Oraibi, a dis- 
 tance of over ninety miles, in one day. 
 
 When I was a lad I got the impression somehow that 
 Indians made fire by rubbing two sticks together. 
 Once or twice I tried it. I got two sticks, perfectly dry, 
 and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed. But the more I 
 rubbed, the cooler the sticks seemed to get. I got hot, 
 but that had no effect on the sticks. 
 
 Later in life, when I began to make my journeys of 
 exploration in the wilds of Nevada, California, Arizona, 
 and New Mexico, and I sometimes needed a fire, and 
 did n't have a single match left, I tried it again ; this 
 time not as an experiment, but as a serious proposition. 
 My rubbing of the two sticks, however, never availed 
 me a particle. I might as well have saved my strength 
 for sawing wood. Yet the Indians do get fire by the 
 rubbing of two sticks together, and the occasion of their 
 doing it is one of the greatest and most wonderful of 
 the religious ceremonies of the Hopis. Dr. Fewkes has 
 written for the scientific world a full account of it, and 
 from that account I condense the following. 
 
 Few white men have ever seen the ceremony, and did 
 they do so and tell the whole of what they saw they 
 would not be believed. 
 
 Four societies of priests conduct the elaborate rite at 
 Walpi. It is not held at Sichumavi or Hano, but is 
 conducted at Oraibi and the three villages of the middle 
 mesa. " The public dances are conducted mainly by 
 two of the societies, whose actions are of a phallic nature. 
 These two act as chorus in the kiva when the fire is 
 made, but the sacred flame is kindled by the latter two 
 societies For several days before the ceremony began, 
 
92 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 large quantities of wood were piled near the kiva 
 hatches, and after the rites began, this fuel was carried 
 down into the rooms and continually fed to the flames 
 of the new fire by an old man, who never left his task. 
 The flames of the new fire were regarded with reverence ; 
 no one was allowed to light a cigarette from it or 
 otherwise profane it." 
 
 On the first day the chiefs assembled for their ceremo- 
 nial smoke, and the next day at early dawn one of them 
 went to the narrow portion of the mesa between Walpi 
 and Sichumavi and laid on the trail one of the puhtabi, 
 or long strings, elsewhere described, sprinkling a little 
 meal and casting a pinch toward the place of sunrise. 
 At the same time he said a prayer: " Our Sun, send us 
 rain." Just as the sun appeared he " cried " the an- 
 nouncement, of which Dr. Fewkes gives the free 
 translation : 
 
 " All people awake, open your eyes, arise ! 
 
 Become Talahoya (Child of Light), vigorous, active, sprightly. 
 
 Hasten, Clouds, from the four world quarters. 
 
 Come, Snow, in plenty, that water may be abundant when sum- 
 mer comes. 
 
 Come, Ice, and cover the fields, that after planting they may yield 
 abundantly. 
 
 Let all hearts be glad. 
 
 The Wiiwutchimtu will assemble in four days. 
 
 They will encircle the villages, dancing and singing their lays. 
 
 Let the women be ready to pour water upon them, 
 
 That moisture may come in abundance and all shall rejoice." 
 
 Four days later, with elaborate preparation and care- 
 fully observed ritual the new fire was made. About 
 a hundred participants were present. When all were 
 ready the fire-board was held in position by two 
 kneeling men, while two others manipulated the fire 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 93 
 
 drill. The singing chief then gave the signal and 
 two societies started a song, each with different words 
 and yet in unison, accompanied by clanging of bells and 
 rattling of tortoise shells and deer hoofs. The holes 
 of the fire-board and stones were sprinkled with corn 
 pollen. The spindle or fire drill was held vertically 
 between the palms, and in rotating it the top was 
 pressed downward. Smoke was produced in twenty 
 seconds and a spark of fire in about a minute. The 
 spark smudged cedar-bark, which was put in place to 
 catch it, and then the driller blew it into a flame. This 
 flame was then carried to a pile of greasewood placed in 
 the fireplace, and as the wood blazed to the ceiling the 
 song ceased. Prayer was then offered by one of the 
 chief priests of one of the societies and ceremonial 
 offerings sprinkled into the fire. This priest was fol- 
 lowed by one from each of the other societies and by 
 individual worshippers. 
 
 They then, in procession, paid a ceremonial visit to 
 the shrine of the Goddess of Germs, which is among 
 the rocks at the southwestern point of the mesa. It is 
 made of flat stones set on edge, opened above and on 
 one side, and consists of a fetish of petrified wood. 
 
 Then followed a complex series of ceremonies that 
 merely to outline would require several pages. Some 
 of them are public dances, others dramatic representa- 
 tions in a crude fashion of what the legends of the 
 Hopis say are certain events which transpired in the 
 underworld, and a most important one is the disposal 
 of the sacred embers of the new fire. 
 
 There are few ceremonies in the world that equal in 
 solemnity and interest, and that are more charming, than 
 those performed by the parents and other relatives when 
 
94 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 a Hopi baby comes into the world. There are religion, 
 affection, sentiment, and poetry embraced in what we 
 the superior people would undoubtedly term the 
 superstitious rites of these simple-hearted people. One 
 reason for the fervor of this rite is the genuine welcome 
 every Hopi mother, and father accord to their baby 
 when it is born. It is " good form " among them to be 
 proud of the birth of their children. No married woman 
 is happy unless she has a " quiver full " of children, and 
 one of her constant prayers before her marriage is that 
 she may be thus blessed. 
 
 So when the child comes there is great rejoicing. It 
 is immediately rubbed all over with ashes to keep the 
 hair from growing on the body; or that, at least, is the 
 reason the Hopi mother gives for allowing her little one 
 to be scrubbed all over with the ashes. 
 
 Then it is wrapped up in a cotton blanket of the 
 mother's own weaving, for Hopi women, and men also, 
 are great experts in growing, spinning, and weaving 
 cotton. Now it is ready for the cradle. This is either 
 a piece of board or a flat piece of woven wicker- 
 work about two and a half feet long and a foot wide. 
 There is also fixed at the upper end two or three twigs 
 arranged in a kind of bow, so that a piece of cloth thrown 
 over them forms an awning to protect the face of the 
 child from the sun. When this bow is not in use it can 
 be slipped over to the back of the cradle. Strapped in 
 this queer cradle, the baby is either stretched out upon 
 the ground to go to sleep, covered over with a blanket, 
 or reared up against the wall. But if your eyes were 
 keen you would see by its side a beautiful white 
 ear of corn. And if you saw it and knew the Hopi 
 mother's ways and her thoughts, you would find that the 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 95 
 
 reason for putting the corn there was this : she believes 
 that the corn represents one of her most powerful gods 
 on the earth, and that if this god is made to feel kindly 
 towards the new-born child he will send it good health 
 and strength and skill in hunting and everything else 
 that she desires for her loved baby. So, you see, it is 
 mother love, combined with a singular superstition, that 
 makes the Hopi mother place the ear of corn by the 
 side of her sleeping child. 
 
 When the baby is twenty days old it is shall I say? 
 baptized. You can hardly call it this, but, anyhow, 
 it answers the same thing as baptism does with us. 
 About sunset the child's godmother arrives. She is 
 generally the grandmother or aunt on the father's side. 
 Just as the first streaks of light begin to come in the 
 early morning the ceremony begins. After washing the 
 mother's head and legs and feet, the baby's turn comes. 
 The house is full of relatives and friends to watch and 
 bring good fortune to the little one. A bowl of suds is 
 made by beating the soapweed until the water is covered 
 with beautiful lather. Then the godmother takes an ear 
 of corn, dips it into the suds, and touches the baby's 
 head with it. This she does four times. Then she 
 washes the baby's head very carefully and thoroughly 
 in the suds. But the washing would be of no good 
 unless all the baby's female relatives on the father's side 
 were to dip their ears of corn into the suds and touch 
 its head with them four times, just as the godmother 
 did. Now the baby is washed all over, and then 
 strange to say the godmother fills her mouth full of 
 warm water, and, balancing the baby on one hand, she 
 squirts the water from her mouth all over the little one. 
 To dry it, she holds it before the fire, and when it is 
 
96 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 quite dry she rubs it with white corn-meal, wraps it in a 
 blanket, and passes it over to the mother, who is seated 
 near to the fire. Just before her are two baskets full 
 of corn-meal, one coarsely and one finely ground. 
 Taking an old blanket, the godmother spreads it over 
 the mother's lap, the baby is placed on it, then she takes 
 a little of the fine meal and rubs it on the face, arms, and 
 neck of the mother, and also upon the face of the child. 
 Then with the ear of corn in her hand, and slowly and 
 regularly moving it up and down, she prays first over 
 the mother, then over the baby. I have heard several 
 of these prayers. Here is one of them : " Ho-ko-na 
 (butterfly), I ask for you that you live to be old, that 
 you may never be sick, that you may have good corn 
 and all good things. And now I name you Ho-ko-na " 
 (or whatever the name is to be). 
 
 Then every woman and girl of the father's relatives 
 does just the same and prays the same kind of prayer; 
 but singular to us is the fact that each one gives the 
 child any name she prefers. As each one finishes her 
 prayer, she gives her ear of corn and some sacred meal 
 she has brought with her to the mother, who invariably 
 responds with the Hopi " Thank you ! " " Es-kwa-li." 
 
 Nobody knows at the time which name the baby will 
 have, as he or she grows up. That is left to chance to 
 determine generally the preference of the mother. 
 
 Now the baby is put in its cradle, with some of the 
 ears of corn presented to the mother placed under the 
 lacing on the breast of the little one, and it is ready to 
 be dedicated to the sun. After sweeping the floor, the 
 godmother sprinkles a line of meal about two inches 
 wide from the cradle to the door, and the mother does 
 the same thing. 
 
HOPI "BOOMERANGS." 
 
 In the collection of George Wharton Jamei. 
 
 HOPI CEREMONIAL DRUMS. 
 
 In the collection of George Wharton James, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 97 
 
 Out of doors the father is anxiously watching for the 
 first direct light of the sun, and the moment it appears 
 above the horizon he gives the signal. Immediately the 
 godmother picks up the cradle, so that the baby's head 
 is towards the door, and near to the floor, carries it over 
 the line of sacred meal, the mother following. Each 
 has a handful of meal. At the door they stand side by 
 side. The godmother removes the blanket from the 
 baby's face, holds the sacred meal to her mouth, says 
 a short prayer, and then sprinkles the meal towards the 
 sun, and then the mother does the same ; and, after 
 ceremonially feeding the baby, all joining in the feast, 
 the ceremony is at an end. 
 
 Another most beautiful ceremony of the Hopis is that 
 which alternates with the Snake Dance, viz., the Lelentu, 
 or Flute Dance. I have had the pleasure of witnessing 
 it several times, and last year (1901) was one of five 
 white persons present. To me this meant walking a 
 weary thirteen miles over the hot sands of the Painted 
 Desert, carrying a camera weighing about fifty pounds 
 on my back. But the beauty and charm of the cere- 
 mony and the satisfaction of obtaining the photographs 
 of it more than repaid me for the hot and exhausting 
 walk. 
 
 After the secret kiva ceremonies (rites in the under- 
 ground chambers of the fraternity of the Flute) the first 
 public rites of the day took place at a spring near the 
 home of Lolulomai, the chief of the Oraibi pueblo, and 
 about five miles west of the town. Here is one of the 
 pitiful springs upon which the people depend for their 
 meagre supply of water. Just before noon men, women, 
 and girls might have been seen wending their way from 
 the village on the mesa height, down the steep trails, 
 
 7 
 
98 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 over the sandy way trodden for centuries by their fore- 
 fathers, towards the location of the spring. 
 
 Every face was as serious and wore as grave and 
 earnest an expression as that of a novice about to be 
 confirmed in her holiest vows. Arrived at the spring, 
 an eminence just above it to the southwest was the 
 chosen site for the preliminaries. Here an hour or 
 more was spent in prayers, sprinkling of meal before 
 and upon the altar, and the painting of the symbols of 
 the clan upon the participants. 
 
 Other priests during the whole time were on their 
 knees or in other postures of reverence, praying, sing- 
 ing, or chanting, and sprinkling the sacred meal on or 
 before the altar. A large number of bahos, or prayer 
 sticks and plumes, were used. 
 
 At this time the chief priest left the hillside and 
 solemnly marched down to the spring. It is circular in 
 shape, and with a rude wall built around it. At the 
 opening in the circle three small gourd vessels were 
 placed, two of which held sacred water from some far- 
 away spring, and the other was full of honey. A singu- 
 lar thing occurred about the filling of this honey jar. A 
 nest of bees had located in the wall of the spring, and 
 the chief priest, taking it for granted that this was a 
 good sign, had the nest dug out and the honey ex- 
 tracted from the comb, for his sacred purposes. After 
 he had prayed for a while the priests and women from 
 above marched down, all except the flute players. As 
 they stood around the spring they sang and prayed, 
 while the chief priest stepped into the water, bowing his 
 face down over it, and waving his tiponi in and through 
 it. Soon it was a filthy, muddy mess, instead of a water 
 spring, and when it seemed mixed up enough he began 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 99 
 
 to dip his face deep into it, while the men and women 
 around continued their singing and worship. 
 
 Then he came forth, and now began a most beautiful 
 processional march around the spring, in time to the 
 weird playing of the priests above. After three times 
 circling around, the group stood, facing the west, and 
 at certain signals sprinkled large handfuls of sacred 
 meal in the direction of the water. This was followed 
 by a most profuse scattering of bahos in the same man- 
 ner. Literally hundreds of them were thus thrown, and 
 I gathered (after the celebrants were gone) scores of 
 them for my collection. The bahos used on this occa- 
 sion were mere downy feathers to which cotton strings 
 were attached. The effect as the meal and the feathers 
 were thrown was remarkably beautiful, and the scene 
 was most impressive ; none the less so for its strangeness 
 and peculiarity. 
 
 These concluded the ceremonies at this spring. In 
 the meantime the chief priest had gone to his house 
 over the hill, and from there had started out a group of 
 young men who were to race to the spring near the 
 mesa four miles away. It was a scorching hot day 
 as I had found out in my own walk and yet these 
 young men bounded over the sandy trail like hunted 
 deer. It was a glorious sight to witness them. Ten or 
 a dozen athletic youths, clad scantily, their bronzed 
 figures in perfect proportion, revealing their strength 
 and power, their long black hair waving out behind 
 them, darting off like strings from a bow across the 
 desert. 
 
 Slowly we followed them, and when we arrived at the 
 other spring found they had long ago passed it, and 
 the victor had received his reward. 
 
ioo THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Similar ceremonies were gone through at the near-by 
 spring as at the one farther away, and when they were 
 completed the whole party formed in procession, and 
 as solemnly as if it were a funeral march proceeded 
 up the steep trail to the village and there repeated some 
 of the ceremonies already described. 
 
 The purport of all this it is comparatively easy to 
 understand. The Snake Dance is a prayer for rain, 
 which, according to the Hopi's ideas, is stored in vast 
 reservoirs in the heavens. He also believes that there 
 are vast water supplies under the earth, and so, every 
 other year, he petitions the powers that govern and con- 
 trol these subterranean reservoirs to loosen the waters 
 and let them flow forth into the springs. 
 
 In one of the dances of the Navaho they symbolize 
 the water from above and the water from below by link- 
 ing the first fingers together. This gives us the Greek 
 fret, and when this symbol is copied in their basketry, 
 we see this classic design, purely the result of imitation, 
 and having as clear a meaning to the Indian mind as the 
 cross has to the Christian. 
 
 Reluctantly I am compelled to omit a brief account 
 of the Basket Dance, which, however, I have partially 
 described in my book on "Indian Basketry." 
 
 The Hopis have very clear and distinct conceptions 
 of a spirit life beyond the grave. It is not the " happy 
 hunting-ground," though, to which the general ideas of 
 the whites consign them. Theirs is a world of spirits, 
 with some advantages over the world of human beings, 
 but where life is very similar to what it was on earth. 
 There is neither punishment awarded for wrong done on 
 earth, nor reward for good living. It is simply a con- 
 tinuation of previous existences. When a child is born 
 

PAINTED DESERT REGION 101 
 
 the spirit is supposed to come from the underworld 
 through an opening in the earth's crust called Shi-pd-pu, 
 and when the grown man dies his spirit returns thither. 
 His body is buried in a cleft of the rocks on the mesa 
 side, a mile or so away from the village. The body is 
 wrapped up and placed in the rocky grave, and then 
 covered with loose rocks. Food and drink are placed on 
 the grave, so that when the spirit ascends from the body 
 and begins its long journey to Shi-pd-pu and thence 
 to the underworld, it may have food wherewith to gain 
 strength. The curious visitor will also notice the baho 
 which is thrust between the rocks until it touches the 
 body. Another baho touching this upright one is placed 
 on the grave pointing toward the southwest. These 
 bahos are especially prepared by the shaman, or " medi- 
 cine man," and are for the purpose of guiding the spirit 
 as it leaves the body. If no baho were there, the spirit 
 might grope in darkness, trying to force its way down ; 
 but, being directed by the prayers of the shaman, the 
 disembodied spirit immediately realizes the guiding 
 power of the baho, and, following it, readies the com- 
 panion baho pointing to the southwest, the direction it 
 must travel to reach the entrance to the underworld. 
 This entrance to the underworld was long thought to 
 be in the San Francisco Mountains near Flagstaff. But 
 Dr. Fewkes explains this to be an error. The Shi-pd-pu 
 is, to the Hopi, the " sun-house or place of sunset at the 
 winter solstice. As seen from Walpi, the entrance to 
 the sun-house is indicated by a notch on the horizon 
 situated between the San Francisco range and the 
 Eldon mesa," hence the conception that the entrance 
 to the underworld was in that exact location. 
 
102 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 THE HOPI SNAKE DANCE 
 
 WHILE perhaps no more important than others of 
 the many ceremonies of the Hopis, the Snake 
 Dance is by far the widest known and most exciting 
 and thrilling to the spectator. There have been many 
 accounts of it written, yet no less an authority than Dr. 
 Jesse Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution 
 asserts that the major portion of them are not worth the 
 paper they are written on. Inaccurate in outline, faulty 
 in detail, they utterly fail, in the most part, to grasp the 
 deep importance of the ceremony to the religious Hopis. 
 It is commonly described as a wild, chaotic, yelling, 
 shouting, pagan dance, instead of the solemn dignified 
 rite it is. From various articles of my own written at 
 different times I mainly extract the following account 
 and explanations. 
 
 This dance alternates in each village with the Lelentu, 
 or Flute ceremony, so that, if the visitor goes on suc- 
 cessive years to the same village, he will see one year 
 the Snake Dance and on the following year the Lelentu. 
 But if he alternates his visits to the different villages he 
 may see the Snake Dance every year, and, as the cere- 
 monies are not all held simultaneously, he may witness 
 the open-air portion of the ceremony, which is the Snake 
 Dance proper, three times on the even years and twice on 
 the odd years. For instance, in the year 1905 it will 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 103 
 
 occur at Walpi and Mashonganavi ; and in 1906 at Oraibi, 
 Shipauluvi, and Shungopavi. 
 
 The Hopis are keen observers of all celestial and ter- 
 restrial phenomena, and, as soon as the month of 
 August draws near, the Snake and Antelope fraternities 
 meet in joint session to determine, by the meteorologi- 
 cal signs with which they are familiar, the date upon 
 which the ceremonies shall begin. 
 
 This decided, the public crier is called upon to make 
 the announcement to the whole people. Standing on 
 the house-top, in a peculiarly monotonous and yet jerky 
 shout he announces the time when the elders have 
 decided the rites shall commence. Sometimes, as at 
 Walpi, this announcement is made sixteen days before 
 the active ceremonies begin, the latter, in all the villages, 
 lasting nine days and terminating in the popularly 
 known open-air dance, after which four days of feasting 
 and frolic are indulged in, thus making, in all, twenty 
 days devoted to the observance. 
 
 For all practical purposes, however, nine days cover 
 all the ceremonies connected with it. 
 
 At Walpi, on the first of the nine days, the first cere- 
 mony consists of the " setting up " of the Antelope altar. 
 This is an interesting spectacle to witness, as at Walpi 
 the altar is more elaborate and complex than in any other 
 village. It consists, for the greater part, of a mosaic 
 made of different colored sands, in the use of which 
 some of the Hopis are very dexterous. These sands are 
 sprinkled on the floor. First a border is made of several 
 parallel rows or lines of different colors. Within this 
 border clouds are represented, below which four zigzag 
 lines are made. These lines figure the lightning, which 
 is the symbol of the Antelope fraternity. Two of these 
 
104 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 zigzags are male, and two female, for all things, even 
 inanimate, have sex among this strange people. In the 
 place of honor, on the edge of the altar, is placed the 
 " tiponi," or palladium of the fraternity. This consists 
 of a bunch of feathers, fastened at the bottom with 
 cotton strings to a round piece of cottonwood. Corn 
 stalks, placed in earthenware jars, are also to be seen, 
 and then the whole of the remaining three sides of the 
 altar are surrounded by crooks, to which feathers are 
 attached, and bahos, or prayer sticks. It was with 
 trepidation I dared to take my camera into the mystic 
 depths of the Antelope kiva. I had guessed at focus 
 for the altar, and when I placed the camera against the 
 wall, pointed toward the sacred place, the Antelope 
 priests bid me remove it immediately. I begged to 
 have it remain so long as I stayed, but was compelled 
 to promise I would not place my head under the black 
 cloth and look at the altar. This I readily promised, 
 but at the first opportunity when no one was between 
 the lens and the altar, I quietly removed the cap from 
 the lens, marched away and sat down with one of the 
 priests, while the dim light performed its wonderful 
 work on the sensitive plate. A fine photograph was the 
 result. 
 
 The ceremonies of the Antelope kiva for the succeed- 
 ing days consist of the making of bahos, or prayer sticks, 
 ceremonial smoking, praying, and singing. But the 
 profound ritualistic importance attached to every act 
 can scarcely be estimated by those who have not per- 
 sonally seen the ceremonies. The prayer sticks are 
 prayed over and consecrated at every step in their 
 manufacture, and the altar is prayed over and blessed 
 each day. Every object used is consecrated with 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 105 
 
 elaborate ritual, and the great smoke is made by each 
 one solemnly participating in the smoking of dmowtih 
 (the sacred pipe). The smoke from this pipe soon fills 
 the chamber with its pleasant fragrance (the tobacco 
 used being a weed native to the Hopi region), and it is 
 supposed to ascend to the heavens and thus provoke 
 the descent of the rain. 
 
 The songs are sung to the accompaniment of rattling 
 by the priests, and each day the whole of the sixteen 
 songs are rendered. 
 
 During the singing of one day one of the priests 
 strikes the floor with a blunt instrument, and Wiki, the 
 chief priest, explained this as the sending of a mystic 
 message to a member of the Snake-Antelope fraternity at 
 far-away Acoma, telling him that the ceremonies were 
 now in progress and asking him to come. Strange to 
 say, eight days later, certain Acomas did come, thus 
 giving color to the assertion of the Hopi fraternities that 
 the Snake Dance once used to be performed on the 
 glorious penyol height of Acoma, as was briefly stated 
 by Espejo. 
 
 It is in the Snake kiva that the snake charm liquid is 
 made. In the centre of a special altar a basket made 
 by a Havasupai Indian is placed. In this are dropped 
 some shells, charms, and a few pieces of crushed nuts 
 and sticks. Then one of the priests, with considerable 
 ritual, pours into the basket from north, west, south, 
 east, up and down (the six cardinal points of the Hopi), 
 liquid from a gourd vessel. By this time all the priests 
 are squatted around the basket, chewing something that 
 one of the older priests had given them. This chewed 
 substance is then placed in the liquid of the basket 
 Water from gourds on the roof is also put in. 
 
io6 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Then all is ready for the preparation of the charm. 
 Each priest holds in his hand the snake whip (a stick to 
 which eagle feathers are attached), while the ceremonial 
 pipe-lighter, after lighting the sacred pipe, hands it to the 
 chief priest, addressing him in terms of relationship. 
 Smoking it in silence, the chief puffs the smoke into the 
 liquid and hands it to his neighbor, who does the like and 
 passes it on. All thus participate in solemn silence. 
 
 Then the chief priest picks up his rattle and begins a 
 prayer which is as fervent as one could desire. Shaking 
 the rattle, all the priests commence to sing a weird song 
 in rapid time, while one of them holds upright in the 
 middle of the basket a black stick, on the top of which 
 is tied a feather. Moving their snake whips to and fro, 
 they sing four songs, when one of the chiefs picks up all 
 the objects on the altar and places them in the basket. 
 
 In a moment the kiva rings with the fierce yells of the 
 Hopi war-cry, while the priest vigorously stirs the 
 mixture in the basket. And the rapid song is sung 
 while the priest stirs and kneads the contents of the 
 basket with his hands. Sacred meal is cast into the 
 mixture, while the song sinks to low tones, and gradually 
 dies away altogether, though the quiet shaking of the 
 rattles and gentle tremor of the snake whips continue 
 for a short time. 
 
 Then there is a most painful silence. The hush is 
 intense, the stillness perfect. It is broken by the prayer 
 of the chief priest, who sprinkles more sacred meal into 
 the mixture. Others do the same. The liquid is again 
 stirred, and then sprinkled to all the cardinal points, and 
 the same is done in the air outside, above the kiva. 
 
 Then the stirring priest takes some white earth, and 
 mixing it with the charm liquid, makes white paint 
 
THE CHIEF ANTELOPE PRIEST DEPOSITING PAHOS AT THE SHRINE OF 
 THE SPIDER WOMAN. 
 
 THROWING THE SNAKES INTO THE CIRCLE OF SACRED MEAL. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 107 
 
 which he rubs upon the breast, back, cheeks, forearms, 
 and legs of the chief priest. All the other priests are 
 then likewise painted. 
 
 Now there is nothing whatever in this liquid that can 
 either charm a snake or preserve an Indian from the 
 deadly nature of its bite. Even the Hopis know that all 
 its virtue is communicated in the ceremonies I have so 
 imperfectly and inadequately described. I make this 
 explanation lest my reader assume that there is some 
 subtle poison used in this mixture, which, if given to the 
 snakes, stupefies them and renders them unable to do 
 injury. 
 
 The singing of the sixteen songs referred to is a most 
 solemn affair. Snake and Antelope priests meet in the 
 kiva of the latter. The chief priests take their places 
 at the head of the altar, and the others line up on either 
 side, the Snake priests to the left, the Antelope to the 
 right Kneeling on one knee, the two rows of men, 
 with naked bodies, solemn faces, bowed heads, no voice 
 speaking above a whisper, demand respect for their 
 earnestness and evident sincerity. To one unacquainted 
 with their language and the meaning of the songs, the 
 weird spectacle of all these nude priests, kneeling and 
 solemnly chanting in a sonorous humming manner, their 
 voices occasionally rising in a grand crescendo, speedily 
 to diminish in a thrilling pianissimo, produces a serious- 
 ness wonderfully akin to the spirit of worship. 
 
 According to the legendary lore of the Snake clan 
 the Zunis, Hopis, Paiutis, Havasupais, and white men 
 all made their ascent from the lower world to the earth's 
 surface through a portion of Pis-is-bai-ya (the Grand 
 Canyon of the Colorado River) near where the Little 
 Colorado empties into the main river. As the various 
 
io8 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 families emerged, some went north and some south. 
 Those that went north were driven back by fierce cold 
 which they encountered, and built houses for themselves 
 at a place called To-ko-na-bi. But, unfortunately, this 
 was a desert place where but little rain fell, and their 
 corn could not grow. In their pathetic language the 
 Hopis say, " The clouds were small and the corn weak." 
 The chief of the village had two sons and two daughters. 
 The oldest of these sons, Tiyo, resolved to commit him- 
 self to the waters of the Colorado River, for they, he 
 was convinced, would convey him to the underworld, 
 where he could learn from the gods how always to be 
 assured of their favor. 
 
 (This idea of the Colorado River flowing to the 
 underworld is interesting as illustrative of Hopi reason- 
 ing. They said, and still say, this water flows from the 
 upperworld in the far-away mountains, it flows on and 
 on and never returns, therefore it must go to the inner 
 recesses of the underworld.) 
 
 Tiyo made for himself a kind of coffin boat from the 
 hewed-out trunk of a cottonwood tree. Into this he 
 sealed himself and was committed to the care of the 
 raging river. His rude boat dashed down the rapids, 
 over the falls, into the secret bowels of the earth (for 
 the Indians still believe the river disappears under the 
 mountainous rocks), and finally came to a stop. Tiyo 
 looked out of his peepholes and saw the Spider Woman, 
 who invited him to leave his boat and enter her house. 
 The Spider Woman is a personage of great power in 
 Hopi mythology. She it is who weaves the clouds in 
 the heavens, and makes the rain possible. Tiyo accepted 
 the invitation, entered her house, and received from her 
 a powder which gave him the power to become invisible 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 109 
 
 at will. Following the instructions of the Spider Woman, 
 he descended the hatch-like entrance to Shi-pd-pu, and 
 soon came to the chamber of the Snake-Antelope people. 
 Here the chief received him with great cordiality, and 
 said : 
 
 " I cause the rain clouds to come and go, 
 And I make the ripening winds to blow ; 
 I direct the going and coming of all the mountain animals. 
 Before you return to the earth you will desire of me many things, 
 Freely a.sk of me and you shall abundantly receive." 
 
 For a while he wandered about in the underworld, 
 learning this and that, here and yonder, and at last re- 
 turned to the Snake-Antelope and Snake kivas. Here 
 he learned all the necessary ceremonies for making the 
 rain clouds come and go, the ripening winds to blow, 
 and to order the coming and going of the animals. 
 With words of affection the chief bestowed upon him 
 various things from both the kivas, such as material of 
 which the snake kilt was to be made, with instructions 
 as to its weaving and decoration, sands to make the 
 altars, etc. Then he brought to Tiyo two maidens, 
 both of whom knew the snake-bite charm liquid, and 
 instructed him that one was to be his wife and the 
 other the wife of his brother, to whom he must convey 
 her in safety. Then, finally, he gave to him the 
 " tiponi," the sacred standard, and told him, " This is 
 your mother. She must ever be protected and revered. 
 In all your prayers and worship let her be at the head 
 of your altar or your words will not reach Those Above." 
 
 Tiyo now started on his return journey. When he 
 reached the home of the Spider Woman, she bade him 
 and the maidens rest while she wove a pannier-like 
 basket, deep and narrow, with room to hold all three of 
 
no THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 them. When the basket was finished she saw them 
 comfortably seated, told them not to leave the basket, and 
 immediately disappeared through the hatch into the 
 lower world. Tiyo and the maidens waited, until slowly 
 a filament gently descended from the clouds, attached 
 itself to the basket, and then carefully and safely drew 
 Tiyo and the maidens to the upperworld. Tiyo gave 
 the younger maiden to his brother, and then announced 
 that in sixteen days he would celebrate the marriage 
 feast. Then he and his betrothed retired to the Snake- 
 Antelope kiva, while his brother and the other maiden 
 retired to the Snake kiva. On the fifth day after the 
 announcement the Snake people from the underworld 
 came to the upperworld, went to the kivas, and ate corn 
 pollen for food. Then they left the kivas and disap- 
 peared. But Tiyo and the maidens knew that they 
 had only changed their appearance, for they were in the 
 valley in the form of snakes and other reptiles. So he 
 commanded his people to go into the valleys and cap- 
 ture them, bring them to the kivas and wash them and 
 then dance with them. Four days were spent in catch- 
 ing them from the four world quarters; then, with 
 solemn ceremony, they were washed, and, while the 
 prayers were offered, the snakes listened to them, so 
 that when, at the close of the dance, where they danced 
 with their human brothers, they were taken back to the 
 valley and released, they were able to return to the 
 underworld and carry to the gods there the petitions 
 that their human brothers had uttered upon the earth. 
 
 This, in the main, is the snake legend. The catching 
 of the snakes foreshadowed in the snake legend is faith- 
 fully carried out each year by the Snake men. After 
 earnest prayer, each man is provided with a hoe, a snake 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION in 
 
 whip, consisting of feathers tied to two sticks, a sack of 
 sacred meal (corn-meal especially prayed and smoked 
 over by the chief priest), and a small buckskin bag, and 
 on the fourth day after the setting up of the Antelope 
 altar they go out to the north for the purpose of catch- 
 ing the snakes. Familiarity from childhood with the 
 haunts of the snakes, which are never molested, enables 
 them to go almost directly to places where they may be 
 found. As soon as a reptile is seen, prayers are offered, 
 sacred meal sprinkled upon him, the snake whip gently 
 stroked upon him, and then he is seized and placed in 
 the bag. In the evening the priests return and deposit 
 their snakes in a large earthenware olla provided for the 
 occasion. I should have noted that before they go out 
 their altar is erected. This varies in the different vil- 
 lages, the most complete and perfect altar being at 
 Walpi. At Oraibi the altar consists of the two wooden 
 images the little war gods named Pu-ii-kon-hoy-a 
 and Pal-un-hoy-a ; and in 1898 I succeeded, with con- 
 siderable difficulty, in getting into the Snake kiva and 
 making a fairly good photograph of these gods. 
 
 The catching of the snakes occupies four days, one 
 day for each of the four world quarters. 
 
 At near sunset of the eighth day a public dance of 
 the Antelope priests takes place in the plaza, similar in 
 many respects to the Snake Dance, except that corn 
 stalks are carried by the priests instead of snakes. 
 
 On the morning of the ninth day the race of the 
 young men occurs. This is an exciting scene. Long 
 before sunrise the Hopis, and as many visitors as have 
 climbed the mesa heights, huddle together or sleepily 
 sit watching a point far off in the desert. It is from 
 that region one of the springs the racers are to 
 
ii2 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 come. Soon they are seen in the far-away distance as 
 tiny specks, moving over the tawny sand, and scarcely 
 distinguishable. One morning I stayed Jselow at the 
 spring on the western side of the mesa to watch them. 
 The whole line of the mesa-top ruled an irregular but 
 clearly defined line against the morning sky. The air 
 was clear and pure, sweet and cool. From the Gap to 
 the end of the mesa upon which Walpi stands crowds 
 of spectators were silhouetted against the sky. The 
 background, seen from my low angle of vision, was a 
 pure blue; above, the sky was mottled with white 
 clouds. On every projecting point which afforded a view 
 the spectators stood, tiny figures taken from a child's 
 Noah's Ark, chunky bodies, with a crowning ball of 
 wood for head. But even at that distance and against 
 the coming sunlight the brilliant colors of the dresses of 
 the Indians, men and women, were revealed. Every 
 note in the gorgeous gamut of color was played in 
 fantastic and unrestrained melody. At Walpi the spec- 
 tators crowded the house-tops, which there overlook the 
 very edge of the mesa. The point was crowded. The 
 morning light was just touching the cliffs of the west 
 when the sound of the coming bells was heard. Jingle, 
 jingle, jingle, they came, growing in sound at every step. 
 There was movement among the spectators, each one 
 craning his neck to see the strenuous efforts of the 
 runners. Jingle, jingle, jingle, louder and louder, show- 
 ing that the strides of these runners are great ; they are 
 making rapid bites at the distance that intervenes be- 
 tween them and the goal. Now they can be individually 
 discerned. Their reddish-brown bodies, long black 
 hair streaming behind, sunflowers crowning some, heav- 
 ing chests, tremendous strides, swinging gait, make a 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 113 
 
 fascinating picture. Now they crowd each other on the 
 sandy trail. A spurt is being made, and one of the 
 rear men passes to the front and becomes the leader. 
 From the mesa heights the shouts and cheers denote 
 that his success has been observed. Others crowd along. 
 The spectators become excited and cheer on their 
 favorites. Now the foot of the steep portion of the 
 trail is reached. Surely this precipitous ascent will 
 abate their ardor and slacken their speed. The steps 
 are high, and it is a rise of several hundred feet to the 
 mesa-top. The very difficulties seem to spur them on 
 to greater effort. With bounds like those of deer or 
 chamois, up they fly, two steps at a time. The pace 
 and ascent are killing, but they are trained to it, having 
 spent their lives running over these hot sands and climb- 
 ing these trails. To them a " rush " up the mesa heights 
 is a part of their religious training. The priests are now 
 ready to receive them at the head of the trail. The first 
 to arrive is the winner, and he is sprinkled with the 
 sacred meal and water, and then he hurries on to the 
 Antelope kiva, where the chief priest gives him bahos, 
 sacred meal, and an amulet of great power. The other 
 racers in the meantime have reached the summit, and 
 I could see their running figures on the narrow neck of 
 rock which connects Sichumavi with Walpi. They 
 are going to deposit prayer offerings at an appointed 
 shrine. On their arrival the race is done. 
 
