USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. VII > Part 17
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SKULL AND HIS MAGIC.
"Man by night and Skull by day, he married maiden who had refused other suitors. Suc- cessful hunter because deer fell dead at sight of him. Winner in football race, thus silencing all ridicule."
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ORIGIN OF THE HORSE. "Two brothers burdened with heavy game. One conceives plan of relief and asks other to help him. Latter cuts body of former into four pieces and throws them into a lake; in four days returns and finds four horses.
ABSTRACTS OF NURSERY TALES.
THE FIVE LITTLE ORPHANS AND
THEIR AUNT.
"Parents killed by Apaches and unmarried aunt supported children. While hunting one day warned by cottontail rabbit that Apaches had been at their house. On return find aunt dead, but never having seen a corpse did not recognize her. With mescal kept fire against her return; at night frightened and pursued by her ghost until all turned to stone."
COYOTE AND THE QUAILS.
"Quails cut pieces of fat from Coyote as he slept ; he awakened and overtook them in camp; asked for refreshment and was given of his own flesh ; starting on he was taunted about it by the quails. Turned to pursue them and almost ran them down when they ran into a hole, the fore- most carrying a cholla stem. Coyote asked each in turn if she were guilty; on denial let them go; finally asked cholla, and receiving no reply, bit it hard and it killed him."
THE WOMAN AND COYOTE.
"Coyote in cottonwood tree asked woman wading in river to give him some of her torti-
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llas; she refused, but on being threatened went up to the tree and told him to jump down, as the water was shallow; but she was standing on a stump; when he jumped he was drowned in the deep water."
THE PIMA CAPTIVE AND HER SON.
"Boy whose mother captured by Apaches lived with his grandmother. Quarreled with her and started to find his mother. Reaching her he turned into a dove, and she carried him home; Apaches heard her talking her language to it, so the chief crushed it in his hand; pieces flew up through the smoke hole and turned into flock of hawks, who beat the Apaches to death. Mother and son started home, but turned into saguaros on the way."
COYOTE AND THE BLUEBIRD.
"Bird became blue by bathing in lake. Taught Coyote how, and he became blue, too. So proud that he gazed at himself as he went along and ran into a stump, fell into the dust and became gray, as he is to-day."
THE BOY AND THE BEAST.
"Parents killed by Apache and boy lived with grandmother. Frightened from berry bushes by terrible beast. Boy took some sharp stones and approached the beast, who swallowed him, cut his way out with the stones and thus killed the beast."
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THE NAUGHTY GRANDCHILDREN.
"Quarreled with grandmother and ran away ; when pursued the boy turned into a saguaro and the girl into a palo verde. Old woman grasped the cactus and it killed her."
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CHAPTER XVI. THE PIMA (Continued).
RELIGION-DEITIES-MAGICIANS-THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY - DREAMS - SACRED PLACES- STONES STRIKE - HA-AK LYING - IAKSK- PLACE OF THE BAD ONE-PUMA LYING- MEDICINE MEN-LEGERDEMAIN-CAUSE AND TREATMENT OF DISEASES.
The report continuing says :
"The Pimas are far less given than their pueblo neighbors to the outward show of re- ligion, such as is seen in the varied and frequent ceremonies of the Hopis and Zunis. On the contrary, they appear to have no other than an occasional 'rain dance,' the navitco, and other ceremonies for the cure of disease. So far as could be ascertained in a comparatively brief sojourn among them, their religion comprised a belief in the supernatural or magic power of animals, and especially in the omnipotence of the Sun. When in mourning, sick, or in need, the Pima addressed his prayers to the Sun in the morning: 'Sun! Kindly help me through the day.' Or at nightfall his petition was raised: 'Darkness! Kindly help me through the night!' The following form of supplica- tion was often employed: 'Sun! There, have mercy on me.' When weary on a journey, the Sun was appealed to, and the first whiff of ciga- rette smoke was puffed toward him. The disk was not regarded as the 'shield' or 'headdress.'
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but as the veritable person of the god. He moves unceasingly around the flat earth, going beneath the western rim and passing across be- low to rise in the east.
