USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. VII > Part 3
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
Three other medicine-men were having the fin- ishing touches put to their bodily decoration. They had an under-coating of greenish brown, and on each arm a yellow snake, the head toward the shoulder blade. The snake on the arm of one of the party was double-headed, or rather had a head at each extremity.
"Each had insignia in yellow on back and breast, but no two were exactly alike. One had on his breast a yellow bear, four inches long by three inches high, and on his back a kan of the same color and dimensions. A second had the same pattern of bear on his breast, but a zigzag for lightning on his back. The third had the zigzag on both back and breast. All wore kilts and moccasins.
"While the painting was going on Ramon thumped and sang with vigor to insure the medi- cinal potency of the pigments and the designs to which they were applied. Each held, one in each hand, two wands or swords of lathlike pro- portions, ornamented with snake-lightning in blue.
"The medicine-men emitted a peculiar whist- ling noise and bent slowly to the right, then to the left, then frontward, then backward, until the head in each case was level with the waist. Quickly they spun around in full circle on the left foot; back again in a reverse circle to the right; then they charged around the little group of tents in that bastion, making cuts and thrusts with their wands to drive the maleficent spirits away.
"It recalled to my mind the old myths of the angel with the flaming sword guarding the en-
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THE APACHE.
trance to Eden, or of St. Michael chasing the discomfited Lucifer down into the depths of Hell.
"These preliminaries occupied a few moments only; at the end of that time the medicine-men advanced to where a squaw was holding up to them a little baby sick in its cradle. The mother remained kneeling while the medicine-men fran- tically struck at, upon, around, and over the cradle with their wooden weapons.
"The baby was held so as successively to occupy each of the cardinal points and face each point directly opposite; first on the east side, facing the west; then the north side, facing the south; then the west side, facing the east; then the south side facing the north, and back to the original position. While at each position, each of the medicine-men in succession, after making all the passes and gestures described, seized the cradle in his hands, pressed it to his breast, and afterwards lifted it up to the sky, next to the earth, and lastly to the four cardinal points, all the time prancing, whistling, and snorting, the mother and her squaw friends adding to the dis- mal din by piercing shrieks and ululations.
"That ended the ceremonies for that night so far as the baby personally was concerned, but the medicine-men retired down to the parade and resumed their salutation, swinging, bending, and spinning with such violence that they re- sembled, in a faint way perhaps, the Dervishes of the East. The understanding was that the dance had to be kept up as long as there was any fuel unconsumed of the large pile provided ; any other course would entail bad luck. It was con-
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
tinued for four nights, the colors and symbols upon the body varying from night to night.
"There were four medicine-men, three of whom were dancing and in conference with the spirits, and the fourth of whom was gen- eral superintendent of the whole dance, and the authority to whom the first three reported the result of their interviews with the ghostly powers.
"The mask and headdress of the first of the dancers, who seemed to be the leading one, was so elaborate that in the hurry and meager light supplied by the flickering fires it could not be portrayed. It was very much like that of num- ber three, but so fully covered with the plum- age of the eagle, hawk, and, apparently, the owl, that it was difficult to assert this positively. Each of these medicine-men had pieces of red flannel tied to his elbows and a stick about four feet long in each hand. Number one's mask was spotted black and white and shaped in front like the snout of a mountain lion. His back was painted with large arrow-heads in brown and white, which recalled the protecting arrows tightly bound to the backs of Zuni fetiches. Number two had on his back a figure in white, ending between the shoulders in a cross. Num- ber three's back was simply whitened with clay.
"All these headdresses were made of slats of the Spanish bayonet, unpainted, excepting that on number two was a figure in black, which could not be made out, and that the horizontal crosspieces on number three were painted blue.
"The dominos or masks were of blackened buckskin, for the two fastened around the neck
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THE APACHE.
by garters or sashes; the neckpiece of number three was painted red; the eyes seemed to be glass knobs or brass buttons. These three dancers were naked to the waist, and wore beautiful kilts of fringed buckskin bound on with sashes, and moccasins reaching to the knees. In this guise they jumped into the cen- ter of the great circle of spectators and sing- ers and began running about the fire shrieking and muttering, encouraged by the shouts and the singing, and by the drumming and incan- tation of the chorus which now swelled forth at full lung power.