 On the arrival of the racers at the head of the trail 
 at Mashonganavi, in 1901, I secured a photograph show- 
 ing one of the priests shooting out a singular appliance 
 which represents the lightning. 
 
 But on the lower platform of the mesa another excit- 
 ing scene is transpiring. A group of young maidens, 
 
 8 
 
H4 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 with their mothers and sisters, await the coming of 
 young men and boys, each of whom carries a corn stalk, 
 a melon, or a sunflower. As soon as the youths arrive 
 the maidens dart after them, and for a few minutes a 
 good-natured but exciting and excitable scuffle goes on, 
 in which the girls endeavor to seize from the boys the 
 stalks, etc., they carry. 
 
 On the noon of the ninth day the ceremony of wash- 
 ing the snakes takes place in the Snake kiva. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that only the members of 
 the fraternity engaged in the ceremonies are permitted 
 to enter the kivas when the rites are being performed. 
 Indeed, no other Hopi can be prevailed upon to ap- 
 proach anywhere near these kivas whilst the symbol 
 which denotes that the ceremonies are being conducted 
 is displayed. 
 
 Indeed, he believes that his profaning foot will im- 
 mediately produce the most awful effects upon his body. 
 At one kiva he will swell up and " burst " ; at another, 
 a great horn will grow out from his forehead and he 
 will die in horrible agonies. The first time I was per- 
 mitted to see this ceremony at Walpi was while Kopeli 
 was alive. Kopeli was a Hopi of great power and 
 ability in a variety of ways, who had a broad way of 
 looking at things, and was very friendly with the white 
 men who came in the proper spirit to study the life of 
 his people. I had been allowed to see all the earlier 
 of the secret kiva ceremonies, but when the day arrived 
 on which the snakes were to be washed in the kiva, 
 Kopeli was especially concerned on my behalf. He said : 
 " So far ' Those Above ' have not found any fault, and 
 you have not been harmed in the kiva; but to-day 
 we wash the snakes. You will surely be in danger 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 115 
 
 if you gaze upon the ' elder brothers.' " Placing my 
 arm around his lithe body, I gave Kopeli an unexpected 
 dig in the stomach. Then I said, quite solemnly: 
 " Kopeli, your stomach is a Hopi one ; you swell up 
 and bust easy. But feel of me" and, taking his 
 thumb, I gave myself a " dig " with it upon a solid 
 pocketbook which I carried in my vest pocket. " Do 
 you feel that?" I asked. "Yes," he replied. "And 
 you sabe white man's steam-engine, Kopeli, down on 
 the railroad ? " " Yes ! I sabe." " Well," said I, " that 
 steam-engine is made of boiler-iron, and I am all same 
 boiler-iron inside. I no bust ! " 
 
 With a merry twinkle in his eye, that showed he 
 appreciated the joke, he said, " Mabbe so ! You no 
 bust ; you stay ! " And I stayed. 
 
 This washing ceremony is a purely ceremonial ob- 
 servance. The priests have ceremonially washed them- 
 selves, but their snake brothers are unable to do this, 
 hence they must have it done for them. 
 
 In the underground kiva, hewn out of the solid rock 
 a place some sixteen feet square squat or sit the 
 thirty-four or five priests. I was allowed to take my 
 place right among them and to join in the singing. 
 When all was ready the chief priest reverently uttered 
 prayer, followed by another priest, who, after prayer, 
 started the singing. Three or four of the older priests 
 were seated around a large bowl full of water brought 
 from some sacred spring many, many miles away. This 
 water was blessed by smoking and breathing upon it 
 and presenting it successively to the powers of the six 
 world points, north, west, south, east, up and down. 
 
 At a given signal two men thrust their hands into 
 the snake-containing ollas, and drew therefrom one or 
 
n6 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 two writhing, wriggling reptiles. These they handed 
 to the priests of the sacred water. All this time the 
 singing, accompanied by the shaking of the rattles, 
 continued. As the snakes were dipped again and again 
 into the water, the force of the singing increased until 
 it was a tornado of sound. Suddenly the priests who 
 were washing the snakes withdrew them from the 
 water and threw them over the heads of the sitting 
 priests upon the sand of the sacred altar at the other 
 end of the room. Simultaneously with the throwing 
 half of the singing priests ceased their song and burst 
 out into a blood-curdling yell, " Ow ! Ow! Ow! Ow! 
 Ow ! Ow ! " which is the Hopi war-cry. 
 
 Then, in a moment, all was quiet, more snakes were 
 brought and washed, the singing and rattling begin- 
 ning at a pianissimo and gradually increasing to a 
 quadruple forte, when again the snakes were thrown 
 upon the altar, with the shrieking voices yelling " Ow ! 
 Ow ! " in a piercing falsetto, as before. The effect was 
 simply horrifying. The dimly lighted kiva, the solemn, 
 monotonous hum of the priests, the splashing of the 
 wriggling reptiles in the water, the serious and earnest 
 countenances of the participants, the throwing of the 
 snakes, and the wild shrieks fairly raised one's hair, made 
 the heart stand still, stopped the action of the brain, 
 sent cold chills down one's spinal column, and made 
 goose-flesh of the whole of the surface of one's body. 
 
 And this continued until fifty, one hundred, and even 
 as many as one hundred and fifty snakes were thus 
 washed and thrown upon the altar. It was the duty 
 of two men to keep the snakes upon the altar, but on 
 a small area less than four feet square it can well be 
 imagined the task was no easy or enviable one. Indeed, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 117 
 
 many of the snakes escaped and crawled over our feet 
 and legs. 
 
 As soon as all the snakes were washed, all the priests 
 retired except those whose duty it was to guard the 
 snakes. Then it was that I dared to risk taking off 
 the cap from my lens, pointing it at the almost quies- 
 cent mass of snakes, and trust to good luck for the 
 result. On another page is the fruition of my faith, in 
 the first photograph ever made of the snakes of a Hopi 
 kiva after the ceremony of washing. 
 
 And now the sunset hour draws near. This is to 
 witness the close of the nine days' ceremony. It is to 
 be public, for the Snake Dance itself is looked upon by 
 all the people. Long before the hour the house-tops are 
 lined with Hopis, Navahoes, Paiutis, cow-boys, miners, 
 Mormons, preachers, scientists, and military men from 
 Fort Wingate and other Western posts. Here is a dis- 
 tinguished German savant, and there a representative of 
 the leading scientific society of France. Yonder is Dr. 
 Jesse Walter Fewkes, the eminent specialist of the 
 United States Bureau of Ethnology and the foremost au- 
 thority of the world on the Snake Dance, while elbowing 
 him and pumping him on every occasion is the inquisi- 
 tive representative of one of America's leading journals. 
 
 See yonder group of interesting maidens. Some 
 of them are " copper Cleopatras " indeed, and would be 
 accounted good-looking anywhere. Here is a group 
 of laughing, frolicking youngsters of both sexes, half of 
 them stark naked, and, except for the dirt which freely 
 allies itself to them, perfect little " fried cupids," as 
 they have not inaptly been described. Now, working 
 his way through the crowd comes a United States Con- 
 gressman, and yonder is the president of a railroad. 
 
n8 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Suddenly a murmur of approval goes up on every 
 hand. The chief priest of the Antelopes has come out 
 of the kiva, and he is immediately followed by all the 
 others ; and, as soon as the line is formed, with rever- 
 ent mien and stately step, they march to the dance 
 plaza. Here has been erected a cottonwood bower 
 called the " kisi," in the base of which ollas have been 
 placed containing the snakes. In front of this kisi is 
 a hole covered by a plank. This hole represents the 
 entrance to the underworld, and now the chief priest 
 advances toward it, sprinkles a pinch of sacred meal 
 over it, then vigorously stamps upon it, and marches 
 on. The whole line do likewise. Four times the 
 priests circle before the kisi, moving always from right 
 to left, and stamping upon the meal-sprinkled board as 
 they come to it. This is to awaken the attention of the 
 gods of the underworld to the fact that the dance is 
 about to begin. 
 
 Now the Antelope priests line up either alongside or in 
 front of the kisi there being slight and unimportant 
 variations in this and other regards at the different vil- 
 lages all the while keeping up a solemn and mo- 
 notonous humming song or prayer, while they await the 
 coming of the Snake priests. 
 
 At length, with stately stride and rapid movement, 
 the Snake men come, led by their chief. They go 
 through the same ceremonies of sprinkling, stamping, 
 and circling that the Antelope priests did, and then line 
 up, facing the kisi. 
 
 The two lines now for several minutes sing, rattle, 
 sway their bodies to and fro and back and forth in a most 
 impressive and interesting manner, until, at a given 
 signal, the Snake priests break up their line and divide 
 
* 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 119 
 
 into groups of three. The first group advances to the 
 kisi. The first man of the group kneels down and 
 receives from the warrior priest, who has entered the 
 kisi, a writhing, wriggling, and, perhaps, dangerous rep- 
 tile. Without a moment's hesitation the priest breathes 
 upon it, puts it between his teeth, rises, and upon his 
 companion's placing one arm around his shoulders, the 
 two begin to amble and prance along, followed by the 
 third member of their group, around the prescribed 
 circuit. With a peculiar swaying of body, a rapid and 
 jerky lifting high of one leg, then quickly dropping it and 
 raising the other, the " carrier " and his " hugger " pro- 
 ceed about three-fourths of the circuit, when the carrier 
 drops the snake from his mouth, and passes on to take 
 his place to again visit the kisi, obtain another snake, 
 and repeat the performance. But now comes in the 
 duty of the "gatherer," the third man of the group. 
 As soon as the snake falls to the ground, it naturally 
 desires to escape. With a pinch of sacred meal in his 
 fingers and his snake whip in his hand, the gatherer 
 rapidly advances, scatters the meal over the snake, 
 stoops, and like a flash has him in his hands. Some- 
 times, however, a vicious rattlesnake, resenting the 
 rough treatment, coils ready to strike. Now watch the 
 dexterous handling by a Hopi of a venomous creature 
 aroused to anger. With a " dab " of meal, the snake 
 whip is brought into play, and the tickling feathers 
 gently touch the angry reptile. As soon as he feels 
 them, he uncoils and seeks to escape. Now is the 
 time! Quicker than the eye can follow, the expert 
 " gatherer " seizes the escaping creature, and that ex- 
 citement .is ended, only to allow the visitor to witness 
 a similar scene going on elsewhere with other partici- 
 
120 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 pants. In the meantime all the snake carriers have 
 received their snakes and are perambulating around 
 as did the first one, so that, until all the snakes are 
 brought into use, it is an endless chain, composed of 
 " carrier," snake, " hugger," and " gatherer." Now and 
 again a snake glides away toward the group of specta- 
 tors, and there is a frantic dash to get away. But the 
 gatherers never fail to stop and capture their particu- 
 lar reptile. As the dance continues, the gatherers 
 have more than their hands full, so, to ease them- 
 selves, they hand over their excited and wriggling 
 victims to the Antelope priests, who, during the whole 
 of this part of the ceremony, remain in line, solemnly 
 chanting. 
 
 At last all the snakes have been brought from the 
 kisi. The chief priest steps forth, describes a circle of 
 sacred meal upon the ground, and, at a given signal, all 
 the priests, Snake and Antelope alike, rush up to it, and 
 throw the snakes they have in hands or mouths into the 
 circle, at the same time spitting upon them. The 
 whole of the Hopi spectators, also, no matter where they 
 may be, reverently spit toward this circle where now 
 one may see through the surrounding* group of priests 
 the writhing, wriggling, hissing, rattling mass of revolt- 
 ing reptiles. Never before on earth, except here, was 
 such a hideous sight witnessed. But one's horror is 
 kept in abeyance for a while as is heard the prayer of 
 the chief priest and we see him sprinkle the mass with 
 sacred meal, while the asperger does the same thing 
 from the sacred water bowl. 
 
 Then another signal is given ! Curious spectator, 
 carried away by your interest, beware ! Look out ! 
 In a moment, the Snake priests dart down, " grab " at 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 121 
 
 the pile of intertwined snakes, get all they can in each 
 hand, and then, regardless of your dread, thrust the 
 snakes into the faces of all who stand in their way, and 
 like pursued deer dart down the steep and precipitous 
 trails into the appointed places of the valley beneath. 
 Here let us watch them from the edge of the mesa. 
 Reverently depositing them, they kneel and pray over 
 them and then return to the mesa as hastily as they 
 descended, divesting themselves of their dance para- 
 phernalia as they return. 
 
 Now occurs one of the strangest portions of the 
 whole ceremony. The Antelope priests have already 
 returned, with due decorum, to their kiva. One by one 
 the Snake men arrive at theirs, sweating and breathless 
 from their run up the steep trails. When all have re- 
 turned, they step to the top of their kiva, or, as at 
 Walpi, to the western edge of the mesa, and there drink 
 a large quantity of an emetic that has been especially 
 prepared for the purpose. Then, O ye gods ! gaze on 
 if ye dare ! The whole of them may be seen bend- 
 ing over, solemnly and in most dignified manner, puk- 
 ing forth the horrible decoction they have just poured 
 down. This is a ceremony of internal purification 
 corresponding to the ceremonial washing of themselves 
 and the snakes before described. This astounding 
 spectacle ends as the priests disappear into their kiva, 
 where they restore their stomachs to a more normal 
 condition by feasting on the piki, pikami, and other 
 delicacies the women now bring to them in great quan- 
 tities. Then for two days frolic and feasting are indulged 
 in, and the Snake Dance in that village at least is now 
 over, to be repeated two years hence. 
 
 What is the significance, the real meaning of the Snake 
 
122 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Dance? It is not, as is generally supposed, an act of 
 snake worship. Here I can do no more than give the 
 barest suggestion as to what modern science has con- 
 cluded. It is mainly a prayer for rain in which acts of 
 sun worship are introduced. The propitiation of the 
 Spider Woman at her shrine by the offerings of prayers 
 and bahos by the chief Antelope priest demonstrates a 
 desire for rain. She is asked to weave the clouds, for 
 without them no rain can descend. The lightning sym- 
 bol of the Antelope priests ; the shaking of their rattles, 
 which sounds like the falling rain ; the use of the whizzer 
 to produce the sounds of the coming storm, these and 
 other similar things show the intimate association of the 
 dance with rain and its making. 
 
 Allied to rain are the fructifying processes of the earth ; 
 and as corn is their chief article of food, and its germina- 
 tion, growth, and maturity depend upon the rainfall, the 
 use of corn-meal and prayers for the growth of corn 
 have come to have an important place in the ceremony. 
 
 The use of the snakes is for. a double purpose. In 
 celebrating this ceremony it is the desire of the Snake 
 clan to reproduce the original conditions of its perform- 
 ance as near as possible, in order to gain all the efficacy 
 they desire for their petitions. In the original perform- 
 ance the prayers of the Snake Mother were the potent 
 ones. Hence the snakes must now be introduced to 
 make potent prayers. 
 
 The other idea is that the snakes act as intermedia- 
 ries to convey to the Snake Mother in the underworld 
 the prayers for rain and corn growth that her children 
 on the earth have uttered. 
 
 In considering the ceremony of the public dance cer- 
 tain questions naturally arise. Are the Hopis ever 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 123 
 
 bitten by the venomous snakes, and, if so, what are the 
 consequences ? And what is the secret of their power 
 in handling these dangerous reptiles with such startling 
 freedom ? 
 
 There are times when the priests are bitten, but, as 
 was suggested in the snake legend, they have a snake 
 venom charm liquid. This is prepared by the chief 
 woman of the Snake clan, and she and the Snake priest 
 alone are supposed to know the secret of its composi- 
 tion. It may be that ere long this secret will be given 
 to the world by a gentleman who is largely in the con- 
 fidence of the Hopis, but, as yet, it is practically unknown. 
 That it is an antidote there can be no question. I have 
 seen men seriously bitten by rattlesnakes, and in each 
 case, after the use of the antidote, the wounded priests 
 suffered but slightly. 
 
 As to the " why " of the handling of the snakes. The 
 " fact " it is easy to state ; but when one enters the realm 
 of theory to explain the " why " of the fact, he places 
 himself as a target for others to shoot at. My theory, 
 however, is that a fear within yourself arouses a corre- 
 sponding fear within the reptile. As soon as he feels 
 fear he prepares to use the weapons of offence and 
 defence with which nature has provided him. 
 
 If, on the other hand, you feel no fear, and, in touch- 
 ing the creature, do not hurt him so as to arouse his fear, 
 he may be handled with impunity. 
 
 Be this as it may, the fact remains for I have 
 examined the snakes before, during, and after the cere- 
 mony that dangerous and untampered with rattle- 
 snakes are used by the Hopis in this, their prayer to 
 "Those Above" for rain. 
 
124 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 THE NAVAHO AND HIS HISTORY 
 
 MISUNDERSTOOD, maligned, abused, despised, 
 the Navaho has never stood high in the estima- 
 tion of those whites who did not know him. Yet he 
 is industrious, moral, honest, trustworthy, fairly truthful, 
 religious, and good to his wife and children. Not a 
 weak list of virtues, even though one has to detract 
 from it by accusing him of ingratitude. There are noble 
 exceptions, of course, to this charge, but from what I 
 know and have seen, I am inclined to believe that many, 
 if not most, Navahoes have no sense of moral responsi- 
 bility for favors and benefits received. 
 
 Though, perhaps, not as interesting to study as the 
 Hopis, there is still a wonderful field open for the student 
 who is willing to go and live with the Navaho, learn his 
 language, gain his confidence, participate in all his cere- 
 monies, and enter into his social and domestic life. 
 
 No one has done this as much as Dr. Washington 
 Matthews, whose " Navaho Legends " is a revelation to 
 those people who have hitherto held the general ideas 
 (propagated, too, by a scientific observer) so prevalent 
 about this long-suffering people. 
 
 That the Navaho was reserved with the white man in 
 the early days of American occupancy there can be no 
 doubt, and the difficulty experienced in penetrating that 
 reserve is well exemplified by reference to the letter of 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 125 
 
 Dr. Joseph Letherman, who lived for three years among 
 the tribe at Fort Defiance. Aided by Major Kendrick, 
 who had long commanded at this post, he wrote a letter 
 which appears in the Smithsonian Report for 1855. In 
 this he says, among many good things : " Nothing can 
 be learned of the origin of these people from themselves. 
 At one time they say they came out of the ground ; and 
 at another, that they know nothing whatever of their 
 origin ; the latter, no doubt, being the truth." Again : 
 " Of their religion little or nothing is known, as, indeed, 
 all inquiries tend to show that they have none ; and even 
 have not, we are informed, any word to express the 
 idea of a Supreme Being. We have not been able to 
 learn that any observances of a religious character exist 
 among them ; and the general impression of those who 
 have the means of knowing them is, that, in this respect, 
 they are steeped in the deepest degradation." Once 
 more : " They have frequent gatherings for dancing." 
 And a little further on : " Their singing is but a succes- 
 sion of grunts, and is anything but agreeable." 
 
 One has but to read what Dr. Matthews has written 
 and gathered from the Navahoes to see how misleading 
 and erroneous the conclusions of Dr. Letherman were. 
 To quote : " He [Dr. Matthews] had not been many 
 weeks in New Mexico when he discovered that the 
 dances to which the doctor refers were religious cere- 
 monials, and later he found that these ceremonials 
 might vie in allegory, symbolism, and intricacy of 
 ritual with the ceremonies of any people, ancient or 
 modern. He found, ere long, that these heathens, pro- 
 nounced godless and legendless, possessed lengthy 
 myths and traditions so numerous that one can never 
 hope to collect them all, a pantheon as well stocked 
 
126 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 with gods and heroes as that of the ancient Greeks, 
 and prayers which, for length and vain repetition, might 
 put a Pharisee to blush." 
 
 Wonderful songs also were found, full of poetic 
 imagery, and suitable for every conceivable occasion, 
 songs that have been handed down for generations. 
 Of the sacred songs Dr. Matthews makes the astound- 
 ing statement that, " sometimes, pertaining to a single 
 rite, there are two hundred songs or more which may 
 not be sung at other rites." Further: "The songs 
 must be known to the priest of the rite and his assistants 
 in a most exact manner, for an error made in singing 
 a song may be fatal to the efficacy of a ceremony. In 
 no case is an important mistake tolerated, and in some 
 cases the error of a single syllable works an irreparable 
 injury." 
 
 Popular conceptions of the Navaho are very crude 
 and inaccurate. They are largely the result of two 
 " floods of information " which deluged the country at 
 two epochs in their history, and neither of them had 
 much truth in the flood. The first of these epochs 
 was at the discovery of the important cliff dwellings 
 located on their reservation, those of the Tsegi 
 Canyon (the so-called Canyon de Chelly), Monument 
 Canyon, Chaco Canyon, etc. Writers who visited the 
 region wrote the most wild and outrageously conceived 
 nonsense about this people and the dwellings they were 
 supposed to look upon with superstitious veneration. 
 Then later, a lot of unscrupulous whites, fired with 
 similar zeal to that which led the old conquistadors 
 across the deserts of northern Mexico and through 
 the inhospitable wilds of Arizona and New Mexico, 
 the zeal for gold or silver, which was doubtless fed by 
 
PQ ^ 
 
 1 1 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 127 
 
 the fact that the Navahoes did possess thousands of 
 dollars' worth of silver ornaments, started out to pro- 
 spect the interior recesses of the Navaho reservation. 
 Knowing by painful experience what this meant, for 
 their "white brothers " had stolen their springs and arable 
 land from them on the Moenkopi, on the Little Colorado, 
 at Willow Spring, and a score of other places, the 
 warlike and courageous Navahoes resented the presence 
 of these men. They begged them to retire, and when 
 the white men refused, fought and whipped them. This 
 naturally excited the cupidity of the silver hunters more 
 than ever. "Why should the blanked Indians fight 
 if not to protect their silver mines ? " this was the 
 kind of question asked, and the natural and legitimate 
 resentment of the Navahoes was described all over the 
 country as " another Indian uprising," and led to the 
 second " flood of knowledge," which the newspapers 
 always have forthcoming when public interest and 
 curiosity are aroused. 
 
 Hence the truth often comes as a wet blanket to the 
 preconceived notions of those who have drank deep 
 from these earlier streams of information ! 
 
 Science and legend both agree in giving to the 
 Navaho a mixed origin. His is not a pure-blooded 
 race. Their myths or legends refer to many assimila- 
 tions of other people, strangers from the North, South, 
 East, West, and everywhere, all of whom were welcomed 
 and made an integral part of the nation. Hence there 
 is no such thing as a distinctly Navaho type, or, as 
 Hrdlicka puts it, " they show considerable difference 
 in color and measurement, and cannot be considered a 
 radically homogeneous people, but their mixture is 
 not recent." This latter statement is doubtless true, 
 
128 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 as they would probably become more clannish as their 
 nation grew in numbers and power. 
 
 Dr. Matthews gives the stories of the origin of several 
 of the gentes. One story which he does not relate was 
 told to me at Tohatchi, and serves to illustrate how a 
 migration from the Northwest is transformed into a 
 supernatural occurrence. Though told to me of the 
 Navahoes as a whole, there can be no doubt that it 
 applies only to a single gens. The story was in regard 
 to Winged Rock, commonly called by the whites 
 " Ship Rock," and about which I had been seeking 
 information. 
 
 This rock is situated in the Navaho reservation, about 
 one hundred miles northwest of Tohatchi, and some 
 fifteen or twenty miles from Carrizo Mountain. It is 
 difficult of access, and my informant assured me that 
 even though an army of white men should reach its 
 base they could never scale its steep sides and reach its 
 top. All the Navaho tribe reverence it sincerely and 
 all watch and guard it jealously. He would indeed be 
 a brave white man who would dare the anger of these 
 warlike and brave natives if they forbade his approach 
 and would attempt to scale this sacred Winged Rock. 
 
 This was the legend : " Many, many years ago, when 
 this country was young and the sun cast only small 
 shadows, my people came across the narrow sea far 
 away near the setting sun in the north and landed on the 
 shores of this country. The people where they landed 
 were exceedingly angry at them, and whenever they 
 could they fell upon them and slew them. My people 
 did not want to go to war, but this inhospitable recep- 
 tion made them angry, so they put themselves in war 
 array and fell upon their foes. But there were few 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 129 
 
 only of my people, and their enemies were so many 
 that it was not long before they were in sad straits. 
 Indeed, they would soon have been entirely destroyed 
 had not help come. In their distress they called on 
 Those Above, and soon a messenger from the sky came 
 to my people and said : ' See you yonder stone moun- 
 tain? Flee to it. It will be your salvation. Climb 
 up its steep, strong, rugged sides and it will carry you 
 toward the land of the South sea, nearer to the rising 
 sun, and there your home shall be.' 
 
 " My people were only too glad to obey the message. 
 They hastened towards the mountain. Some who were 
 weak were enabled to fly towards it like birds, and they 
 clung to its steep sides and clambered to its top. 
 
 " Then when they were all safe on its huge bulk, the 
 monster rock was taken by Those Above, and it arose 
 and floated across the rivers and plains and mountains 
 and lakes and canyons. Several days and nights it 
 floated, and my people gazed with wonder upon the 
 strange and wonderful countries through which they 
 travelled. Sometimes they thought they would like to 
 stay in this place or in that, but the wisdom of Those 
 Above said No ! and the rock floated on. Oh ! it was a 
 glorious sail. Never before or since has any people 
 been so blessed and favored by the People of the 
 Shadows Above. 
 
 " Finally the Winged Rock crossed the great deep 
 canyon of the Colorado River, and my people were 
 afraid of its vast depths. Then the rock gently settled 
 down to the earth, where it is now found, and our home 
 was reached. It did not seem to be a very beautiful 
 land, but it was given to us by Those Above, and my 
 people soon became content. We were shown the 
 
 9 
 
130 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 springs and the watercourses, and we found the moun- 
 tains covered with trees, and the rivers and creeks. So 
 that when any one speaks of our leaving our country we 
 are afraid and we cry : ' No, why should we leave this 
 land given to us, and which we love? Yonder is the 
 rock on which we came, and never until that rock floats 
 away with us shall we leave the land that we love so 
 well ! ' 
 
 " As soon as we were settled here, Those Above gave 
 us some great shamans, and one of them told us that 
 we must always do right, for the sun, when it rises, 
 would watch our every action all throughout the day, 
 and when he went away at night it was to tell Those 
 Above all our evil actions, for which we should be 
 punished." 
 
 While the Apaches and Navahoes are of the same 
 stock, there have always been marked differences be- 
 tween them so long as they have been under the obser- 
 vation of the white men. When the Spaniards entered 
 the country, the Navahoes were more distinctly an 
 agricultural people than the Apaches. They had large 
 patches of land under cultivation, kept their crops and 
 lived in houses underground. Cultivated lands neces- 
 sitated settled residences, and after the Spaniards in- 
 troduced sheep, it was not long before the Navahoes 
 were extensive sheep raisers. It would not be any wiser 
 or more profitable to enter into an inquiry as to the 
 methods by which these flocks were acquired than it 
 would be to ascertain the history of many of the landed 
 possessions of European nobilities. With the Navaho, 
 possession was the only law he cared anything for. " To 
 have and to hold " was his motto ; and once " having," 
 he held pretty securely. Hence the sheep possessions 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 131 
 
 of the neighboring pueblo Indians were held by exceed- 
 ingly precarious tenure. 
 
 And here we have, I believe, one of the additional 
 sources of enmity between the Navaho and the Spaniard. 
 As their wards, the Spanish were in duty bound to 
 care for and protect the Pueblos. Thus Navaho and 
 Spaniard were ever at war, and when the Mexican 
 came in the Spaniard's stead the % battle still continued 
 on the same lines and with the same ferocity. 
 
 It was on the 22d of January in 1849 that Lieut. 
 J. H. Simpson, afterwards General, started on that 
 interesting trip of his through the Navaho country, 
 which has forever connected his name with these 
 nomads. He was not in command of the expedition, 
 its head being Col. John M. Washington, who was 
 military and civil governor of New Mexico at the time. 
 The object of the expedition was to coerce the Navahoes 
 into a compliance with a treaty which they had made 
 with the United States, two years previously, and to 
 extend the provisions of the treaty. 
 
 When they reached the Chaco Canyon trouble ri- 
 pened between the soldiers and the Navahoes, and the 
 latter were fired upon, with the result that seven were 
 killed, including Narbona, their great warrior and chief. 
 
 This was but one of many such attacks upon the whites. 
 Then as now, only far more so, the Navahoes resented 
 the intrusion of white people in their territory ; and hav- 
 ing gained fire-arms, they used them to deadly purpose 
 upon those who slighted their will. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Navahoes were a source 
 of great terror to the Mexicans who first settled in and 
 near their territory. Even after the United States be- 
 came their guardians at the acquisition of New Mexico 
 
1 32 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 in 1847, tne y were very hostile, murders, robberies, and 
 depredations of every kind being quite common. In 
 1855, Dr. Letherman reported that "the nation, as a 
 nation, is fully imbued with the idea that it is all power- 
 ful, which, no doubt, has arisen from the fact of its 
 having been for years a terror and a dread to the in- 
 habitants of New Mexico." But that these depreda- 
 tions were not perpetrated upon the whites alone is 
 evident from the fact that one of the richest men of the 
 Navahoes himself applied to Major Kendrick, then the 
 commanding officer of Fort Defiance, N. Mex., to pro- 
 tect his cattle, as he could not otherwise prevent his 
 own people from stealing them. 
 
 The insolence from years of this kind of free life 
 needed forceful check, but it was not until 1862 that 
 the unbearable conduct of the Navahoes brought upon 
 themselves this long-needed chastisement. 
 
 According to governmental reports, the Indians f 
 New Mexico (among whom were the Navahoes and 
 Mescalero Apaches) caused losses between 1860 and 
 1863 to the people of that territory of "not less than 
 500,000 sheep, and 5,000 horses, mules, and cattle. 
 Over 200 lives have been also sacrificed of citizens, 
 soldiers, and shepherds." It was also stated in 1863 
 " that the military establishment of this territory [New 
 Mexico, which then included Arizona], since its acquisi- 
 tion, has cost not less than $3,000,000 annually, inde- 
 pendent of land-warrant bounties." And while this was 
 for a conquered country, the whole expenditure was 
 for the chastisement of hostile Indians, every tribe of 
 which in turn came in for its share of the fighting. 
 
 It was openly advocated about this time that the 
 policy of extermination was the only one that could be 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 133 
 
 followed, and this must be brought about either by 
 actual warfare, or by driving the hostiles into the moun- 
 tains and there starving them to death. 
 
 Brig.-Gen. J. H. Carleton, who was in control of 
 the department of New Mexico, determined upon a 
 thorough and complete change in our treatment of 
 this haughty and proud people. They had made six 
 treaties at different times with officers of our Govern- 
 ment and had violated them before they could be rati- 
 fied at Washington. He strongly counselled drastic 
 measures in a letter which is historically of sufficient 
 interest to justify a large quotation from it: 
 
 " At the Bosque Redondo there is arable land enough for all 
 the Indians of this family [the Navahoes and Apaches have 
 descended from the same stock and speak the same language], 
 and I would respectfully recommend that now the war be 
 vigorously prosecuted against the Navahoes; that the only 
 peace that can ever be made with them must rest on the basis 
 that they move on to these lands, and, like the Pueblos, be- 
 come an agricultural people, and cease to be nomads. This 
 should be a sine qua non ; as soon as the snows of winter ad- 
 monish them of the sufferings to which their families will be 
 exposed, I have great hopes of getting most of the tribe. The 
 knowledge of the perfidy of these Navahoes, gained after two 
 centuries of experience, is such as to lead us to put no faith in 
 their promises. They have no government to make treaties ; 
 they are a patriarchal people. One set of families may make 
 promises, but the other set will not heed them. They under- 
 stand the direct application of force as a law ; if its application 
 be removed, that moment they become lawless. This has 
 been tried over and over again, and at great expense. The 
 purpose now is, never to relax the application of force with a 
 people that can no more be trusted than the wolves that run 
 through the mountains. To collect them together, little by 
 
i 3 4 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 little, on to a reservation, away from the haunts and hills and 
 hiding-places of their country ; there be kind to them ; there 
 teach their children how to read and write ; teach them the 
 arts of peace, teach them the truths of Christianity. Soon they 
 will acquire new habits, new ideas, and new modes of life ; and 
 the old Indians will die off, and carry with them all latent long- 
 ings for murdering and robbing. The young ones will take 
 their places without these longings, and thus, little by little, 
 they will become a happy and contented people ; and Navaho 
 wars will be remembered only as something that belong en- 
 tirely to the past. Even until they can raise enough to be self- 
 sustaining, you can feed them cheaper than fight them. . . . 
 
 " I know these ideas are practical and humane are just to 
 the suffering people, as well as to the aggressive, perfidious, 
 butchering Navahoes. If I can have one more full regiment 
 of cavalry, and authority to raise one independent company in 
 each county of the Territory, they can soon be carried to a 
 final result" 
 
 In 1863 General Carleton's suggestions in the main 
 were approved by the Indian Department and he pro- 
 ceeded to carry out his plan. 
 
 Col. Kit Carson, the noted scout, with an adequate 
 force was sent out to humble and punish the Navahoes. 
 It was wise that such a just, humane, and wise Indian 
 fighter was sent to do this work. His knowledge of 
 their characters stood him in good purpose, and in a 
 very short time over seven thousand prisoners were 
 taken. Later this number was increased, until they 
 amounted to about ten or eleven thousand. 
 
 At the same time the Apaches were being cornered, 
 and a number of them were removed to Fort Stanton, 
 on the Peeos River, far enough down into the open 
 country to prevent easy escape to the mountains. Part 
 of this settlement was the Bosque Redondo, and General 
 
HOPI CEREMONIAL HEAD-DRESSES. 
 
 In the collection of George JVharton jfames. 
 