"It is Sun that, by means of magic power, kills those who die during the day. It is Night who kills those who die during the hours of darkness. Moon is Sun's wife, but she is not accredited with the power that is given to Dark- ness. Coyote is the child of Sun and Moon, and figures largely in the myths. His character, by its buffoonery and trickery, much resembles that of the culture heroes of some other tribes.
"At the present time two deities are recog- nized, TcU wUt MaKai, Earth Magician (medi- cine-man or doctor), and Si uu, Elder Brother. They live in the east, dividing the controls of the universe between them. The former gov- erns the winds, the rains, etc .; sometimes he is called Tciors, Dios (Spanish). Their names are pronounced when a person sneezes, or, he may simply exclaim 'pity me,' referring tacitly to one or the other of these two deities. There is a puzzling mingling of the old and the new in the myths, though it seems probable that the greater part of them has been of ancient origin with recent adaptation of Earth Doctor and Elder Brother from the Christian religion. Among the Pimas themselves opinion is divided as to whether the myths have been largely adopted from the Papagos.
"At the solstitial point in the northeast lives Tcopiny Makai, Sinking Magician, who also has a 'house' in the northwest. In the southeast lives Vakolif Makai, South Magician, who also
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occupies the corresponding point in the south- west. Along the Sun's path are the houses of the four minor gods.
"WUpUki Makai, Lightning Magician, is the southernmost, and when the Sun is in his neigh- borhood we have lightning that is not accom- panied by thunder.
"Toahim Makai, Thunder Magician, causes the thunders that are heard during the second month.
"HUwUlt Makai, Wind Magician, produces the strong winds that blow so continuously in the spring.
"Tatraaki Makai, Foam Magician, causes the river to rise and bear foam upon its waves in the month succeeding the month of wind.
"It is difficult to determine the exact position of Coyote in the Pima pantheon, though he is classed with the leading deities in the myths, and his modern but degenerate descendants are regarded as very wise.
"When a coyote comes by moonlight and sees the shadow of a chicken, he can pounce upon the shadow and so bring down the bird within reach. He has been known to steal a baby from between its sleeping parents, an informant de- clared. Considering the manner in which the moon is supposed to have originated, it is strange that it should contain the figure of a coyote. No explanation of this belief was found.
"The stars are living beings: Morning Star is the daughter of a magician; her name is Su mas Ho-o, Visible Star. Polaris is the Not- walking Star, but is otherwise not distinguished
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from his fellows. Possibly this term has been adopted since the advent of the whites. Once a mule with a pack load of flour was going along in the sky, but he was fractious and not gentle, as is the horse. He bucked off the load of flour, which was spilled all along the trail. A part of it was eaten by Coyote, but some remains to form the Milky Way."
THE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY.
"The soul is the center of the breast. It makes us breathe, but it is not the breath. It is not known just what it is like, whether it is white or any other color.
"The views of the Pimas concerning the des- tiny of the soul varied considerably. Some de- clared that at death the soul passed into the body of an owl. Should an owl happen to be hooting at the time of a death, it was believed that it was waiting for the soul. Referring to the diet of the owl, dying persons sometimes said: 'I am going to eat rats.' Owl feathers were always given to a dying person. They were kept in a long rectangular box or basket of maguey leaf. If the family had no owl feathers at hand, they sent to the medicine-man, who always kept them. If possible, the feath- ers were taken from a living bird when col- lected; the owl might then be set free or killed. If the short, downy feathers of the owl fell upon a person, he would go blind. Even to-day the educated young people are very chary about en- tering an abandoned building tenanted by an owl.
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"By some it is said that after death souls go to the land of the dead in the east. All souls go to Si alik Rsan, Morning Base, or place where the sun rises. The East Land is separated from the land of the living by the chasm called ToU wUt Hi ketany, Earth Crack. When one of the writer's interpreters had gone to school at Hampton, Virginia, her associates said that she had gone to the abode of spirits. All is re- joicing and gladness in that other world. There they will feast and dance, consequently when one dies his best clothing must be put on and his hair must be dressed with care, as is the custom in preparing for an earthly ceremony. No idea of spiritual reward or punishment for conduct in this life exists.
