USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. VII > Part 20
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"The Pimas also believe that the soul goes to the east, to the sunhouse, perhaps, there to live with Sehuiab, the son of the creator, but this Elysium is not perfect, for a devil called Chia- wat is admitted there, and he greatly plagues the inmates. The Maricopas are stated in one account to believe in a future state exactly simi- lar to the life on earth, with all its social dis- tinctions and wants, so that in order to enable the soul to assume its proper position among the spirits, all the property of the deceased, as well as a great part of that of his relatives, is offered up at the grave. But according to Bartlett, they think the dead will return to their ancient home on the banks of the Colorado, and live on the sand hills. Here the different parts of the body will be transformed into animals, the head, for instance, becoming an owl, the hands, bats;
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the feet, wolves; and in these forms continue their ancient feuds with the Yumas, who ex- pelled them from that country. The Yumas, however, do not conform to these views, but ex- pect that the good soul will leave worldly strife for a pleasant valley hidden in one of the can- yons of the Colorado, and that the wicked will be shut up in a dark cavern to be tantalized by the view of the bliss beyond their reach.
"The Apaches believe in metempsychosis, and consider the rattlesnake as the form to be as- sumed by the wicked after death. The owl, the eagle, and perfectly white birds were regarded as possessing souls of divine origin, and the bear was not less sacred in their estimation, for the very daughter of Montezuma, whom it had carried off from her father's home, was the mother of its race. The Moquis went so far as to suppose that they would return to the prime- val condition of animals, plants, and inanimate objects. The faith of the other Pueblo tribes in New Mexico was more in accordance with their cultured condition; namely, that the soul would be judged immediately after death ac- cording to its deeds. Food was placed with the dead, and stones were thrown upon the body to drive out the evil spirit. On a certain night in August it seems, the soul haunted the hills near its former home to receive the tributes of food and drink which affectionate friends hastened to offer. Scoffers connected the dis- appearance of the choice viands with the rotund form of the priests.
"The Navajos expected to return to the place whence they originated, below the earth,
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where all kinds of fruits and cereals, germi- nated from the seeds lost above, grow in unrivalled luxuriance. Released from their earthly bonds, the spirits proceed to an extensive marsh in which many a soul is bemired through relying too much on its own efforts, and failing to ask the aid of the great spirit; or perhaps the outfit of livestock and implements offered at the grave has been inadequate to the journey. After wandering about for four days, the more fortunate souls come to a ladder conducting to the underworld; this they descend, and are glad- dened by the sight of two great spirits, male and female, who sit combing their hair. After looking on for a few suns, imbibing lessons of cleanliness, perhaps, they climb up to the swamp again to be purified, and then return to the abode of the spirits to live in peace and plenty forever. Some believe that the bad become coyotes, and that women turn into fishes, and then into other forms."
The legends of the Arizona Indians, as here- inbefore recorded, are interesting. Almost all the tribes had some belief in a flood which destroyed all animal life, preserving, in one case, a man and a coyote from which to resur- rect the human race, and in another, a few good people. The coyote and the eagle figured largely in the creation of man, which may be on account of their natural characteristics. In the eagle, the king of birds, which lives in the clouds and nests in the highest peaks, the Indians prob- ably recognized the high qualities of the super- man, and made him the progenitor of the human race; that is, the high-minded, brilliant and
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virile man. The coyote was known as the most cunning of all the desert animals. He would steal the bacon from under the prospector's head ; kill lambs and calves, and rob the bee of his honey. The Indians, recognizing some of these traits in their fellow-men, probably thought they were descended from the coyote. We may laugh at these things as superstitions, but how about Darwin's theory that men came from monkeys, or the latest doctrine enunciated by a Harvard professor, as given in the follow- ing telegram to the "Los Angeles Times," that Darwin was wrong and that man came from lizards :
"Boston, March 3, 1918. Dr. Edward Hick- ley Bradford, Dean of Harvard Medical School and ancestry expert, has discovered that the so-called 'tango lizard' of to-day comes naturally by his title, for mankind descended from the saurian, the original big lizard. The monkey, he says, may be man's cousin, but whether the relationship is first or removed to the forty- seventh degree, no scientist to date had been able to discover.
" 'Darwin deceived us,' he said. 'We did not descend from monkey forefathers. Neither are we descended lineally from the beastly baboon nor the agile ape, whose arboreal "progeny" may have boasted about their family trees.
" 'The human species were originally lizards, which horses and dogs and monkeys sprang from, but scientists have not yet been able to determine just when the lizard family quarreled and split up in this way, nor whether the splits all happened at once or at different periods.
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This would make the monkey our cousin, but it is not known in just what order we broke away from our lizard lineage.'