 HOPI BAHOS AND DANCE RATTLES. 
 
 In the collection of George Wharton James. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 135 
 
 Carleton's plan contemplated the settlement of both 
 Apaches and Navahoes here. 
 
 Compelled by a superior force, the now humbled 
 Navahoes were herded together like sheep and in 1863 
 were removed to the chosen place. It was soon found, 
 however, that this was an inhospitable region, altogether 
 unfitted to be the home of so large a population. The 
 water was alkaline, and the soil not of a nature suitable 
 to the raising of corn. There was practically no fuel, 
 and the Navahoes had to dig up mesquite roots and 
 carry them on their backs twelve miles for this purpose. 
 In two or three years more than one-fourth of their 
 number died and the remainder grew more and more 
 dissatisfied with the location. 
 
 In 1867, however, Manuelito and Barboncita, two of 
 the war chiefs, came into the reservation, both of them 
 having surrendered to the commandant at Fort Wingate. 
 The former had refused to come into the reservation 
 in 1863, and the latter ran away from it, with his band of 
 warriors, in 1864. These two bands added 780 more 
 of men, women, and children to the population, which, 
 in June, 1867, was reported to be 7,300. 
 
 This whole Bosque Redondo was a disgraceful busi- 
 ness, on a line with so much of the wretched and abom- 
 inable treatment the Indians have received at our hands. 
 Think of placing ten thousand Indians upon a reservation 
 where there was no water but black, brackish stuff not 
 fit for cattle, no fuel, and no soil for cultivation of the 
 chief article of their diet. Deprived of food, water, and 
 fuel, what would white men be ? No wonder the Nava- 
 hoes rebelled and were kept in order only by brute force. 
 
 At length those in authority saw the iniquity of the 
 proceeding and the order was given to return them to 
 
136 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 their reservation. This was done, but with a loss by 
 death, mainly through preventable causes, of over three 
 thousand souls. 
 
 Since this time they have been industrious and pro- 
 gressive. The Bosque lesson, though severe, was needed, 
 and it proved salutary. One .can travel with perfect 
 safety unarmed across the Navaho reservation, as I have 
 done several times; and a lady friend, unarmed, and 
 unaccompanied by any other escort than a Navaho, has 
 travelled hundreds of miles in perfect safety among the 
 Navahoes in all parts of their reservation. 1 
 
 In September, 1870, a number of dissatisfied Utes 
 visited the Navahoes at the so-called *' Navaho Church," 
 which can be seen on the right on the line of the Santa 
 Fe Railway, going to California. All the principal 
 chiefs of the tribe were present and the causes of dis- 
 satisfaction against the whites were fully discussed. 
 The powwow was an important one, and lasted several 
 days, but the chief purpose of the Utes to incite the 
 Navahoes to warfare against the whites was not suc- 
 cessful. The crafty Utes, with stirring eloquence, said 
 they had heard the white men saying they were going to 
 take possession of the whole country, and that when 
 they did they would kill off all the chief men of the 
 Navahoes. " See how they have stolen in upon your 
 territory and taken the springs and land that you have 
 had all the time up till now! They have taken the 
 water and land at Wingate and at Defiance, and soon 
 
 1 Since writing the above, however, a sad event has transpired which 
 leads me to modify my statement. A young lady missionary, riding 
 alone, was criminally assaulted by a Navaho, and almost brought to 
 death's door. When I heard of it Navahoes were hunting for the cul- 
 prit. It is to be hoped he will be found and severely punished. 
 
"PAINTED DESERT REGION 137 
 
 they will take all you have, and you and your children 
 will perish because you have no water, no grass for your 
 horses and sheep, and no corn for food. Join in with 
 us and drive these hated people away. Get all the guns 
 and ammunition you can, and prepare many new bows 
 and arrows. Let us sing the war songs together, and go 
 on the war-path and hunt down and kill the whites 
 as the Pueblos hunt down and kill rabbits. Then we 
 will be friends. You will have your country to your- 
 selves, and Those Above will make of you a great nation. 
 We shall have our country and we shall become great. 
 Now we are dwindling down ; we are melting away as 
 the snows on the hillside. United against the whites 
 we shall both become stronger, and grow like the well- 
 watered corn." 
 
 The Navahoes refused to give answer until they had 
 consulted among themselves, and then one of their chiefs 
 reported their decision as follows : " We have heard 
 what our Ute brothers have said. If our white brothers 
 want to kill us they can do so. They have had plenty 
 of chances and we are yet alive. All of our people who 
 have been slain have been those who have gone on the 
 war-path against them in the past. We do not wish to 
 die, so we will not go on the war-path. We will stay 
 at home. We have food. The whites treat us well. If 
 our Ute brothers must fight we will not interfere, but 
 we ourselves do not wish to fight." 
 
 The result was that the Ute bands returned to their 
 homes without any specific act of warfare at that time. 
 
138 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 THE NAVAHO AT HOME 
 
 THE Navaho reservation, embracing nearly four 
 million acres, or eleven thousand square miles, was 
 established by treaty with the Navahoes of June i, 1868, 
 and has been modified or enlarged by subsequent execu- 
 tive orders of October 29, 1878, January 6, 1880, May 
 17, 1884, April 24, 1886, November 19, 1892, and Janu- 
 ary 6, 1900. The major portion is in Arizona, but about 
 six hundred and fifty square miles are in New Mexico. 
 Its average elevation is about six thousand feet, though 
 near the Colorado River it is often but four thousand. 
 The highest peak is about in the centre of the present 
 reservation, in the Tunicha Mountains, and is upwards 
 of nine thousand five hundred feet high. 
 
 The Tunicha range is covered with glorious and ma- 
 jestic pines, and all along its flanks are wide plateaus 
 through which gloomy and massive canyons convey the 
 storm waters from the heights above into the plains 
 below. Its close proximity to the Grand Canyon sug- 
 gests what its general appearance might be. Drained 
 deep down by the canyons and gorges tributary to this 
 great vampire canyon, it is seamed and scarred by the 
 dashing down of many waters. Its rocks are cut up 
 into a thousand fantastic forms and shapes, which look 
 over sterile valleys full of sand. These valleys are num- 
 berless, and one of them, the I-chi-ni-li, commonly 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 139 
 
 called the Chin-lee, stretches from the south to be- 
 yond the San Juan River on the north, to the west of 
 the Tunicha range. 
 
 The ancient boundaries of the land, long prior to the 
 advent of the Spaniard, were four majestic mountains, 
 which now approximately determine the reserve. On 
 the east is Pelado Peak ; on the south, Mt. San Mateo 
 (commonly called Mt. Taylor) ; on the west, the San 
 Francisco range ; and on the north, the San Juan Moun- 
 tains. Each of these is over eleven thousand feet in 
 height. Hence it will be seen that there is a vast range 
 of altitude, yet it is questionable whether anywhere else 
 in the world so large a population inhabits so barren 
 and inhospitable a country. On the lower levels it is 
 mainly desert, with scant pasture here and there; on 
 the higher mesas or plateaus there are many junipers, 
 pinions, and red cedars. 
 
 It is a difficult matter to determine the population 
 of the Navahoes. While they were in captivity the 
 official count was seven thousand three hundred, but 
 desertions were frequent, and at one time about seven 
 hundred of the renegades came in and surrendered, and 
 it is well known that many never were captured or 
 surrendered. 
 
 In 1869 the government distributed thirty thousand 
 sheep and two thousand goats to them, and a count 
 was ordered. This was a most favorable time to make 
 it, as besides the sheep and goats, two years' annuities 
 were given out, and rations distributed every four days. 
 The total summed up some nine thousand. 
 
 In 1890 the official census reported 17,204, but 
 Cosmos Mendeleff, writing in 1895-96, says the tribe 
 numbers only " over 12,000 souls." It scarcely seems 
 
1 4 o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 possible, if the count in 1869 was anything near accurate 
 that the population could have increased to 17,204 in 
 1890. Still it must be remembered that, though not 
 prolific, the Navaho is a good breeder. He is healthy, 
 vigorous, robust, and strong, and his wife (or wives, for 
 he is a polygamist) equally so. Living an out-door life, 
 inured to hardships, generally possessed of plenty to 
 eat, of coarse, rough, hearty, but nutritious food, engaged 
 in occupations and indulging in sports that cultivate their 
 athletic powers, free from the consumptive and scrofu- 
 lous tendencies of most reservation Indians, they are well 
 fitted to be the progenitors of healthy children. 
 
 Though polygamists, they are moral and chaste. In 
 their legends they have always regarded marital unfaith- 
 fulness as a prolific source of sorrow and punishment. 
 In their Origin Legend this sin led to their banishment 
 from the first world, and again from the second, and 
 also from the third, the wronged chief execrating them 
 as follows : " For such crimes I suppose you were 
 chased from the world below ; you shall drink no more 
 of our water, you shall breathe no more of our air. 
 Begone ! " 
 
 In this legend Washington Matthews tells of G6ntso, 
 or Big Knee, a chief who had twelve wives, four from 
 each of three different gens or families. Though he was 
 a bountiful provider, his wives were unfaithful to him. 
 He complained to the chiefs of their families and to their 
 relations and begged them to remonstrate with the 
 wicked women, but remonstrances and rebukes seemed 
 to be in vain. At last they said to Big Knee, " Do 
 with them as you will, we shall not interfere." The 
 next time he detected the unfaithfulness of his wives 
 he mutilated one, another he cut the ears from, a third 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 141 
 
 cut off her breasts, and all these three died. A fourth 
 he cut off her nose, and she lived. He thereupon deter- 
 mined that henceforth he would cut off the nose of any 
 unfaithful wife, for that would be a visible mark of her 
 shame and yet would not kill her. She would be com- 
 pelled to live, and all men and women would know of 
 her wickedness. But even this horrible punishment did 
 not have the deterrent effect he expected. It was not 
 long before another and then another was detected and 
 punished, until, before long, his whole family of wives 
 was noseless. Instead of rebuking themselves and their 
 sins as the cause of their mutilation these women would 
 gather together to rail against their husband, and their 
 relations, whom they claimed should have protected 
 them. Big Knee was compelled to sleep alone in 
 a well-protected hut, and the women grew more deter- 
 mined than ever to work him an injury. 
 
 About this time the people got up a big ceremony 
 for the benefit of Big Knee. It lasted nine days, and 
 on the night of the last day the mutilated women, who 
 had kept themselves secluded in a hut, came forth, and 
 with knives in their hands, proceeded to sing and dance 
 as was expected of them. Around the fire they circled, 
 singing " Peshla ashila " ".It was the knife that did 
 it to me " and peering among the spectators for their 
 husband. He was safe, however, for he was hidden in 
 the circle of branches that made the dance corral. As 
 they concluded the dance they ran from the corral, 
 cursing all who were present with fearful maledictions : 
 " May the waters drown ye ! May the winters freeze ye ! 
 May the fires burn ye ! May the lightnings strike ye ! " 
 and other equally malicious curses. Then they departed 
 and went into the far north, where they now dwell, and, 
 
142 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 according to the Navahoes, whenever these noseless 
 women turn their faces to the south we have cold winds 
 and storms and lightning. 
 
 From this legend it is observed that the husband's power 
 over the wife was somewhat limited. Gontso dare not 
 punish his wives without the consent of their relations. 
 This freedom of the woman is observed to this day, she 
 regarding herself in most things as the equal, and some- 
 times the superior, of her husband. 
 
 From all I can learn, marital unchastity is uncommon, 
 though where the tribe is in close contact with the towns 
 along the railway there are generally to be found men 
 who will sell their wives and daughters, and mothers who 
 will sell their girls to debased white men. Among the 
 respectable members of the tribe, if a man discovers that 
 his wife, or one of them, is unfaithful, he may take it 
 upon himself to chastise her, but such is the independ- 
 ent position of the woman that he must be very wise 
 and judicious or she will speedily leave him. 
 
 Divorce is not common, but is allowable for cause, 
 the parties chiefly concerned generally settling all the 
 details. Occasionally, however, a transaction occurs 
 that in civilized society would occasion quite a buzz of 
 busy tongues. One such happened but a few years 
 ago. Mr. George H. Pepper of the American Museum 
 of Natural History tells the story. The facts were 
 within his own knowledge. One of the husbands had 
 a wife who positively refused to wash and brush his hair. 
 He would coax and persuade, urge and command, 
 threaten and bluster, but all to no effect. The dusky 
 creature was neither to be led nor driven. If he wanted 
 his hair washed and combed he must do it himself. 
 
 While the disappointed husband was cogitating over his 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 143 
 
 miserable marital experiences, a friend from a distance, 
 with his wife, came to visit him. As the men got to 
 talking and finally exchanging confidences about their 
 wives, the one told the other of the unwifely conduct of 
 his spouse. The visitor condoled with his host and told 
 what a good wife he had, how very obedient she was, 
 and the like, until he had quite exalted her, and the host 
 determined to take a better look than he had hitherto 
 given at such a paragon of a wife. Whether this was 
 a scheme of the visitor or not it was scarcely possible to 
 tell, but, anyhow, it worked out as well as if it had been 
 carefully planned ; for as the host studied the visitor's 
 wife he fell head over ears in love with her, and, strange 
 to say, a corresponding affinity was discovered to exist 
 between the two others. Accordingly, a day or two 
 later the visitor suggested to the host that as he (the 
 host) wanted a wife to wash and comb his hair, while he 
 (the visitor) was content with a wife that would do 
 neither, what was to hinder their " swapping " their life 
 partners and thus making a satisfactory end to his do- 
 mestic difficulties? With joy the disappointed husband 
 accepted the offer, a little " boot " was required to 
 make the exchange satisfactorily, and then the result was 
 communicated to the women. Neither of them was 
 consulted in the slightest, but without any hesitancy 
 they fell in with the agreement. The visitor rode off 
 satisfied, accompanied by his new wife, while the wife 
 who came as a visitor inaugurated her new relationship 
 by shyly coming into her new husband's hogan with an 
 olla of water, the necessary soap-root, and the whisk 
 with which to wash and comb her liege's hair. And 
 now, for three years, the two couples are known to have 
 lived together in " amity and concord." 
 
144 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 A few years ago it would perhaps have been safe to 
 designate the Navahoes as the most wealthy Indians of 
 the United States. Many of them were worth hundreds 
 of dollars. They understood and practised the art 
 of irrigation; they grew large crops of corn, squash, 
 melons, beans, chili, and onions. Some had large and 
 thriving bands of horses, which they traded with the 
 Havasupais, Wallapais, Hopis, Paiutis, and other neigh- 
 boring people. I have often met a band of six or eight 
 Navaho traders with horses and blankets in the canyon 
 of the Havasu, and they took away the well-dressed 
 buckskins in exchange, for which these canyon people 
 are noted. From the Paiutis, they obtained baskets 
 and their tusjehs y or wicker-work, pinion gum-covered 
 water-bottles. 
 
 As for sheep and goats, there are few places in the 
 United States where so many were to be found as on 
 the Navaho reservation. Every family had its flock, 
 as every woman was a blanket weaver ; and one of the 
 prettiest sights in the whole Painted Desert Region was 
 to come upon a flock of these gentle, domestic creatures 
 quietly pasturing, led or driven by the owner herself, 
 or one of her children. 
 
 But the last few years have made a great difference 
 in their prosperity. Rains have been rare, water scarce, 
 and pasture scant, and as a result their flocks are re- 
 duced to woeful proportions. Their nomadic habits 
 render the improvement of their locations impossible, 
 and their superstition in regard to the burning of a 
 hogan in which any one has died compels frequent 
 migrations. * 
 
 There is no doubt but that for the past three hundred 
 years of historic time the Navahoes have been thieves, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 145 
 
 robbers, and murderers. The Hopis contend that all the 
 sheep they had before the general distribution, earlier 
 referred to, were stolen from them. This is probably 
 true, but it is equally probable that had the Navahoes 
 not stolen them the Utes would ; and while this seems 
 poor comfort, after facts showed that it was an exceed- 
 ingly good thing that Navahoes rather than Utes became 
 their possessors. For, once in their possession, the 
 Navahoes became careful breeders (for aborigines) of 
 sheep, and when marauding bands of Utes came into 
 the country the warlike Navahoes drove them away, 
 thus defending the sheep so that the Hopis could obtain 
 the nucleus of a new flock later on. 
 
 In the next chapter I present, a fairly full and accu- 
 rate account of the art of blanket- weaving, for which the 
 Navahoes are now so noted. 
 
 As a rule the physical development of the Navahoes is 
 sturdy and robust, as will be seen from the accompany- 
 ing photographs. They average well, and with slight 
 range on either side from a fair and normal develop- 
 ment. There are few excessively strong, and equally few 
 very weak people among them. The same may be said 
 of their fatness and leanness, both 'extremes being rare. 
 
 The men, as is common with all Indians, pluck out 
 the hair on both lips and chin, though, occasionally, 
 one will find a man who has allowed his moustache to 
 grow. The hair on the head is seldom cut, and with 
 both sexes is allowed to grow long. The men tie it 
 in a knot behind, and wrap a high-colored " banda " 
 around the forehead, thus confining the hair and adding 
 considerably to their own picturesqueness. 
 
 Being a prosperous people, they are generally con- 
 tented looking, and wear that air of complacent self- 
 
 10 
 
146 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 satisfaction that is a sure sign of prosperity. It seems 
 clearly to say : " We are a good people, a specially 
 favored because specially deserving people, hence look 
 upon us and understand our prosperity." There are 
 no beggars among the better class of the Navahoes, 
 and men as well as women are hard workers. As a 
 nation they are decidedly producers. Mr. Cotton has 
 large gangs of them working at grading, etc., on the Santa 
 Fe Railway, and they can be found helping white men 
 in as many and as various occupations as the Chinese 
 in California. The industry of the women is proverbial, 
 for seldom will one be found idle, her greatest seeming 
 pleasure being to have her hands constantly occupied. 
 What with carding the, wool, washing, dyeing, and spin- 
 ning it, preparing the dyes (after collecting them) for 
 coloring it, and then weaving the blankets for which 
 they are famous, going out into the mountains to col- 
 lect the wild seeds and roots of which they are fond, 
 caring for the corn, tending the sheep and goats, pre- 
 paring the daily food, and many other duties that they 
 impose upon themselves, none can say they are not 
 models of industry. Men, women, and children alike 
 are fearless riders. The wealth of many a man is de- 
 termined by his possessions of horses and sheep, and 
 from earliest years the boys are required to attend to 
 the bands of horses. In their semi-nomad life the 
 women ride about with the men, and thus become 
 skilled riders. They sit astride, mounting and dis- 
 mounting as easily as the men, and riding wherever 
 occasion demands. 
 
 The saddles are made by the men, and are a modifi- 
 cation of the big-horned Mexican variety. The tree is 
 cut out with infinite patience and care, and is then 
 
THE ANTELOPE PRIESTS LEAVING THEIR KIVA FOR THE SNAKE DANCE. 
 
 THE WIDOW, DAUGHTERS, AND GRANDCHILDREN OF THE 
 NAVAHO CHIEF, MANUELITO. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 147 
 
 covered with rawhide or bought leather, and adorned 
 with rows of brass-headed nails. The girth, or cinch, is 
 home woven, of wool, cotton, or horsehair, the former 
 being preferred. 
 
 That the Navahoes are or were expert engineers, and 
 could construct difficult trails, is evidenced by their 
 trails into Chaca Canyon from the mesa above. Simp- 
 son thus describes what he saw in 1849: U A mile 
 further, observing several Navahoes high above us, 
 on the brink of the north wall, shouting and gesticulat- 
 ing as if they were very glad to see us, what was our 
 astonishment when they commenced tripping down 
 the almost sheer wall before them, as nimbly and 
 dexterously as minuet dancers ! Indeed, the force 
 of gravity, and their descent upon a steep inclined 
 plane, made such a kind of performance absolutely 
 necessary to insure their equilibrium." 
 
 They are a remarkably intelligent people, and their 
 faces are, as a rule, pliant and expressive. There is 
 none of the proverbial stolidness to be found among 
 any except very few of the older men of the Navahoes. 
 If you are unwelcome you will know it, surly looks 
 and words will ask your mission and bid you begone. 
 On the other hand, if you are welcome, glad smiles will 
 light up the faces of your friends, and you will hear 
 sweet words uttered by melodious and tuneful voices. 
 It is seldom that your courteous advances will be 
 repelled, though they are very ready to resent unwel- 
 come intrusions. I have often sat for hours in the 
 hogans of entire strangers, and the conversation of 
 men and women was general and punctuated with 
 laughter and smiles, showing that they know how to 
 make and appreciate jokes. 
 
148 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 The Navahoes play a game common in the South- 
 west, which they call nanzosh. It is a simple game, 
 yet they seem to get endless fun and amusement from 
 it, often gambling large sums upon their favorite 
 players, for, while it looks and is simple, it is not easy 
 to play so as to win. It requires great skill and accu- 
 rate throwing. The implements are two long poles and 
 a small hoop. The poles are generally of alder and in 
 two pieces, a fathom long, and a long, many-tailed string 
 called the turkey-claw is fastened to the end of each. 
 Two players only are needed. One throws the hoop. 
 Both follow, and when they think the hoop is about to 
 fall, they throw their respective poles so that the hoop, 
 in its fall, will rest upon those portions of their poles 
 that give the highest counts. 
 
 Catlin describes a similar game played by the Man- 
 dans, though their pole is a single piece of wood, as is 
 that of the Mohaves and Yumas, both of whom have the 
 same game. 
 
 The taboo is in existence in all its force among the 
 Navahoes. The most singular of these is that which for- 
 bids a man ever to look upon the face of his mother-in- 
 law. Among civilized people it is a standard subject 
 for rude jesting, this relationship of the mother-in-law, 
 but with the Navahoes, the white man's jest is a subject 
 of great earnestness. Each believes that serious con- 
 sequences will follow if they see each other ; hence, as 
 it is the custom for a man to live with his wife's people, 
 constant dodging is required, and the cries of warning, 
 given by one or another of the family to son or mother- 
 in-law, are often heard. I was once photographing the 
 family of Manuelito, the last great war-chief of the 
 Navahoes. The widow of the chief, her two daughters, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 149 
 
 their husbands and children, made up the group. 
 But there was no getting of them together. I would 
 photograph the mother with her daughters and grand- 
 children, but as soon as I called for the daughters' 
 husbands, the mother " slid " out of sight, and when I 
 wished for her return, the men disappeared. 
 
 Then, too, a Navaho will never touch fish, much less 
 eat it. According to one of the shamans, the reason for 
 this is, that some of their ancestors were once turned 
 into fish in the San Juan River, and, were they to eat 
 fish, they might thus become cannibals, and eat descend- 
 ants of their own ancestors. As neither Matthews nor 
 Stephen refers to this cause of the taboo, I merely give 
 it for what it may be worth. The former tells of a white 
 woman, who, in a spirit of mischief, threw a pan of water 
 in which fish had been soaked over a young Navaho. 
 He changed his clothes and bathed himself carefully, in 
 order that no taint of the tabooed fish might remain 
 upon him. I have had a great deal of fun by innocently 
 offering candy in the form of fish to Navahoes. As 
 they are fond of candy, it was a strong proof of the 
 power of the taboo that they invariably refused to 
 touch it. 
 
 Superstition naturally forms a large part of the Nav- 
 aho's thought. He believes in charms, amulets, fetishes, 
 witchcraft, taboos, magic, and all the wondrous things 
 he can conceive. His name for a personal fetish is Bi- 
 zha, " his treasure, something he especially valttes ; hence 
 his charm, his amulet, his personal fetish, his magic 
 weapon, something that one carries to mysteriously 
 protect himself." 
 
 The talisman or amulet for the gambler is a piece of 
 fine turquoise, because Noholipi, a gambling god, who 
 
1 50 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 appears in their Origin Legend, was made successful 
 always with a large piece of this precious stone. 
 
 There are quite a number of medicine-men, or 
 shamans, among the Navahoes, some good, others bad. 
 It has been my privilege to know several who are men 
 of dignity and character. 
 
 Dr. Matthews, in writing of them, thus strongly ex- 
 presses himself: " There are, among the Navahoes, char- 
 latans and cheats who treat disease ; men who pretend 
 to suck disease out of the patient, and then draw from 
 their own mouths pebbles, pieces of charcoal, or bodies 
 of insects, claiming that these are the disease which 
 they have extracted. But the priests of the great rites 
 are not to be classed with such. All of these with 
 whom the writer is acquainted are above such trickery. 
 They perform their ceremonies in the firm conviction 
 that they are invoking divine aid, and their calling 
 lends dignity to their character." Of Hatali Natloi, 
 the smiling chanter, he says : " He would be considered 
 a man of high character in any community. He is 
 dignified, courteous, kind, honest, truthful, and self- 
 respecting." 
 
 This is the universal testimony of all who know this 
 class of men with reasonable intimacy. Though the 
 white man may believe the performances of a shaman 
 ridiculous or superstitious, that need not interfere with 
 his respect and esteem. 
 
 To understand this subject aright, one must clearly 
 apprehend the Indian meaning of the terms " medi- 
 cine," and " medicine-men." Oftentimes the latter are 
 called priests, sometimes thaumaturgists, oftener shamans, 
 and, of course, by all unknowing white men are un- 
 hesitatingly denounced as frauds and humbugs. Now 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 151 
 
 to the Indian all things that work injury to him are 
 bad medicine. If you write his name (or any scrawl 
 he cannot understand) on a piece of paper and look at 
 it solemnly and then at him, at the same time shaking 
 your head, you can persuade him into the belief that it 
 is " bad medicine." Owen Wister recently wrote in one 
 of the popular magazines an interesting story, the 
 whole plot of which was based upon his knowledge of 
 this fact. 
 
 With the Navaho it is " bad medicine " to touch an 
 achindee hogan (or house). When a person dies within 
 a house, the rafters are tumbled over the body, and the 
 whole set on fire. After that it would be exceeding 
 " bad medicine " for a Navaho to go near the spot, or 
 touch a piece of wood belonging to that hogan ; for the 
 spirit (the achindee) is supposed to remain in the 
 locality, and he resents any undue intrusion into his 
 domain. Before I was aware of the custom and feeling, 
 I camped near an abandoned and partially burned 
 hogan. When I sent my Navaho man to it for wood 
 for a fire, he went half a mile away into the mountain 
 and stayed there. I was unable to understand his feel- 
 ing, but later I learned that except under the pangs of 
 direst hunger, he would never have touched a morsel 
 of food prepared over a fire in which wood from the 
 achindee hogan had been used. 
 
 Medicine-men are often used as instruments for the 
 working of private revenge. Cowards are to be found 
 among Indians as among white men. Among white 
 men these despicable wretches attack their foes through 
 the columns of newspapers or in the pages of magazines, 
 while among the former they call in the services of a 
 medicine-man. This hired charlatan then either directly 
 
152 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 or by proxy works upon the fears of the man he is hired 
 to injure. Sometimes he actually poisons or otherwise 
 harms him under pretence of protecting him. But the 
 Indian is dreadfully superstitious, and to work upon his 
 mind is easy, and he soon imagines himself to be sick. 
 
 For the cure of disease the better class of Navaho 
 shamans have a system of chanting, praying, dancing, 
 bathing, sweating, etc., that Dr. Matthews has fully de- 
 scribed in the United States Bureau of Ethnology 
 reports. The complexity of these ceremonies cannot 
 be comprehended or conceived by those whose knowl- 
 edge of the Indian is superficial and casual. 
 
 If, however, a shaman makes himself unpopular, or 
 fails to cure in several successive cases, or earns the 
 enmity of a treacherous shaman foe, he is liable to be 
 accused of witchcraft, and if a sufficient number of the 
 people can be made to believe the charge he is speedily 
 done away with. One of the shamans made famous by 
 Dr. Matthews was recently killed on account of his 
 harsh and tyrannical manner. He was accused of 
 witchcraft and shot. Hence it will be seen that the 
 Navaho is not yet perfect any more than his white 
 brother. No, indeed ! 
 
 There are other points in which he is similar to his 
 brother of the white skin. Some years ago I journeyed 
 in a wagon with an old Arizona pioneer, Franklin French, 
 from Winslow, on the line of the Santa Fe, through the 
 Hopi country, the Mormon town of Tuba City, past the 
 Navaho settlements of Willow Springs, Echo Reef, etc., 
 to Lee's Ferry of the Colorado River. 
 
 Beyond Willow Springs we camped one night,. and I 
 went to a Navaho hogan to purchase corn and vegetables 
 for ourselves, and feed for the horses. Everything was 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 153 
 
 six prices too high, but the Navahoes knew I was in 
 need of their articles and raised the prices accordingly. 
 It is not only the white man that understands the prin- 
 ciple of "cornering the market." We compromised, 
 however, and, after a hearty supper and a chat around 
 the camp-fire, I rolled myself up in my blankets ready 
 to sleep until called for breakfast in the morning. 
 
 But what a babel of confusing and distressing sounds 
 it was that awakened me ! Surely we must be 'beset by 
 a band of marauding Navahoes, bent on murdering us ! 
 No ; it was only a wordy fight between my driver and 
 three Navaho women, who had come to demand com- 
 pensation for depredations committed in their corn-field 
 by our horses. Hobbled, and turned loose, they had 
 discovered somehow, during the night, that on Echo 
 Reef were corn and other good fodder to be had in the 
 place of the scant feed offered below ; so, following their 
 noses, they had wandered into corn-fields and melon- 
 patches to their own delectation, but the manifest injury 
 of the crops. What was to be done about it? French 
 was advising that the Navahoes imitate the example of 
 the Hopis and cut off a portion of the ear of each offend- 
 ing animal, but the women angrily laughed him to scorn 
 and vociferously demanded cinquo pesos for the damage. 
 These were not forthcoming, but I urged the squaws on, 
 telling them to insist that the hoary-headed old miser 
 pay them their just demands, and informing them, in 
 purest English, of the opinions French had expressed 
 regarding them, as a people, the night before. The 
 aborigines did n't quite know what to make out of my 
 fluent verbosity, and French at last impatiently turned 
 to me and told me there 'd be a " pretty general monkey 
 and parrot time started here pretty quick, if I did n't let 
 
i 5 4 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 up, and that '11 be follered by a pretty tall foot-race 
 between us two, in which you '11 be 'way off in the lead." 
 So we compromised with our dusky visitors by invit- 
 ing them to eat up the remnants of our breakfast, and 
 then carry away a little coffee and sugar. The only 
 thing I am now afraid of is that, at the next visit I make 
 them, they will privately and stealthily, under the cover 
 of night, lead our steeds into the forbidden fields, and 
 encourage them in their thefts, in order that they may 
 enjoy another " compromise." 
 
 Primitive peoples at an early date felt the desire for 
 personal adornment. With the Navaho this found 
 expression in painting the body with various col- 
 ored ochres or clays, in fashioning garments out of 
 the skins of animals, in wearing head-dresses and 
 other fantastic ornaments made from feathers, and in 
 necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and wristlets made of 
 small flint arrowpoints, or of the dried seeds of 
 juniper, pinion, and other plants, or of bones. Later 
 they secured beads of shell, turquoise, and coral by 
 barter. 
 
 But nearly all this primitive decoration received a 
 rude shock of displacement when the Mexican colonist 
 came upon the scene, with his iron, copper, and silver 
 adornments glittering in the sunlight. From coveting, 
 the Navaho took to possessing by fair means or foul. 
 He would barter his skins or other native possessions 
 for the precious metals, using brass and copper for the 
 making of ornaments, and iron for tipping his arrows. 
 Silver, however, has never lost its charm for him. The 
 Mexican vaquero, trapped out in the glittering metal, 
 has ever been his ideal of personal adornment, and he 
 retains it to this day. Silver is the only coin they care 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 155 
 
 to accept, though the better educated now know the 
 superior value of gold. 
 
 There are some clever, skilful silversmiths among 
 them peshlikais, as they call themselves. In cru- 
 cibles of their own manufacture they melt the precious 
 metal, using a crude and primitive blast furnace, with 
 charcoal as fuel, and the molten silver is then poured 
 into moulds which they have shaped out of sandstone 
 or other rock. They understand the art of uniting two 
 pieces of metal together, for many of their ornaments 
 are hollow and globular, originally made in two parts 
 and then joined. Scarcely a man or woman of any 
 standing in the tribe does not possess a home-manu- 
 factured necklace of silver beads or articles of some de- 
 sign, a finger ring or two, one or more bracelets, and 
 sometimes a pair of ear pendants. Above all they covet 
 the belt with large silver disks. Each of these disks 
 is made of two or more silver dollars, melted and run 
 into a flat mould. This thick sheet is then hammered 
 out to the required size and shape, which is either oval 
 or circular, and chased with small tools. The border 
 is generally filleted and the edges scalloped. When 
 finished each disk has a value of twice its original cost 
 in coin silver. Sometimes a belt will contain eight or 
 nine disks and a buckle, which cannot be bought for less 
 than thirty-six to forty dollars. This, too, is actual cost 
 price. If the Navaho does n't care to part with it, an 
 extra five or ten dollars, or even more, is required to 
 induce him to let it go. 
 
 In addition to these objects of personal adornment, 
 many of the more wealthy have silver bridles. The 
 bridle itself is made of leather or woven horsehair, and 
 then the silver strips and bars, artistically chased and 
 
156 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 decorated, are placed and fastened on the headstall. 
 Silver buttons of pretty and tasty design are com- 
 monly used on gaiters and moccasins. These are made 
 from beaten coins, twenty-five and fifty-cent pieces, and 
 the obverse side is often found in its original state as 
 stamped in the United States or Mexican mint. 
 
 The bracelets are of various designs, sometimes 
 simple round circlets; other times the silver is trian- 
 gular, but the most common shape is a flat band, on the 
 outer side of which chasings and gravings are made. 
 These bracelets are made so that they can be slipped 
 sideways over the wrist. These and all the other articles 
 mentioned are worn equally by women and men. 
 
 The finger rings are often adorned with a rude setting 
 of turquoise or garnet. The former is found in various 
 parts of New Mexico, and on their reservation they dig 
 garnets, spinel rubies, jacinths, peridots, opals, smoky 
 topaz, and crystal spar in large quantities. From the 
 Petrified Forest they obtain jasper, carnelian, chalced- 
 ony, agate, and amethyst. All these objects are rudely 
 polished and shaped, and used on rings, ear pendants, 
 or necklaces. 
 
 It has been stated that the Navaho is exceedingly 
 superstitious about making or allowing to be made any 
 representation of a snake, and that on one occasion a 
 silversmith who offended by beginning to make a brace- 
 let of rattlesnake design was cruelly beaten, his work- 
 shop demolished, and the hated emblem destroyed. 
 This may be true, but I have ridden all over the Navaho 
 reservation wearing both a rattlesnake ring and bracelet, 
 and have had several made for me, on different parts 
 of the reservation, by different peshlikais. I am now 
 wearing a ring of rattlesnake design made by a Navaho 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 157 
 
 silversmith and given to me with this thought as ex- 
 plained to me by the donor : " The snake watches and 
 guards for us our springs and water-courses. Water 
 is the most precious thing we possess in the desert. I 
 make for you this ring in the form of a snake, that the 
 power that guards our most precious thing may always 
 guard you." 
 