"Again, the souls of the dead are supposed to hang about and perform unpleasant pranks with the living. They are liable to present them- selves before the living if they catch the right person alone at night. The ghost never speaks at such times, nor may any but medicine-men speak to him. If one be made sick by thus see- ing a ghost, he must have the medicine-man go to the grave of the offending soul and tell it to be quiet, 'and they always do as they are bid.' Old Kisate, of Santan, thought that the soul continued to reside in the body as that was 'its house.' During his youth he had accompanied a medicine-man and a few friends to the grave of a man who had been killed near Picacho, about forty miles southeast of Sacaton. The medicine-man addressed the grave in a long speech, in which he expressed the sorrow and regret of the relatives and friends that the
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corpse should thus be buried so far from home. Kisatc avers that the spirit within the grave re- plied to the speech by saying that he did not stay there all the time, but that he occasionally went over to hang about the villages, and that he felt unhappy in the state in which he found him- self. Of course the medicine-men claim to be in communication with the spirits of the de- parted as well as with supernatural beings capable of imparting magic power."
DREAMS.
"Dreams are variously regarded as the result of evil doing, as a natural and normal means of communication with the spirit world, and as being caused by Darkness or Night. During the dream the soul wanders away and passes through adventures as in the waking hours. The young men never slept in the council ki for fear of bad dreams.
"To dream of the dead causes sickness in the dreamer and if he dream of the dead for sev- eral nights in succession he will die. Dreams are not consulted for information concerning future action except in the case of the would-be medicine-man who may be called to his profes- sion by means of persistent dreams. Since Night may cause one to dream as he wishes it is fair to presume that it is that god who oversees the destinies of the medicine-men.
"Many years ago Kisate, in either a swoon or trance, believed that he went far away to a place where a stranger gave him a magnificent bow and a set of beautiful arrows. On regaining VII-18
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consciousness he asked for the things that had been given him while he was away and became quite indignant when they assured him that he had not been out of their sight. To this day he believes that they deceived him."
SACRED PLACES.
"Stones Strike, is a large block of lava located in the eastern Santan Hills. The largest pictograph ever seen by the writer in the Southwest is cut upon it and two or three tons of small angular stones foreign to the locality are piled before it. There are also many picto- graphs on the bowlders round about. This was probably a Hohokam shrine, though it is re- garded with reverence by the Pimas, who still place offerings of beads, bits of cloth, and twigs of the creosote bush at the foot of the large pictograph. There is a tradition that a young man was lying asleep on the flat rock and was seen by two young women who were passing along the opposite hillside. They tried to awaken him by tossing the pebbles which are yet to be seen. Pima maids thus awaken their lovers to the present day.
"Hâ-âk Lying, is a crude outline of a human figure situated about five miles north of Saca- ton. It was made by scraping aside the small stones with which the mesa is there thickly strewn to form furrows about 50 cm. wide. The body furrow is 35 m. long and has a small heap of stones at the head, another at a distance of 11 m. from the first, and another at the junc- tion of body and legs. The latter are 11 m. long and 1 m. apart. The arms curve outward
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from the head and terminate in small pyramids. In all the piles of stone, which have a tempo- rary and modern appearance, are glass beads and rags, together with fresh creosote branches, showing that the place is vet visited. The beads are very old and much weathered. Be- side the large figure is a smaller one that is 4.5 m. long, the body being 2.7. Hâ-âk is supposed to have slept one night at this place before reaching Hâ-âk Tcia Hâk, a cave in the Taatû- kam mountains, where she remained for some time.
"Iáksk, Place of Sacrifice, is a heap of stones on a knoll near Blackwater where it is probable that a Hohokam or Pima medicine-man has been buried.
"Place of the Bad One, is the name of a grave at Gila Crossing. It seems probable that the grave of some Hohokam medicine-man has been taken for that of the son of Kakanyp.
"There is another similarly inclosed but un- named grave at Gila Crossing, also one between Sweetwater and Casa Blanca, and there are three at Blackwater. Such inclosures are called o'namuksk, meaning unknown. Beads are to be found strewn about all of them.
"Puma Lying, or Place of the Mortar, is a heap of small stones between the Double Buttes, ten miles west of Sacaton. Stones are there piled over a shallow mortar in which beads have been placed and partly broken. Bunches of fresh creosote branches were mingled with the decaying fragments of arrow shafts at the time of the writer's visit, showing that while the shrine is yet resorted to, it is of considerable
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antiquity, for wood does not decay rapidly in that climate.
