Eighth Annual Report Part 6

6. Asa--a plant (unknown)--from the Chama.

Asa Tca-kwai-na Black earth Katcina.

Putc-ko-hu Boomerang hunting stick.

Pi-ca Field mouse.

Hoc-bo-a Road runner, or chaparral c.o.c.k.

Po-si-o Magpie.

Kwiobi Oak.

7. Ho-na-ni--Badger--from the east.

Ho-na-ni Badger.

M-yau-wu Porcupine.

Wu-so-ko Vulture.

Bu-li b.u.t.terfly.

Bu-li-so Evening primrose.

Na-h Medicine of all kinds; generic.

8. Yo-ki--Rain--from the south.

Yo-ki Rain.

O-mau Cloud.

Kai-e Corn.

Mur-zi-bu-si Bean.

Ka-wai-ba-tu-a Watermelon.

Si-vwa-pi Bigelovia graveolens.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XIV. General view of Payupki.]

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

LIZARD.

Ka-k-tci } Ba-tcip-kwa-si } Species of lizards.

Na-nan-a-wi } Mo-mo-bi } Pi-sa White sand.

Tdu-wa Red sand.

Ten-kai Mud.

RABBIT.

So-wi Jacka.s.s rabbit.

Tda-bo Cottontail rabbit.

Pi-ba Tobacco.

Tco-o Pipe.

Polaka gives the following data:

Te-wa gentes and phratries.

_Tewa_ _Hopituh_ _Navajo._ Kon-lo Ka-ai Natan Corn.

C / Pi-ba Na-to Tobacco.

Ke Ho-nau Cac Bear.

Tce-li / Ca-la-bi Ts-co Spruce.

Kegi Ki-hu Ki-a-ni House.

Tu / Tda-wu Tjon-a-ai Sun.

O-ku-wu O-mau Kus Cloud.

Nu / Tcu-kai Huc-klic Mud.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY LEGEND.

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

The people of Payupki spoke the same language as those on the first mesa (Walpi). Long ago they lived in the north, on the San Juan, but they were compelled to abandon that region and came to a place about 20 miles northwest from Oraibi. Being compelled to leave there, they went to Canyon de Ch.e.l.ly, where a band of Indians from the southeast joined them, with whom they formed an alliance. Together the two tribes moved eastward toward the Jemez Mountains, whence they drifted into the valley of the Rio Grande. There they became converts to the fire-worship then prevailing, but retained their old customs and language. At the time of the great insurrection (of 1680) they sheltered the native priests that were driven from some of the Rio Grande villages, and this action created such distrust and hatred among the people that the Payupki were forced to leave their settlement. Their first stop was at Old Laguna (12 miles east of the modern village) and they had with them then some 35 or 40 of the priests. After leaving Laguna they came to Bear Spring (Fort Wingate) and had a fight there with the Apache, whom they defeated. They remained at Bear Spring for several years, until the Zui compelled them to move. They then attempted to reach the San Juan, but were deceived in the trail, turned to the west and came to where Pueblo Colorado is now (the present post-office of Ganado, between Fort Defiance and Keams Canyon). They remained there a long time, and through their success in farming became so favorably known that they were urged to come farther west. They refused, in consequence of which some Tusayan attacked them.