 I wore this ring when unfortunately I was bitten by 
 a rattlesnake at Phoenix, in February, 1902 ; but as I 
 speedily recovered, I am satisfied that my Navaho friend 
 will insist that it was the ring and its virtues that kept 
 me from sudden death, and that hastened my complete 
 recovery. 1 
 
 A most interesting settlement of Navahoes is that of 
 To-hatch-i, or Little Water, some forty miles northwest 
 of Gallup, New Mexico. Here I was invited by Mrs. 
 E. H. De Vore, the teacher of the government school. 
 The drive is over an interesting country, part of 
 which is covered by junipers and cedars, and where the 
 road winds around strangely and fantastically sculptured 
 rocks as it reaches the great Navaho plateau. 
 
 The major portion of the Navahoes were kind and 
 hospitable and greeted me cordially. The day after my 
 arrival I was talking with Hosteen Da-a-zhy about the 
 other Indian tribes I -had visited, when suddenly the 
 thought came to me which I immediately expressed: 
 " When I go to my friends the Hopis and Acomas and 
 
 1 Since writing this I visited the Hopi Snake Dance at Oraibi, in 
 September, 1902. One of the Navahoes I met there informed me that 
 he had come as the messenger of my peshlikai friend at Tohatchi, 
 and he asked, " When klish (the rattlesnake) bit you did you wear the 
 klish ring ? " I answered, " Yes." " Then," said he, " that was the 
 reason you recovered. Had you not worn it you would speedily have 
 died." Of course I believed him. 
 
158 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Zunis they always know I am weary and tired with my 
 long journey across the sandy desert, and they have 
 their women prepare a bowl of " tal-a-wush " and cool 
 and refresh me by shampooing my head." Talawush 
 is the Navaho for the root of the amole (soap-root), 
 which, macerated and then beaten up and down in a bowl 
 of water, produces a delicious lather, which, for a sham- 
 poo, has no equal. 
 
 In a moment, as though grieved by his thoughtless- 
 ness and want of hospitality, Da-a-zhy called to his 
 oldest daughter, and bade her prepare some talawush 
 to give me a shampoo. The woman muttered some 
 protest, " it was enough to wash her own husband's 
 head without having to wash mine," but her father 
 sternly rebuked her for her want of courtesy to the 
 stranger. In a short time the preparations were all 
 made. I sent to Mrs, De Vore and borrowed a couple 
 of towels, and then in the shade outside knelt down with 
 my head over a large bowl full of the refreshing suds. 
 Very gently at first, and afterwards more vigorously, 
 the good woman lathered my head and oh, how cool- 
 ing and soothing it was ! while her sister and the inter- 
 preter stood by and laughed. Then Hosteen himself 
 came and laughed at the droll remarks of his daughter. 
 This general laughter called others, and by and by 
 Mrs. De Vore and her sister could not resist the tempta- 
 tion to come and see what all the fun was about Just 
 as they sat down, close by, my gentle manipulator was 
 saying : " Navaho men have hair only on the top of their 
 heads, but you have hair also on the bottom [my beard]. 
 Shall I also put talawush on the bottom hair as well as 
 the top ? " Laughingly I bade her put it everywhere 
 she liked, and just as my mouth was at its widest she 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 159 
 
 brought up a handful of suds and filled it full. Of 
 course I half choked, and this only made the laugh 
 greater than ever, for, with the greatest coolness and 
 sly nonchalance she exclaimed : " It is a good thing 
 that you got a mouthful. White men need to have 
 their mouths washed out pretty often ! " 
 
 And what a delightful sensation the whole operation 
 gave one ! It was refreshing beyond description, and, 
 for days after, my hair was as silky and soft as that of 
 a child. 
 
i6o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 THE NAVAHO AS A BLANKET WEAVERi 
 
 WHEN the Spaniard came into Arizona and New 
 Mexico three hundred and fifty years ago, he 
 found the art of weaving in a well-advanced stage 
 among the domestic and sedentary Pueblo Indians, and 
 the wild and nomad Navahoes. The cotton of these 
 blankets was grown by these Arizona Indians from 
 time immemorial, and they also used the tough fibres 
 of the yucca, and agave leaves, and the hairs of various 
 wild animals, either separately or with cotton. Their 
 processes of weaving were exactly the same then as 
 they are to-day, there being but slight differences 
 between the methods followed before the advent of the 
 whites and after. Hence, in a study of Indian blanketry, 
 as it is made even to-day, we are approximating nearly 
 to the pure aboriginal methods of pre-Columbian times. 
 Archaeologists a^nd ethnologists generally presume 
 that the art of weaving on the loom was learned by the 
 Navahoes from their Pueblo neighbors. All the facts 
 in the case seem to bear out this supposition. Yet, as 
 is well known, the Navahoes are a part of the great 
 Athabascan family, which has scattered, by separate 
 migrations, from Alaska into California, Arizona, and 
 New Mexico. Many of the Alaskans are good weavers, 
 
 1 This chapter is composed mainly from an article of mine entitled 
 "Indian Blanketry," which appeared in Outing of March, 1902. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 161 
 
 and according to Navaho traditions, their ancestors, 
 when they came into the country, wore blankets that 
 were made of cedar bark and of yucca fibre. Even in 
 the Alaska (Thlinket) blankets, made to-day of the 
 wool of the white mountain-goat, cedar bark is twisted 
 in with the wool of the warp. Why, then, should not 
 the Navaho woman have brought the art of weaving, 
 possibly in a very primitive condition, from her original 
 Alaskan home? That her art, however, has been im- 
 proved by contact with the pueblo Hopi, and other 
 Indians, there can be no question, and, if she had a 
 crude loom, it was speedily replaced by the one so long 
 used by the Pueblo. Where the Pueblo weaver gained 
 her loom we do not know, whether from the tribes of 
 the South, or by her own invention. But in all practical 
 ways the primitive loom was as complete and perfect 
 at the Spanish conquest as it is to-day. 
 
 Any loom, to be complete, must possess certain 
 qualifications. As Professor Mason has well said : " In 
 any style of mechanical weaving, however simple or 
 complex, even in darning, the following operations are 
 performed: First, raising and lowering alternately 
 different sets of warp filaments to form the ' sheds ' ; 
 second, throwing the shuttle, or performing some opera- 
 tion that amounts to the same thing; third, after insert- 
 ing the weft thread, driving it home, and adjusting it by 
 means of the batten, be it the needle, the finger, the 
 shuttle, or a separate device." 
 
 The frame is made of four cottonwood or cedar poles 
 cut from the trees that line the nearest stream or grow 
 in the mountain forests. Two of these are forked for 
 uprights, and the cross beams are lashed to them above 
 and below. Sometimes the lower beam is dispensed 
 
 ii 
 
162 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 with, and wooden pegs driven into the earth are used 
 instead. The frame ready, the warp is arranged on 
 beams, which are lashed to the top and bottom of the 
 frame by means of a rawhide or horsehair riata (our 
 Western word " lariat " is merely a corruption of la riata). 
 Thus the warp is made tight and is ready for the nimble 
 ringers of the weaver. Her shuttles are pieces of 
 smooth, round stick upon the ends of which she has 
 wound her yarn, or even the small balls of yarn are 
 made to serve this purpose. By her side is a rude 
 wooden comb with which she strikes a few stitches into 
 place, but when she wishes to wedge the yarn of a 
 complete row from side to side of weaving, she 
 uses for the purpose a flat, broad stick, one edge of 
 which is sharpened almost to knife-like keenness. This 
 is the " batten." With the design in her brain her busy 
 and skilful ringers produce the pattern as she desires it, 
 there being no sketch from which she may copy. In 
 weaving a blanket of intricate pattern and many colors 
 the weaver finds it easier to open the few warp threads 
 needed with her fingers and then thrust between them 
 the small balls of yarn, rather than bother with a shuttle, 
 no matter how simple. 
 
 But before blankets can be made the wool must be 
 cut from the backs of the sheep, cleaned, carded, spun, 
 and dyed. It is one of the interesting sights of the 
 Southwest region to see a flock of sheep and goats 
 running together, watched over, perhaps, by a lad of 
 ten or a dozen years, or by a woman who is ultimately 
 to weave the fleeces they carry into substantial blankets. 
 After the fleece has been removed from the sheep the 
 Navaho woman proceeds to wash it. Then it is combed 
 with hand cards small flat implements in which wire 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 163 
 
 teeth are placed purchased from the traders. (These 
 and the shears are the only modern implements used.) 
 The dyeing is sometimes done before spinning, generally, 
 however, after. The spindle used is of the simplest 
 character merely a slender stick thrust through a 
 circular disk of wood. In spite of the fact that the 
 Navahoes have seen the spinning-wheel in use by the 
 Mexicans and the Mormons, who, at Tuba City, live 
 practically as their neighbors, they have never cared 
 either to make or steal them. Their conservatism pre- 
 serves the ancient, slow and laborious method. Hold- 
 ing the spindle in the right hand, the point of the short 
 end below the balancing disk resting on the ground, 
 and the long end on her knee, the spinner attaches the 
 end of her staple close to the disk, and then gives the 
 spindle a rapid twirl. As it revolves she holds the yarn 
 out so that it twists. As it tightens sufficiently she 
 allows it to wrap on to the spindle, and repeats the 
 operation until the spindle is full. The spinning is done 
 loosely or tightly according to the fineness of weave 
 required in the blanket. There are practically four 
 grades of blankets made from native wool, and it must 
 be prepared suitably for each grade. The coarsest is, 
 of course, the easiest spun. This is to make the com- 
 mon blankets. These seldom have any other color 
 than the native gray, white, brown, and black, though 
 occasionally streaks of red or some other color will be 
 introduced. The yarn for these is coarse and fuzzy, 
 and nearly a quarter of an inch in diameter. The next 
 grade is the extra common. The yarn for this must 
 be a little finer, say twenty-five per cent, finer, and is 
 generally in a variety of colors. The third grade is the 
 half fancy, and this is closer woven yarn, and the colors 
 
1 64 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 are a prominent feature of the completed blankets. 
 These half-fancy blankets are those generally offered for 
 sale as the " genuine " Navaho material, etc., and, were 
 the dyes used of native origin, this designation would 
 be correct. Unfortunately, in by far the greater number 
 of them, aniline dyes are used, and this, by the wise 
 purchaser, is regarded as a misfortune. The next grade 
 is the native wool fancy. These are comparatively 
 rare blankets, as the yarn must be woven very tightly, 
 and the weaving also done with great care. The high- 
 est grade that one will ordinary come in contact with 
 is the Germantown. This style of blanket is made 
 entirely of purchased Germantown yarn, which has 
 almost superseded the native wool fancy, as, to the 
 ordinary purchaser, a Germantown yarn blanket looks 
 so much better than one made from its Navaho counter- 
 part. The yarn is of brighter colors necessarily so, 
 owing to the wonderful chromatic gamut offered by 
 the aniline dyes ; it is spun more evenly (not necessarily 
 more strongly, and, indeed, as a matter of fact, is far 
 less strong), and (to the Indian) is much less trouble 
 to procure. Then, too, when woven, owing to its good 
 looks, it sells for more than the native wool fancy, upon 
 which so much more work has had to be put. Hence 
 Madam Navaho, being no fool, prefers to make what 
 the people ask for, and " Germantowns " are turned out 
 ad libitum. 
 
 But, to the knowing, there is still a higher grade of 
 blanket. This is not, as one expert (jsic) would have 
 it, an attempted copying of ancient blankets, but a con- 
 tinuation of an art which he declares to be lost. There 
 are several old weavers who preserve in themselves all 
 the old and good of the best days of blanket weaving. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 165 
 
 They use native dyes, native wool, with bayeta when 
 they can get it, and they spin their wool to a tension 
 that makes it as durable as fine steel. They weave 
 with care, and after the old fashions, following the 
 ancient shapes and designs, and produce blankets that 
 are as good as any that were ever made in the palmiest 
 days of the art. Such blankets take long in weaving, 
 and are both rare and expensive. I have just had one 
 of these fine blankets made (January, 1903), and in 
 every sense of the word it is equal to any old blanket I 
 ever saw. 
 
 The common blankets and the extra common are 
 sold by the pound, the price, of course,- varying, and of 
 late years steadily increasing. Half-fancy blankets are 
 generally sold by the piece, and vary in price according 
 to the harmony of the colors, the fineness of the weave, 
 and the striking characteristics of the design. This is 
 also true of native wool fancy, the price being determined 
 by the Indian according to her notions of the length 
 of the purchaser's purse. On the other hand, German- 
 town yarn having a fixed purchasable price, the blankets 
 made from it are to be bought by the pound. 
 
 These remarks, necessarily, refer to the original pur- 
 chases from the Indian. There are no general rules of 
 purchase price followed by traders, dealers, or retail 
 salesmen. 
 
 In the original colors, as I have already shown, there 
 are white, brown, gray, and black, the last rather a 
 grayish-black, or, better still, as Matthews describes it, 
 rusty. He also says: "They still employ to a great 
 extent their native dyes " of yellow, reddish, and black. 
 There is good evidence that they formerly had a blue 
 dye ; but indigo, originally introduced, I think, by the 
 
1 66 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Mexicans, has susperseded this. If they, in former 
 days, had a native blue and a native yellow, they must 
 also, of course, have had a green, and they now make 
 green of their native yellow and indigo, the latter being 
 the only imported dye-stuff I have ever seen in use 
 among them. . . . The brilliant red figures in their finer 
 blankets were, a few years ago, made entirely of bayeta, 
 and this material is still (1881) largely used. Bayeta 
 is a bright scarlet cloth with a long nap, much finer in 
 appearance than the scarlet strouding which forms 
 such an important article in the Indian trade of the 
 North." 
 
 This bayeta or baize was unravelled, and the Indian 
 often retwisted the warp to make it firmer than origi- 
 nally, and then rewove it into his incomparable blankets. 
 
 From information mainly gained by Mr. G. H. Pep- 
 per, of the American Museum of Natural History, during 
 his three years' sojourn with the Navahoes as head of 
 the Hyde Exploring Expedition, I present the follow- 
 ing accounts of their native dyes. From the earliest 
 days the Navahoes have been expert dyers, their colors 
 being black, brick-red, russet, blue, yellow, and a green- 
 ish-yellow akin to the shade known as old gold. To 
 make the black dye three ingredients are used; viz., 
 yellow ochre, pinion gum, and the leaves and twigs of 
 the aromatic sumac (Rhus aromatica). The ochre is 
 pulverized and roasted until it becomes a light brown, 
 when it is removed from the fire and mixed with an 
 equal amount of pinion gum. This mixture is then 
 placed on the fire, and as the roasting continues it first 
 becomes mushy, then drier and darker, until nothing 
 but a fine black powder is left In the meantime the 
 sumac leaves and twigs are being boiled, five or six 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 167 
 
 hours being required to fully extract the juices. When 
 both are somewhat cooled they are mixed, and almost 
 immediately a rich bluish-black fluid is formed. 
 
 For yellow dye the tops of a flowering weed (Big- 
 elovia graveolens) are boiled for several hours until 
 the liquid assumes a deep yellow color. As soon as 
 the dyer deems the extraction of the color juices nearly 
 complete, she takes some native alum (almogen) and 
 heats it over the fire, and, when it becomes pasty, 
 gradually adds it to the boiling decoction, which slowly 
 becomes of the required yellow color. 
 
 The brick-red dye is extracted from the bark and 
 roots of the sumac, and ground black alder bark, with 
 the ashes of the juniper as a mordant She now im- 
 merses the wool and allows it to remain in the dye 
 from half an hour to an hour. 
 
 Whence come the designs incorporated by these 
 simple weavers into their blankets, sashes, and dresses? 
 In this, as in basketry and pottery, the answer is found 
 in nature. Indeed, many of their textile designs sug- 
 gest a derivation from basketry ornamentation (which 
 originally came from nature), "as the angular, curveless 
 figures of interlaying plaits predominate, and the prin- 
 cipal subjects are the same conventional devices 
 representing clouds, stars, lightning, the rainbow, and 
 emblems of the deities. But these simple forms are 
 produced in endless combination and often in brilliant, 
 kaleidoscopic grouping, presenting broad effects of 
 scarlet and black, of green, yellow, and blue upon 
 scarlet, and wide ranges of color skilfully blended upon 
 a ground of white. The centre of the fabric is fre- 
 quently occupied with tessellated or lozenge patterns 
 of multi-colored sides, or divided into panels of con- 
 
1 68 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 trasting colors in which different designs appear ; some 
 display symmetric zigzags, converging and spreading 
 throughout their length ; in others, bands of high color 
 are defined by zones of neutral tints, or parted by 
 thin, bright lines into a checkered mosaic, and in many 
 only the most subdued shades appear. Fine effects are 
 obtained by using a soft, gray wool in its natural state, 
 to form the body of the fabric in solid color, upon 
 which figures in orange and scarlet are introduced ; also 
 in those woven in narrow stripes of black and deep 
 blue, having the borders relieved in bright tinted 
 meanders along the sides and ends, or with a central 
 colored figure in the dark body, with the design 
 repeated in a diagonal panel at each corner. 
 
 "The greatest charm, however, of these primitive 
 fabrics, is the unrestrained freedom shown by the 
 weaver in her treatment of primitive conventions. To 
 the checkered emblem of the rainbow she adds sweeping 
 rays of color, typifying sunbeams; below the many- 
 angled cloud group, she inserts random pencil lines of 
 rain ; or she softens the rigid meander, signifying light- 
 ning, with graceful interlacing, and shaded tints. Not 
 confining herself alone to these traditional devices, she 
 invents her own methods to introduce curious, realistic 
 figures of common objects, her grass brush, wooden 
 weaving fork, a stalk of corn, a bow, an arrow, or a 
 plume of feathers from a dancer's mask. Thus, al- 
 though the same characteristic styles of weaving and 
 decoration are general, yet none of the larger designs 
 are ever reproduced with mechanical exactness; each 
 fabric carries some distinct variation, some suggestion 
 of the occasion of its making, woven into form as the 
 fancy arose." 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 169 
 
 I have thus quoted from an unpublished manuscript 
 of one of the greatest Navaho authorities of the United 
 States Mr. A. M. Stephen in order to confirm my 
 own oft-repeated and sometimes challenged statements 
 that the Navaho weaver finds in nature her designs, and 
 that in most of her better blankets there is woven " some 
 suggestion of the occasion of its making." 
 
 This imitative faculty is, par excellence, the controlling 
 force in aboriginal decoration so far as I know the 
 Amerind of the Southwest. 
 
 With many of the younger women, submission to the 
 imitative faculty in weaving is becoming an injury in- 
 stead of a blessing. Instead of looking to nature for 
 their models, or finding pleasure in the religious sym- 
 bolism of the older weavers, they have sunk into a lazy, 
 apathetic disregard, and they slavishly and carelessly 
 imitate the work of their elders. This is growingly 
 true, I am sorry to say, with both basket makers and 
 blanket weavers. On my recent trips I have come in 
 contact with many fair specimens, both in basketry and 
 blanketry, and when I have asked for an explanation of 
 the design the reply has been : " Me no sabe ! I make 
 'em all same old basket, or all same old Navaho blanket." 
 Here is perversion of the true imitative faculty which 
 sought its pure and original inspiration from nature. 
 
 It will not be out of place here to correct a few general 
 misapprehensions in regard to the older and more valu- 
 able Navaho blankets. These erroneous ideas are 
 partly the result of the misstatements of an individual 
 who sought thereby to enhance the value of his own 
 collection. 
 
 It is true that good bayeta blankets are comparatively 
 rare, but they are far more common than he would have 
 
170 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 his readers believe. The word " bayeta " is nothing but 
 the simple Spanish for the English baize, and is spelled 
 bayeta, and not " balleta " or " vayeta." It is a bright 
 red baize with a long nap, made especially in England 
 for Spanish trade (not Turkish, as this " expert " claims), 
 and by the Spanish and Mexicans sold to the Indians. 
 Up to as late as 1893 bayeta blankets were being made 
 plentifully. Since then comparatively few have been 
 made. The bayeta was a regular article of commerce, 
 and could be purchased at any good wholesale house in 
 New York. It was generally sold by the rod, and not by 
 the pound. The duty now is so high that its importation 
 is practically prohibited, it being, I believe, about sixty 
 per cent. And yet I am personally acquainted with 
 several weavers who will imitate perfectly, in bayeta, any 
 blanket ever woven, and that the native dyes for other 
 colors will be used. We are told that an Indian woman 
 will not take the time to weave blankets such as were 
 made in the olden time. I have several that took nine, 
 twelve, and thirteen months to make, and if the pay is 
 good enough any weaver will work on a blanket a year, 
 or even two years, if necessary. The length of time 
 makes no difference, as several traders in Indian blankets 
 can vouch. Indeed, it would be quite possible to obtain 
 the perfect reproduction of any blanket in existence, 
 which would be satisfactory to any board of genuine 
 experts, the only differences between the new and the 
 ancient blankets being those inseparable from newness 
 and age. 
 
 While bayeta blankets are not common by any means, 
 they aggregate many scores in the mass, and are to be 
 found in many collections, both East and West. It is 
 a difficult matter to even suggest in a photograph or an 
 

 AN AGED NAVAHO AND HER HOGAN. 
 
 \ #:. .- 
 
 .V *"f - ^~ -a' -%a_ 
 
 NAVAHO FAMILY AND HOGAN IN THE PAINTED DESERT. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 171 
 
 engraving any idea of the beauty and charm of one of 
 these old Navaho blankets. 
 
 It will be observed that I have written as if the major 
 portion of the weaving of Navaho blankets was done 
 by the women. Dr. Matthews, however, writing in or 
 before 1881, says that "there are ... a few men who 
 practise the textile art, and among them are to be found 
 the best artisans of the tribe." Of these men but one 
 or two are now alive, if any, and I have seen one only 
 who still does the weaving. 
 
 In late years a few Navaho weavers have invented 
 a method of weaving a blanket both sides of which are 
 different. The Salish stock of Indians make baskets 
 the designs of which on the inside are different from 
 those on the outside, but this is done by a simple proc- 
 ess of imbrication, easy to understand, which affords 
 no key to a solution of the double-faced Navaho blanket. 
 I have purchased two or three such blankets, but as yet 
 have not found a weaver who would show me the proc- 
 ess of weaving. Dr. Matthews thinks this new inven- 
 tion cannot date farther back than 1893, as prior to that 
 time Mr. Thomas V. Keam, the oldest trader with the 
 Navahoes, had never seen one. Yet one collector de- 
 clares he had one as far back as fifteen years ago. 
 
 In addition to the products of the vertical loom the 
 Navaho and also the Pueblo women weave a variety of 
 smaller articles of wear, all of which are remarkable for 
 their strength and durability as well as for their striking 
 designs. 
 
1 72 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 THE WALLAPAIS 
 
 IT is hard to conceive of a people, numbering nearly 
 a thousand souls, lodged within the borders of the 
 United States, of whom nothing has been written. The 
 only references to the Wallapais are to be found in 
 the casual remarks of travellers or soldiers, and later, the 
 agent's reports to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 
 Perhaps the earliest reference to them is in Padre Garces* 
 Diary, where, in describing the Mohaves, he says the 
 Wallapais (spelling the name Jaguallapais) are their 
 enemies on the east. Then, on leaving the Mohaves 
 and journeying east, he himself reaches the tribe in the 
 neighborhood of where the town of Kingman now 
 stands. Six miles northwest of Kingman are located 
 Beale's Springs, which pour forth the best supply of 
 water in the whole region ; hence it was natural that the 
 Wallapais should have established their homes near it. 
 In the Wallapai Origin Legend the story of their disper- 
 sion to this region is told. The Wallapai Mountains are 
 close by, a few miles to the southeast, and from the 
 pines of these mountains they get their name ; " Wal-la," 
 tall pine ; " pai," people, the people of the tall pine. 1 
 
 Garces says the people received him hospitably and 
 " conducted themselves with me as comported with the 
 
 1 There are several other fair springs in the vicinity, chiefly Johnson's 
 to the north of Kingman, and Gentile Springs, below the pass through 
 which the Santa Fe railway enters Sacramento Valley. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 173 
 
 affection that I had shown toward them." Their dress 
 was antelope skins and " some shirts of Mold," doubtless 
 the cotton woven shirts of these primitive weavers. 
 
 Lieutenant Ives, in his interesting report of his early 
 explorations in this region, describes the Wallapais in 
 Peach Springs and Diamond Canyons, another of their 
 favored locations, and Captain Bourke in his " On the 
 Border with Crook " makes passing mention of them. 
 
 On January 4, 1883, President Arthur decreed the 
 following as their reservation : 
 
 " It is hereby ordered that the following-described tract of 
 country situated in the Territory of Arizona be, and the same is 
 hereby, set aside and reserved for the use and occupancy of the 
 Hualapai Indians, namely : Beginning at a point on the Colo- 
 rado River five miles eastward of Tinnakah Spring ; thence south 
 twenty miles to crest of high mesa ; thence south forty degrees 
 east twenty-five miles to a point of Music Mountains ; thence 
 east fifteen miles ; thence north fifty degrees east thirty-five 
 miles ; thence north thirty miles to the Colorado River ; thence 
 along said river to the place of beginning ; the southern boun- 
 dary being at least two miles south of Peach Spring, and the 
 eastern boundary at least two miles east of Pine Spring. All 
 bearings and distances being approximate. 
 
 " CHESTER A. ARTHUR." 
 
 Owing to the abundant supply of water at Beale's 
 Springs the settlement there naturally became a stop- 
 ping-place for all travel across that portion of Arizona. 
 It was the favorite camping-place of the wagons travel- 
 ling between Fort Mohave and Fort Whipple, near 
 Phcenix. Johnson's and Gentile Springs also being in 
 line, and the pass just below Kingman leading into the 
 Sacramento Valley being the most natural outlet for a rail- 
 way, the building of the Atlantic and Pacific, by which 
 
174 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 name the section of the great Santa Fe transcontinental 
 system which extends from Albuquerque, New Mexico, 
 to Barstow, California, was originally known found 
 the Wallapais and at once put them in contact with the 
 outside world and our civilization. Unfortunately the 
 actual builders of a railway and their followers do not 
 always represent the best elements of our civilization, 
 and the meeting in this case was decidedly against the 
 best interests of the Wallapais. Close proximity, also, 
 to a border mining town, such as Kingman, has not 
 tended to the elevation of the morals or ideals of the 
 Wallapais, and in a short time many of those who re- 
 sided near the railways became known for their degra- 
 dation. The men yielded to the white men's vices and 
 soon inducted their women into the same courses, so 
 that for a long period of years the name Wallapai 
 seemed to be almost synonymous with drunkenness, 
 gambling, wild orgies, and the utmost degradation. In 
 those days it was no uncommon sight to see as many as 
 twenty men, women, and children lying around drunk 
 in either Kingman or Hackberry, and I have personal 
 knowledge of several cases where fathers took their 
 daughters and sold them to white men, into a bondage 
 infinitely worse and more degrading than slavery. 
 
 Of late years this condition has been largely improved. 
 When the government schools were established and a 
 field matron sent to work with the Wallapais, new 
 elements of our civilization were introduced to these 
 unfortunates, and nobly they have responded. With few 
 exceptions they are now industrious, sober, honest, and 
 reliable. 
 
 The Wallapais are of Yuman stock. In appearance 
 they more nearly resemble the Mohaves found at Parker, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 175 
 
 on the reservation, than any other of the peoples in the 
 immediate region. They have the same stout, sturdy, 
 fleshy build, heavy faces, and general habits, though in 
 many respects they are a different people. They regard 
 the Havasupais as their cousins, and the speech of the 
 two peoples is very similar. Indeed any person who 
 can speak the one can easily be understood by one 
 who speaks the other. 
 
 According to their traditions, it was one of the mythi- 
 cal heroes of the Wallapais Pach-i-tha-a-wi who 
 made the Grand Canyon. There had been a big flood 
 and the earth was covered with water. No one could 
 stir but Pach-i-tha-a-wi, and he went forth carrying a big 
 knife he had prepared of flint, and a large, heavy wooden 
 club. He struck the knife deep into the water-covered 
 ground and then smote it deeper and deeper with his club. 
 He moved it back and forth as he struck it further into the 
 earth, until the canyon was formed through which all the 
 water rushed out into the Sea of the Sunset. Then, as 
 the sun shone, the ground became hard and solid as we 
 find it to-day. 
 
 In physical appearance the Wallapais are a far coarser 
 and heavier type than the Navahoes. They are medium 
 in height, small-boned, and fat. Their features are 
 heavy and coarse. The nose is flat between the eyes 
 and broad at the base, and the nostrils large, denoting 
 good lung power and capacity. The septum is very large 
 and heavy. The cheek-bones generally are high and 
 prominent, and the chin well rounded, rather than square, 
 like that of most of the Navahoes. Their shoulders are 
 broad, with head set close in. Seldom is a long-necked 
 man or woman seen. The upper lips are full and the 
 under ones thick, with a slight droop at the corners. 
 
176 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 The eyes are large and limpid, brown or black, and 
 capable of great seriousness or merry sparklings. 
 The foreheads are narrow, rounding off on each side. 
 The heads are round without any great fulness of the 
 back regions. Most of them have good teeth, white 
 and strong, though the use of white men's coffee, bak- 
 ing powder, and other demoralizing foods and drinks, 
 have begun to work appreciable injury to them. 
 
 The women generally wear their hair banged over 
 the forehead, so that the eyebrows are almost covered, 
 and the rest of the hair is cut off level with the shoulders, 
 so that a well-combed head of hair falls heavily around 
 the whole head, covering the major part of the cheeks 
 and sides of the chin. I once made an interesting dis- 
 covery in regard to this almost complete covering up of 
 the face with the hair. I wished to make a photograph 
 of a woman I had long known and been friendly with. 
 As her eyes and face were scarcely distinguishable, I took 
 the liberty of putting back the hair from her cheeks. 
 She arose in anger, and for three years refused to speak 
 or meet me. I had given to her the most serious insult 
 a man could offer to a Wallapai woman. The hair is 
 coarse, thick, and black, though after a shampoo with 
 amole root it is silky and glossy. The men tie the 
 " banda " around the forehead and seldom wear a hat 
 except when in the towns of the white men. 
 
 As a rule both men and women have sweet and soft 
 voices, though a few are harsh and forbidding. 
 
 The tattoo is common. The work is done with pins, 
 and charcoal is rubbed in as the punctures are made. 
 This gives a bluish-black appearance which is perma- 
 nent. They also paint their faces in red, yellow, and 
 black. The chief purpose of both tattooing and paint- 
 
NAVAHO WOMAN ON HORSEBACK. 
 
 THE WINNER OF THE " GALLO " RACE AT TOHATCHI. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 177 
 
 ing is to enhance their beauty, though there are times 
 when the tattooing has a distinct significance. 
 
 In school the boys and girls are slow but sure in their 
 learning. They read, write, spell, and figure with accu- 
 racy and speed, and compare favorably with white 
 children in the rapidity of their progress. Most of the 
 schoolgirls are heavily built and coarse, indeed, all but 
 two children, the daughters of Bi-cha (commonly 
 called Beecher), who are slim and slight. 
 
 In another chapter I have explained the charge that 
 Wallapai parents were unkind, even cruel to their 
 children. That charge can no longer be maintained. 
 They are kindness itself, as a rule, and from babyhood 
 up the children receive all the care of which the parents 
 deem them needful. Some of their babes are as chubby 
 and pretty and sweet-tempered as any I have ever 
 seen, and much fun have I had in photographing those 
 who were especially attractive to me. One mother 
 enjoyed my appreciation of her offspring and was most 
 good-natured in yielding to my desire to often photo- 
 graph her. The little one would coo and laugh and 
 kick her little feet and legs in merriment, or go to 
 sleep in my or her mother's arms, or even when stand- 
 ing up in her wicker cradle. When I hung her up upon 
 the wall she soberly looked at me, but made no demon- 
 stration of fear. Her mother, however, looked to see 
 what I was doing. I bade her gaze upon her child, and 
 the merry laugh she gave would have been an astonish- 
 ment to those who regard the Indian as dull, stolid, 
 expressionless. 
 
 Indeed one of the most laughing merry sprites it has 
 ever been my good fortune to know is a Wallapai 
 maiden of some eighteen years. Seldom is she seen 
 
 12 
 
178 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 any other way than smiling or cheerily laughing. She 
 is a perfect witch for mischief and practical jokes, and is 
 never so happy as when she can perpetrate one upon a 
 white man whom she can trust. In that word " trust " 
 lies the whole key to the demeanor of an Indian, 
 either man, woman, or child, towards a white person. 
 If you are trusted the whole inner life is left open as a 
 clear page ; if not, the book is closed, locked, sealed, and 
 the key thrown away. 
 
 I had long wished to photograph the Wallapais, but 
 they had always objected. When I arrived at Kingman 
 I sent Pu-chil-ow-a, the interpreter and policeman, to 
 call a powwow. I sent an express invitation to the 
 chiefs, Serum, Leve-leve, Sus-quat-i-mi, and Qua-su-la. 
 Serum was away at Mineral Park with a band of Walla- 
 pais whose services he farms out to the mine owners, 
 Leve-leve was sick and not expected to live, but Sus- 
 quat-i-mi and Quasula would come. 
 
 We were permitted to use the schoolhouse, and just 
 about sunset I was busily engaged when there came a 
 loud rap at the door. I hastened to open it, and there 
 stood a dignified, well-built, slightly bearded, neatly 
 dressed man, who smiled and bowed with dignity and 
 courtesy. He wore a cap, and at first sight looked 
 more like a retired sea-captain than anything, so I re- 
 sponded to his bow with the question as to what did I 
 owe the honor of his visit. 
 
 " Why, you sent for me ! " he replied. 
 
 " I sent for you ? When ? " 
 
 Then he heartily laughed and exclaimed : " You no 
 sapogi me ? I 'm Sus-quat-i-mi, Wallapai Charley." 
 
 To say I was surprised was to put it mildly. 
 
 Later on Quasula, Big Water (Ha-jiv-a-ha), Eagle 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 179 
 
 Feather (Sa-ka-lo-ka), Acorn Flour (A-ti-na), Coyote 
 Eating Fish-gut (Ka-ha-cha-va), and other leading men 
 came, and we had quite an interesting meeting. I stated 
 to them my object in coming: "There are many of 
 your white brothers who live between the Great Waters 
 of the Sunrise and Sunset who wish to know more of 
 their red-faced brothers of the Painted Desert. I have 
 come for years among you to find out and to tell them. 
 When I speak of Quasula they ask me to tell what he 
 looks like, and I tell them as well as I can, but if I 
 could show them a sun-picture they would know so 
 much better than my words make clear. So I wish you 
 no longer to be as children and babes. I have made the 
 sun-pictures of Navahoes, Hopis, Havasupais, Apaches, 
 Pimas, Acomas, Paiutis, and others ; why should I not 
 make yours?" 
 