"Evil spirits dwell in the Picacho and Estrella mountains, but this belief may be presumed to be an inheritance from the Apache period. The writer has not learned of any shrines being lo- cated in those ranges.
"It is said that in the Santa Rosa mountains there was once a tightly covered medicine basket which was kept on a mountain top by a Papago medicine-man who carried offerings to it. All others were forbidden to touch it; but someone found it and when he lifted the cover all the winds of heaven rushed forth and blew away all the people thereabout.
"Near the summit of one of the lava-formed Santa hills is a small cave in which the Hoho- kam placed sacrifices. A number of articles were discovered there a quarter of a century ago and sent to some eastern museum. Since that time the Pimas deposited the body of a child and some other things in the cave, which were se- cured by an Arizona collector in 1901. The cave is known as Basket Lying, because it contained a basket such as the Pimas use for their medi- cine paraphernalia. It was discovered by two Pima warriors, who were serving their sixteen day period of lustration for having killed Apaches. The basket contained sinew from the legs of deer, and sticks, which the finders as- sumed to be for the same purpose as those with which they were scratching their own heads at the time.
"When a medicine-man dies, his parapher- nalia, if not transmitted to his descendants, may
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be placed in an olla and hidden under a heap of stones in the hills. He may also sacrifice a part of his stock in a similar way during his lifetime. The property of warriors is sometimes similarly cached.
"Such places were formerly respected by the tribe, but they are now robbed with impunity to get 'relics' to sell. A man at Pe-e-putciltk' in- formed the author's interpreter, Jose Lewis, of the location of one of these caches in the low hills south of Casa Blanca. We found that a number of concretions, crystals, shells, a bird carved from stone, and a war club had been de- posited in an olla with a bowl turned over it, rendering it watertight. The whole had been hidden under a heap of stones at the summit of a spur of the hill about four miles from the vil- lages."
MEDICINE-MEN.
"There are three classes of medicine-men among the Pimas. Those who treat disease by pretended magic are known as Si'atcokam, Ex- amining Physicians. As many women as men belong to this order, to which entrance is gained chiefly through heredity. This is the most pow- erful class in the community, though its mem- bers pay for their privileges at imminent risk. How great this risk is may be seen from the calendar records. The Si'atcokam were more numerous than the other classes. Those who have power over the crops, the weather, and the wars are called Makai, Magicians. Only one or two women were ever admitted to this order among the Pimas. There were usually about
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five Makai in each village. These two classes were the true rulers of the tribe, as their influence was much greater than that of the chiefs. Their combined strength was for years turned against the missionary, Rev. C. H. Cook, but their influence is now fast waning and sev- eral medicine-men have become avowed Chris- tians. From these converts information was obtained that in all probability could not have been secured otherwise. Yet another class of persons, including both men and women, and few in number, might be termed medicine-men. They are called Hai-itcottam, Something Given to Drink. They are not highly esteemed, how- ever skilled they may become in the use of roots and simple remedies, yet they are the true physi- cians of the Pimas. It may be that among the many empiric remedies which they employ some will be found to possess true therapeutic quali- ties.
"The traditional history of the tribe tells of many families of medicine-men, and the profes- sion was very generally handed down from father to son. Those receiving magic power was by what might be termed a process of nat- ural selection; anyone who recovered from a rattlesnake bite on the hand or near the heart might become a medicine-man or medicine- woman. A third method was by dreams and trances. Kisatc said that during his youth he had dreamed every night that he was visited by some one who endowed him with magic power. Under the influence of these dreams he decided to become a medicine-man, but as soon as he began to practice, the dreams ceased. These
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dreams are not sought by fasting or other un- usual conditions, nor does the person to whom they come seclude himself from his fellows.
"Several informants declared that 'any man who received instruction from a medicine-man and learned to do some little tricks could become a medicine-man.' The process of acquiring power was called 'getting power.' The novice was tested, either alone or along with one or more fellow-aspirants, by the medicine-man, who had the youth kneel before him on all fours, and then threw four sticks, each about eight inches long, at him. If the novice fell to the ground during the throwing, he was 'shot' with the power, and could then take the next degree. This was administered by the instructor, who 'coughed up' teU teaka, (word of unknown meaning), white balls the size of mistletoe ber- ries, and rubbed them 'into' the breast of the novice. Another informant said that the novice swallowed the balls. Four or five balls were thus administered, though the 'power began to work' in some cases where only one or two balls were used. One informant thought that the medicine-man had a sort of 'nest of power' wherein the balls developed as in the ovary of a hen. No matter how many were given off the supply continued undiminished.