"Just when the forefathers of the human race rose to the perpendicular posture, Dr. Bradford is not able to state, but it was at least 500,000 years ago, because the thigh and jawbone of a prehistoric person of that period was dug up in Java recently, and the thighbone, he says, indi- cated that the long-deceased ancestor was a 'pithecanthropus erectus,' meaning that he was accustomed to standing up straight.
" 'Though there may be a striking resem- blance between man and monkey,' he says, 'the monkey has four hands and though he may walk on his hind hands, they are the same as his fore hands.
" 'There never were any four-handed mem- bers in my family,' exclaimed the dean, refer- ring to the entire human race. 'I examined the skeleton of a person who lived 30,000 years ago in France,' he continued, 'and the bones of the feet were just the same as the bones of your feet to-day. On the other hand, skeletons of monkeys, right down through all the ages, show that their hind extremities, like their fore ex- tremities, are just like our hands. There is a small bone formation on the hind wrists of the monkey, but not of a nature that could be classed as the heel of a foot.' "
Possibly to these Indians the Mosaic account of the creation seems as absurd as do their myths and fables to us, especially the coming of light into being at the command of the Almighty. The manufacture of Adam out of
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soft clay, and the making of Eve out of one of Adam's ribs, may appeal to them as the reason why the white men and women were so fickle that they could not be satisfied, even in Eden, their earthly Paradise.
Nowhere does it appear that the Arizona Indians believed in rewards and punishment after death; to all, the future state was an im- provement on this life. There is much simi- larity in some of their flood legends to the biblical account; but the nearest approach to the Mosaic record of the creation of man is found in a Pima legend, which declared that after the destruction of man by the flood, the Drinker ordered the Coyote to bring him some mud, and that from this mud he recreated man. VII-21
INDEX.
INDEX.
ALEXANDER, GENL. A. J .- Originator of Indian Schools, 238. APACHE-MOHAVES-At war with whites, 2; history, etc., 231, 232.
APACHES-History, legends, folklore, etc., 3 et seq.
APACHE-YUMAS-At war with whites; 2; history, etc., 233.
ARAVAIPA APACHES-At war with the whites, 2; history of, 5, 6.
BANCROFT, H. H .- Story of origin of Moquis, 142, 143.
BANDELIER, A. F .- Religion, mythology, etc., of Moquis, 162 et seq.
BEADLE, J. H .- Fails to find trace of religion of Moquis, 159.
BENAVIDES, FRAY ALONSO-Gives earliest translation of tribal name of Navahos, 36.
BOURKE, CAPT. JOHN G .- Description of Apache dances, 29 et seq .; description of Snake dance of Moquis, 204 et seq.
BRADFORD, DR. EDWARD HICKLEY-Theory of evolution of man, 319, 320.
BUENAVENTURA, FRANCISCO DE SAN-Early missionary to Hopis, 140.
BURNS, MIKE-Story of Apache medicine-men, 26 et seq .; myths of Wallapais, 134 et seq.
CARILLO, BALTAZAR-Early priest in charge of San Xavier del Bac, 299.
CARSON, COL. "KIT"-Mention of, 38.
CASA GRANDE-Pima legend regarding, 239 et seq.
CHAMUSCADO, FRANCISCO SANCHEZ, mention of, 139.
CHEMEHUEVIS-Description of, 314, 315.
CHINESE-See Tartar-Chinese.
CHIRICAHUA APACHES-At war with the whites, 2; history, customs, etc., 6 et seq.
CLAROS, FRAY JUAN DE-Early missionary to Hopis, 140.
COLYER, REV. VINCENT-Mention of, 147.
CONCEPTION, CRISTOBAL DE LA-Early missionary to Hopis, 140.
COOK, REV. CHARLES H .- Opens first Indian school in Arizona, 238.
COSNINOS-See Havasupai.
COYOTERO APACHES-At war with the whites, 2; description of, 13, 14.
CROOK, GENL. GEORGE-Mention of, 1.
CURTIS, WILLIAM E .- Navaho theory of origin of man, 65; legend of Moquis, 143 et seq.
CUSHING, F. H .- Description of habits, history and legends of Havasupai, 95 et seq.
DONALDSON, THOMAS-Legends, etc., of Moquis, 149 et seq. DONIPHAN, COL. ALEX. W .- Mention of, 38.
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INDEX.
FEWKES, J. WALTER-Sacred fires of Moquis, etc., 165 et seq .; Pima legends regarding Casa Grande, 239 et seq.
FUTURE STATE-Belief of Indians in, 316 et seq.
GARCES, FRAY FRANCISCO-Makes first reference to Cheme- huevi, 314.
GERONIMO-Statement in reference to belief of Apaches in creation, etc., 19 et seq.
GILA APACHES-Description of, 16.
GROSSMAN, CAPT. F. D .- Pima legends regarding Casa Grande, 242.
GUEVAVI-Mission of, first established in Arizona, 298.