 When they presented their superstitions, I reasoned 
 against them, and finally Quasula settled the whole 
 matter in my favor by rising and saying with great 
 dignity : " We have heard our brother with the white 
 face and black beard. He speaks in one way, not in 
 two ways at once. His words breathe truth. We need 
 not fear the sun-picture. I will go to him to-morrow 
 and he shall make as many sun-pictures of me and my 
 family as he desires. I want him to be able to tell to 
 our white brothers who live by the Sunrise Sea all he 
 has learned of us. We are a poor, ignorant people, we 
 are few and do not know much. The white men are 
 many and they know as much as they are many. Let 
 them send more people to teach us and our children 
 and we will gladly welcome them. Some of our people 
 have been bad. Bad white men have made them worse. 
 We want the bad men to be kept away, but we will 
 
i8o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 welcome good white men, and our children shall learn 
 from them and be wise. 
 
 Then Sus-quat-i-mi arose, and in heavy and some- 
 what pompous speech said: " Many years ago our 
 white brother made my sun-picture at Peach Springs. 
 He has eaten tunas, mescal, pinion nuts, and corn at my 
 hawa. We have slept side by side under the same 
 stars, and the same wind has played with his beard and 
 my hair. I know him. He knows me. His words are 
 straight. When he made my sun-picture he said it 
 would do me no harm, and here I am, after several 
 snows, and I am as well as ever. He shall make more 
 sun-pictures of me to-morrow, and I will sing for him 
 and dance the war-dance of my people." 
 
 Big Water and the others followed and my aim was 
 accomplished. Next morning we set forth, Puchilowa, 
 my friend and photographer, Mr. C. C. Pierce, of Los 
 Angeles, and myself, laden down with four cameras 
 and an abundance of plates and films. We succeeded 
 in getting many photographs, some of which are here 
 reproduced. But at one camp, an old woman, the grand- 
 mother, doubtless, of two children left in her care, re- 
 fused to be pictured. She covered herself up and bade 
 the children hide their faces, but their curiosity over- 
 came their fears and they were " caught." 
 
 Poor old Leve-leve and his wife were found, both of 
 them nearly blind, in their miserable hawa, a mile or 
 so from Kingman. I had some useful medicament for 
 their eyes, and although it hurt dreadfully, they both 
 patiently bore the pain while I gave their eyes treat- 
 ment. By the side of the old man was his gourd rattle, 
 which the shaman had left to help him drive away sick- 
 ness, and for hours the old man sat quietly singing and 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 181 
 
 rattling, endeavoring to get rid of the evil powers that 
 were cursing him. While I made a picture of him in 
 the dark hut, his wife went into an inner room and soon 
 returned clad in an elaborately fringed apron of buckskin. 
 This was her ceremonial costume, made by Leve-leve for 
 her as the mother of the tribe, when she led the annual 
 dance of thanksgiving for the corn and melon harvest. 
 
 Sus-quat-i-mi was as good as his word, and I not 
 only secured some excellent photographs of him, but he 
 sang for me into the graphophone some of his ceremo- 
 nial songs. 
 
 The Wallapais' war-song is a stirring and exciting one, 
 and it conveys us back to the days when their primitive 
 weapons were in use. After an incitation to anger 
 against the foe it bids the warriors " get rocks and tie 
 them up in buckskins ; make of them fierce and deadly 
 battle-hammers, with which smite and kill your foes. 
 Take the horns of the buck and sharpen them, and with 
 them seek the hearts of your enemies with blows skilful 
 and strong." 
 
 Puchilowa sang for me the Wallapai song on the 
 death of their chiefs. It is a weird, mournful melody, 
 which, however, I have not yet had time and opportu- 
 nity to transcribe from the graphophone. It says : " Our 
 chief, our father, our friend, is dead. His voice is silent, 
 his tread is silent. Come together, ye his friends, and 
 cry about with sorrow. Burn up his body that his 
 spirit may go to the world of spirits. Burn up his house 
 that his spirit may not long to stay around. Burn up 
 all his possessions that they may be with him in the 
 spirit world. Then let no one to whom he belonged 
 stay near the place where he died. Move away, that 
 his spirit may feel nothing to keep him to the earth." 
 
1 82 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Hence it will be seen that the Wallapai is naturally a 
 believer in cremation. Indeed he still practises the 
 burning of his dead, except where white influences are 
 brought to bear. These influences are not altogether 
 a perfect good. There is no harm in burning the dead, 
 but, unfortunately, the general Indian belief is that the 
 goods of the deceased, his horses, his guns, his clothes, 
 indeed, all his personal possessions, and the gifts of his 
 friends, should also be burned to accompany him to 
 the spirit world. If this destruction of valuable property 
 could be arrested without interfering with the corporeal 
 cremation, it would be a good thing. 
 
 The thanksgiving song for harvest, though purely 
 Indian, is a much more cheerful melody. Puchilowa 
 gave me the words, as well as sang the song in the 
 graphophone, but he was unable to tell what the words 
 meant. " The old Indians gave me this song long time 
 ago. I sing it all 'a time at harvest. I no sapogi (under- 
 stand) what it means." 
 
 " Ho si a ya ma, 
 In ya a sonk a kit a, 
 In ya va va vam 
 Ho si a ya ma 
 Inyahasakakita," 
 
 etc., ad infinitum. 
 
 There are three native policemen, engaged by the 
 Indian department, among the Wallapais, Puchilowa, 
 (Jim Fielding), at Truxton ; Su-jin'-i-mi (Indian Jack), 
 at Kingman ; and Wa-wa-ti'-chi-mi, at Chloride. Each 
 receives ten dollars per month for his services. It was 
 the former who acted as interpreter during my last visit 
 
 I had just finished making the photographs of Quasula 
 and one or two others, when an old woman and her 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 183 
 
 husband came in from the desert. As he sat waiting 
 for me to photograph him, he took some prickly pears 
 from his bundle and began to eat them. I had often 
 seen tourists from the East fill their fingers with the 
 almost invisible and countless spines of the prickly pear, 
 so I asked At-e-e how he gathered them. Picking up 
 a stick, he sharpened one end, thrust it into his fruit, 
 and, as if it were still on the tree, chopped it off with 
 his knife. Now, still holding it on the stick, he peeled 
 it and then handed it to me to eat. It is a slightly 
 sweet and acid fruit, dainty enough in flavor, but so 
 crowded with annoying small seeds as not to pay for the 
 trouble of separating them. 
 
 Elsewhere I have described the method of making 
 fire with the drill. While talking with Atee, to 
 whom I had given some tobacco which he twisted 
 into a cigarette, he suddenly asked me for a match. I 
 said I would give him a boxful if he would make 
 a fire without a match. In a minute he set to work. 
 He borrowed the walking cane of Puchilowa, which 
 had just the right kind of end to it, and then, get- 
 ing a piece of softer, half- rotten but very dry wood, he 
 bored a small hole in it. Now, taking the stick, he 
 placed the end of it into the hole, and then, rubbing 
 the stick between his hands, he made it revolve so rap- 
 idly that in a minute or less a slight smoke could be 
 seen in the hole where the end of the stick was revolv- 
 ing. Stopping for just a moment, he got some dry punk 
 and put it into the hole and around the end of the 
 stick and began to twirl it again, at the same time 
 gently blowing on the punk. In less time than it takes 
 me to write it he had got a spark. This he blew gently 
 until it became two, or three and more, and then with 
 
1 84 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 a few pieces of shredded cedar bark he picked up the 
 sparks, blew them more and more until the bark was 
 ignited, and in five minutes he had a good camp-fire. 
 
 Mescal is one of the chief native foods of both Walla- 
 pais and Havasupais. They call it vi-yal. It is made 
 in winter, when the plant is fullest of moisture. It is 
 a species of cactus that is treated as follows : A sharp 
 stick is thrust into the plant to" see if it is soft and moist 
 enough. Then the outer leaves are , cut off until the 
 white, pulpy, and fibrous masses inside are exposed. 
 This is the part used. It is cooked in large pits, ten or 
 more feet in diameter. A hole is dug in the ground, or 
 better still, in a mass of rocky debris. Plenty of wood 
 is laid in the hole, and this covered over with small 
 pieces of rock upon which the material to be cooked is 
 placed four or five feet high. This, in turn, is also 
 covered with small stones, grass, and dirt to keep in the 
 heat. The wood is then fired and allowed to burn for 
 two or more days. Then the dirt and grass are taken 
 off, and if the mass has cooked brown it is removed, 
 piled upon flat rocks, and then pounded by the women 
 into big flat sheets, three or four feet wide and twice as 
 long. Exposure in the sun rapidly dries it, when it is 
 folded up into two or three feet lengths, taken home, 
 and stored for winter use. 
 
 Sometimes the mescal is pounded and eaten raw, and 
 again it is pounded, soaked in plenty of water, partially 
 fermented, and the liquor used as a drink. 
 
 The fruit of the tuna (a-te-e) is sometimes pounded 
 and rolled into a large mass, dried, and put away for 
 future use. Thus prepared it will keep for a long time, 
 very dften being brought out a year after, when the new 
 crop is nearly ripe. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 185 
 
 Other natural vegetable foods of the Wallapais are 
 a black grass seed (a-gua-va), white grass seed (i-eh-la), 
 the acorn and the pinion nut (o-co-o). 
 
 The shamans and others sometimes take the jimson- 
 weed (smal-a-ga-to'-a), pound it up, soak it, and drink 
 the decoction. It is a frightful drink, producing results 
 worse than whiskey. For a time the debauchee sees 
 visions and dreams drearrfs, then he becomes crazy and 
 frantic, and then, exhausted, tosses in a quieter delirium 
 until restored to his senses, to be nervously racked for 
 days afterwards. The Havasupais are so bitter against 
 its use that their children are brought up to regard it 
 as one of the most dangerous and evil of plants. 
 
 Until Miss Calfee, of the Indian Association, was sent 
 to work among the Wallapais, they had so entirely 
 neglected the art of basket weaving as to let it almost 
 entirely die out amongst them; By her endeavors, 
 however, it has been resuscitated, and now there are 
 quite a number of fairly good Wallapai baskets made. 
 The* inordinate love of bright colors manifested by the 
 average white tourist note I say tourist, and not 
 Indian is so completely perverting the taste of the 
 Wallapais as to render it almost impossible to buy a 
 basket which contains only the primitive colors. These 
 are mainly the white of the willow and the black of the 
 martynia. A straw-color, a yellow, and a red are also 
 native with them, the dyes being vegetable and mineral 
 secured from plants, roots, and rocks close at hand. 
 Some of the younger girls have set themselves to learn 
 the art, and one of them is already most successful. 
 She is a bright and cheerful maiden, and the basket she 
 holds in her lap is of her own manufacture. The design 
 is worked out in martynia. It represents the plateaus 
 
1 86 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 and valleys of her home, and the inverted pyramid is 
 the tornado or cyclone. It is her prayer to Those Above 
 to keep the cyclone in the centre of the plateaus so that 
 no injury may be done to her parents' corn-fields, melon- 
 patches, and peach-trees which are in the canyon depths. 
 The Wallapais have had the same trouble about the 
 white man seizing the best land on their reservation 
 that most other tribes have been subject to. When the 
 reserve was set apart by executive order a man named 
 Spencer was living on land included therein, and he 
 claimed two of the finest of the springs, one, that of Matta- 
 weditita, being their most sacred of places. He was 
 soon murdered, whether by Indians or whites I am 
 unable to say, and no one occupied these springs until 
 a man named W. F. Grounds, regardless of the execu- 
 tive order, took possession of, and claimed, Mattawedi- 
 tita to the exclusion of the Wallapais. This he sold to 
 a man named J. W. Munn. Later he and Munn had 
 quarrels about it and both claimed it. Then the Indian 
 Agent interfered, and, finding that the Indians had always 
 claimed it as their own, that it was on their reserve, 
 and that they actually wished to continue to cultivate 
 it, he ordered both men to leave. Grounds had about 
 seventy-five head of cattle and Munn had a garden. The 
 latter vacated quietly, but Grounds brought back his 
 cattle after they were removed. In the meantime the 
 Indians had planted their gardens, and when the cattle 
 came in their crops were speedily demolished. Again the 
 cattle were removed and again brought back. About 
 this time some one generously gave to the Indians, or 
 left where they could be picked up, some melons or 
 cucumbers or both, of which fourteen of the Wallapais 
 living in Mattaweditita Canyon partook. Of the four- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 187 
 
 teen, thirteen sickened and died. Of course there was 
 no way of fastening this dastardly and cowardly crime 
 upon any one, but whites as well as Indians are pretty 
 generally agreed as to who was its perpetrator. 
 
 The few remaining Indians were now given wire to 
 fence in the canyon, but the old animals of Grounds' 
 herds pushed the wires down in their eagerness to get to 
 and eat the Indians' wheat. The trails were now fenced, 
 and this proved an effectual bar. Later this exemplary 
 white man turned a band of saddle horses into an Indian's 
 garden on the reservation for pasturage. This brought 
 upon him an order of exclusion from the reservation 
 and a command to entirely remove his stock within 
 a year. Whether this has been done or not I am unable 
 to say, although the Department at Washington con- 
 firmed the order and required that it be done. 
 
 During all this squabbling it can well be imagined 
 how the crops of the Indian suffers ; but what must be 
 his conception of white men, their government, and their 
 justice ? 
 
THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 THE ADVENT OF THE WALLAPAIS 
 
 IN the days of the long ago, when the world was 
 young, there emerged from Shi-pa-pu two gods, who 
 had come from the underworld, named To-cho-pa and 
 Ho-ko-ma-ta. When these brothers first stood upon 
 the surface of the earth, they found it impossible to 
 move around, as the sky was pressed down close to the 
 ground. They decided that, as they wished to remain 
 upon the earth, they must push the sky up into place. 
 Accordingly, they pushed it up as high as they could 
 with their hands, and then got long sticks and raised it 
 still higher, after which they cut down trees and pushed 
 it up higher still, and then, climbing the mountains, 
 they forced it up to its present position, where it is out 
 of reach of all human kind, and incapable of doing them 
 any injury. 
 
 While they were busy with their labors, another 
 mythical hero appeared on the scene, on the north side 
 of the Grand Canyon, not far from the canyon that is 
 now known as Eldorado Canyon. Those were the 
 " days of the old," when the animals had speech even 
 as men, and in many things were wiser than men. The 
 Coyote travelled much and knew many things, and he 
 became the companion of this early-day man, and 
 taught him of his wisdom. This gave the early man 
 his name, Ka-that-a-ka-na-ve, which means "Told or 
 Taught by the Coyote." 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 189 
 
 For long they lived together, until the man began 
 to grow lonesome. He no longer listened to the 
 speech of the Coyote, and that made the animal sad. 
 He wondered what could be done to bring comfort to 
 his human friend, and at length suggested that he con- 
 sult Those Above. Kathat-a-kanave was lonesome be- 
 cause there were none others of his kind to talk to. 
 He longed for human beings, so, accepting the advice 
 of the Coyote, he retired to where he could speak freely 
 to Those Above of his longings and desires. He was 
 listened to with attention, and there told that nothing 
 was easier than that other men, with women, should be 
 sent upon the earth. " Build a stone hawa stone 
 house not far from Eldorado Canyon, and then go 
 down to where the waters flow and cut from the banks 
 a number of canes or sticks. Cut many, and of six 
 kinds. Long thick sticks and long thin sticks; me- 
 dium-sized thick sticks and medium-sized thin sticks; 
 short thick sticks and short thin sticks. Lay these 
 out carefully and evenly in the stone hawa, and when 
 the darkest hour of the night comes, the Powers of 
 the Above will change them into human beings. But, 
 beware, lest any sound is made. No voice must speak, 
 or the power will cease to work." 
 
 Gladly Kathat-a-kanave returned to the stone house, 
 and with a hearty good-will he cut many canes or 
 sticks. He carried them to the house, and laid them out 
 as he had been directed, all the time accompanied by the 
 Coyote, who rejoiced to see his friend so cheerful and 
 happy. Kathat-a-kanave told Coyote what was to occur, 
 and Coyote rejoiced in the wonderful event that was 
 about to take place. When all was ready Kathat-a- 
 kanave was so wearied with his arduous labors that he 
 
i 9 o THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 retired to lie down and sleep, and bade Coyote watch 
 and be especially mindful that no sound of any kind 
 whatever issued from his lips. Coyote solemnly pledged 
 himself to observe the commands, he would not cease 
 from watching, and not a sound should be uttered. 
 Feeling secure in these promises, Kathat-a-kanave 
 stretched out and was soon sound asleep. Carefully 
 Coyote watched. Darker grew the night. No sound 
 except the far-away twho ! twho ! of the owl disturbed 
 the perfect stillness. Suddenly the sticks began to 
 move. In the pitch blackness of the house interior, 
 Coyote could not see the actual change, the sudden 
 appearing of feet and legs and hands and arms and 
 head, and the uprising of the sticks into perfect men 
 and women, but in a few moments he had to stand 
 aside, as a torrent of men, women, and children poured 
 out of the doorway. Without a word, but thrilled even 
 to the tip of his tail with delight, he examined men, 
 women, youths, maidens, boys, girls, and found them all 
 beautifully formed and physically perfect. Still they 
 came through the door. Several times he found him- 
 self about to shout for joy, but managed to restrain 
 his feelings. More came, and as they looked around 
 them on the wonderful world to which they had come 
 from nothingness, and expressed their astonishment 
 (for they were able to speak from the first moment), 
 Coyote became wild with joy and could resist the in- 
 ward pressure no longer. He began to talk to the new 
 people, and to laugh and dance and shout and bark 
 and yelp, in the sheer exuberance of his delight. How 
 happy he was ! 
 
 Then there came an ominous stillness. The move- 
 ments from inside the house ceased ; no more humans 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 191 
 
 appeared at the doorway. Almost frozen with terror, 
 Coyote realized what he had done. The charm had 
 ceased. Those Above were angry at his disobedience 
 to their commands. 
 
 When Kathat-a-kanave awoke he was delighted to 
 see the noble human beings Those Above had sent to 
 him, but when he entered the hawa his delight was 
 changed to anger. There were hundreds more sticks 
 to which no life had been given. Infuriated, he turned 
 upon Coyote and reproached him with bitter words for 
 failing to observe his injunction, and then, with fierce 
 anger, he kicked him and bade him begone ! His tail 
 between his legs, his head bowed, and with slinking 
 demeanor, Coyote disappeared, and that is the reason all 
 coyotes are now so cowardly, and never appear in the 
 presence of mankind without skulking and fear. 
 
 As soon as they had become a little used to being on 
 the earth, Kathat-a-kanave called his people together 
 and informed them that he must lead them to their 
 future home. They came down Eldorado Canyon, 
 and then crossed Hackataia (the Grand Canyon) and 
 reached a small but picturesque canyon on the Wal- 
 lapai reservation, called Mat-ta-wed-it-i-ta. This is 
 their " Garden of Eden." Here a spring of water 
 supplies nearly a hundred miners' inches of water, and 
 there are about a hundred acres of good farming land, 
 lying in such a position that it can well be irrigated 
 from this spring. On the other side of the canyon is 
 a cave about a hundred feet wide at its mouth, and . 
 perched fully half a thousand feet above the valley. 
 
 Now Kathat-a-kanave disappears in some variants of 
 the story, and Hokomata and Tochopa take his place at 
 Mattaweditita. The latter is ever the hero. He gave 
 
192 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 the people seeds of corn, pumpkins, melons, beans, etc., 
 and showed them how to plant and irrigate them. In 
 the meantime they had been taught how to live on grass 
 seeds, the fruit of the tuna (prickly pear), and mescal, 
 and how to slay the deer, antelope, turkey, jack-rabbit, 
 cottontail, and squirrel. 
 
 When the crops came Tochopa counselled them not 
 to eat any of the product except such as could be 
 eaten without destroying the seeds, the melons and 
 pumpkins, so that when planting time came they 
 had an abundance. When the next harvest was ripe 
 the crops were large, and after picking out the best for 
 seeds, some were stored away in the cave as a reserve 
 and the remainder eaten. As the years went on they 
 increased in numbers and strength. Tochopa was ever 
 their good friend and guide. He taught them how to 
 dance and smoke and rattle when they became sick; 
 he gave them toholwa the sweat-house to cure them 
 of all evil ; he taught the women how to make pottery, 
 baskets, and blankets woven from the dressed skins of 
 rabbits. The men he taught how to dress buckskin, 
 and hunt and trap all kinds of animals good for food. 
 Thus they came almost to worship him and be ever 
 singing his praises. This made Hokomata angry. He 
 went away and sulked for days at a time. In his soli- 
 tude he evidently thought out a plan for wreaking his 
 jealous fury upon Tochopa and those who were so fond 
 of him. There was one family, the head of which was 
 inclined to be quarrelsome, and Hokomata went and 
 made special friends with him. He taught the children 
 how to make pellets of clay, and put them on the end 
 of sticks and then shoot them. Soon he showed them 
 how to make a dart, then a bow and arrow, and later 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 193 
 
 how to take the horn of a deer, put it in the fire until 
 it was softened so that it could be moulded to a sharp 
 point. This made a dangerous dagger. Finally he 
 wrapped buckskin around a heavy stone, and put a 
 handle to it, thus making a war-club ; took a rock and 
 made a battle-hammer of it ; and still another, the edge 
 of which he sharpened so that a battle-axe was pro- 
 vided. In the meantime he had been stealthily instill- 
 ing into the hearts of his friends the feelings of hatred 
 and jealousy that possessed him. He taught the chil- 
 dren to shoot the mud pellets at the children of other 
 families. He supplied the youths with slings, and bows 
 and arrows, and soon stones and arrows were shot at 
 unoffending workers. Protestations and quarrels en- 
 sued, the fathers and mothers of the hurt children being 
 angry. Hokomata urged his friends to defend their 
 children, and they took their clubs, battle-hammers 
 and axes, and fell upon those who complained. Thus 
 discord and hatred reigned, and soon the two sides 
 were involved in petty war. Tochopa saw Hokomata's 
 movements with horror and dread. He could not 
 understand why he should do these terrible things. 
 Yet when the people came to him with their complaints 
 he felt he must sympathize with them. The trouble 
 grew the greater the population became, until at last 
 it was unbearable. Then Tochopa determined on stern 
 measures. Stealthily he laid his plan before the heads 
 of the families. Each was to leave the canyon, under 
 the pretext of going hunting, gathering pinion nuts, 
 grass seeds, or mescal, and go in different directions, 
 Then at a certain time they were all to gather at a 
 given spot, and there provide themselves with weapons. 
 Everything was done as he had planned, the quarrellers 
 
 '3 
 
194 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 the Wha-jes remaining behind with Hokomata. 
 Then, one night, the whole band, well armed, returned 
 stealthily to the canyon and fell upon the quarrellers. 
 Many were slain outright, and all the remainder driven 
 from the home they had cursed. Not one was allowed 
 to remain. Thus the Wha-jes became a separate people. 
 White men to-day call them Apaches, but they are 
 really the Wha-jes, the descendants of the quarrel- 
 some people the Wallapais drove out of Mattaweditita 
 Canyon. 
 
 Hokomata was furious. He was conquered, but led 
 his people to settle not far away, and many times they 
 returned to the canyon and endeavored to kill all they 
 could. Thus warfare became common. The spear was 
 invented, a long stick with a sharpened point of flint. 
 Sometimes the Wha-jes would come in large numbers, 
 when many of the men were away hunting. Then all 
 the attacked would flee to the cave before mentioned 
 which they still call Kathat-a-kanave's Nyu-wa (Cave 
 House) where they built an outer wall of fortification, 
 and farther back still another. Several times the outer 
 wall was stormed and taken, but never could the Wha-jes 
 penetrate to the inner part of the cave, so to this day 
 it is termed Wa-ha-vo, the place that is impregnable. 
 
 After many generations had passed, Hokomata saw 
 it was no use keeping his people near the canyon; 
 they could never capture 'it, and they had lost all desire 
 to become again part of the original people, so he led 
 them away to the southeast, beyond the San Francisco 
 Mountains, down into what is now southern Arizona 
 and New Mexico. Here they settled down somewhat 
 and became the Apache race, though they are still 
 Wha-jes quarrellers. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 195 
 
 Left to themselves, the families in Mattaweditita in- 
 creased rapidly, until soon there were too many to live 
 in comfort. So Tochopa took most of them to Milk- 
 weed Canyon, and then he divided the separate families 
 and allotted to each his own territory. To the Mohaves 
 he gave the western region by the great river; the 
 Paiutis he sent to the water springs and pockets of 
 southern Nevada and Utah; the Navahoes went east 
 and found the great desert region, where game was 
 plentiful; and the Hopis, who were always afraid and 
 timid, built houses like Kathat-a-kanave's fortress on 
 the summit of high mountains or mesas. The Hava- 
 supais started to go with the Hopis, and they camped 
 together one night in the depths of the canyon where 
 the blue water flows to Hackataia the Colorado. 
 The following morning when they started to resume 
 their journey a child began to cry. This was an omen 
 that bade them remain, so that family stayed and be- 
 came known as the Haha-vasu-pai, the people of the 
 Blue Water. Most of the remaining families went into 
 the Mountains of the Tall Pine, south of Kingman, and 
 thus became known as the pai (people) of the walla 
 (tall pines). Here they found plenty of food of all 
 kinds and abundance of game. As they increased in 
 numbers they spread out, some going to Milkweed, 
 others to Diamond and Peach Springs Canyons, and 
 wherever they could find food and water. 
 
 Thus was the human race begun and the Wallapais 
 established in their home. 
 
 When I asked where the white race came from, old 
 Leve-leve scratched his head for a moment and then 
 declared that they were made from the left-over sticks 
 in Kathat-a-kanave's house. 
 
196 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 But the Apaches, under Hokomata, would not leave 
 the various peoples at peace. They warred upon them 
 all the time. And that is why the Wallapai parents of 
 a later day became accused of cruelty to their children. 
 Scattered about, a few here and a few there, tljey were 
 fit subjects for Apache attacks. A code of smoke 
 signals, for warning, was adopted, but it was not always 
 possible to prevent surprises. Sometimes the father of 
 a family would go hunting and it would not be pos- 
 sible for the mother and children to go along. If she 
 were attacked under such conditions, what could she 
 do? If she tried to escape, hampered with her little 
 ones, they would all be caught and she would have to 
 submit to her captors and stand by and see them ruth- 
 lessly murdered. So she preferred to kill them herself, 
 which she often did by strangling or suffocation. Then 
 she might hope to reach the mountains and hide until 
 the cover of night gave her an opportunity to escape. 
 This explanation has actually been given to me as a 
 statement of fact by some of the older women of the 
 tribe. 
 
 Sometimes when the Apaches would attempt a raid 
 they would be checkmated, the tables turned, and they 
 themselves captured. Then there were great rejoicings. 
 A feast was invariably held, at which the scalps were 
 exposed on a pole around which the dances were con- 
 ducted in the light of immense fires. 
 
 Of late years both Apaches and Wallapais have been 
 taught to bury their enmity. Acting upon the sugges- 
 tion of former agent Ewing, the Wallapai chiefs sent a 
 messenger of peace and invitation to the Apache chiefs, 
 asking them to come and visit the Wallapais during 
 watermelon and green corn time, and be friends as the 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 197 
 
 Great Father at Washington desires. Yet the Apaches, 
 though the invitation has been several times repeated, 
 have never come. They remember " the days of the 
 years gone by," the days of murder, rapine, scalpings, 
 and stealings of women. And they are afraid that 
 poison, treachery, sudden death, torture perhaps, lurk 
 behind the seeming friendliness. Revenge is sweet to 
 an Indian, and the Apache cannot conceive that so great 
 a conversion has taken place in the Wallapai heart as 
 to lead him to forego his just revenge. 
 
 When first known to the white man they were found 
 inhabiting the region they now occupy, including the * 
 Wallapai (sometimes spelled Hualapai), Yavapai, and 
 Sacramento Valleys. Their chief mountain ranges 
 were the Cerbab, Wallapai, Aquarius, and northern 
 portion of Chemehuevi ranges. They roamed as far 
 south as Bill Williams' Fork of the Colorado, and 
 its branch, the Santa Maria. They then numbered 
 about the same as they do now, between six and seven 
 hundred. 
 
 In Coues' translation of GarceV Diary Prof. F. W. 
 Hodge gives other forms of spelling the name of the 
 Wallapais, as follows : " Hah-wdl-coes, Haulapais, Ha- 
 wol-la Pai, Ho-allo-pi, Hualpais, Hualapais, Hualipais, 
 Hualopais, Hualpditch, Hualpas, Hualpias, Huallapais, 
 Hulapais, Hwalapai, Jagullapai (after Garces), Jaguy- 
 apay, Jaqualapai, Jaguallapai, Tiquillapai, Wallapais, 
 Wil-ha-py-ah." 
 
 These and the various names given to the Wallapais 
 show the difficulties explorers encounter in endeavoring 
 correctly to spell the names they hear. It should never 
 be forgotten that the Amerinds of the Southwest speak 
 with quite as great a latitude in pronunciation as is 
 
198 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 found in the wonderfully varied dialects of the English 
 language. To make all these different pronunciations 
 conform to a standard ' American method is one part 
 of the grand work of the Geographical Board, a much 
 abused but highly necessary public body. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 199 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF THE BLUE WATER AND THEIR 
 
 HOME 
 
 OF no people of the Southwest, perhaps, has so 
 much utter nonsense been written as of this inter- 
 esting People of the Blue Water, the pai (people) of the 
 vasu (blue) haha (water) the Havasupais. As far as 
 we know, Padre Garces was the first white man to visit 
 them in their Cataract Canyon home, and he speaks of 
 his visit in his interesting Diary translated and annotated 
 by the lamented Elliott Coues shortly before his death. 
 
 Captain Sitgreaves, Lieutenant Ives, Captain 'Palfrey, 
 Major J. W. Powell, Lieut. F. H. Gushing, and others 
 in turn visited them, but very little was either known 
 or written about them when, over a dozen years ago, 
 I was conducted to their marvellously picturesque home 
 by Mr. W. W. Bass, the well-known guide of the Grand 
 Canyon. 
 
 The journey on that occasion was a remarkable one for 
 me, as, though I was fairly well versed in the trails of the 
 Grand Canyon (having then descended four of them), 
 I had never seen such a trail as was the Topocobya Trail 
 down which we descended late in the evening. Leav- 
 ing our wagon, after sixteen miles' drive through the 
 Kohonino Forest from Bass Camp, we packed food, 
 blankets, and cameras on horses and burros, and, after 
 two miles of travel in what in Western parlance is called 
 
200 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 a " draw," the real head of the trail was reached. We 
 walked in the closing dusk of day to the edge of the 
 precipice and looked off to where our guide told us we 
 must shortly be travelling. Far below, almost a thou- 
 sand feet, without the sign of a trail, it seemed as if he 
 must be hoaxing us. Soon, however, as we followed him, 
 we found ourselves on a rocky shelf, and then began the 
 most stupendous series of zigzags I had ever been on. 
 Back and forth we wended, our trail a mere scratch on 
 the rocky slope, here descending rugged steps, where 
 a misstep meant sure and awful death. Higher and 
 higher the walls rose around us; darker and darker 
 grew the night ; more weird and awesome the wind and 
 weather carved figures sculptured on the sides and sum- 
 mits of the walls, and still down we went. At last we 
 reached a vast cavernous-like place where Topocobya 
 Spring is located. A small flow of water comes from 
 the solid rock, and there we watered our horses and 
 filled up our canteens prior to advancing on our seem- 
 ingly never-ending descent. At last we reached the 
 level, and there, lighting a fire, made camp and rested 
 before penetrating farther into the deep and mystic 
 recesses of the Havasupais. Early in the morning we 
 began the farther descent. Mile after mile we traversed, 
 first riding on the dry bed of the winter stream, then 
 entering the narrower walls formed by the erosion of 
 centuries through first one stratum of rock, then an- 
 other. Now we were riding on a narrow shelf, on one 
 side of which was a high wall, and on the other a deep, 
 narrow ravine, in the bottom of which the erosive forces 
 have cut a number of holes, small troughs or bath 
 tubs in the sandstone, where during the rainy season 
 pools of delicious water may be found. In a short time 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 201 
 
 we were riding up or down literal stairways cut in the 
 rock, or rounding " Cape Horns," where we held our 
 breath at the dreadful consequences that would ensue 
 were horse or man to slip. Entering Rattlesnake 
 Canyon our wjiole course was on a shelving slope of 
 rock, over which even experienced horses tread gingerly. 
 At last we came to the bed of the main canyon, and 
 then for five or six miles we journeyed on, in the sand 
 or the gravelly wash, for the stream that flows through 
 this narrow canyon in storm times has no other law than 
 its own wilful force. To-day we ride in one place, to- 
 morrow's storm changes everything. After numberless 
 twinings and twistings, all of which, however, gave a 
 persistent northwesterly direction to our travelling, we 
 came in sight of a score or so of large and fine cotton- 
 wood trees, whose height far surpassed the smaller mes- 
 quite, cottonwood, and other trees that line much of the 
 canyon's bed. These large trees told us our journey 
 was practically at an end, for here begins the outpour- 
 ing of the numberless springs that make the stream we 
 can already hear rushing in its pebbly bed lower down. 
 Without any premonition they spring out in large and 
 small volume at the foot of some of these trees, and the 
 Havasu the Blue Water is made. Every few yards 
 adds to the water's volume, for more springs empty 
 their flow into it. The first and only real buildings are 
 the schoolhouse and the homes of the farmer and 
 teachers, and then, at once, begin the small farms of 
 the Havasupais. 
 
 Stand on the slope here, where a mass of talus rises 
 from the trail side, so that we can survey the whole of 
 the picturesque scene. Note its setting! Towering 
 walls of regularly laminated red sandstone, though the 
 
202 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 layers are of differing thicknesses, wind in and out, as 
 if following the meandering course of the stream, and 
 over this the perfect blue of the Arizona sky. These 
 make the most marvellously picturesque dwelling-place 
 of America. Even Acoma's mesa heights and Walpi's 
 precipice-surrounded walls are not more picturesque, 
 and when you add the charm of the verdure nourished 
 by the sweet waters of the Havasu, the picture is com- 
 plete in its unique attractiveness. 
 
 Not even in the Green Emerald Isle, or the county 
 of Devonshire, or the vineyards of France, is richer 
 verdure to be found than fills up the open space between 
 these great walls. Willows reveal the winding path of 
 the Havasu, and everywhere else are the fields of the 
 Indians. Patches of corn, watermelons, squash, cante- 
 loupes, beans, sunflowers, chili, onions, and alfalfa, with 
 here and there peach, mesquite, and cottonwood trees, 
 abound. As a rule these patches are protected and set 
 off one from another by hedges of wattled willows or 
 fences of rudely placed cottonwood poles. Through 
 the fields trails meander in every direction, and they are 
 also " cut up " by irrigating ditches. Some of the better 
 irrigated fields are divided into small sections like the 
 squares of a checker-board in order that the water 
 may be more systematically distributed. 
 
 The peaceful hawas of the Havasupais nestle here 
 and there among these verdant growths. Themselves 
 covered with willows, it is often hard to distinguish them 
 from the trees, were it not that at our approach small 
 groups of men, women, and children, some clad in flam- 
 ing red, others in all the colors of the rainbow, and some 
 in even less than Mark Twain's descriptive smile, stand 
 forth and reveal the dwelling-places. Now and again 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 203 
 
 the curling line of bluish smoke of the camp-fire reveals 
 the hawa, and we gladly avail ourselves of one or the 
 other of these marks of identification to make ourselves 
 more familiar with the real home of the Havasupais. 
 After investigation we find there are several distinct 
 types of houses, all simple and primitive, and yet each 
 different from the other. 
 