They were captured and brought to Walpi (then on the point) and afterwards they were distributed among the villages. Previous to this capture the priests had been guiding them by feathers, smoke, and signs seen in the fire. When the priests omens and oracles had proved false the people were disposed to kill them, but the priests persuaded them to let it depend on a test case--offering to kill themselves in the event of failure. So they had a great feast at Awatubi. The priests had long, hollow reeds inclosing various substances--feathers, flour, corn-pollen, sacred water, native tobacco (piba), corn, beans, melon seeds, etc., and they formed in a circle at sunrise on the plaza and had their incantations and prayers. As the sun rose a priest stepped forth before the people and blew through his reed, desirous of blowing that which was therein away from him, to scatter it abroad. But the wind would not blow and the contents of the reed fell to the ground. The priests were divided into groups, according to what they carried. In the evening all but two groups had blown. Then the elder of the twain turned his back eastward, and the reed toward the setting sun, and he blew, and the wind caught the feather and carried it to the west. This was accepted as a sign and the next day the Tusayan freed the slaves, giving each a blanket with corn in it. They went to the mesa where the ruin now stands and built the houses there. They asked for planting grounds, and fields were given them; but their crops did not thrive, and they stole corn from the Mashongnavi. Then, fearful lest they should be surprised at night, they built a wall as high as a mans head about the top of their mesa, and they had big doorways, which they closed and fastened at night. When they were compelled to plant corn for themselves they planted it on the ledges of the mesa, but it grew only as high as a mans knees; the leaves were very small and the grains grew only on one side of it. After a time they became friendly with the Mashongnavi again, and a boy from that village conceived a pa.s.sion for a Payupki girl. The latter tribe objected to a marriage but the Mashongnavi were very desirous for it and some warriors of that village proposed if the boy could persuade the girl to fly with him, to aid and protect him. On an appointed day, about sundown, the girl came down from the mesa into the valley, but she was discovered by some old women who were baking pottery, who gave the alarm. Hearing the noise a party of the Mashongnavi, who were lying in wait, came up, but they encountered a party of the Payupki who had come out and a fight ensued. During the fight the young man was killed; and this caused so much bitterness of feeling that the Payupki were frightened, and remained quietly in their pueblo for several days. One morning, however, an old woman came over to Mashongnavi to borrow some tobacco, saying that they were going to have a dance in her village in five days. The next day the Payupki quietly departed. Seeing no smoke from the village the Mashongnavi at first thought that the Payupki were preparing for their dance, but on the third day a band of warriors was sent over to inquire and they found the village abandoned. The estufas and the houses of the priests were pulled down.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XV. Standing walls of Payupki.]

CHAPTER II.

RUINS AND INHABITED VILLAGES OF TUSAYAN.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE PROVINCE.

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

The effect is in marked contrast to the warmth and play of color frequently seen elsewhere in the plateau country.

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

The occasional springs which furnish scanty water supply to the inhabitants of this region are found generally at great distances apart, and there are usually but few natural indications of their location.

They often occur in obscure nooks in the canyons, reached by tortuous trails winding through the talus and foothills, or as small seeps at the foot of some mesa. The convergence of numerous Navajo trails, however, furnishes some guide to these rare water sources.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XVI. Plan of Hano.]

The series of promontories upon which the Tusayan villages are built are exceptionally rich in these seeps and springs. About the base of the First Mesa (Fig. 1), within a distance of 4 or 5 miles from the villages located upon it, there are at least five places where water can be obtained. One of these is a mere surface reservoir, but the others appear to be permanent springs. The quant.i.ty of water, however, is so small that it produces no impression on the arid and sterile effect of the surroundings, except in its immediate vicinity. Here small patches of green, standing out in strong relief against their sandy back-grounds, mark the position of cl.u.s.ters of low, stunted peach trees that have obtained a foothold on the steep sand dunes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1. View of the First Mesa.]

In the open plains surrounding the mesa rim (6,000 feet above the sea), are seen broad stretches of dusty sage brush and p.r.i.c.kly greasewood.

Where the plain rises toward the base of the mesa a scattered growth of scrub cedar and pion begins to appear. But little of this latter growth is seen in the immediate vicinity of the villages; it is, however, the characteristic vegetation of the mesas, while, in still higher alt.i.tudes, toward the San Juan, open forests of timber are met with.

This latter country seems scarcely to have come within the ancient builders province; possibly on account of its coldness in winter and for the reason that it is open to the incursions of warlike hunting tribes. Sage brush and greasewood grow abundantly near the villages, and these curious gnarled and twisted shrubs furnish the princ.i.p.al fuel of the Tusayan.