History of Arizona, Vol. VII, Part 9

Author: Farish, Thomas Edwin
Publication date: 1915-18
Publisher: Phoenix, Ariz. [San Francisco, The Filmer brothers electrotype company]
Number of Pages: 382


USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. VII > Part 9


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20


131


THE WALLAPAI.


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 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 buck- skin 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 provided. In the meantime he had been stealthily instilling into the hearts of his friends the feelings of hatred and jealousy that possessed him. He taught the children 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 ensued, 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 dis- cord 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


132


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


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 planned, the quarrellers-the Wha-jes-remaining be- hind 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 quarrelsome people the Wallapais drove out of Mat-ta-wed-it-i-ta 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 war- fare became common. The spear was in- vented,-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 call Ka-that-a-ka-na-ve's Nvu-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


133


THE WALLAPAI.


is termed Wa-ha-vo,-the place that is impreg- nable.


"After many generations had passed, Hoko- mata 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 Moun- tains, 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.


"Left to themselves, the families in Mat-ta- wed-it-i-ta increased rapidly, until soon there were too many to live in comfort. So Tochopa took most of them to Milkweed Canyon, and then he divided the separate families and allot- ted to each his own territory. To the Mohaves he gave the western region by the great river; the Paiutes he sent to the water springs and pockets of southern Nevada and Utah; the Navahos went east and found the great desert region, where game was plentiful; and the Hopis, who were always afraid and timid, built houses like Ka-that-a-ka-na-ve's fortress on the summit of high mountains or mesas. The Havasupais started to go with the Hopis, and they camped together one night in the depths of the canyon where the blue water flows to Hacka- taia-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 became known as the Haha-vasu-pai, the people of the Blue Water. Most of the remaining


134


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


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 grain. As they in- creased 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."


Mike Burns gives the following myths of this tribe :


"When God caused water to flood the earth, all the living beings were drowned excepting one woman, who shortly afterwards gave birth to a daughter. Afterwards the daughter gave birth to a son, and then she was caught by the Great Eagle, who devoured her, and the grand- mother raised the boy, who came to be the master of all things. He commanded the weather; he commanded the sun to stand still ; and he commanded the wind to blow hard or easy, and change its course. This boy could also understand every living animal and could talk with them, and if anyone got hurt they would come to him and be cured. He once shot a quail and broke its leg, and was just going to shoot again when, to his surprise, the quail spoke to him and, addressing him as grandchild, asked him not to hurt her any more. The quail also asked him to heal her leg, and told him that she had a great story to tell him, so the boy picked up the quail and rubbed it on his breast, and touched the wounded leg with his hands,


135


THE WALLAPAI.


and immediately the quail's leg was healed and she could run around as well as ever. Then the quail asked the boy whether his real grand- mother had ever told him about what became of his mother. The boy answered no, and the quail told him that once upon a time his mother went a long distance away from home after she had borne him, the first born boy, for it was customary for any woman who had borne a first child to go a long way from home to gather things and bring them home for the exercise. While his mother was gathering things for the camp the great eagle came and carried her up to a high ledge where there were two young eagles, and the two young eagles ate her up. The boy was only a few months old when the eagle carried his mother away, and was nursed and raised by his grandmother. He had always wondered why his grandmother had always called him grandchild, and was very sorry to learn how he had become motherless. When he went home he was very sad and did not answer his grandmother's call, and did not eat anything for a long time, but went off to get things ready to make war on the great eagle and its family. While he was getting ready, his grandmother sang songs asking for victory for him, and con- tinued to do so whenever he went out on raids or to war. This boy, who was known as the first born man, was getting big enough by this time to make everything he needed. His grand- mother taught him how to make bows and arrows, using different kinds of wood for them; also how to tip the arrows with flint, and put feathers on the butt ends of the shafts, and how


136


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


to make bow strings from the sinews of animals. Having made many arrows, of course he had to have a quiver to hold them. Being now fully equipped, he went off to hunt the great eagle, and soon heard what he thought was thunder, but it was the noise made by the wings of the great eagle flying over him. The boy fell on his back, and the great eagle caught him with her great claws, and carried him off in the same way she had done with his mother. The boy, however, was so small looking, that the great eagle thought she would not take time to do any- thing more with him, but just turned him over to her two young ones, telling them to eat him. Then she went off to hunt for more persons to kill and bring to her place. When the young eagles were turning his body over to eat, the boy whistled to them, telling them not to hurt him; that he was their brother, but just to tell him where the father eagle sat when he came home, and also where the mother eagle sat when she came home, and at what time of day they would both be there; threatening that if they did not tell him, he would throw them over the bluff. They told him and when the two big eagles came home, he killed them both."