 Chickapanagie's summer home is a type of the sim- 
 plest character. Two upright poles with forks at the 
 top, standing about six feet high, are placed in line with 
 each other fifteen feet apart. A cross-beam is placed 
 on these uprights. Then a row of poles, about eight 
 to nine feet in length, is sloped against the cross-beam. 
 These are covered with willows, and there is the com- 
 pleted hawa. 
 
 What queer dwelling-places men have, and ever have 
 had, and possibly ever will have. At the Paris Exposi- 
 tion of 1889 one whole street was devoted to a history 
 of inhabited dwellings. At one end were the earliest 
 " homes " of the paleolithic age, caves and huts, fol- 
 lowed by the Lake Dwellings and the wickiups, tepees, 
 or tents of the present-day Indian, the latter being the 
 same primitive structures the aborigines have ever used. 
 The other end of the street was devoted to the domestic 
 architecture of our own day, and there, in a few hours, 
 one could study almost every known form of home 
 structure. But who could ever reproduce some of the 
 homes these Havasupais live in? Wicker huts in the 
 open, and caves in the faces of solid sandstone walls 
 two thousand feet and more in height, these in turn sur- 
 mounted by domes and obelisks and towers and cupolas 
 that no modern architect dare attempt to rival. 
 
 These massive walls absorb the heat of the sun in 
 
204 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 summer time and thus keep the canyon intensely hot 
 both night and day. The large flow of water and 
 the dense growth of willows and other verdure keep 
 the soil constantly moist, so there is a humidity in the 
 atmosphere which, in hot weather, makes it very op- 
 pressive. 
 
 This moisture renders the canyon cold in winter, 
 although the thermometer never ranges very low. Snow 
 falls but seldom, and then disappears almost as soon as 
 it lights. In 1898 there was snow that stayed on the 
 ground for several hours, but this was one of the sever- 
 est winters they have had for many years. 
 
 A hundred yards or so below where the springs com- 
 mence to flow Wallapai Canyon enters from the left. 
 It is similar in appearance to, though narrower than, 
 Havasu (Cataract) Canyon, the walls being of red sand- 
 stone, the strata of which are as regular as if laid by 
 masons. A few hundred yards beyond the junction of 
 the two canyons a remarkable piece of Indian engineer- 
 ing is in evidence, showing how the Indians ascend 
 from a lower to an upper platform. There is a drop 
 here in the stratum of some twenty-five or thirty feet, 
 and to overcome this obstacle the Havasupais built a 
 cage with logs which they filled with stones, and then 
 from this stretched rude logs up and across, to which 
 other logs were fastened, thus making a fairly substan- 
 tial bridge from the lower to the upper stratum over 
 which their horses as well as themselves could safely 
 pass. The trail from this point ascends through tortuous 
 canyons a distance of seven miles to the territory oc- 
 cupied by the Wallapais. 
 
 Just below the entrance to Wallapai Canyon a vast 
 mass of talus has fallen, and two hundred yards farther 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION ao 5 
 
 down, the Cataract Canyon trail goes over a portion of 
 this talus to avoid the creek, which has here crossed 
 from the other side of the canyon and has become a 
 rapidly flowing stream some two feet or more in depth. 
 Attached to this talus is a large mass of solid concrete 
 made of pebbles, rocks, and sand that have been washed 
 down in the creek and made cohesive by the lime from 
 the water. Here the canyon narrows again and the 
 stupendous walls seem very near to the willow-fringed 
 stream and the small fields. A few hundred feet farther 
 it opens out again, and as one rides on the trail he gets 
 exquisite views of the gray stone walls superposed on 
 the red sandstones to the northwest. These gray and 
 creamy sandstones, with their numerous and delicate 
 tints and shades, afford most delightful contrasts to the 
 glaring and monotonous red of the walls beneath. From 
 this point we gain our first view of the so-called Hava- 
 supai stone gods, named by them " Hue-gli-i-wa," the 
 story of which is told elsewhere. 
 
 These rocky pillars with their supporting walls seem 
 as if they were once a part of a great wall that entirely 
 spanned the canyon, the towers being sentinel outlooks 
 to guard from attack both above and below. The por- 
 tion of the wall to the right, as one descends the canyon, 
 has been washed away, but the tower-crowned mass to 
 the left still preserves a broad sweep into the very heart 
 of the canyon as if it would bar all further progress. 
 Following the sweep of this curve and passing the wall 
 immediately underneath the outermost of the two towers, 
 we view from the trail which ascends a mass of talus 
 at this point another widened-out part of the canyon, 
 which seems entirely covered with willows, here and 
 there overshadowed by a few straggling cottonwoods. 
 
2o6 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 This is where the ceremonial dances of the Havasupais 
 take place. 
 
 On the summit of the wall on the other side of the 
 canyon from the Hue-gli-i-wa are two stone objects, one 
 named Hue-a-pa-a, and the one farther down the can- 
 yon, Hue-pu-keh-i. These are great objects of rever- 
 ence, for they represent the ancestors of the Havasupai 
 race. Hue-a-pa-a the man has a child upon his 
 back and two more by his side, and he is calling to his 
 wife Hue-pu-keh-i to hurry along, as the baby is 
 hungry and needs his dinner. The full breasts of the 
 stone woman show that she is a nursing mother. 
 
 Slightly below these stone figures, and on the right- 
 hand side of the canyon, is the old fort, where in the 
 days of fighting the Havasupais were wont to retire 
 when attacked. The fort is impregnable on three sides, 
 being precipitous, and on the fourth is accessible only 
 up a narrow trail, which is guarded by piles of rocks 
 which are ready to be tumbled, even by a woman, upon 
 the heads of foes who attempt to ascend. The fortifi- 
 cations and stones for defence still remain, but it is 
 many years since they were used for their original 
 purposes. 
 
 One's mind becomes very active as he looks upon 
 this tribe of Indians and thinks of their traditions, his- 
 tory, and life. So far, their almost entirely isolated 
 condition has been their preservation, although, sad to 
 say, much of their earlier contact with our civilization 
 was not of the best character. 
 
 Even in this land of our boasted Christianity it is true 
 that the strong prey upon the weak. The domination 
 of physical force is giving way to the domination of 
 mental force, but which is the greater evil? Why 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 207 
 
 should the man born with a mental advantage over his 
 fellows exercise that advantage any more than the man 
 born with a physical advantage? We have not quite 
 ceased to worship the Sullivans, the Corbetts, and the 
 Fitzsimmonses, and, where we have, we have transferred 
 our worship to the intellectually strong, many of whom 
 are no more worthy our homage than the prize fighters. 
 So now it is the intellectually strong who prey upon 
 the intellectually weak, and, as in the physical conflict, 
 it is inevitable that the weak " go to the wall." In 
 simple cunning the Havasupai Indian may be our 
 superior, but in deep craft he is " out of the field." 
 His bow and arrow tipped with obsidian or flint pitted 
 against our repeating rifle; his rolling of heavy rocks 
 opposed to our Catling guns ; his mule and burro against 
 our iron horse ; and his pine torch against our electric 
 light, all demonstrate him to be in his intellectual 
 minority, or at an intellectual disadvantage. He makes 
 a fine figure in our romances, but I sadly fear that 
 the knell of his doom has sounded, and that a few 
 generations hence he will be no more. 
 
 Wallapai and Havasu Canyons, far more than the 
 Grand Canyon, meet the popular idea as to what a 
 canyon is. Their walls are narrow and precipitous, 
 and one staying in their depths must be content with a 
 late sunrise and an early sunset. Just above the rude 
 bridge before described are several natural reservoirs of 
 water. Here the canyon is not more than from one 
 hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty feet wide. 
 This close proximity of the walls, which fairly over- 
 shadow one, compels one to feel his insignificance far 
 more than when he stands in the wider and more com- 
 prehensive vastness of the Grand Canyon. 
 
ao8 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 From leading Havasupais I learn that many years 
 ago the various tribes of this region were at war 
 one with another, until finally a treaty of peace was 
 entered into and boundaries defined. The Paiutis were 
 to remain in Nevada and Utah and not cross the 
 Colorado River, the Wallapais had their region to the 
 west of Havasu Canyon, the Mohaves, Hopis, Pimas, 
 Apaches, Navahoes, Chimehuevis, and the rest their pre- 
 scribed limits, over which they were not to go without 
 permission from the chiefs into whose territory they 
 wished to pass. And, generally speaking, this treaty 
 has been observed. 
 
 Of the exquisitely beautiful waterfalls that give the 
 commonly accepted name to Havasu Canyon, viz., 
 Cataract Canyon, I have not space here to treat. I 
 have already somewhat fully described them in my 
 book on the Grand Canyon. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 THE HAVASUPAIS- AND THEIR LEGENDS 
 
 IN almost every case one finds a variety of differing 
 legends related by the Indians of any tribe upon the 
 same subject. As the Wallapais and Havasupais are 
 cousins, one would naturally expect their legends to 
 have some things in common. How much this is so 
 will be seen by a comparison of the following story 
 with that of the Wallapai Origin Legend. 
 
 " The two gods of the universe," said O-dig-i-ni-ni'-a, 
 the relator of the mythic lore of the Havasupais, " are 
 Tochopa and Hokomata. Tochopa he heap good. 
 Hokomata heap han-a-to-op'-o-gi heap bad all same 
 white man's devil. Him Hokomata make big row with 
 Tochopa, and he say he drown the world. 
 
 " Tochopa was full of sadness at the news. He had 
 one daughter whom he devotedly loved, and from her 
 he had hoped would descend the whole human race for 
 whom the world had been made. If Hokomata per- 
 sisted in his wicked determination she must be saved at 
 all hazard. So, working day and night, he speedily 
 prepared the trunk of a pinion tree by hollowing it out 
 from one end. In this hollow tree he placed food and 
 other necessaries, and also made a lookout window. 
 Then he brought his daughter, and telling her she 
 must go into this tree and there be sealed up, he took 
 
 14 
 
210 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 a sad farewell of her, closed up the end of the tree, 
 and then sat down to await the destruction of the 
 world. It was not long before the floods began to 
 descend. Not rain, but cataracts, rivers, deluges came, 
 making more noise than a thousand Hack-a-tai-as 
 (Colorado River) and covering all the earth with water. 
 The pinion log floated, and in safety lay Pu-keh-eh, 
 while the waters surged higher and higher and covered 
 the tops of Hue-han-a-patch-a (the San Franciscos), 
 Hue-ga-wool-a (Williams Mountain), and all the other 
 mountains of the world. 
 
 " But the waters of heaven could not always be pour- 
 ing down, and soon after they ceased, the flood upon 
 the earth found a way to rush into the sea. And as it 
 dashed down it cut through the rocks of the plateaus 
 and made the deep Chic-a-mi-mi (canyon) of the 
 Colorado River (Hack-a-tai-a). Soon all the water 
 was gone. 
 
 " Then Pu-keh-eh found her log no longer floating, 
 and she peeped out of the window Tochopa had placed 
 in her boat, and, though it was misty and almost dark, 
 she could see in the dim distance the great mountains of 
 the San Francisco range. And near by was the canyon 
 of the Little Colorado, and to the north was Hack-a-tai-a, 
 and to the west was the canyon of the Havasu. 
 
 "The flood had lasted so long that she had grown 
 to be a woman, and, seeing the water gone, she came 
 out and began to make pottery and baskets as her 
 father long ago had taught her. But she was a woman. 
 And what is a woman without a child in her arms or 
 nursing at her breasts? How she longed to be a 
 mother ! But where was a father for her child ? Alas ! 
 there was no man in the whole universe ! 
 
a 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 211 
 
 "Day after day longings for maternity filled her 
 heart, until, one morning, glorious happy morning 
 for Pu-keh-eh and the Havasu race, the darkness 
 began to disappear, and in the far-away east soft and 
 new brightness appeared. It was the triumphant Sun 
 coming to conquer the long night and bring light into 
 the world. Nearer and nearer he came, and at last, as 
 he peeped over the far-away mesa summits, Pu-keh-eh 
 arose and thanked Tochopa, for here, at last, was a 
 father for her child. She conceived, and in the fulness 
 of time bore a son, whom she delighted in and called 
 In-ya'-a the son of the Sun. 
 
 " But as the days rolled on she again felt the longings 
 for maternity. By this time she had wandered far to 
 the west and had entered the beautiful canyon of the 
 Havasu, where deep down between the rocks were 
 several grand and glorious waterfalls, and one of these, 
 Wa-ha-hath-peek-ha-ha, she determined should be the 
 father of her second child. 
 
 " When it was born it was a girl, and to this day all 
 the girls of the Havasupai are 'daughters of the water.' 
 
 " As these two children grew up they married, and 
 thus became the progenitors of the human race. First 
 the Havasupais were born, then the Apaches, then the 
 Wallapais, then the Hopis, then the Paiutis, then the 
 Navahoes. 
 
 " And Tochopa told them all where they should live. 
 The Havasupais and the Apaches were to dwell in 
 Havasu Canyon, the former on one side of the Havasu 
 (blue water), and the latter on the other side, and occupy 
 the territory as far east as the Little Colorado and south 
 to the San Francisco Mountains. The Wallapais were to 
 roam in the country west of Havasu Canyon, and the 
 
212 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Hopis and Navahoes east of the Little Colorado, and 
 the Paiutis north of the big Colorado. 
 
 " And there in Havasu Canyon, above their dancing- 
 place, he carved on the summit of the walls figures 
 of Pu-keh-eh and A-pa-a to remind them from whom 
 they were descended. Here for a long time Havasupais 
 and Apaches lived together in peace, but one day an 
 Apache man saw a most beautiful Havasu woman, and he 
 fell in love with her, and he went to his home and prayed 
 and longed and ate his heart out for this woman who 
 was the wife of another. He called upon Hokomata, 
 the bad god, to help him, and Hokomata, always glad 
 to foment trouble, told him to pay no attention to the 
 restrictions placed upon him by Tochopa, but to cross 
 the Havasu, kill the woman's husband, and steal her for 
 his own wife. 
 
 " The Apache heeded this evil counsel and did so. 
 
 " When the Havasupais discovered the wrong that 
 had been done them, and the great disgrace this Apache 
 had brought upon the tribe, they counselled together, 
 and determined to drive out the Apaches from their 
 canyon home. No longer should they be brothers. 
 They bade the Apaches be gone, and when they refused, 
 fell upon them and drove them out. Up thte rocks near 
 Hue-gli-i-wa the Apaches climbed, and to this day the 
 marks of their footsteps may be seen. They were 
 driven far away to the south and commanded never to 
 come north of the San Francisco Mountains. Hence, 
 though originally they were brothers, there has ever 
 since been war between the people of the Havasu and 
 the Apaches. 
 
 " Then, to remind them of the sure punishment that 
 comes to evil-doers. Tochopa carved the great stone 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 213 
 
 figures of the Apache man and the Havasupai squaw 
 so that they could be seen from above and below, and 
 there to this day the Hue-gli-i-wa remain, as a warning 
 against unlawful love and its dire consequences." 
 
 Here is another story told by a shaman of the Hava- 
 supais of the origin of the race. It is interesting and 
 instructive to note the points of similarity and difference. 
 
 " In the days of long ago a man and a woman (Hoko- 
 mata and Pukeheh Panowa) lived here on the earth. 
 By and by a son was born to them, whom they named 
 Tochopa. As he grew up to manhood Pukeheh 
 Panowa fell in love with him and wished to marry him, 
 but he instinctively shrank from such incestuous inter- 
 course. The woman grew angry as he repelled her, and 
 she made a number of frogs which brought large vol- 
 umes of water. Soon all the country began to be flooded 
 with water, and Hokomata found out what was the 
 matter. He then took Tochopa and a girl and placed 
 them in the trunk of a pinion tree, sealed it up, and sent 
 them afloat on the waters. He stored the tree with 
 corn, peaches, pumpkins, and other food, so they would 
 not be hungry, and for many long days the tree floated 
 hither and thither on the face of the waters. Soon the 
 waters began to subside, and the tree grounded near to 
 where the Little Colorado now is. When Tochopa 
 found the tree was no longer floating he knocked on 
 the side, and Hokomata heard him and came and let 
 him out. As he stepped on the ground he saw Huehan- 
 apatcha (the San Francisco Mountains), Huegadawiza 
 (Red Butte), Huegawoola (Williams Mountain), and he 
 said : " I know these mountains. This is not far from my 
 country. And the water ran down the Hack-a-tha-eh-la 
 (the salty stream, or the Little Colorado) and made Hack- 
 
214 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 a-tai-a (the Grand Canyon of the Colorado). Here he 
 and his wife lived until she gave birth to the son and 
 daughter as before related." 
 
 The way the Wallapai became a separate people is 
 thus related by the Havasupais : 
 
 " A long time ago the animals were all the same as 
 Indians, and the Indians as the animals. The Coyote 
 he lived here in Havasu Canyon. One time he go away 
 for a long time and he catch 'em a good squaw, and by 
 and bye he have a little boy. 
 
 " The little boy grew up to be a man, and he went up 
 on top (out of the canyon, upon the higher plateaus), 
 and there he found two squaw. It heap cold on top, and 
 he get two squaw to keep him warm when he go to 
 sleep. Then he came back to Havasu, and when his 
 papa (the Coyote) saw his two squaws he said : * I take 
 this one. One squaw enough for you/ But the boy 
 was angry and said one squaw was not enough. ' When 
 I lie down to sleep I heap cold. Squaw she heap warm. 
 Two squaw keep me warm.' The Coyote told his son 
 not to talk ; he must be content with one squaw and go 
 to sleep. And the squaw was proud that the Coyote 
 had made her his wife, and she began to taunt the boy, 
 and when he replied she asked the Coyote to tell his 
 boy not to talk. And the Coyote was mad and spoke 
 angrily to his boy. 
 
 " When he awoke in the morning his son was gone. 
 And ten sleeps passed by and still he did not come 
 back, so the Coyote tracked him up Wallapai Can- 
 yon, and went a long, long way. He reached the 
 hilltop and still he did not find his son. At last, a 
 long, long way off he saw him, and he changed him 
 into a mountain sheep*. Then a lot more mountain 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 215 
 
 sheep came and ran with the Coyote's son, and the 
 Coyote could not tell which of the band was his boy. 
 He looked and looked, but it was all in vain. He tried 
 to change his boy back again, so that he would no 
 longer be a mountain sheep, but, as he could not tell 
 which was his boy, his efforts were in vain, and he had 
 to go back to Havasu alone. 
 
 " For a long time the boy remained as a mountain 
 sheep, until the horns had grown large upon his head. 
 Then he changed himself back to a man, and he found 
 his squaw there, waiting for him, and that is why, to 
 this day, the Wallapai is to the Havasupai the A-mu-u 
 or mountain sheep." 
 
 The origin of the Hopis is thus related by the 
 Havasupais : 
 
 "Long time ago two men were born near Mooney 
 Falls. They were twins, yet one was big man, and the 
 other a little big. They came up into this part of the 
 canyon (where the Havasupais now live). It was no 
 good in those days. There was no water and it was 
 ' heap hot.' The little big man he say : ' I no like 'em 
 stay here. Let us go hunt 'em good place to live 
 where we catch plenty water, plenty corn.' So they 
 left the canyon and climbed out where the Hopi trail 
 now is. Here they stayed in the forest some time, 
 hunting and making buckskin. After they had got a 
 large bundle of buckskins dressed, they put them on 
 their backs and began to walk on to seek the country 
 of lots of water, where plenty of corn would grow. But 
 it was hot weather and the load was heavy, and they 
 soon grew so very tired that the smaller brother began 
 to cry. As they walked on he cried more and more, 
 
216 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 until when they came to the hilltop looking down to 
 the Little Colorado River, he said : * I cannot go any 
 farther. I am going to lie down here and go to sleep.' 
 So they both went to sleep, and when they woke up the 
 big brother said : ' Where you go ? You no walk long 
 way. You heap tired.' 
 
 " And the little brother answered : ' I no like go 
 farther. I go back Havasu. I catch 'em water there.' 
 
 "'All right!' replied the big brother, 'I no like 
 Havasu. I go hunt water and plant corn and water- 
 melons and sunflowers. You go back to Havasu.' 
 
 " And he gave him a little bit of corn, and that ex- 
 plains why the Havasupais can grow only a small amount 
 of corn in their canyon, though it is exceedingly sweet 
 and delicious. 
 
 " But the big brother went on and found the places 
 now occupied by the Hopi, and he settled there. And 
 as he had taken lots of corn with him and he planted 
 it, that explains" (to the Havasupai mind) "why the 
 Hopi has so much corn. 
 
 " And the smaller brother found water when he got 
 back to Havasu, and he planted his corn, and cared for 
 it, and went and hunted and caught the deer and made 
 buckskin. Then he found a squaw who made baskets, 
 and helped him make mescal, and they stopped there 
 all the time. 
 
 " The Hopi brother learned to make blankets, but no 
 buckskin, so when he wants buckskin he has to come 
 to his smaller brother in Havasu Canyon.*' 
 
 In the early days the Havasupais were undoubtedly 
 cliff-dwellers, for in a score or more places in their 
 canyons are houses in the cliffs .some of them inacces- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 217 
 
 sible which their traditions say were once occupied by 
 certain families, the names of which are still remembered. 
 All throughout the Grand Canyon region, too, from the 
 Little Colorado River to Havasu Canyon, their cliff- 
 dwellings, and smaller cliff " corn-houses " and mescal 
 pits, are to be found. Indeed, the Havasupais built all 
 the trails that are now being claimed as the work of 
 white men into the heart of the Grand Canyon. The 
 Tanner-French trail, the Red Canyon trail, the old Hance 
 trail, the Grand View, Bright Angel, and Mystic Spring 
 trails, are all old Indian trails. Not only are the cliff- 
 dwellings and mescal pits proof of this, but the Havasu- 
 pais can tell the families to whom they originally 
 belonged and to whom the rights in them have descended. 
 These rights they rigidly adhere to. It is the white 
 man who knows no law as far as the Indian is concerned, 
 and little by little the aborigine has lost springs, water- 
 pockets, and trails, and is regarded and treated as an 
 unwelcome visitor. 
 
 By this it must not be inferred that the Indians built 
 the trails as white men build. In the main their trails 
 were rude paths such as the mountain sheep might 
 make, but in every case they had one of these rude 
 pathways down into the canyon somewhere near to 
 where the modern trails are now located. At the Bright 
 Angel this path was changed when white engineers took 
 hold of it, and at Mystic Spring Mr. Bass had built an 
 entirely new trail, down a different slope, long before he 
 discovered the Indian trail. Both unite near two great 
 natural rock-cisterns, and then deviate below, the Indian 
 trail zigzagging to the left, while Mr. Bass engineered a 
 new trail of easy grade on the talus to the right. 
 
 Some of the Havasupais are returning to the cliff- 
 
2i 8 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 dwelling style of homes. My friend Wa-lu-tha-ma is 
 forsaking his wood and brush " hawas," and construct- 
 ing a house under the cliffs, where, as he quaintly puts 
 it, he can " keep dry when much rain comes." 
 
 It seems to me a reasonable supposition that it was 
 from the frequency of the occurrence of these corn- 
 houses in the walls of Havasu (Cataract) Canyon, with 
 the occasional appearance of a few of the larger houses 
 used as dwellings by the Havasupais, that the absurd 
 and romantic yarns had their origin that fifteen, or less, 
 years ago, were current in Arizona and elsewhere about 
 this interesting people. The cowboys, miners, pro- 
 spectors, and others, who accidentally stumbled upon the 
 upper entrance to the Havasu Canyon, and wandered 
 down its meandering course for ten or forty miles, even 
 to the village of the simple Havasupais, returned to 
 civilization and propagated and circulated stories that 
 out-Munchausened Munchausen. They said these people 
 were cliff-dwellers, living at the present day in the walls 
 of the canyon ; they were of powerful physical presence, 
 and possessed great endurance. Their fields and gar- 
 dens were wonderful, and their peach orchards surpassed 
 those of most civilized cultivation, and they held in 
 slavery a lesser people, dwarfs or pigmies, doubtless, 
 who were cliff-dwellers like themselves, and whom they 
 compelled by great cruelty to perform the most arduous 
 labors. 
 
 Others, having heard these stories, but whose spirit of 
 adventure took them no farther than the " rim " of the 
 canyon, claimed to have looked into the village and side 
 canyons, and there seen the truth of these stories 
 demonstrated. They had seen the pigmies and the 
 gigantic Havasupais, had heard the harsh yells of the 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 219 
 
 latter at the former, and had seen the frantic endeavors 
 of the little people to obey the stern behests of their 
 masters. 
 
 All these yarns are explained by the fact that the 
 distance of view dimmed the vision ; the pigmies were 
 boys driving the burros or horses, yelling and shouting 
 as Havasupai boys delight to do, the voices magni- 
 fied fifty-fold by the echoing walls of the canyon, while 
 the parents moved around attending to their own 
 business, or looked on and occasionally helped by 
 a shout of encouragement or suggestion. 
 
220 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE 
 HAVASUPAIS 
 
 FROM the cradle to the grave the life of a Hava- 
 supai is practically an out-of-door life. Their 
 hawas even the best of them are partially exposed 
 and open, and in the summer hawas there is no 
 pretence at what among civilized peoples is essential 
 privacy. 
 
 The games of the Havasupai children seem very few. 
 I have seen only three. Of the first importance is 
 shinny, or, as they call it, tha-se-vi '~ga. The goals are 
 go-ji-ga ', the ball, ta-ma-nd-da, and the playing stick 
 ta-so-vig*-a. The boys enter into this with the zest one 
 would expect of such a time-honored game, yet, such 
 is their general indifference to prolonged effort, they 
 do not play it very often. 
 
 An easier game, but generally left to the girls, is, 
 hui-ta~qui! -chi-ka to-ko f -bi-ga t which I have fully de- 
 scribed in my book on the Grand Canyon. 
 
 The third game is stolen bodily from the Navahoes, 
 except the name, which with the Havasupais is Tod- 
 wi-ga. It is the Nan-zosh, and is elsewhere fully described 
 in these pages. 
 
 Such a paucity of games is indicative of low mental 
 power, lack of imagination and invention, and results 
 in, or perhaps from, a slow, heavy mental tempera- 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 221 
 
 merit. There is no comparison between the children 
 of the same ages of the Havasupais and the Navahoes 
 or Hopis. And yet, when they enter school, some of 
 the Havasupais learn with a rapidity equal to that of 
 these other children. 
 
 It seems strange to find a people whose children 
 have no equivalent for dolls; nothing specifically to 
 care for. They are capricious in their treatment of 
 their domestic animals, cats and dogs, sometimes petting 
 them to excess, and then lifting the yelping or squall- 
 ing creatures by the legs, twisting these members over 
 their backs, or otherwise torturing them. 
 
 The boys and the girls, as well as the men and 
 women, are expert horse riders. Every family has its 
 horses, and the children ride from their earliest years. 
 Even as I write I catch glimpses now and then of a 
 red-shawled girl on horseback and hear the hard strike 
 of the horse's hoofs as he dashes along at break-neck 
 speed along the trail near the hawa of my host. All ride 
 astride, and are as fearless in ascending and descending 
 the steep trails that give access and egress to their 
 canyon home as the wildest and most expert of the 
 Rough Riders. 
 
 One of their great sports and gala times is when visit- 
 ing Indians Navahoes, Hopis, or Wallapais come 
 with fleet horses and races are arranged for. While they 
 have no " Derby Day," they have days on which half 
 the personal property of the village is pledged on the 
 success of certain horses. They are inveterate gam- 
 blers ; and blankets, buckskins, saddles, bridles, Navaho 
 jewelry, horses, burros, and everything " gambleable " 
 are risked on the outcome. And what an exciting scene 
 an Indian horserace is, and how picturesque! There 
 
222 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 is not so much difference after all in human nature, 
 when one penetrates below the surface. The reserved 
 Englishman, the excitable Italian, the vivacious French- 
 man, and the so-called stupid and stolid native ab- 
 original American exhibit exactly the same traits of 
 character under the excitement of a horserace. But 
 in Havasu Canyon the conditions are quite different 
 from Ascot, Doncaster, or Newmarket. Here are bucks 
 dressed in the breech-clout and excitement, and women 
 gesticulating and waving their si-dram'-as (our large 
 flaming red or other " loud " colored bandannas, 
 fastened over the shoulders and across the breast). 
 Some suppress their excitement, others jabber like 
 monkeys, and as the horses come to the starting-point 
 there is just as much talking and din as after the start 
 is made. One distinct feature is that many horses are 
 raced without riders. They seem to understand, and 
 when the signal to " let go " is given they dart off at 
 full speed, just as if riders were on their backs urging 
 them forward. Compared with our finely bred, beauti- 
 fully chiselled horses, such as one sees, or used to see, 
 in Lucky Baldwin's or the late Senator Stanford's stables, 
 what ragged, scrawny, wretched creatures these are; 
 and yet when they run how they surprise you, how 
 those ugly limbs seem to limber up, and those sleepy 
 eyes gain fire! 
 
 Gambling at these races is carried to an extraordinary 
 extent. Men, women, and children alike gamble all 
 they possess, or even hope to possess. This gambling 
 spirit has grown wonderfully in the past few years, for, 
 during the Kohot Navaho's lifetime he constantly used 
 his powerful influence to discourage it. 
 
 Gambling, unfortunately, is not confined merely to 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 223 
 
 horse-racing. All the afternoon, as I have sat at my 
 work, a group of eight women, some young, some middle- 
 aged, and one old, have gambled without cessation for 
 five solid hours. Two young mothers had their babies 
 surely not more than two to three months old and 
 the youngest of the women was one of these mothers, 
 and she could not have been more than eighteen years 
 of age. Girls gamble at Hui-ta-qui-chi-ka for safety- 
 pins, and boys for knives and the like, so that now it 
 is a vice which has affected every individual of the 
 tribe. 
 
 The Havasupai children are expert ball tossers. 
 With three or four small melons they rival the con- 
 jurers and jugglers of our vaudeville shows in feats of 
 dexterity, keeping three or more balls in the air at 
 the same time. 
 
 Boys and girls alike run around in the fiercest rain, 
 their feet and legs wet and the few clothes they have on 
 absolutely soaked. The idea of changing them has 
 never seemed to enter their primitive minds, and without 
 care, without a fire, unless he chooses to build one, the 
 youngster gets along as best he may. It is a case of the 
 weaker going to the wall, for here only the strong can 
 survive. 
 
 There is very little attempt on the part of their parents 
 to control them. They are generally allowed to do as 
 they choose. I have often seen a little girl take a 
 cigarette from between her father's lips, give it a few 
 puffs, and return it, he all the while either indifferent to 
 or unconscious of the act. 
 
 The close proximity of Havasu Creek and its large 
 ponds or reservoirs, made by the irrigation dams, 
 naturally suggests that they are swimmers. Observation 
 
224 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 confirms this. From earliest childhood they are expert 
 swimmers, boys and girls alike learning the art often 
 before they can walk. I have seen mere babies placed 
 in the creek and ditches by their parents and older 
 brothers, and one can scarcely say they are taught to pad- 
 dle, for it seems to come instinctively. There is not a 
 child in the village who cannot swim and dive expertly, 
 and there is no greater fun than to expend a dozen nickels 
 by throwing them into one of the reservoirs and having 
 the children dive for them. Sometimes they can be in- 
 duced to bring the coins up in their teeth, even picking 
 them in that manner from the sandy bed of the reservoir. 
 They are as expert swimmers as the children of the 
 South Seas. No Kanaka going out to meet an incoming 
 steamer could ride the billows more daringly than the 
 boys and girls of the Havasu swim in the rapid currents 
 of their little stream. I have been with them to-day for 
 a couple of hours. The boys dived into deep water 
 and rose and fell like loons. I amused myself by throw- 
 ing a stone into ten or more feet of water, and four or 
 five of the boys would dive for it and get it almost as 
 quickly as I could throw it. It was no sooner in than it 
 was out again. One of the little girls, a sister of one of 
 the boys, stood watching the sport. She became so 
 interested that, suddenly, without removing her calico 
 dress, she jumped into the deep place and enjoyed the 
 fun with the rest. 
 
 Then, a Havasupai man, riding a burro, brought the 
 animal down into the stream where it was shallow and 
 had a gravelly bed. For an hour he and the boys 
 amused themselves by swimming back and forth through 
 the deep pool, and every now and again one or another 
 would jump on the creature's back and, hanging on, 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 225 
 
 overbalance him, or make him turn a somersault. The 
 burro bore it all good-naturedly and seemed to object 
 very little to the fun : the only time he showed decided 
 inappreciation was when the Indians got him down into 
 deep water and forced his head under for too long a 
 time. 
 
 A little later on a horse was brought, who entered 
 into the sport as if he were used to it He swam back 
 and forth and took to the water as willingly as a child 
 takes candy. The boys hung on to his mane, got on 
 his back, his neck, or hung on to his tail, and, to all 
 seeming, it was all the same to him. 
 
 Though they are so fond of the water, the Havasupais 
 cannot be called in some respects a cleanly preople. Far 
 from it. Though they take the sweat bath almost as a 
 religious rite 1 and their skin is thus kept clean, there is 
 another kind of cleanliness in which they are very 
 remiss. It would be unreasonable to expect that people 
 living in the exposed wicker huts of the Havasupais 
 could approach anywhere near the ordinary white man's 
 standard of cleanliness. But certainly they might have 
 a higher standard than they do. Lice swarm in the 
 heads of the children and most of the women. On the 
 other hand, all the younger men are particular to be 
 cleanly in this regard, and dress their hair with skill and 
 neatness. Bed-bugs abound in Havasu Canyon as in 
 no other place on earth. They swarm everywhere, and 
 are absolutely found in clusters in the sand, under the 
 old bark of decayed trees, and in every conceivable 
 and inconceivable lodging-place. The warm sand and 
 the seductive moisture that obtains during the major 
 part of the year must be especially conducive to their 
 
 1 See " In and Around the Grand Canyon." 
 '5 
 
226 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 breeding, for they are ubiquitous. Yet, strange to say, 
 I have never known of an instance where a bed-bug has 
 been brought out of the canyon by a visitor. Though I 
 have been with the Havasupais scores of times I never 
 detected one of these vermin either in my clothing or 
 bedding. The breed seems to be peculiar to the warm, 
 moist air of the canyon and to be unable to live away 
 from it, for which we give hearty thanks. 
 
 Now and again scorpions may be found, and, after a 
 rain, I have seen a score of hundred-legged worms (per- 
 fectly harmless) rolled up on the trail between the 
 village and Bridal Veil Falls. 
 
 Rattlesnakes are not common anywhere in those por- 
 tions of the canyon much visited by the Havasupais, 
 but now and then one may be found on the trails or 
 basking in the sun on the rocks near by. Elsewhere in 
 this canyon and its many greater or lesser tributaries 
 they are common, and the Indians can find any quantity 
 if they are sent for them. In all my years of wandering 
 to and fro, though, I have not seen a half-dozen rattle- 
 snakes in Havasu Canyon. 
 
 Other pests are mosquitoes, gnats, and a small black 
 fly which, in certain seasons, persistently lodges in the 
 eye, causing considerable annoyance, and sometimes 
 distress and pain. There are not many mosquitoes, 
 though at times they are troublesome enough to satisfy 
 one for their scarcity. 
 