GUTIERRES, NARCISO-Early priest in charge of San Xavier del Bac, 299.
GUTIERREZ, ANDRE'S-Early missionary to Hopis, 140.
HASKELF, THALES-Member of Mormon expedition to Moquis, 145.
HATCH, IRA-Member of Mormon expedition to Moquis, 145. HAVASUPAIS-At peace with whites, 2; history, legends, folk- lore, etc., 93 et seq.
HOPIS-At peace with whites, 2; origin of, 123; history, legends, folklore, etc., 138 et seq .; snake dance, 169 et seq. HORTON, W. B .- Mention of, 12.
JAMES, GEORGE WHARTON-Legends of Havasupais, 116 et seq .; legends of Wallapais, 125 et seq.
JEFFORDS, CAPT. T. J .- Mention of, 25.
KEAM, T. V .- Mention of, 167.
LANGUAGE-Apache language same as Tartar-Chinese, 12, 13. LIBEROS, RAMON-Early priest in charge of San Xavier del Bac, 299.
LIPPS, OSCAR H .- Religion, etc., of Navahos, 44.
LOEW, DR. OSCAR-Fails to find any religion among Moquis, 161.
MCCOOK, GENL. A. McD .- Mention of, 194.
MARICOPAS-Friendly to whites, 2; history, etc., 225 et seq.
MARKEVILLE, W. B .- Member of Mormon expedition to Moquis, 145.
MATTHEWS, DR. WASHINGTON-Mention of, 70; description of Navaho "Fire Play," 89 et seq.
MILITARY-Work of early commanders, 1.
MIMBRENO APACHES-Description of, 17, 18.
MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES-Establishment of among Papagos and Sobaipuris, 298 et seq.
MOFFET, C. R .- Describes social dance of Moqnis, 151, 152. MOGOLLON APACHES-Description of, 16.
MOGOLLON, JUAN IGNACIO FLORES-Early governor of New Mexico after whom mountains in Arizona are named, 16, 17. MOHAVE-APACHES-See Apache-Mohaves.
MOHAVES-At war with whites, 2; history, etc., 228 et seq. MONTEZUMA-Legend of, 308 et seq.
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INDEX.
MOQUI-See Hopi.
MORAN, PETER-Account of Snake dance of the Moquis, 179 et seq.
MORMONS-Send expedition to Moquis, 145.
NAVAHO-At peace with whites, 2; history, legends, folklore, etc., 36 et seq.
NIZA, FRAY MARCOS DE-Mention of, 138.
ONATE, JUAN DE-Mention of, 139.
PAIUTES-History of, 313.
PALMER, DR. EDWARD-Writes of visit to Moquis, 147.
PAPAGOS-Friendly to whites, 2; history, myths, etc., 297 et seq .; legend of Montezuma, 308 et seq.
PIMAS-Friendly to whites, 2; history, legends, folklore, etc., 234 et seq.
PINAL APACHES-At war with the whites, 2.
PINAL-COYOTERO APACHES-Description of, 14, 15.
PINALENO APACHES-Description of, 15.
PORRAS, FRANCISCO DE-Early missionary to Hopis, 140.
POWELL, MAJOR J. W .- Writes of religion of Moquis, 161, 162.
RUSSELL, FRANK-Description of Pimas, 234 et seq.
SAN CARLOS APACHES-Mention of, 16.
SAN XAVIER DEL BAC-Founding of mission of, 298.
SCHOOLS, INDIAN-Start of, 238.
SCHULTZ, J. W .- Story of Snake dance of the Moquis, 170 et seq. SCOTT, SPECIAL AGENT-Sacred fires of Moquis, 163 et seq .; report on Snake dance of Moquis, 190 et seq.
SOBAIPURIS-Ask priests to come to them, 298; history of, 306. STEVENS, A. M .- Description of religion of Hopis, 158, 159.
TARTAR-CHINESE-Language same as Apache, 12, 13. TONTO APACHES-At war with the whites, 2; description of, 15, 16.
TSILTADEN APACHES-Description of, 18.
TUBAC-Founding of mission of, 298.
TUCSON-Founding of mission of, 298.
TUMACACURI-Founding of mission of, 298.
USEN-Apache name for God, 24.
WALKER, J. D .- Mention of, 243.
WALLAPAIS-At war with whites, 2; history, legends, folklore, etc., 125 et seq.
WASHINGTON, COL. JOHN M .- Mention of, 38.
WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHES-See Coyotero Apaches; descrip- tion of, 18.
WOOLSEY, KING-Mention of, 227.
WRIGHT, COL. W. W .- Tradition of Papagos, 311.
YAVAPAIS-Scc Apache-Mohaves.
YUMAS-After conquest by General Heintzelman, friendly to whites, 2; history, etc., 232, 233.
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