Mike Burns also tells the following legend of the Wallapais :


"It is said that all the living animals and beings on earth once called a council of war, and they gathered at a certain camp to hold the council. There were two different factions, and they had a sham battle; they went through the camp and upset everything. Then the two fac- tions agreed each to select a champion who were


137


THE WALLAPAI.


to do battle; one side selected a turtle, and the other a coon, and they cleared off the place to have the battle between the two, which was to be a wrestling match. Each side then bet everything they had on the match, and the turtle and the coon came out and began the fight. It looked as if the coon was going to get away with the turtle, but the turtle stood his ground and soon got the coon's knee touching the ground; the coon could not turn the turtle over, and it was announced that the turtle had won the battle. The side betting on the coon, however, disputed the decision, claiming that the coon had only been brought to his knees and had not been turned on his back, but the turtle was given the match as it was shown that the coon had weakened. This started a big row and they had a battle right there, and it split up the old agreement. They just broke up, and every- one on the turtle's side took their bets, and the other side said they hadn't won them, and after that all the animals were at war with one an- other. This is said to have occurred right where Squaw Creek comes into the Agua Fria, where Black Canyon station now is."


138


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


CHAPTER VIII. THE HOPI (OR MOQUI).


LOCATION - HISTORY - MISSIONS AND MISSION- ARIES - PUEBLOS - SOCIAL ORGANIZATION- STORY OF ORIGIN-LEGEND OF BUILDING OF VILLAGES - MODE OF MARRIAGE - HOSPITAL- ITY-LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE-TINININA, OR SOCIAL DANCE-RELIGION.


HOPI (contraction of Hópitu, "peaceful ones," or Hopitushinumu, "peaceful all people"; their own name). A body of Indians, speaking a Shoshonean dialect, occupying six pueblos on a reservation of 2,472,320 acres in northeastern part of this State. The name "Moqui, "


or "Moki," by which they have been popularly known, means "dead" in their own language, but as a tribal name it is seemingly of alien origin and of undetermined signification-per- haps from the Keresan language, whence Es- pejo's "Mohace" and "Mohoce" (1583), and Oñate's "Mohoqui," 1598. Bandelier and Cush- ing believed the Hopi country, the later province of Tusayan, to be identical with the Totonteac of Fray Marcos de Niza.


History .- The Hopi first became known to white men in the summer of 1540, when Coro- nado, then at Cibola (Zuni), dispatched Pedro de Tobar and Fray Juan de Padilla to visit seven villages, constituting the province of Tu- sayan, toward the west or northwest. The Spaniards were not received with friendliness at first, but the opposition of the natives was


WIKI-Chief of the Snake Society; Pueblo of Walpi.


HOPI MAIDEN.


139


THE HOPI (OR MOQUI).


soon overcome and the party remained among the Hopi several days, learning from them of the existence of the Grand Canyon of the Colo- rado, which Cardenas was later ordered to visit. The names of the Tusayan towns are not re- corded by Coronado's chroniclers, so that with the exception of Oraibi, Shongopovi, Mishong- novi, Walpi, and Awatobi, it is not known with certainty what villages were inhabited when the Hopi first became known to the Spaniards. Omitting Awatobi, which was destroyed in 1700 with the possible exception of Oraibi, none of these towns now occupies its 16th century site.


Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado visited Zuni in 1581 and speaks of the Hopi country as Asay or Osay, but he did not visit it on account of the snow. Two years later, however, the prov- ince was visited by Antonio de Espejo, who journeyed 28 leagues from Zuni to the first of the Hopi pueblos in four days. The Mohoce, or Mohace, of this explorer consisted of five large villages, the population of one of which, Aguato (Ahuato, Zaguato-Awatobi) he esti- mated at 50,000, a figure perhaps twenty-five


times too great. The names of the other towns are not given. The natives had evidently for- gotten the horses of Tobar and Cardenas of forty-three years before, as they now became frightened at these strange animals. The Hopi presented Espejo with quantities of cotton "towels," perhaps kilts, for which they were celebrated then as now.


The next Spaniard to visit the "Mohoqui," was Juan de Oñate, governor and colonizer of New Mexico, who took possession of the coun-


140


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


try and made the Indians swear obedience and vassalage to Spain on November 15th, 1598. Their spiritual welfare was assigned to Fray Juan de Claros, but no active missions were es- tablished among the Hopi until nearly a genera- tion later. The five villages at this time, as far as it is possible to determine them, were Aguato or Aguatuybá (Awatobi), Gaspe (Gualpe- Walpi), Comupavi or Xumupami (Shongo- povi), Majananí (Mishongnovi), and Olalla or Naybf (Oraibi).