 Many of the women are expert basket makers, and in 
 my book on Indian Basketry I have fully explained their 
 methods of work and the charming nature of their 
 designs. The Havasu Canyon is a basket maker's para- 
 dise, for the stream is lined for miles with willows 
 suitable for this work. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 227 
 
 The process of making strands or splints of the wil- 
 lows is a very simple and primitive one. Here as I sit 
 writing (Sept. 14, 1901), Chickapanagie's squaw has a 
 lot of willow shoots before her. Taking hold of one end 
 of the splint in her teeth, she pulls away the cuticle with 
 her fingers. These alone are her tools, and it is astonish- 
 ing the rapidity and regularity with which the process is 
 accomplished. 
 
 As soon as a girl can frame her fingers to the work 
 of basket making she is required to begin. It is very 
 interesting to watch the small children in their en- 
 deavors to make the rougher baskets, and then, as they 
 grow in skill, try the finer work. Pul-a-gas'-a-a is not 
 more than eight years of age, and yet a basket kii-ii 
 she brought to me was one of her own make, and it now 
 occupies a place in my collection. The work is irregular 
 and crude, but shows skill, and if the child has patience 
 to stick to it, in time she will become one of the most 
 accomplished basket makers of the tribe. 
 
 As soon as possible after attaining puberty the 
 Havasupai girls marry, generally between the ages of 
 thirteen and fourteen. The parents themselves urge 
 these early marriages. Whether they fear the loss of 
 virtue in their daughters from evil white men, or the 
 degenerate young men of their own tribe, I do not know, 
 but several parents have told me that the sooner their 
 girls marry, after they are marriageable, the better 
 pleased they are. 
 
 Marriage is generally arranged by purchase. When 
 a young man sets his affections upon any particular 
 girl, he contrives to show his preference for her, and, 
 as soon as he finds that his attentions are agreeable, he 
 visits his fair one's father or nearest male relative, and 
 
228 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 without parley begins to bargain for her as he would 
 for a horse or any other commodity. The standard 
 price for a wife is ten to twenty dollars, and where a 
 trade cannot be made with a pony or blanket, the 
 money itself is offered. The bargaining completed, 
 there are no further preliminaries or ceremony, except 
 that, three weeks or so before the wedding, the bride- 
 groom takes up his residence in the hawa of the 
 bride's parents. He is treated as one of the family, and 
 at night rolls himself up in his blanket and sleeps along- 
 side his prospective kinsfolk on the floor of the domicile. 
 At the end of three weeks, if the contracting young 
 folks are satisfied that their dispositions are harmoni- 
 ous, and if the marriage settlement is satisfactory, the 
 wedding takes place. The groom takes his bride, the 
 old folk take the medium of purchase, and the com- 
 pany laughs and banters the young husband and wife. 
 The man takes the woman to his hawa, and the an- 
 nouncement of their marriage is made by the fact 
 that they are living together and have assumed marital 
 relationship. 
 
 Sometimes an obdurate father or mother will refuse to 
 sell a daughter, and thus expresses disapprobation of the 
 suggested match. Occasionally, as among more civilized 
 people, the young couple mournfully, but dutifully, ac- 
 quiesce in the decision of the older people, but, more 
 often even, also, as white young people do they 
 rebel, and take the decision into their own hands by 
 eloping and living together. This ends the matter. 
 The ethics of the tribe are such that cohabitation once 
 entered upon, the parents have no authority to declare 
 the marriage void. And, as a further penalty for his 
 obdurate obstinacy, the father loses the ten dollars or 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 229 
 
 its equivalent he might have had by being kind and 
 complaisant to the desires of the young couple. 
 
 The Havasupais are polygamists, and believe in 
 having as many wives as they can buy and support. 
 At the time of his death Kohot Navaho had three wives 
 living with him, and I personally know of two others 
 that he had discarded on account of old age. When 
 Hotouta, his oldest son, was living, his mother was a 
 thrust-out member of Navaho's household. She was 
 almost blind and decrepit, and Navaho with a wave 
 of his hand and ten words had dismissed her from his 
 bed and board. Hotouta had a tender heart and used 
 to speak very bitterly about the injustice of this custom 
 which allowed an old and helpless wife thus mercilessly 
 to be discarded. 
 
 Shortly before Navaho's death his oldest wife evi- 
 dently " ruled the roost," and it certainly must have 
 been by other means than her physical beauty. And 
 yet she was vain of her good looks, for, when I made 
 her husband's photograph, she became my strong ally 
 in persuading him to sit before the camera, on condi- 
 tion that I would make a " sun-picture " of her own 
 beautiful physiognomy and enchanting tout ensemble. 
 When I made the photograph, she secured her petti- 
 coats between her legs in such a manner as to make 
 them appear like rude trousers, and when I commented 
 upon the unfeminine appearance and asked her to 
 spread out her skirts in orthodox style, she boxed my 
 ears with a manner at once decisive, haughty, and jocu- 
 lar, and bade me proceed as she was or not at all. The 
 second wife was a meek kind of a creature, who seemed 
 to be entirely under the dominion of wife number one ; 
 but the youngest wife, a buxom woman of twenty-three 
 
230 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 or four summers, evidently knew how to hold her own, 
 for she once or twice refused to obey wife number one, 
 though she readily obeyed the same request when given 
 by Navaho personally. This woman is now married to 
 my old host, Waluthama. 
 
 Marriage with a white man is unknown among the 
 Havasupais, and unlawful cohabitation with one is pun- 
 ishable by death. 
 
 The question of marrying is becoming a more serious 
 one with the Havasupais each year. While occasion- 
 ally a man will marry a Wallapai squaw, there is a 
 strong sentiment against marriage outside of the tribe. 
 Yet the number of the tribe is so small, and inter- 
 marriage has so long been carried on between them, 
 that it is no uncommon thing for a young man or 
 woman to be debarred from choice in marriage. At 
 the present time Goo-fwho's son can marry but one girl 
 in the whole tribe without violating their own laws 
 of consanguinity, about which no people are more 
 particular. 
 
 The present Head Chief Kohot of the tribe is 
 Man-a-ka-cha, a heavily built man, who is popular with 
 the younger element. But he suffers much in com- 
 parison with the former Kohot, Navaho, who died 
 in 1898. 
 
 Kohot Navaho's was a strong face, marked and fur- 
 rowed with bearing the cares of his little nation. A 
 firm chin, powerful nose, gentle mouth, courageous 
 forehead, eyes which were once fiery as well as piercing, 
 but of late years had little of their primitive fire, these 
 gave a key to his character, in which firmness, courage, 
 bravery, and gentle tenderness were commingled. His 
 whole demeanor was of dignity and pride. No Euro- 
 
i* 
 
 O a* 
 
 > o 
 
 < fc 
 
 Q 
 

 PAINTED DESERT REGION 231 
 
 pean sovereign in the days of despotic power could 
 have worn the " air " of a monarch more regally than 
 Navaho. But it was real with him. His kingship was 
 within himself as well as in the affection of his people. 
 
 As might be expected with their powerful physical 
 development, the men are great wrestlers, and often 
 may be seen indulging in friendly, but none the less 
 hard and exhausting bouts, where Havasupai methods 
 of cross-buttocking and other " throws " are tested to the 
 utmost. One of the former teachers was an expert 
 wrestler, learned doubtless among the Sioux, with 
 whom he used to live as a United States teacher, and 
 one secret of the influence he had over the Hava- 
 supais was his ability to " down " them in a wrestling 
 match. Time and again he had given their best men 
 great " falls," and the more he threw, the more they 
 respected and obeyed him. 
 
 As runners and trailers they almost equal the Mohaves, 
 Apaches, and Hopis, though, on the desert, their 
 endurance is not so great as that of these two desert 
 tribes. As canyon climbers, however, they surpass 
 either of them. The climbing muscles, by life-long 
 and constant practice, are remarkably developed, and 
 they run up and down the long, wearisome, steep trails 
 of canyons in a manner to excite the envy of a college 
 athlete, and the astonishment of one who has, but a 
 short time before, laboriously and tediously essayed a 
 brief trip in which ascending or descending a steep trail 
 was an essential feature. 
 
 As riders they are skilful and full of endurance, but 
 they are neither as graceful nor as daring as the Navahoes. 
 
 Men and women both dress the buckskins for which 
 the Havasupai is so famous. Amole root is macerated 
 
232 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 and beaten up and down in a bowl of water until a 
 good lather and suds are produced. Then the operator 
 takes a mouthful of the liquid and squirts it over the 
 skin, which he manipulates and softens, rubs, scrubs, and 
 pulls with his ringers and feet, moistening it again and 
 again as occasion requires. Wild catskins are treated in 
 the same way. 
 
 From this excellent buckskin the men make mocca- 
 sins for themselves and their women. The first time I 
 saw Kohot Navaho he was sitting naked, upon a blanket 
 outside his hawa, his three wives near by, they cutting 
 and preparing peaches for drying, he busily engaged 
 making a pair of moccasins. The sole is of two or three 
 thicknesses of heavy rawhide, to which the uppers of 
 buckskin are deftly sewn, with strings of catgut or deer 
 intestines, the holes being made by a bone awl. 
 
 Every summer trading-parties of both Hopis and 
 Navahoes come down to the village, bringing blankets, 
 ponies, pottery, and the like, for exchange. In 1898 
 there were three separate bands of Navahoes and two of 
 Hopis. Trading is a serious process. Laws of barter 
 or sale are first made, before the traders open their 
 packs, and all the people are expected to abide by these 
 loosely promulgated laws without question. Then the 
 hawa of the Havasupai host is turned into a store. 
 Poles are suspended in every possible direction on which 
 to show off the blankets to best advantage. A crowd 
 of chattering men and women stand outside, or, now 
 and again, come inside, during the whole day, and at 
 night-time the men who have done business come in, 
 squat on the ground, and spend the hours in smoking, 
 tale-telling, and gossip. 
 
 There is difficulty in the Havasupai mind at trading 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 233 
 
 for more than one thing at a time. If you wish to buy 
 six articles from the same Indian, you cannot pay a 
 lump sum for the six. Each one must be traded and 
 paid for separately. 
 
 In most things there is no fixed standard of price. 
 Fictitious values are placed upon articles of no value 
 whatever, but to which the Indian mind has attached 
 singular virtue and importance. On the other hand 
 baskets, which require days to manufacture, taking no 
 account of the time and arduous labor expended in 
 gathering the materials, dyes, etc., for that purpose, are 
 sold at varying prices, but nearly always far too low to 
 begin to compensate them for the efforts expended. 
 
 Yet they are keen traders in their way. " What 
 can I get out of him?" is the normal attitude of mind, 
 and the price is made to correspond to what the seller 
 imagines is the ability of your pocket. 
 
 In dealing with them, I adopted the plan years ago, 
 as a fixed rule, from which I seldom deviate, to state a 
 figure I will give for things offered to me, and that sum, 
 no more, no less, is what I will pay. They soon learn 
 this, and, though at times it seems to be a disadvantage, 
 it gains the confidence of the Indian and he will the 
 more readily trade with me. 
 
 I once excited the hearty laughter and some scorn 
 of the Havasupais by buying a lot of old baskets, 
 blankets, etc., that they had long deemed of no value. 
 I was seeking their older styles of work and urged them 
 to bring me " any old trash " they had discarded. The 
 usual crowd assembled around my camp, and, as each 
 specimen of dilapidation was half-shamefacedly revealed 
 a shout of laughter arose, directed partially at the would- 
 be seller for her temerity in supposing that such rubbish 
 
234 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 could ever find a purchaser, and partially at myself for 
 being so foolish as to want to carry it away. But I 
 obtained some fine specimens, though much worn, of 
 the workmanship I desired, so could afford to be very 
 complaisant at the derision I aroused. 
 
 The Havasupai is one of the most jolly, frolicsome, 
 and light-hearted of mortals. With his stomach full he 
 has no cares, and he goes into fun with a zest and energy 
 that are pleasing. He is fond beyond measure of practi- 
 cal jokes, when he is not the victim, and cares very 
 little who suffers so long as he can obtain fun. Con- 
 sequently if one meets with a misfortune, especially a 
 laughable one, he need expect little, if any, sympathy 
 in Havasu Canyon. 
 
 They are a singular mixture of frankness and cunning, 
 of honor and deception, of truth and frankness, of 
 reliability and untrustworthiness. They will as deliber- 
 ately and coolly lie to a white man about anything and 
 everything if it suits their purpose as they will 
 tell the truth. Ask a man his name an insult, by 
 the way and he will lie to you, even though you are 
 a good friend ; as, for instance, when, after being the 
 guest of " Supai Charley " for several days, I quietly and 
 without seeming intent asked him his name, which I 
 knew to be Wa-lu-tha-ma, that I might send him some 
 gifts I had promised. For a few moments he hesitated, 
 and then said " Qu-ar-ri " a Wallapai name that has 
 no relation to the Havasus whatever. Sinyela was full 
 of deception, and yet, when a friend told him he might 
 catch one of his horses and ride it so far, and we reached 
 that point and I suggested to him that he take the pony 
 forward and leave it at the designated spot on his 
 return, he would not listen to it for a moment. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 235 
 
 They are petty thieves, but years of experience have 
 taught me that they could not be persuaded to engage 
 in larceny on a grander scale. One of my first experi- 
 ences in this line was to have some little thing taken 
 from my camp many years ago (I forget now what it 
 was). Immediately I sent for Hotouta, and told him the 
 article must be returned. In a few hours the boy thief 
 (now a hang-dog looking buck) came and brought back 
 the article. 
 
 On my last visit, coffee and candy were taken from 
 my sacks at Wa-lu-tha-ma's hawa, and three necklaces 
 which I had taken as presents for some of the children. 
 I spoke angrily to my host of his negligence to protect 
 my goods when they were in his care, and, as for the 
 necklaces, said if they were not returned by morning I 
 should complain to the agent, and have the thief dis- 
 covered and punished. Long before sunrise in the 
 morning the necklaces were returned. 
 
 There is a good deal of craft about some of them. For 
 a long time Captain Jim and a few others had wished to 
 have a road or trail made around Hue-gli-i-wa that would 
 make it less dangerous, and add much to the comfort of 
 the people, who lived both above and below this spot, 
 when they wished to visit each other. For years nothing 
 was done. But when, this year, he took the matter up 
 again, he did it in a round-about way that won success. 
 He urged that an invitation be sent to the leading 
 horsemen of the Wallapais to bring their best horses 
 and come and run races with them. The Wallapais 
 accepted the invitation. Now was Captain Jim's op- 
 portunity for the display of his finesse. He casually 
 suggested to some of the most ardent racers that the 
 way to beat the Wallapais was to make a race-track 
 
236 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 just the same as the white men did, and, when it was 
 completed, train their horses to run on it until they 
 were so familiar with it that, when the Wallapais 
 came, they would be able to take all the advantages 
 this additional knowledge would give. The suggestion 
 worked like a charm. It was Tom Sawyer's woodpile 
 over again. The young men waited on the Kohot, 
 Manakacha, and asked permission to cut a road a mile 
 long through the middle portion of the canyon. The 
 only place where this could be done was just where 
 Captain Jim desired the road. He was appointed to 
 see that the work was properly done, and the first few 
 days of my visit were enlivened by the echoing roars 
 of the powder explosions that were set off. When I 
 went down to the lower part of the village it was over 
 the new and completed road, a full mile in length, and 
 well cut out and graded. Such a consummation was de- 
 voutly to be wished, and while races are not an un- 
 mixed good, one could tolerate them the easier for the 
 Havasupais if they would always be the means of ac- 
 complishing such desirable ends. 
 
 The Havasupais are far from being dull and stupid, as 
 casual observers suppose. They can see the point of 
 things as quickly as some of their white neighbors. 
 For instance ; I have elsewhere, in my Grand Canyon 
 book, told how Silver, Hotouta's fine horse, was given 
 to Mr. Bass. This horse has always been an object of 
 envy to some of the young men of the tribe. Mr. Bass 
 also bought from Sinyela a red mule of some of my 
 exciting experiences. Having once had possession of 
 this mule was in itself an overpowering temptation to 
 those Indians, who, in the days of Sinyela's ownership, 
 had been permitted to ride it. Consequently Mr. Bass 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 237 
 
 was often annoyed by finding, on his return from an 
 absence of a few days, that Silver and the mule, one 
 or both, had been taken from the pasture and ridden 
 by the Indians. When he completed his trail across 
 the river and finally established the ferry that bears his 
 name the only ferry, by the way, across the Grand 
 Canyon, and the only one on the Colorado River 
 between Lee's Ferry and the one below the mouth of 
 the canyons he decided to swim Silver and the mule 
 across the river and keep them for use on the north 
 side. When this was do t ne Chickapanagie was present. 
 With a twinkle in his eye he said : " Bass heap sopogie 
 (understand). Havasupai no ride 'em Silvern, and Red 
 Mule no more." 
 
 There is wide diversity in the attitude different mem- 
 bers of the tribe hold towards the whites. Some are 
 friendly, others openly hostile and ugly, while others 
 merely receive strangers on sufferance as a necessary 
 evil, useful for the purchase of baskets and such other 
 things as they may have to dispose of. 
 
 Manakacha was elected to his kohot-ship because 
 the majority of the men were in favor of keeping out 
 the whites from Havasu Canyon, and he was ever 
 averse to the white man. 
 
 Those, however, who are friendly, are good and 
 true friends, as those who knew Hotouta, Spotty, and 
 others who are gone can testify. 
 
 Spotty was a genial, kindly soul, with whom I had 
 various dealings. He was intelligent and reliable in 
 his intercourse with me, though a medicine-man and 
 ready to dispense charms, incantations, and native medi- 
 cines on the slightest pecuniary provocation. On one 
 of my early trips to Havasu I negligently overlooked 
 
238 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 taking a sufficient supply of extra films. What an idea ! 
 To start on such a trip and forget one's camera rolls. 
 There were about thirty exposures left on my film and 
 I was sure I should need two hundred and fifty. 
 Indeed, long before I had reached the Havasupai 
 village all the roll was exhausted, and no more pictures 
 could be taken. 
 
 I was disgusted with my own want of forethought, and 
 generally disgruntled, when lo ! on sight of Spotty 
 the idea occurred as if by inspiration : " Why not send 
 Spotty for it?" No sooner suggested mentally than 
 I broached the subject. The round trip was a good 
 fifty-five to sixty miles, and much of the road up Hav- 
 asu Canyon, and I must have the roll within twenty- 
 four hours. Spotty's eye was on the main chance, and 
 he at once expressed his willingness to go provided 
 there was " enough in it." " How much you give me ? " 
 he inquired. I considered for a while, and then with a 
 Pecksniffian air of benignant charity offered him " two 
 . dollar ! " " Al lite, I go ! Maybe so I go quick you 
 catch 'em two dollars and a half? " he asked. I studied 
 over it awhile before committing myself, and then queried 
 "When you start, Spotty? " Looking up towards hue- 
 a-pa-a (the man image) on the upper rim of the near 
 canyon wall, he pointed. " I go when you see 'em 
 ha-ma-si-gu-va' -te (the evening star)." 
 
 " When you come back? " 
 
 " I come back next day all same time you see 'em 
 ha-la'-ha (the moon). Maybe so I come back sooner 
 you see 'em, you give me two dollar half?" 
 
 A twenty-four hours' ride on horseback nearly 
 sixty miles through a solitary country where his only 
 company would be coyotes, mountain lions, and other 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 239 
 
 wild animals, and a large portion of it ridden in the 
 dark night, for two dollars, with a bonus of fifty cents 
 if the trip was made within twenty-four hours, it was 
 not extravagant pay, so I cheerfully acceded to his re- 
 quest for the bonus. But now came the difficulty of fully 
 explaining to Spotty what I wanted, and where he could 
 find it. The tent at Bass Camp was divided into five 
 compartments, two small rooms with canvas walls on 
 either side of a long room which ran through the centre 
 of the tent, its entire width. Making a plan of the tent 
 on the ground, so, and N 
 
 giving him the compass 
 points, I showed that my 
 "all same white man's 
 basket made of leather," 
 viz., my valise, was in the w 
 northeast corner of the 
 southwest room. The 
 film was in the valise, 
 but I also needed my 
 ruby lamp, so I deemed 
 
 it; best for him to bring valise and lamp, which latter was 
 separate. Off he went cheerfully and merrily, and two 
 hours before the moon rose he was back at the camp 
 with valise and lamp safe and secure. He received his 
 bonus and we were both happy. 
 
 Like all other Indians, they used to have an abnormal 
 dread of the camera. 
 
 One of my Havasupai friends, U-math-ka, thus stated 
 his reasons for refusing to be photographed. With 
 graphic gesture of horror and dread he said : " If you 
 make my picture I die pretty soon. I look at the Sun. 
 He get heap hot. I no breathe. I lie down. I die ! " 
 
240 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 When I assured him no possible injury could result, he 
 yielded to my urgent entreaties so far as to consent to 
 allow me to make his sun-picture, on the sole condition, 
 however, that I did not ask him to look at the camera, 
 or to cease talking (he was relating some Havasupai 
 myths at the time). His condition was what I desired, 
 for it enabled me to secure the accompanying natural 
 and life-like photograph. 
 
 In speech the Havasupai tongue is not very musical 
 or agreeable. The voices of men and women are soft 
 and sweet, as a rule, and either when singing their rude 
 aboriginal songs or those that they have been taught 
 at school, they show a natural appreciation of tone 
 that is not usual or common. In a sentence the last 
 syllable of the last word is often a third higher than the 
 rest of the word. This gives a singularly emphatic 
 effect. 
 
 The voices of the men are not unpleasant, though 
 generally they are thrown too high head tones to 
 be agreeable ; and as conversation increases they often 
 allow their voices to rise to an almost querulous note. 
 There is a good deal of the chant about it of a half- 
 musical nature. 
 
 The women's voices are usually sweet and musical, 
 but the language itself does not lend itself to the display 
 of vocal sweetness. It is not a " liquid " language. It 
 is full of crooks and twists, gutturals and harsh labials, 
 and seems to be ground out in angles with a machine- 
 like regularity. In some cases, the women, having 
 imitated the querulous tone of some of the men, have 
 developed a harshness that is disagreeable. The rapid- 
 ity with which they learn new words is remarkable. 
 Lanoman, one of the present policemen, asked me the 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 241 
 
 English of a number of words, and all during the day I 
 heard him repeating them over to himself, and seldom 
 would he need correction. 
 
 The dress commonly worn by the women consists of 
 a short skirt and waist, made of colored calico, and a 
 si-dram'-a, which may be described as a rude shawl, 
 two corners of which are tied obliquely across the chest. 
 When at work this is often slung over one side of the 
 body so that one arm is free. Among the Havasupais 
 the si-dram-a that is most desired and sought after is 
 one made of four large bandana handkerchiefs, with red 
 as the choice of colors. 
 
 The men, when I first visited them, seldom wore any- 
 thing more than the breech-clout except in cold weather, 
 but as school influences began to permeate the village, 
 blue overalls and the cast-off trousers and other cloth- 
 ing of the white man were donned, until now it is a 
 rare sight to see a man clothed in any other than the 
 ordinary fashion, though the influence of the outside 
 Indians is seen in the Spanish " cut " of all home-made 
 garments. Moccasins are the common foot-gear, though 
 occasionally a man or woman may be found wearing 
 " civilized " shoes. 
 
 Fish, pork, chicken, all kinds of birds and eggs, are 
 tabooed as food by the Havasupais, but they eat rats, 
 deer, antelope, rabbit, prairie dog, and mountain sheep. 
 They are especially fond of beef, and horse and mule 
 meat, no matter how the animals come to their death, 
 are esteemed luxuries. They will even eat lizards and 
 lice. 
 
 The prickly pear and the fruit of the amole, or hosh- 
 kon, are much favored when ripe. The latter is roasted 
 in the coals until the outside is completely blackened. 
 
 16 
 
242 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 A hole is made in this carbonized surface to let out the 
 steam, and, when cold, the fruit is eaten as a great 
 delicacy. I have often eaten and enjoyed it, though it 
 has a sickish-sweet vegetable taste that at first is some- 
 what unpleasant. The pinion nut, sunflower and squash 
 seeds are also regarded as delicacies. Practice has 
 made the Havasupais dexterous in eating these husk- 
 covered seeds. The novice finds it a wearisome task 
 to hull them, but the expert throws a handful of seeds 
 into his mouth, cracks the shells, and by skilful manipu- 
 lation eats the nuts on one side of his mouth and 
 expels the shells on the other. When I can do this I 
 shall make a meal on pinion nuts, as they are of exquis- 
 itely sweet and delicious flavor. 
 
 Sunflower seeds, squash seeds, and a variety of wild 
 grass seeds and corn are parched by the women by 
 placing them in saucer-shaped baskets or ku-uV 
 with hot ashes, and then tossing them up and down and 
 to and fro until sufficiently cooked. The seeds are then 
 scooped out with the fingers, and ground on a slab of 
 basaltic rock, by rubbing one stone over the other. On 
 the occasion of one of my visits, when I was the guest 
 of Chickapanagie, I made the accompanying photograph 
 of his wife as she thus parched corn in a basket. It 
 was the placing of a covering of clay inside the kii-ii, 
 to prevent its burning, that led Frank Gushing to the 
 belief that here was the explanation of the origin of 
 pottery. 1 
 
 Green squash is cooked after being hacked into pieces 
 in an apparently reckless but most effective manner. 
 With the squash in one hand, the woman takes a large 
 
 1 See chapter " Basketry the Mother of Pottery," in "^Indian Basketry," 
 by George Wharton James. 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 243 
 
 butcher knife in the other and strikes indifferently at 
 the squash, turning it around and at different angles 
 the while. In a few moments chips, as it were, begin 
 to fall into the cooking pot, and after the exterior is cut 
 and hacked in every direction the cook begins to slice 
 it into the pot When well cooked, it is eaten without 
 any other improvement than a little salt. 
 
 Corn and beans are plentiful with them, and both are 
 as delicious and tender as any I have ever tasted else- 
 where. 
 
 Mescal is one of their chief foods. It is made by 
 them exactly as the Wallapais make it. That fibrous 
 portion of the plant that cannot be treated in this 
 manner is boiled, and the drink therefrom, when fresh, 
 is a sickish-sweet liquid, that, however, might soon 
 become agreeable. This liquid is of a dark brown color, 
 and when boiled for a long time becomes a species of 
 thin molasses. 
 
 The Havasupais know no process of fermentation so 
 far as I have been able to learn, and the elders of the 
 people long objected to the coming of the white man 
 because one of the bad things he brought to the Indian 
 was whiskey and other intoxicants. 
 
 Quail and ducks abound in various parts of the Havasu 
 Canyon region. Even to this day many of the latter 
 are shot, for sale to the white man, with the arrow in- 
 stead of the gun. The Havasupais claim that the arrow 
 is far less liable to scare away the flock than is the loud 
 report of a gun, so they keep up their practice with the 
 antiquated bow and arrow, and some of them show won- 
 derful skill in their use. I have often placed a ten-cent 
 piece in a notched stick and enjoyed watching the 
 young men as they fired their arrows at it at a distance 
 
244 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 of fifty paces. Their skill was such that on one occa- 
 sion I lost a dollar thus within half an hour. 
 
 At one time in February I found the canyon alive 
 with quail, the whirring of whose wings met us on every 
 hand as we rode along from hawa to hawa. 
 
 I am told there is no fish in Havasu Creek above 
 Mooney Falls, but from the base of this fall on to 
 the river both large and small fish are abundant. I 
 rather doubt this, as on the occasion of my attempt to 
 reach Beaver Falls down the course of the creek from 
 Mooney Falls I saw no fish, nor signs of any. 
 
 One of the Havasupais tells me that mountain sheep 
 may be seen on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon 
 in small bands. When the snow is deep upon the Buck- 
 skin Mountains and the Kaibab Plateau they descend 
 to the more temperate regions of the canyon where 
 grass may be found in plenty, and then the Paiuti and 
 Paieed Indians kill them, drying the flesh for later 
 use. This they do regardless of a territorial law, which 
 forbids even an Indian killing mountain sheep at any 
 time. The Indian regards his as a prior right, existing 
 long before there was any territorial legislature, and he 
 acts accordingly. 
 
 Mountain lions, wildcats, lynxes, coyotes, badgers, 
 deer, and antelope, with an occasional mountain sheep 
 and bear, are the larger quarry of the Havasupai 
 hunters. The deer and antelope they find in the open 
 grassy glades of the forests on the canyon rim and 
 reaching towards the desert. The other game is 
 generally found in the recesses of the canyons or on 
 the slopes of the far-away mountains of Hue-han-a- 
 patch-a (the San Franciscos), Hue-ga-wool-a (Williams 
 Mountain), or Hue-ga-da-wi-za (Red Butte). 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 245 
 
 Some of the skins are dressed with the hair on and 
 are used for clothing, as sleeping mats, or are sold to 
 the travellers at the trains or traded at the stores on the 
 railway. But many of the better skins are carefully 
 tanned and dressed and converted into buckskins, as 
 before stated. 
 
 This, indeed, is one of their staple articles of trade, 
 good buckskins fetching as high as five dollars and even 
 ten dollars cash. I have several times seen a blanket 
 for which I had offered eight dollars or ten dollars 
 readily exchanged for a simple buckskin, and it is not 
 an unusual occurrence to note a trade where a fair 
 Navaho pony is given for a large and well-dressed skin. 
 
 The outside Indians that the Havasupais are familiar 
 with are the friendly Wallapais, whom they call their 
 cousins, the Hopis and the Navahoes. They have often 
 had wars with the hated Mohaves, Apaches, and Paiutis. 
 The Chemhuevis, Pimas, and Maricopas are their dis- 
 tant, little known, but accepted friends. Far-away Zuni 
 is Si-u, and still farther Acoma is Ac-o-ca-va, and though 
 intercourse with the people of these villages is rare, it 
 has always been friendly. 
 
 For the grazing and watering of their horses and other 
 stock each head of a family has a certain region allotted 
 to him, over the boundaries of which he may not allow 
 his stock to wander, except when removing them or 
 by special permission. Manakacha, the head Kohot, 
 takes the range formerly owned or controlled by Captain 
 Navaho, the late Kohot, viz., the region of Black Tanks. 
 Rock Jones (the chief medicine-man) has Topocobya 
 Canyon and the plateau above as far as the other side 
 of the Grand Canyon towards the Mystic Spring Trail, 
 where begins the territory of Vesna, Captain Burro, and 
 
246 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Chickapanagie. This includes the south banks of the 
 Grand Canyon towards the Little Colorado River and in- 
 cluding the Mystic Spring, the Bright Angel, the Grand 
 View, Hance's old and the Red Canyon Trails, in the 
 neighborhood of which, for centuries, the Havasupais 
 have been descending. Indeed, it was the Havasupais 
 who made the " Indian Gardens " that are so charming 
 a feature of the Bright Angel Trail. Sinyela has the 
 upper part of Havasu Canyon reaching to Bass's camp 
 at the Caves, named by the Havasupais Wai-a-mel. 
 Uta and Waluthama have the lower portion of Havasu 
 Canyon, around to the head of Beaver Canyon and all 
 the territory on the south side as far as Hack-a-tai-a 
 the Colorado River. 
 
 Thus there are no disputes arising over the wrongful 
 pasturage of stock, as each Indian regards himself as 
 bound by the strictest ties of honor not to deviate from 
 these established and long-observed boundaries. 
 
 As I have before stated, the Havasupais at one time 
 owned the whole of the Kohonino Forest region and 
 also the trails into Hack-a-tai-a (the Grand Canyon). 
 From time immemorial they have hunted from Havasu 
 (Cataract) Canyon to the Little Colorado, and, of 
 course, have had access to the water pockets, or rock 
 tanks, in which rain water accumulates all along this dry 
 and springless region. In talking with one of the In- 
 dians recently he asked me if the Great Father at Wash- 
 ington could do nothing for him and his people so that 
 they might still continue to use the water pockets of 
 their ancestral hunting-ground. He said, "You sabe 
 Ha-ha-poo-ha (Rain Tank) and Ha-wai-i-tha-qual-ga 
 (Rowe's Well) and Ha-ga-tha-wa-di-a (the water hole 
 near Hance's Camp) and Ha-ha-i-ga-sa-jul-ga (Red 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 247 
 
 Horse Tank), Havasupai use these water holes when 
 him go hunt deer and antelope. Now white man him 
 come and say, ' D you, you get away. I Ve got no 
 water for any blanked Indian.' We no catch 'em water, 
 we no go hunt, and we no go hunt we no catch 'em deer 
 and antelope and jack rabbit, and by-em-by our squaws 
 and boys and gels go heap hungry. Maybe so you 
 see 'em Great Father at Washington and you tell him, 
 and ask him what Havasupai do." 
 
248 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE HAVASUPAIS' RELIGIOUS DANCES AND 
 BELIEFS 
 
 THE Havasupais do not occupy a high place in 
 the scale of religious life. They are very different 
 from the Hopis and Navahoes. They have few cere- 
 monies, few prayers, and few ideas connected with the 
 world of spirits. If evil comes upon them they seek to 
 propitiate the power that caused it. They dance and 
 pray. But there is no system, no recurrence of elabo- 
 rate ceremonials year after year. Indeed, the only 
 regular dance that I have personally seen is that of the 
 annual harvest, and that is occasionally omitted. The 
 Sick Dance, as its name implies, is for the purpose of 
 healing the sick. 
 
 On the second night of my first visit to the Havasu- 
 pais my companions and I were invited by Hotouta to 
 accompany him to one of these harvest thanksgiving 
 dances. It was a wild and fantastic scene. Gathered 
 together in a circular enclosure, the fence made of 
 willow poles bound together with withes of the same 
 tree, were between one hundred and two hundred Indians 
 of both sexes in any and all manner of dress and un- 
 dress. Three or four bonfires added to the weirdness 
 by throwing peculiar lights and shadows upon the coun- 
 tenances of those present. At times there was a silence 
 which became almost solemn in its intensity, and then 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 249 
 
 talking and chattering broke out again, as if the sound 
 of their own voices helped, in some measure, to relieve 
 the painfulness of the solemnity of this not-very-welcome 
 religious ceremonial. I was actually gazing upon the 
 preparations in progress for the sacred peach dance. 
 One by one the notables of the tribe were pointed out 
 to me. There stood Kohot Navaho in proud solitari- 
 ness, eyeing the preparations with a moodiness which 
 became his serious and taciturn nature. Not a thing 
 of importance passed his eye. His keen powers of 
 observation took in the frivolity of certain young Hava- 
 supai belles as well as the actions of the Chemehuevi 
 Indian who was to be director of the music of this relig- 
 ious festival. By his side stood his second son, who, 
 in gentle and mellifluous speech was talking to those 
 with whom he came in contact. Hotouta, the second 
 chief, was by my side, acting as guide, chaperon, and 
 instructor in the mysteries. Here was his daughter, 
 a fine buxom lass of sixteen summers, with merry, 
 laughing eyes, saucy lips, thick black hair, cut with the 
 usual deep fringe on her forehead, and a voice that 
 would have been the fortune of an American girl who 
 desired a place on the operatic stage. Yonder stood 
 Ha-a-pat-cha, a fine athletic fellow with muscles of steel 
 and a chest like that of an ox, whose only costume was 
 the gee-string. He marched to and fro as if consciously 
 proud of his fine figure, came up at a call from Hotouta 
 and seemed to be highly pleased with his introduction 
 to us, although there was an air of condescension in his 
 handshake which suggested that I was the honored 
 person. Perhaps I was! Quien sabe? 
 