"As the volume of music swelled and the cries of the onlookers became fiercer, the dancers were encouraged to the enthusiasm of frenzy. They darted about the circle, going through the motions of looking for an enemy, all the while muttering, mumbling, and singing, jumping, swaying, and whirling like the dancing Der- vishes of Arabia.
"Their actions, at times, bore a very consid- erable resemblance to the movements of the Zuñi Shálako at the Feast of Fire. Klashidn told me that the orchestra was singing to the four willow branches planted near them. This would indicate a vestige of tree worship, such as is to be noticed also at the sun dance of the Sioux.
"At intervals the three dancers would dart out of the ring and disappear in the dark- ness, to consult with the spirits or with other medicine-men seated a considerable distance from the throng. Three several times they VII-3
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
appeared and disappeared, always dancing, run- ning, and whirling about with increased energy. Having attained the degree of mental or spirit- ual exaltation necessary for communion with the spirits, they took their departure and kept away for at least half an hour, the orchestra during their absence rendering a mournful refrain, monotonous as a funeral dirge. My patience became exhausted and I turned to go to my quarters. A thrill of excited expectancy ran through the throng of Indians, and I saw that they were looking anxiously at the returning medicine-men. All the orchestra now stood up, their leader (the principal medicine-man) slightly in advance, holding a branch of cedar in his left hand. The first advanced and bend- ing low his head murmured some words of un- known import with which the chief seemed to be greatly pleased. Then the chief, taking his stand in front of the orchestra on the east side of the grove or cluster of trees, awaited the final ceremony, which was as follows: The three dancers in file and in proper order advanced and receded three times; then they embraced the chief in such a manner that the sticks or wands held in their hands came behind his neck, after which they mumbled and muttered a jumble of sounds which I cannot reproduce, but which sounded for all the world like the chant of the 'hooter' at the Zuni Feast of Fire. They then pranced or danced through the grove three times. This was repeated for each point of the compass, the chief medicine-man, with the orchestra, taking a position successively on the east, south, west, and north, and the three
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THE APACHE.
dancers advancing, receding, and embracing as at first.
"This terminated the 'medicine' ceremonies of the evening, the glad shouts of the Apache testifying that the incantations of their spirit- ual leaders or their necromancy, whichever it was, promised a successful campaign. These dancers were, I believe, dressed up to represent their gods or kan, but not content with repre- senting them, aspired to be mistaken for them."
1714350
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
CHAPTER III. THE NAVAHO.
LOCATION-STOCK RAISERS-EARLY RECORD OF- CREATION OF - OF COMPOSITE ORIGIN - HOGANS-WEAVING-RELIGION AND MYTHS -LEGENDS-CREATION OF FIRST MAN AND WOMAN-OLD MAN AND WOMAN OF FIRST WORLD-CREATION OF THE SUN-RELIGIOUS WORSHIP-LOWER WORLDS-DARK WORLD- RED WORLD - BLUE WORLD - ELEVENTH WORLD-EMERGENCE FROM LOWER WORLDS- TWELFTH OR PRESENT WORLD-CREATION OF VISIBLE WORLD -- CREATION OF STARS-VEGE- TABLE LIFE-BEARERS OF SUN AND MOON- SEX OF THE PEOPLES - THE CHANGING WOMAN-CREATION OF MAN.
NAVAHO (pronounced Na-va-ho, from Tewa Navahú, the name referring to a large area of cultivated lands, applied to a former Tewa pueblo, and, by extension, to the Navaho, known to the Spaniards of the 17th century as Apaches de Navajo, who intruded on the Tewa domain or who lived in the vicinity, to distinguish them from other "Apache" bands. Fray Alonso Benavides, in his Memorial of 1630, gives the earliest translation of the tribal name, in the form Nauajo, "sementeras grandes"-"great seed sowings," or "great fields." The Navaho themselves do not use this name, except when try- ing to speak English. All do not know it, and none of the older generation pronounces it cor-
F
NAVAHO.