The first actual missionary work undertaken among the Hopi was in 1629, on August 20th of which year Francisco de Porras, Andres Gutierrez, Cristobal de la Concepcion, and Fran- cisco de San Buenaventura, escorted by twelve soldiers, reached Awatobi, where the mission of San Bernardino was founded in honor of the day, followed by the establishment of missions also at Walpi, Shongopovi, Mishongnovi, and Oraibi. Porras was poisoned by the natives of Awatobi in 1633. All the Hopi missions seem to have led a precarious existence until 1680, when in the general Pueblo revolt of that vear four resident missionaries were killed and the churches destroyed. Henceforward no attempt was made to re-establish any of the missions save that of Awatobi in 1700, which so incensed the other Hopi that they fell upon it in the night, killing many of its people and compelling its permanent abandonment. Before the rebel- lion Mishongnovi and Walpi had become re- duced to visitas of the missions of Shongopovi and Oraibi respectively. At the time of the out- break the population of Awatobi was given as


141


THE HOPI (OR MOQUI).


800, Shongopovi 500, and Walpi 1,200. Oraibi, it is said, had 14,000 gentiles before their con- version, but they were consumed by pestilence. This number is doubtless greatly exaggerated.


The pueblos of Walpi, Mishongnovi, and Shongopovi, situated in the foothills, were prob- ably abandoned about the time of the Pueblo rebellion, and new villages built on the adja- cent mesas for the purpose of defense against the Spaniards, whose vengeance was needlessly feared. The reconquest of the New Mexican pueblos led many of their inhabitants to seek protection among the Hopi toward the close of the 17th century. Some of these built the pueblo of Payupki, on the Middle mesa, but were taken back and settled in Sandia about the middle of the 18th century. About the year 1700 Hano was established on the East mesa, near Walpi, by Tewa from near Abiquiu, New Mexico, who came on the invitation of the Wal- pians. Here they have lived uninterruptedly, and although they have intermarried extensively with the Hopi, they retain their native speech and many of their distinctive tribal rites and customs. Two other pueblos, Sichomovi on the First mesa, built by Asa clans from the Rio Grande, and Shipaulovi, founded by a colony from Shongopovi on the Second or Middle mesa, are both of comparatively modern origin, hav- ing been established about the middle of the 18th century, or about the time the Payupki people returned to their old home. Thus the pueblos of the ancient province of Tusayan now consist of the following: Walpi, Sichomovi, and Hano, on the First or East Mesa; population in 1900,


142


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


205, 119 and 160, respectively, exclusive of about twenty who have established homes in the plain ; total 504. Mishongnovi, Shongopovi, and Shu- paulovi, on the Second or Middle mesa; esti- mated population 244, 225, and 126; total 595. Oraibi, on the Third or West mesa; population in 1890, 905. Total Hopi population in 1904 given as 1,878.


Social organization .- The Hopi people are di- vided into several phraties, consisting of numer- ous clans, each of which preserves its distinct legends, ceremonies, and ceremonial parapher- nalia. Out of these clan organizations have sprung religious fraternities, the head men of which are still members of the dominant clan in each phraty. The relative importance of the clans varies in different pueblos; many that are extinct in some villages, are powerful in others.


Bancroft, in Volume 3 of his "Native Races," gives the following :


"Most of the Pueblo tribes call themselves the descendants of Montezuma; the Moquis, how- ever, have a quite different story of their origin. They believe in a great Father living where the sun rises; and in a great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down. The Father is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine; but from the Mother are all joys, peace, plenty, and health. In the beginning of time the Mother produced from her western home nine races of men in the following primary forms: First, the Deer race; second, the Sand race; third, the Water race; fourth, the Bear race; fifth, the Hare race; sixth, the Prairie-wolf race ; seventh, the Rattlesnake race; eighth, the Tobacco-plant


143


THE HOPI


(OR MOQUI).


race; and ninth, the Reed-grass race. All these the Mother placed respectively on the spots where their villages now stand, and transformed them into the men who built the present Pueblos. These race-distinctions are still sharply kept up; for they are believed to be realities, not only of the past and present, but also of the future; every man when he dies shall be resolved into his primeval form; shall wave in the grass, or drift in the sand, or prowl on the prairie as in the beginning."


The following legend concerning the building of the Moqui villages upon impregnable bluffs, is related by William E. Curtis in his "Children of the Sun," 1883 :


"The Moquis, who live in Arizona, seventy miles northwest of Zuni, have a legend that the earth was once a small island, inhabited by one man, whose father was the sun, and whose mother was the moon; that the gods sent a wife to him to cheer his loneliness, and that the earth grew as their family multiplied. The children became dissatisfied and restless after years, be- gan to wander, and built up towns. Visits between them became infrequent, and finally ceased, until in generations their common an- cestry was forgotten. Centuries ago a war broke out between the Pueblo, or permanent In- dians, and the wandering tribes, and the former were driven to the rocks and caves, where they built nests like wrens and swallows, erected fortifications and watch towers, dug reservoirs in the rocks to catch the rainfall, and held their enemies at bay. The besiegers were beaten back, but the hollows in the rocks were filled


144


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


with blood, and it poured in torrents through the canyons. It was such a victory that they dare not try again, and when the fight was over they wandered to the southward, and in the deserts of Arizona, on isolated, impregnable bluffs, they built new towns, and their descend- ants, the Moquis, live in them to this day."