"Sometimes the doctor wished to teach the youth, in which case the latter paid nothing for his instruction. But the usual fee was a horse, 'a piece of calico,' or the like. Throughout the period of his initiation the novice was not per- mitted to go near a woman's menstrual lodge, nor might he allow anyone to know that he was
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learning; that implied that he should not prac- tice until the end of the novitiate period, usually two years, sometimes four. When at length he began to practice, his success depended on his ability to develop dreams and visions.
"While the Si'atcokam can induct any young man into the mysteries of the order, that man's son cannot inherit his father's profession."
LEGERDEMAIN.
"The Makai were intrusted with the impor- tant duty of securing supernatural aid to insure good crops. One method of procedure was to gather the people in the large lodge and have some one bring in an olla filled with earth. This the Makai stirred with a willow stick and placed before a clear fire, where it stood all night while rain songs were being sung. At dawn the olla was emptied and was found to contain wheat in- stead of earth. Four grains were given to each one present, to be buried at the corners of the fields or the four grains together at the center.
"For a consideration the Makai would go to a wheat field and perform rites which he assured the owner would result in a heavy yield of wheat. After rolling and smoking a cigarette at each corner of the field, he would go to the center of it and bury a stick three or four inches long.
"To cause an abundance of melons and squashes, the Makai entered the field and took from his mouth, or, as his followers supposed, from the store of magic power in his body, a small melon or squash. The object was par- tially covered with hardened mud, symbolic of
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the productive earth. The rite was performed at a time when no melons or squashes had yet appeared, and it is supposed that he obtained the 'magic' melon by stripping the outer leaves from the growing end of a young vine. This was buried at the root of a growing plant to insure a prolific yield.
"Again, the germination and growth of wheat were sometimes imitated by concealing several grains of wheat in the hair, and shaking them down upon the soil. Then by a dextrous manip- ulation of a previously prepared series of young wheat shoots, the growth was represented up to the point where a stalk two feet in length was slipped from the long coils of hair at the oper- ator's shoulders, and shown to the awe-stricken spectators as a fully developed plant.
"A favorite trick was to have young men chew mesquite leaves, which, on being ejected from the mouth, were seen to be wheat or corn.
"During the rain ceremonies, when the Makai were at the height of their glory, one of their most impressive acts was to pour dry earth out of a reed until it was half empty, and then it would be seen that the remainder was filled with water. 'Then it rained right away.' If the Makai put one of the magic slates in a cup of water at the time the rain songs were being sung, and also dug a shallow trench to show the rivulets how they should cut their way, it would rain in four days.
"Another device of the Makai was to conceal reeds filled with water, and then while standing on a house top, to direct the singers to stand in a close circle around below him. Exhibiting a
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handful of eagle down or eagle tail feathers and throwing dust on them to show how dry they were, he would then sweep his hand about and scatter water over the spectators and singers, apparently from feathers, but in reality from the reeds.
"During the season when rain is especially needed any one may petition for it by means of the small gray fly that has a large head. Rub- bing soot from the roof or chimney in the fly's eyes the person must say, 'Go quickly, little fly, tell your grandmother to send the rain.'
"Some Si'atcokam aroused the wonder and admiration of their fellows by placing hot coals in their mouths (where they hold them between the teeth), or by holding them in their hands (taking care to have a thin layer of ash or mud beneath them).
"When the exigencies of the case demand it, the Si'atcokam sink small pointed pieces of wood, an inch in length and flat at the larger end, into the flesh of their patients. The bits of wood are 'twisted back and forth between the thumb and forefinger as one would twist a thread until the wood disappears.' The great grand- mother of Jacob L. Roberts, a young man of Apache-Maricopa and Pima-Kwahadk' lineage, thus treated him during a temporary attack of sickness in his infancy. She sank two pieces of creosote bush into his breast and predicted that he would not be ill as would other children. She also said that she would die within the year- and she did. Strange to say, Jacob also escaped the epidemic diseases that afflicted his play- mates.
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