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THE NAVAHO.
rectly, as v is a sound unknown in their language. They call themselves "Dine," which means sim- ply "people." This word, in various forms, is used as a tribal name by nearly every people of the Athapascan stock).
An important Athapascan tribe occupying a reservation of 9,503,763 acres in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and south- eastern Utah. Here they are supposed to re- main, but many isolated families live beyond the reservation boundaries in all directions. Their land has an average elevation of about 6,000 feet above sea level. The highest point in it is Pastora Peak, in the Carrizo mountains, 9,420 feet high. It is an arid region and not well adapted to agriculture, but it affords fair pas- turage. For this reason the Navaho have de- voted their attention less to agriculture than to stock raising. There were formerly few places on the reservation, away from the borders of the Rio San Juan, where the soil could be irrigated, but there were many spots, apparently desert, where water gathered close to the surface and where, by deep planting, crops of corn, beans, squashes, and melons were raised. Within the last few years the Government has built storage reservoirs on the reservation and increased the facilities for irrigation.
It may be that under the loosely applied name Apache, there is a record of the Navaho by Oñate as early as 1598, but the first to men- tion them by name was Zarate-Salmeron, about 1629. They had Christian missionaries among them in the middle of the 18th century, but their teachings did not prevail against paganism.
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
For many years previous to the occupancy of their country by the United States they kept up an almost constant predatory war with the Pueblos and the white settlers of New Mexico, in which they were usually the victors. When the United States took possession of New Mexico in 1849 these depredations were at their height. As stated in a former volume, the first military expedition into their country was that of Col. Alex W. Doniphan, of the First Mis- souri Volunteers, in the fall of 1846. On be- half of the United States, Doniphan made the first treaty of peace with the Navaho Novem- ber 22nd of that year, but the peace was not lasting. In 1849, another military force, under the command of Col. John M. Washington, penetrated the Navaho land as far as Chelly Canyon, and made another treaty of peace on September 9th, but this treaty was also soon broken. To put a stop to their wars, Col. "Kit" Carson invaded their territory in 1863, killed so many of their sheep as to leave them without means of support, and took the greater part of the tribe prisoners to Fort Sum- ner at the Bosque Redondo on the Rio Pecos, New Mexico. Here they were kept in captivity until 1867, when they were restored to their original country and given a new supply of sheep. Since that time they have remained at peace and greatly prospered.
There is no doubt that the Navaho have in- creased in number since they first became known to the United States, and are still increasing. In 1867, while they were prisoners and could be counted accurately, 7,300 of them were held in
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THE NAVAHO.
captivity at one time; but, owing to escapes and additional surrenders, the number varied. All were not captured by Carson. Perhaps the most accurate census was taken in 1869, when the Government called them to receive a gift of 30,000 sheep and 2,000 goats. The Indians were put in a large corral and counted as they went in; only a few herders were absent. The result showed that there were less than 9,000, making due allowance for absentees. According to the census of 1890, which was taken on a faulty sys- tem, the tribe numbered 17,204. The census of 1900 places the population at more than 20,000, and in 1906 they were roughly estimated by the Indian Office to number 28,500.
According to the best recorded version of their origin legend, the first or nuclear clan of the Navaho was created by the gods in Arizona or Utah about five hundred years ago. People had lived on the earth before this, but most of them had been destroyed by giants or demons. When, the myth says, the gods created the first pair of this clan, it is equivalent to saying that they knew not whence they came and had no antecedent tradition of themselves. It is thus with many other Navaho clans. The story gives the impression that these Indians wandered into New Mexico and Arizona in small groups, prob- ably in single families. In the course of time other groups joined them until, in the 17th cen- tury, they felt strong enough to go to war. Some of the accessions were evidently of Atha- pascan origin, as are most of the tribe, but others were derived from different stocks, including Keresan, Shoshonean, Tanoan, Yuman and
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
Aryan, consequently, the Navaho are a very composite people. A notable accession was made to their numbers, probably in the 16th century, when the Thkha-paha-dinnay joined them. These were a people of another linguis- tic stock-Hodge says "doubtless Tanoan"- for they wrought a change in the Navaho lan- guage. A later very numerous accession of sev- eral clans came from the Pacific coast; these were Athapascan. Some of the various clans joined the Navaho willingly, others were the descendants of captives. Hodge has shown that this Navaho origin legend, omitting a few obvi- ously mythic elements, can be substantiated by recorded history, but he places the beginning at less than five hundred years.
The Navaho are classed as belonging to the widespread Athapascan linguistic family, and a vocabulary of their language shows that the majority of their words have counterparts in dialects of Alaska, British America, and Cali- fornia. The grammatical structure is like that of Athapascan tongues in general, but many words have been inherited from other sources. The grammar is intricate and the vocabulary copious, abounding especially in local names.
The appearance of the Navaho strengthens the traditional evidence of their very compo- site origin. It is impossible to describe a pre- vailing type; they vary in size from stalwart men of six feet or more to some who are di- minutive in stature. In features they vary from the strong faces with aquiline noses and promi- nent chins common with the Dakota and other northern tribes to the subdued features of the
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THE NAVAHO.
Pueblos. Their faces are a little more hirsute than those of Indians farther east. Many have occiputs so flattened that the skulls are brachy- cephalic or hyperbrachycephalic, a feature re- sulting from the hard cradle board on which the head rests in infancy. According to Hrdlicka they approach the Pueblos physically much more closely than the Apache, notwithstanding their linguistic connection with the latter. In general their faces are intelligent and pleasing. They are celebrated for intelligence and good order. There is nothing somber or stoic in their character. Among themselves they are merry and jovial, much given to jest and banter. They are very industrious, and the proudest among them scorn no remunerative labor. They do not bear pain with the fortitude dis- played among the militant forces of the north, nor do they inflict upon themselves equal tor- tures. They are, on the whole, a progressive people. Descent is in the female line; a man belongs to the clan of his mother, and when he marries must take a woman of some other clan. The social position of the women is high, and their influence great. They often possess much property in their own right, which marriage does not alienate from them.
The ordinary Navaho dwelling, or hogan, is a very simple structure, although erected with much ceremony. It is usually conical in form, built of sticks set on end, covered with branches, grass and earth, and often so low that a man of ordinary stature cannot stand erect in it. One must stoop to enter the doorway, which is usu- ally provided with a short passage or storm
42
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
door. There is no chimney; a hole in the apex lets out the smoke. Some hogans are rude, polygonal structures of logs laid horizontally ; others are partly of stone. In summer, "lean- to" sheds and small inclosures of branches are often used for habitations. Sweat houses are small, conical hogans without the hole in the apex, for fires are not lighted in them; the tem- perature is increased by means of stones heated in fires outside. Medicine lodges, when built in localities where trees of sufficient size grow, are conical structures like the ordinary hogans, but much larger. When built in regions of low- sized trees, they have flat roofs. Of late, sub- stantial stone structures, with doors, windows, and chimneys are replacing the rude hogans. One reason they built such houses is that cus- tom and superstition constrained them to de- stroy or desert a house in which death had occurred. Such a place was called chindi- hogan, meaning "devil-house." Those who now occupy good, stone houses, carry out the dying and let them expire outside, thus saving their dwellings, and indeed the same custom is some- times practiced in connection with the hogan. No people have greater dread of ghosts and mortuary remains.
The most important art of the Navaho is that of weaving. They are especially celebrated for their blankets, which are in high demand among the white people on account of their beauty and utility; but they also weave belts, garters, and saddle girths-all with rude, simple looms. Their legends declare that in the early days they knew not the art of weaving by means of a loom.
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THE NAVAHO.
The use of the loom was probably taught to them by the Pueblo women who were incorporated into the tribe. They dressed in skins and rude mats constructed by hand, of cedar bark and other vegetal fibers. The few basket makers among them are said to be Ute or Paiute girls, or their descendants, and these do not do much work. What they make, though of excellent quality, is confined almost exclusively to two
forms required for ceremonial purposes.
The
Navaho make very little pottery, and this of a very ordinary variety, being designed merely for cooking purposes ; but formerly they made a fine red ware decorated in black with characteristic designs. They grind corn and other grains by hand on the metate. For ceremonial purposes they still bake food in the ground and in other aboriginal ways. For many years they have had among them silversmiths who fabricate handsome ornaments with very rude appliances, and who undoubtedly learned their art from the Mexicans, adapting it to their own environment. Of late years many of those who have been taught in training schools have learned civilized trades, and civilized methods of cooking.
By treaty of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, Sep- tember 9th, 1849, the Navaho acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States. By treaty of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, June 1st, 1868, a reservation was set apart for them in Arizona and New Mexico, and they ceded to the United States their claim to other lands. Their reser- vation has been modified by subsequent Execu- tive orders.
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
In reference to the religion of the Navahos, I quote from "A Little History of the Navajos," by Oscar H. Lipps, 1909:
"Navajo mythology is replete with legends handed down from father to son telling the origin of every good and evil thing known to his simple life. While he does not contemplate a First Great Cause or its attendant effect, yet his legends contain the story of the creation of his present world-the sun, moon, stars, sky, rivers, mountains, cliffs and canyons. He has a legend of a flood which destroyed all the wicked people. There is also the Wind god, Rain god, War god, etc., to whom he attributes omnipotent powers.
"While the Navajo has produced no litera- ture and has no great epics or pyrics, still he has created elaborate dramas. All of his dreams are founded on myths. Many of these myths are very long so that perhaps few Navajos know thoroughly more than two or three of the great myths. Like the myths of most all other people, they may be either explanatory, such as attempts to explain the mysteries of existence and uni- versal life; aesthetic, those designed to elicit emotion and give pleasure; or the romantic myth, which displays the character of some favorite hero. In Navajo mythology may be found all of these classes of myths."
I insert a few of these myths and legends, taken from recognized authorities :
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THE NAVAHO.
CREATION OF THE FIRST MAN AND WOMAN.
(By Dr. Matthews.)
"The gods laid a buckskin on the ground with the head to the west; on this they placed two ears of corn, one yellow, one white, with their tips to the east; and over the corn they spread another buckskin with its head to the east; under the white ear they put the feather of a white eagle, under the yellow ear the feather of a yellow eagle. Then the white wind blew from the east and the yellow wind blew from the west, between the skins. While the wind was blow- ing, eight of the Mirage people came and walked around the objects on the ground four times, and as they walked the eagle feathers, whose tips protruded from between the buckskins, were seen to move. When the Mirage people had finished their walk, the upper buckskin was lifted,-the ears of corn had disappeared; a man and a woman lay there in their stead. The white ear of corn had been changed into a man, the yellow ear into a woman. The pair thus created were First Man and First Woman."
MYTH OF THE OLD MAN AND WOMAN OF THE FIRST WORLD.
(By Stevenson.)
"In the lower world four gods were created by Etseastin and Etseasun. These gods were so annoyed by the ants that they said: 'Let us go to the four points of the World.' A spring was found at each of the cardinal points, and each god took possession of a spring, which he jeal- ously guarded.
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HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
"Etseastin and Etseasun were jealous because they had no water, and they needed some to pro- duce nourishment. The old man finally ob- tained a little water from each of the gods and planted it, and from it he raised a spring such as the gods had. From this spring came corn and other vegetation. Etseastin and Etseasun sat on opposite sides of the spring facing each other, and sang and prayed and talked to some- body about themselves, and thus they originated worship. One day the old man saw some kind of fruit in the middle of the spring. He tried to reach it but he could not, and asked the spider woman, (a member of his family), to get it for him. She spun a web across the water and by its use procured the fruit, which proved to be a large white shell, quite as large as a Tusayan basket. The following day Etseastin discovered another kind of fruit in the spring, which the spider woman also brought him; this fruit was the turquoise. The third day still another kind of fruit was discovered by him and obtained by the spider woman; this was the abalone shell. The fourth day produced the black stone bead, which was also procured.
"After ascending into the upper world Etsea- stin visited the four corners to see what he could find. (They had brought a bit of everything from the lower world with them.) From the east he brought eagle feathers; from the south feathers from the blue jay ; in the west he found hawk feathers, and in the north speckled night- bird (whippoorwill) feathers. Etseastin and Etseasun carried these to a spring, placing them towards the cardinal points. The eagle plumes
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