From the same authority is taken the fol- lowing :


"The Moquis are an isolated relic of a once great nation. Their home, like Acoma, is upon a high, rocky island, separated from the rest of the world by an ocean of sand. It is a natural fortification, and can be approached only by climbing a long, narrow serpentine path in the crevices of the rocks. In Coronado's time, Moquis was known as the Province of Tusayan, and consisted of seven towns with a population of about twenty thousand. All the villages stand to-day, but the people are reduced to a mere handful. The villages occupy the entire width of a broad mesa or tableland, and, stand- ing immediately in front of the houses, one may look down a precipice five hundred feet. On the rim of this rocky wall the children play and the goats feed. The houses are the same as those of Zuni, except that they built them of stone instead of adobe, and the customs of the two places are similar.


"Like the inhabitants of all other pueblos, the Moquis are rapidly dwindling away, and in thirty years during which civilization has known something of them their numbers have decreased from six thousand, according to the census of 1850, to one thousand six hundred and four."


145


THE HOPI (OR MOQUI).


The Catholics, as before stated, failed to im- press the Moquis, and next to attempt it were the Mormons who, according to the "Journal- Miner" of September 13th, 1869, fitted out an expedition to strengthen the "Moqui Mission which lies about eight days travel southeast of St. George, by sending W. B. Markeville, Ira Hatch, Thales Haskelf, and about twenty other brethren, armed and fitted out, to that point, to protect the Moquis from the Navahos." This mission, like many others at the time, proved a failure, and it was several years later before the Mormons established settlements in Arizona.


Continuing Mr. Curtis says :


"The Moquis tradition is that their fathers used to live far in the North, and that long years ago barbarous tribes of Indians drove them from their houses into the mountains, where they now reside, and where they fortified and defended themselves. The Moquis houses are of the same order of architecture as the ruins of Colorado; their general form is identical, and the same material is used. The present villages are upon high, impregnable cliffs, while the ruins are all in the valleys. When the emigration took place cannot be determined, but it must have been centuries ago, as the houses of the present pueblos were old when the Spaniards found them in 1540, and were even then crumbling in decav. One evidence of the age of the present villages is that across the space between them, paths have been worn in the solid rock to a depth of several inches, and remembering that the shoes of the people are soft-soled moccasins, the VII-10


146


HISTORY OF ARIZONA.


geologists think it must have been a thousand years.


"Dr. Tenbroek, who visited the place in 1852, placed the population of the seven Moquis pueb- los at eight thousand. He says: 'They believe in a great father who lives where the sun rises, and a great mother who lives where the sun sets. Many, many years ago their great mother brought from her home in the west nine races of men. First, the Deer race; second, the Sand race; third, the Water race; fourth, the Bear race; fifth, the Rabbit race; sixth, the Wolf race; seventh, the Rattlesnake race; eighth, the Tobacco plant race; and ninth, the Reed grass race.


"'Having placed them here where their vil- lages stand, she transformed them into men, who built the pueblos, and the race distinction is still kept up. One told me he was of the Sand race, and another that he was of the Rabbit race. The Governor is of the Deer race. They are firm believers in metempsychosis, and that when they die, they will resolve into their original forms and become deer, bears, etc. Shortly after the pueblos were built, the great mother came in person and brought them all the domestic ani- mals they have, cattle, sheep, and donkeys. Their sacred fire is kept burning constantly by the old men, and they fear some great misfor- tune would befall them if they allowed it to be extinguished.


" 'Their mode of marriage might be .intro- duced into civilized life. Here, instead of the swain asking the hand of the fair one, she selects the man of her fancy and then her father pro-


147


THE HOPI (OR MOQUI).


poses to the sire of the dusky youth. Polygamy is unknown among them, but if at any time the husband and wife do not live happily together, they are divorced and can remarry. They are a happy, simple, contented and most hospitable people. The vice of intoxication is unknown and they have no kind of fermented liquors. When a stranger visits them, the first act is to set food before him and nothing is done till he has eaten. The women are the prettiest squaws I have ever seen, and are very neat and indus- trious. While virgins, their hair is done up on either side of the head in rolls; after marriage they wear it in braids or loosely.'




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.