 Near by stood Mr. Bass and a special commissioner 
 sent by the United States Indian Department to report 
 
250 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 on the condition of the Havasupais, and seek to gain 
 their consent to send their children to the Indian school 
 at Fort Mohave. 
 
 I was too tired that night to stay long. So after an 
 hour's watching I returned to Hotouta's hawa, stretched 
 myself out on the sand outside in my blankets, and 
 was soothed to sleep by the monotonous chant of the 
 dancers. 
 
 Next day, in a burst of frolicsomeness I exclaimed to 
 my friend, who was commonly called Tom by the whites : 
 
 " Hotouta, why you no let me dance, all same Hava- 
 supai? " 
 
 It never entered my comprehension that Tom would 
 regard the remark with serious attention, hence my 
 astonishment can better be imagined than described 
 when thoughtfully he turned to me and said: 
 
 " Maybe so ! Me no know ! Maybe so Havasupai 
 no like 'em you dance. Maybe so they all same like 
 'em! I see pretty soon." 
 
 " Pretty soon " he came back with a cheery " All 
 right ! Navaho say you dance. Havasupai like 'em 
 you ! " 
 
 Here was a fine predicament ! I had never danced 
 a step in my life. In the few ball-rooms I had visited 
 I had been a "wall flower." But in this case I had 
 provoked the invitation myself, so, after a brief mental 
 struggle, as gracefully as possible I accepted the con- 
 sequences of my own rash speech. 
 
 When the hour arrived I placed myself under the 
 hands of Hotouta, Yunosi his squaw, and their daughter, 
 in order that I might be properly and appropriately 
 apparelled for the occasion. The first salutation some- 
 what daunted me. Tom said, "You catch 'em white 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 251 
 
 shirt ! " The only white shirt I had was a night 
 robe which had done service to such an extent 
 that I had placed it in my saddlebags when we left 
 civilized regions for the purpose of wrapping up speci- 
 mens of rock to take home. Its " whiteness " may have 
 been somewhat of a memory. But I brought it forth, 
 and waited anxiously for Hotouta's approval. He was 
 delighted, and I felt reassured. 
 
 When it was donned, and a pair of blue overalls, I 
 was ready to receive the painted lines of sub-chieftain- 
 ship on my face, and the eagle plume in my hair. 
 
 Then, in solemn dignity, we started down, Indian file, 
 for the dance ground. At least Hotouta and I were 
 dignified, while behind us Mr. Bass and the special 
 Indian Commissioner were making frantic endeavors to 
 hold in their laughter at the rude and brutal ( ! ) jokes 
 they were making at my expense. We had not pro- 
 ceeded far before Hotouta stopped me and with solemn 
 face said: "You dance, you no laugh. Havasupai no 
 like 'em you laugh ! " I promised to be " as sober as a 
 judge," and not laugh, and again we proceeded, to be 
 stopped once more by Hotouta, who explained with 
 perfect seriousness : " Maybe so you dance heap harnegi. 
 Havasu squaw, she like 'em you. You catch 'em one 
 squaw. Then you dance more and maybe so you 
 catch 'em two squaw. She come, all same " (and here 
 Hotouta illustrated how the squaw might come and 
 separate me from my male companion to right or left, 
 and take my hand in the fashion afterwards described). 
 " She take your hand, all same. You no nip. She no 
 like 'em you nip." I promised not to " nip," and with 
 satisfaction Hotouta now led the way to the dance 
 ground. 
 
252 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 After a formal introduction to all the chiefs and their 
 approval given to my being accepted as Hotouta's 
 brother and a fellow chief with him in the tribe of the 
 Havasupais, the dance began. This is how it was 
 conducted. 
 
 The " evangelist " sang over a strain of a new song. 
 A dozen or so of the leaders took it up, and as soon as 
 they were fairly familiar with it, the others joined in. 
 Then the women took a hand, literally as well as figura- 
 tively, for they came in and separated the men, inter- 
 locking the fingers, midway between the first and second 
 knuckle joints, standing shoulder to shoulder, and en- 
 larging the group until a complete circle was formed. 
 Then, with a side shuffling motion, moving one foot to 
 the left and following it rapidly but rhythmically with 
 the other, the while lustily and seriously singing the 
 song they had just learned, the dance continued, a 
 dull, monotonous, sleep-producing ceremony, until the 
 onlooker was awakened by manifestations he little ex- 
 pected to see at an Indian thanksgiving dance. Very 
 often it occurs that women of the tribe are affected with 
 a somewhat similar excitement to that which seizes the 
 negro when he has "the power." With a shriek, the 
 woman hysterically leaps within the circle made by 
 the dancers, and howls and shouts and dances and 
 jumps, and then, perhaps, throws herself in a heavy 
 stupor upon the ground. Some will run to the centre 
 post, and, hanging on with one or both hands, will 
 swing rapidly around until they fall exhausted to the 
 ground. When the male members tire of seeing these 
 excitable females upon the ground, they unostentatiously 
 step up to the prostrate figures, seize their long thick 
 hair, swing it over the shoulder, and thus proceed to 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 253 
 
 drag the now exhausted women to the fires, where 
 friends of their own sex attend them until they " come 
 to." 
 
 And what did all this ceremony mean? for to the 
 Havasupais it was a ceremony, performed with as much 
 dignity as we perform our religious services in church 
 or cathedral. While I was dancing Hotouta was giving 
 an explanation to Mr. Bass. Each year this dance is 
 performed as an act of highest devotion to gain the 
 approbation of " Those Above." The Peach Dance is 
 the " harvest thanksgiving " dance when thanks are 
 made for the gifts of the past and prayers are offered 
 for the needs of the future. 
 
 The leader of the singing was a Chemehuevi Indian, 
 
 a tribe located west of the Wallapais and living 
 mainly on the California side of the Colorado River. 
 
 He was a regular " evangelist " amongst the Indians, 
 
 a native Moody, and gifted enough, musically, to per- 
 form the part of Sankey or Excell. His harangue on this 
 occasion was an unusually fervent oration, especially 
 cutting to Hotouta, for he was one of the chief objects 
 of the " evangelist's " vituperation and abuse. In fact 
 had Hotouta been a white man he would have gone away 
 saying the preacher was " horribly personal and dis- 
 gracefully abusive " to the leading members of his con- 
 gregation. He explained that the reason the tribe had 
 lost so many of its members last year by the dread 
 " grip? 6 " was because of their levity. They had 
 laughed too much, gone hunting and visiting white 
 men's camps when they ought to have been dancing. 
 They were allowing the white man to laugh them out 
 of the traditions of their forefathers. Then he especially 
 denounced all friendliness to the whites, and singled out 
 
254 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 Hotouta, Chickapanagie, Spotted Tail, and one or two 
 others who had been the leaders in thus countenancing 
 the whites, and administered to them severe rebukes. 
 After this, referring to the offer of the whites to give 
 them farming implements, food, etc., if they would send 
 their children to the Indians' school at Mohave, he 
 urged his hearers to listen to no such proposals. He 
 said in effect : " Don't send your children to the school 
 of the white man. If you do they will grow up with the 
 heart of the white man, and the place of the Havasupai 
 will know them no more. Your tribe will be broken up, 
 and then the white man will come and take possession 
 of your canyon home where the stream ever flows and 
 sings to the waving of willows by their side. He will 
 rob you of your corn-fields and of your peach orchards. 
 No longer will the place where the bodies of your an- 
 cestors were burned be sacred to you ; your hunting- 
 grounds are now all occupied by him, the deer and the 
 antelope have nearly disappeared before his rifle, and 
 he is hungry to possess the few things you still have 
 left. This offer is a secret plot against you. He thinks 
 if he cannot drive you out he will seduce you out, and 
 this school is the offer he makes to you, so that he can 
 get your children into his hands. There he will teach 
 them to make fun of you ; to despise your method of 
 living; your houses, your food, your dress, your cus- 
 toms, your dances will all be ridiculed by him, and so 
 you will lose the favor of 'Those Above,' and you 
 yourselves will soon die and your name and tribe be 
 forgotten." In other words, he endeavored to make it 
 perfectly clear to the assembled Havasupais that the 
 school proposition was a white man's scheme a dodge 
 to get their children away so that eventually they 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 255 
 
 the whites might claim the Havasu Canyon for 
 themselves. 
 
 Thus he exhorted time after time, and, after each ser- 
 mon, sang out, line for line, a new song that he desired 
 them to learn. At first he alone sang, then Navaho and 
 a few of the older ones took up the strain, and soon all 
 joined in. Then the dance began, and continued with 
 unabated zeal and fervor until the " missioner " gave the 
 signal for rest. Then, after another harangue, another 
 song was learned, another dance performed, and so on, 
 ad libitum. 
 
 The state of mental exaltation or frenzy, not unlike 
 those peculiar manifestations of the negroes at revival 
 meetings, the Shakers, " having the power," etc., is not 
 uncommon among the Havasupais. At the Thapala 
 Dance I have seen three women almost simultaneously 
 suddenly dart from different parts of the dance circle, 
 and hysterically shrieking, yelling, and singing, foaming 
 at the mouth, tearing their hair, falling down with vio- 
 lence, and with appalling disregard to the injury to their 
 own bodies dash against each other, or on the great cen- 
 tral tree trunk, which stands like a flagpole in the centre 
 of their dance corral, yield to this uncontrollable frenzy, 
 and remain under its influence for an hour or more. 
 During the whole time of their ecstasy, the dance con- 
 tinued uninterruptedly, except when one of the frenzied 
 women dashed towards the dancers as if to escape the 
 circle. Then the man nearest by rudely took her by the 
 arms, body, or shoulders and thrust her, shrieking, back 
 into the centre of the circle. 
 
 Yunosi gained her present name because of her occult 
 powers and frenzied visions. After Hotouta's death she 
 would occasionally wake up and cry out that she saw 
 
256 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 the spirit of her husband, " Tom, heap big Supai chief/' 
 And, strange to say, in these exalted moments she in- 
 variably spoke in the crude English her husband had 
 taught her and of which she was very proud. Pointing 
 into vacant space, with glaring eyes and excited voice, 
 she would declare that she saw " Big chief Tom. He 
 come back to see me. O Tom ! Tom ! I see you." 
 Then turning to her friends and others around, she 
 would shriekingly ask, " You no see ? You no see ? " 
 And thus she gained her name, Yunosi. 
 
 Thinking that perhaps the Havasupais used some 
 herb, drug, or intoxicant, similar to opium, hasheesh, or 
 the stramonium (jimson-weed) which the Navahoes use 
 to produce similar frenzies and visions, I took some of 
 this, which they call smal-a-ga-to-a, and asked several 
 if they ever used it. In every case the answer was a 
 sharp " No ! Han-a-to-op-o-gi," and one Havasu in- 
 formed me it was " very bad. All same white man's 
 whiskey." Indeed, such has been the excellent teach- 
 ing they have received from their ancients, and the 
 tenacity with which they, as a people, have adhered 
 to it, it may be safely affirmed that the Havasupais use 
 no noxious drug, or fermented or intoxicating liquor, 
 and that they do not know any processes by which they 
 can be made. 
 
 The ways of the Havasupai medicine-men are similar 
 to those of fakirs in all lands and ages. I have seen 
 Rock Jones, after examining a patient, jump up and 
 excitedly exclaim : " I can see into your head and all 
 through your brains ; down your throat and into your 
 stomach, through your kidneys, bladder, and intestines, 
 and you are sick, very sick, very heap sick. But I am 
 a good medicine-man. I can cure you sure, I can cure 
 

 5 < 
 
 11 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 257 
 
 you quick. But you must promise to give me five 
 dollars. Don't forget I must have five dollars." 
 
 In one case with which I was familiar, the medicine- 
 man declared that the heart of one sick man had gone 
 away to the topmost peak of one of the canyon walls. 
 It would cost several dollars to charm it back, but he 
 could do it. Yielding to the pleadings of the man 
 without the heart, he began to exercise his charms and 
 incantations, and the next day he came in and declared 
 he had seen it return during the early morning hours, 
 and his patient would recover. His prognostication 
 was correct; the man was soon well and strong, and 
 paid his six-dollar fee for having his heart returned to 
 him, with due gratitude and thankfulness. 
 
 Another man who had been on the trail of some 
 runaway horses had become overheated and was at- 
 tacked severely with cholera morbus. He was brought 
 into the village nearly dead, his pains increased by a 
 terrible soreness in his back, caused by severe vomit- 
 ings. The medicine-man gave him a large dose of red 
 pepper, and, after sucking the flesh of his stomach, 
 bowels, and back, rubbed the body of the sick man with 
 red pepper, and then began his incantations. Soon he 
 declared that a Wallapai doctor who hated the Hava- 
 supais had left a long white rope on the trail over 
 which the sick man passed, and that it was this charmed 
 rope which had entered his body and caused the sick- 
 ness. On the promise of a fee of several dollars, he 
 expressed confidence that the rope could be success- 
 fully taken from the invalid, and that its removal would 
 be followed by immediate recovery. After a little time 
 had elapsed, the crafty charlatan produced a long white 
 rope, which he said his skill had extracted. Needless 
 
 17 
 
258 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 to add, the patient recovered, and to this day extols 
 the wonderful skill and power of his physician. 
 
 Of late years a large number of Havasupais have 
 been carried off with a bilious fever, with marked mala- 
 rial symptoms. The usual indifference in the earlier 
 stages of the disease gives way later on to frantic sweat- 
 ings and appeals to the medicine-man, who comes and 
 sings and seeks by his incantations to remove the evil 
 something within the patient that causes the disease. 
 If the sick person is daring enough to apply to the 
 agency teacher for medicine, he knows that he no 
 longer need expect any help from the medicine-man, 
 whose curses will follow him to the world of doom. As 
 in the world of civilization there is jealousy, sharp and 
 keen, between the schools of medicine, so do the Hava- 
 supai medicine-men resent any innovations upon their 
 time-honored customs. 
 
 Here, as elsewhere, one man's skill and reputation is 
 oftentimes maintained by pulling down that of another. 
 Dr. Tommy used to be a fairly successful medicine- 
 man, but once, during a fearful epidemic of grippe, 
 several children died under his ministrations. It was 
 soon noticed that those parents whose children had 
 been treated by another medicine-man were active in 
 spreading the report that " they believed Dr. Tommy 
 had killed the children by giving them coyote medi- 
 cine." And this " tommy-rot " killed him as a medicine- 
 man, for, though he was never brought to any trial on 
 account of this charge, he was shunned and ostracized, 
 and in very rare cases is ever called upon to exercise 
 his medical powers. 
 
 There are now three meciicine-men in the tribe, the 
 chief of whom is Rock Jones, whose Havasupai names 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 259 
 
 are suggestive. They are: Pa-a-hu-ya' and In-ya- 
 ja-al'-o, the former signifying " black," the other " the 
 rising sun." At-nahl, whose name means a " sack," is the 
 second in importance, and the youngest is Ma-to-ma', 
 commonly known as Bob. I have just asked Lanoman 
 which is the best medicine-man of the three, and his 
 reply when I asked " Who makes the sick people well 
 the quickest?" was: "All same. All no good. All 
 make people dead pretty quick ! " 
 
 Death is supposed to be, in every case, the departure 
 of the spirit from the body, and when the sick person is 
 approaching death the friends and relatives, led by the 
 medicine-man, will often sit around the invalid and sing 
 their petitions to the departing spirit in the hope that it 
 may be led to repent and return to the body. If the 
 patient recovers, the medicine-man takes the credit 
 (and what pay he can get) for the return of the spirit, 
 and goes about in high feather, recounting to all he 
 meets the new instance of his wonderful and occult 
 power. 
 
 One of the greatest insults that can be offered to the 
 friends of a dead Havasupai is to refer to him. The 
 reason given to me for this is that whenever a thought 
 is sent after a dead person it either prevents his spirit 
 continuing the journey to Shi-pa-pu, or leads him to 
 desire to return to earth, neither of which are good for 
 a Havasupai. 
 
 One of the school teachers informed me that she once, 
 in reconvening the school after a holiday, read out the 
 name of a child that had recently died. The moment 
 the name was pronounced several of both boys and girls 
 burst out, some into a wild wailing and others into fierce 
 and angry denunciations of the wicked white woman 
 
260 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 who had thus arrested the spirit of the deceased on its 
 journey to the underworld. 
 
 The last night of our first visit the Havasupais had a 
 Sick Dance. When one of their number is very sick or 
 about to die, the medicine-man summons the principal 
 men and women of the camp to dance around him, in 
 the hope of driving away the disease. It so happened 
 that during our visit one of the young bucks was very 
 sick, and a dance was ordered for Saturday evening. 
 It was quite a distance away from our camp, and Vesna, 
 whose guest we were that night, informed us that we 
 would not be welcomed. The welcome would have 
 been overlooked but for our need of rest, and as it was 
 a mile or two away, it was decided not to attend, 
 although we could hear the incantations at intervals 
 during the night. The dance, however, was similar to 
 such dances elsewhere. The sick man was placed in the 
 open air and a circle formed around him, while a slow 
 and solemn dance was engaged in by those in the circle, 
 and all participated in the chanting of an incantation. 
 This was kept up during the entire night, the voices of 
 the singers at times pitched to a very high key. As 
 soon as one in the circle grew tired, he dropped out 
 and another took his place, but the dance and chant 
 never ceased. If a sick man survives the noise and din 
 and wakefulness of this until morning, it is probable that 
 his vitality will carry him through, and he will recover. 
 
 If death is thought to be certainly near, the best 
 clothes of the wardrobe are brought out and placed 
 upon the dying person. A woman's best dress is not 
 too good for her to die in, and a man's finest garments, 
 even to the broadcloth cast-off " Prince Albert " re- 
 ceived through the kindness of some white friend in 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 261 
 
 the East, is deemed the only appropriate gear in which 
 to meet the dread summons to Shi-pa-pu. When life is 
 extinct the dressed-up body is wrapped in the best 
 blanket the hawa affords, and is then ready for the 
 period of wailing and mourning. Relatives and friends 
 of the deceased come and sit in the hawa, and as the 
 spirit moves them they raise their voices in lamentation, 
 or, singing the bravery, the daring, the good deeds of 
 the deceased, ask for him a safe journey to the dread 
 secret places of the underworld. Nothing can be more 
 doleful than to hear these sad lamentations in the dead 
 of the night. All is still, except the never-silent stream 
 which steadily keeps up its murmur as it flows over the 
 stones. Otherwise the very Angel of Silence seems to 
 be brooding over the scene, for the babble of the creek 
 merely accentuates the nearly perfect stillness. Sud- 
 denly a loud, long, minor wail rises from the hawa in the 
 midst of the willows, and one feels that he can see the 
 sound ascend to the heights of these enclosing walls, 
 striking here and there, and then rebounding to oppos- 
 ing walls, until the canyon is full of voices, wailing one 
 against the other and making a spirit chorus of infinite 
 sadness and distress. The imagination unconsciously 
 suggests that these echoing wails are the sympathizing 
 spirit voices of men and women former inhabitants of 
 this canyon of the willows who have come to weep 
 with those who weep for their dead loved ones. 
 
 There is no fixed period for this wailing, but as soon 
 as it is satisfactorily concluded the body is tenderly 
 thrown across the best horse owned by the deceased, if 
 a man, or ridden by her, if a woman, and, accom- 
 panied by other animals conveying some of his or her 
 most desirable treasures, is taken to the burial or burn- 
 
262 THE INDIANS OF THE 
 
 ing ground. Prior to the advent of the white man the 
 Havasupais practised cremation, and between Bridal 
 Veil and Mooney Falls, and also on the rim of the Grand 
 Canyon, at a place since named Crematory Point, the 
 remains of scores of burned bodies of men and women 
 and also of horses were recently to be seen. For it was 
 deemed of the greatest importance to give the spirit of 
 the deceased the spirit of his dead horse, upon which he 
 might ride to the dark abode of the underworld. Be- 
 fore it was burned, the horse must be strangled, and 
 this was done by tightly tying a strip of wet buckskin 
 around his neck, and, as it dried, it rapidly contracted 
 and thus strangled the doomed animal. Then both 
 human being and animal were burned. 
 
 But even this was not considered a sufficient offering 
 to the powers of the dead. Returning to the village, a 
 peach tree in the orchard of the dead man was cut 
 down that it might also be " dead " and thus accompany 
 its owner to the spirit world and give him its refreshing 
 fruit there. On the death of a chieftain or great war- 
 rior, several peach trees thapala are cut down. 
 
 Of late years, however, these customs of cremation, 
 strangling of horses, burning of treasures, and cutting 
 down of peach trees have not been as universal as 
 formerly. Hotouta, the oldest son of Kohot Navaho, 
 the last of the old chiefs, had great influence with his 
 people, and Mr. Bass succeeded in convincing him of 
 the extravagant folly of thus wasting on the dead, to 
 whom the sacrifices were of no benefit, that which could 
 be of so much use to the living. Consequently his 
 influence materially helped to change the custom from 
 cremation to ground interment. Later, after Hotouta's 
 death, when several families had gone back to the old 
 
PAINTED DESERT REGION 263 
 
 habit of cremation, others exercised their influence 
 with the Havasupais to lead them to abandon the old 
 custom. These endeavors were all effective to a large 
 extent, and, when Captain Navaho, the last great Kohot 
 the Havasupais will ever have, died in 1898, he was 
 buried instead of being cremated. Late in 1897, how- 
 ever, the son of Sinyela died, and though in many 
 things Sinyela is one of the most progressive of the 
 Havasupais, he and his brother took the boy's body 
 across a horse, tied an axe to the corpse, and started up 
 the canyon towards Topocobya. When they returned 
 the axe had been used, the horse was strangled, and 
 burned bones of human and equine bodies in a side 
 gorge attest the hold the old superstitions and customs 
 still have upon the Havasupai mind. 
 
 And again in the summer of 1899 May or June 
 when the daughter of the present Kohot and wife of 
 Lanoman (another son of Sinyela) died, Lanoman 
 felt that nothing short of the old and time-honored 
 method of cremation would be suitable for the daughter 
 of the new chief and the wife of so smart and bright 
 an Indian as himself. For Lanoman knew more Eng- 
 lish, perhaps, than any other Havasupai, and was af- 
 flicted with the not uncommon complaint of great 
 self-esteem and conceit. Accordingly, the body was 
 clothed in the finest blankets of the wardrobe, and 
 many precious things were taken with it to the Havasu 
 Canyon below Mooney Falls. Tenderly the body was 
 lowered down the already nearly useless ladder, and 
 after suitable wailing, the funeral pyre was built, the 
 body placed thereupon, more wood heaped around 
 and over the body, and then the whole fired. When 
 the body was destroyed, the mourners returned, kicking 
 
264 PAINTED DESERT REGION 
 
 down the upper portion of the ladder as they did so, 
 that no other Havasupai should be burned there, and 
 also that no white foot should again desecrate the 
 sacred precincts of the lower Havasu Canyon. Then, 
 that the favorite horse of the woman thus honored after 
 her death should follow her to the underworld, it was 
 taken to the edge of the plateau above, from which the 
 descent to Bridal Veil and the upper portion of Mooney 
 Falls is made, the wet strip of buckskin tied around its 
 neck, and, as the cord dried and tightened, and the 
 poor animal began to reel and totter in its death 
 struggles, it was given a push, tumbled over the edge, 
 and instead of descending to the lower canyon at 
 the foot of the Falls where the burned body was 
 fell on the shelves of limestone accretions which terrace 
 the canyon at the side of the Falls, bounded from one 
 terrace to another, and then, to the infinite disgust of 
 the mourners, lodged there. And there it still remains 
 or what is left of it, for, as I passed by in July, 1899, 
 though I could not see the animal, the frightful odor of 
 the carrion ascended to the very heavens. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 On the Navahoes consult the full list prepared by Professor 
 Frederick Webb Hodge in Washington Matthews' " Navaho 
 Legends," published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for the American 
 Folk-Lore Society. 
 
 COUES, ELLIOTT. 
 
 On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer. The Diary and Itinerary of 
 Francisco Garce's in his Travels through Sonora, Arizona, and 
 California. 2 vols. Francis P. Harper, New York, 1900. 
 
 DORSEY, GEORGE A., AND VOTH, H. R. 
 
 The Oraibi Soyal Ceremony. (Field Columbian Museum, pub- 
 lication 55, Anthropological Series, Vol. Ill, No. i. 59 pages and 
 many plates.) 
 
 FEWKES, JESSE WALTER. 
 
 Preliminary Account of an Expedition to the Pueblo Ruins near 
 Winslow, Arizona, in 1896. (In Smithsonian Report for 1896. 
 Pages 517 to 539.) 
 
 Preliminary Account of Archaeological Field Work in Arizona 
 in 1897. (In Smithsonian Report for 1897. Pages 601 to 603.) 
 
 Two Ruins Recently Discovered in the Red Rock Country, 
 Arizona. (In American Anthropologist, August, 1896. Pages 
 263 to 283.) 
 
 Pueblo Ruins near Flagstaff, Arizona. (In American Anthro- 
 pologist, N. s., Vol. II, 1900. Pages 422 to 450.) 
 
 A Suggestion as to the Meaning of the Moki Snake Dance. (In 
 Journal of American Folk-Lore, date unknown. Pages 129 to 
 
 138.) 
 
 The Owakulti Altar at Sichomovi Pueblo. (In American An- 
 thropologist, N. s., Vol. Ill, 1901. Pages 211 to 226.) 
 
 An Interpretation of Katchina Worship. (In the Journal of 
 American Folk-Lore, April-June, 1901. Pages 81 to 94.) 
 
2 66 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 The Pueblo Settlements near El Paso, Texas. (In American 
 Anthropologist, N. s., Vol. IV, No. i, 1902. Pages 57 to 95.) 
 
 The New Fire Ceremony at Walpi. (In American Anthropolo- 
 gist, N. s., Vol. II, No. i, 1900. Pages 80 to 138.) 
 
 Property Rights in Eagles among the Hopi. (In American 
 Anthropologist, N. s., Vol. II, 1900. Pages 690 to 707.) 
 
 Tusayan Flute and Snake Ceremonies. (In Nineteenth Annual 
 Report Bureau of American Ethnology, 1901. Pages 957 to 
 
 IOII.) 
 
 Archaeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895. (In Seventeenth 
 Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology, 1898. Pages 
 520 to 744.) 
 
 Snake Ceremonials at Walpi. (Vol. XIV. of Journal of Ameri- 
 can Ethnology and Archaeology. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 
 1894. In this volume is a carefully prepared bibliography on 
 the Snake Dance (see pages 124 to 126) which is too lengthy to 
 be reproduced here and to which the student is referred.) 
 
 GARCS, FRANCISCO. 
 Diary and Itinerary, translated by Elliott Coues. (See Coues.) 
 
 HOUGH, WALTER. 
 
 Environmental Interrelations in Arizona. (In American An- 
 thropologist for May, 1898. Pages 133 to 155.) 
 
 JAMES, GEORGE WHARTON. 
 
 In and Around the Grand Canyon. Little, Brown, & Co., Bos- 
 ton, Mass., 1900. 
 
 Indian Basketry. Henry Malkan, New York, 1901. 
 
 The Havasupai Indians and their Cataract Canyon Home. (In 
 Good Health, Battle Creek, Mich., August, 1899. Pages 446 to 
 456.) 
 
 The Industries of the Navahoes and Mokis. (In Good Health, 
 June, 1899. Pages 315 to 322.) 
 
 The Pueblo Indians and their Prayer Spring. (In Good 
 Health, July, 1899. Pages 379 to 384.) 
 
 The Snake Dance of the Mokis. (Two articles in Scientific 
 American, New York, June 24, 1899, and September 9, 1899.) 
 
 Scenes of Spanish Occupancy in our Southwest. (In American 
 Monthly Review of Reviews, July, 1899. Pages 51 to 59.) 
 
 Discovery of Cliff Dwellings in the Southwest. (In Scientific 
 American, New York, January 20, 1900.) 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 267 
 
 What I Saw at the Snake Dance. (In Wide World Magazine 
 London, January, 1900. Pages 264 to 274.) 
 
 Harvest Festivals of Some of our Southwestern Aborigines. 
 (In Good Health, October, 1899. Pages 583 to 589.) 
 
 Moki Fashions and Customs. (In Good Health, November, 
 1899. Pages 641 to 647). 
 
 Types of Female Beauty among the Indians of the Southwest. 
 (In Overland Monthly, San Francisco, Cal., March, 1900. Pages, 
 195 to 209). 
 
 Some Indian Women. (In New York Tribune Supplement, 
 April 8, 1900.) 
 
 The Fire Dance of the Navahoes. (In Wide World Magazine, 
 London, September, 1900. Pages 516 to 523.) 
 
 The Hopi Basket Dance. ( In New York Tribune Supplement.) 
 
 Indian Madonnas. (In New York Tribune Supplement, Decem- 
 ber 23, 1900.) 
 
 Indian Pottery. (In House Beautiful, Chicago, April, 1901. 
 Pages 235 to 243.) 
 
 Down the Topocobya Trail. (In Wide World Magazine, Lon- 
 don, April, 1901. Pages 75 to 80.) 
 
 Indian Basketry. (In Outing, New York, May, 1901. Pages 
 177 to 1 86.) 
 
 The Storming of Awatobi. (In the Chautauquan, Cleveland, 
 O., August, 1901. Pages 497 to 501.) 
 
 The Art of Indian Basketry. (In the Southern Workman, 
 Hampton, Va., August, 1901. Pages 439 to 448.) 
 
 Indian Basketry in House Decoration. (In the Chautauquan, 
 Cleveland, O., September, 1901. Pages 619 to 624.) 
 
 Moki and Navaho Indian Sports. (In Outing, New York, 
 October, 1901. Pages 10 to 15.) 
 
 Indian Pottery. (In Outing, New York. November, 1901. 
 Pages 1 54 to 161.) 
 
 The Hopi Indians of Arizona. (In Southern Workman, Hamp- 
 ton, Va., December, 1901. Pages 677 to 683.) 
 
 The Collecting of Indian Baskets. (In the Literary Collector, 
 New York, January, 1902. Pages 103 to 109.) 
 
 Some Indian Dishes. (In American Kitchen Magazine, Boston, 
 Mass., January, 1902. Pages 129 to 133 and frontispiece.) 
 
 The Indians and their Baskets. (In Four Track News, New 
 York, February, 1902. Pages 77 to 79.) 
 
268 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Indian Blanketry. (In Outing, New York, March, 1902. Pages 
 684 to 693.) 
 
 LUMMIS, CHARLES F. 
 
 Across the Continent. (Scribner's.) 
 
 A New Mexico David, and Other Stories. (Scribner's.) 
 
 The Land of Poco Tiempo. 
 
 The Man that Married the Moon. 
 
 All the volumes of " Land of Sunshine," now " Out West," of 
 which he is Editor, published in Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 MATTHEWS, WASHINGTON. 
 
 Navaho Legends. (The American Folk-Lore Society. In this 
 volume Professor F. W. Hodge has a full bibliography on the 
 Navahoes.) 
 
 MlNDELEFF, COSMOS. 
 
 Navaho Houses. (In Seventeenth Annual Report Bureau of 
 American Ethnology, 1898. Pages 475 to 517.) 
 
 PEPPER, GEORGE H. 
 
 The Navaho Indians. An Ethnological Study. (In Southern 
 Workman, Hampton, Va., November, 1900. 7 pages.) 
 
 The Making of a Navaho Blanket. (In Everybody's Magazine, 
 New York, January, 1902. Pages 33 to 43.) 
 
 POWELL, J. W. 
 
 The Lessons of Folk-Lore. (In American Anthropologist, N. S., 
 Vol. II, No. i, 1900. Pages i to 36.) 
 
 VOTH, H. R., AND DORSEY, GEORGE A. 
 
 The Oraibi Soyal Ceremony. (See Dorsey.) 
 
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 the typical books of the great West. Brooklyn Standard Union. 
 
IN & AROUND THE GRAND CANYON 
 
 CHAPTER CONTENTS 
 
 1. THE COLORADO RIVER AND ITS CANYONS. 
 II. EXPLORATIONS FROM THE TIME OF THE SPANIARDS (154.0) 
 TO MAJOR J. W. POWELL (1869). 
 
 III. EXPLORATIONS BY MAJOR J. W. POWELL (1869-72). 
 
 IV. LATER EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 V. FLAGSTAFF, THE SAN FRANCISCO MOUNTAINS, THE CLIFF AND 
 
 CAVE DWELLINGS, AND THE DEAD VOLCANOES. 
 VI. FROM THE SANTA FE RAILWAY TO THE CANYON BY STAGE. 
 VII. To THE CANYON BY RAILWAY, AND A FEW PRACTICAL SUG- 
 GESTIONS TO THE TOURIST. 
 VIII. FIRST IMPRESSIONS. 
 IX. WHAT DOES ONE SEE? 
 X. ON THE RIM. 
 XI. THE GRAND VIEW TRAIL. 
 XII. THE BRIGHT ANGEL TRAIL. 
 
 XIII. Two DAYS* HUNT FOR A BOAT IN A SIDE GORGE NEAR 
 
 THE BRIGHT ANGEL TRAIL. 
 
 XIV. THE MYSTIC SPRING TRAIL. 
 
 XV. THREE DAYS OF EXPLORING IN TRAIL CANYON WITH THE 
 
 WRONG COMPANION. 
 
 XVI. MR. W. W. BASS AND HIS CANYON EXPERIENCES. 
 XVII. THE SHINUMO AND ITS ANCIENT INHABITANTS. 
 XVIII. PEACE SPRINGS TRAIL. 
 XIX. LEE'S FERRY AND THE JOURNEY THITHER. 
 XX. JOHN D. LEE AND THE MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE. 
 XXI. UP AND DOWN GLEN AND MARBLE CANYONS. 
 XXII. THE OLD HOPI TRAIL. 
 
 XXIII. THE TANNER-FRENCH TRAIL. 
 
 XXIV. THE RED CANYON AND OLD TRAILS. 
 XXV. GRAND CANYON FOREST RESERVE. 
 
 XXVI. THE TOPOCOBYA TRAIL AND HAVASU (CATARACT) CANYON. 
 XXVII. THE HAVASUPAI INDIANS AND THEIR CANYON HOME. 
 XXVIII. HAVASU (CATARACT) CANYON AND ITS WATERFALLS AND 
 
 LIMESTONE CAVES. 
 
 XXIX. AN ADVENTURE IN BEAVER CANYON. 
 XXX. THE GEOLOGY OF THE GRAND CANYON. 
 XXXI. BOTANY OF THE GRAND CANYON. 
 
 XXXII. RELIGIOUS AND OTHER IMPRESSIONS IN THE GRAND CANYON. 
 XXXIII. PHOTOGRAPHING THE GRAND CANYON. 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE GRAND CANYON REGION. ^^ 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers 
 
 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON