In cooperation with Footnote, AccessGenealogy is providing exclusively
to our users from 17 Nov - 1 Dec. 2008, FREE
access to a large set (almost 20 million) of images based on the
topic Civil War. This is a LIMITED time
opportunity, and available ONLY through the links
from the following page. No other links on our site, or any other
site on the web, will provide you with this opportunity! Your delay
is your lost!
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The Indians of Arizona are, perhaps, the
most interesting of any of the American
aborigines. They are as unique and
picturesque as is the land which they
inhabit; and the dead are no less so than
the living.
The Pueblo Indians, with which the Moquis
are classed, number altogether about ten
thousand and are scattered in twenty-six
villages over Arizona and New Mexico. They
resemble each other in many respects, but do
not all speak the same language. They
represent several wholly disconnected stems
and are classified linguistically by Brinton
as belonging to the Uto-Aztecan, Kera, Tehua
and Zuni stocks. He believes that the Pueblo
civilization is not due to any one unusually
gifted lineage, but is altogether a local
product, developed in independent tribes by
their peculiar environment, which is
favorable to agriculture and sedentary
pursuits.[1]
The houses are constructed of stone and
adobe, are several stories high and contain
many apartments. None of the existing
pueblos are as large as some that are in
ruins which, judging by the quantity of
debris, must have been huge affairs. Since
the advent of the Spaniard the style of
building has changed somewhat to conform to
modern ideas, so that now some families live
in separate one-story houses having doors
and windows, instead, as formerly, only in
large communal houses that were built and
conducted on the communal plan.
Their manners and customs are peculiar to
themselves and make an interesting study.
Their civilization is entirely original,
though modified to some extent by centuries
of contact with the whites. They understand
the Spanish language, but have not forgotten
their mother tongue. They hold tenaciously
to their old customs and have not changed
materially during the past four hundred
years.
During that time the Catholic missionaries
endeavored to convert them to Christianity,
but with only partial success. While they
appeared to acquiesce, by giving formal
obedience to the requirements of the new
religion, they yet held sacred their old
beliefs and in the privacy of the estufa
practiced in secret the rites and ceremonies
of their ancient faith.
The Spaniards undertook to conquer a free
and independent people by teaching them
dependence and submission, but signally
failed. After a struggle of two hundred and
eighty years Spanish civilization withdrew
and left the Pueblo civilization victorious.
Under successive Spanish, Mexican and
American rule the Pueblo has preserved
itself intact which fact stamps the Pueblo
people as being eminently valiant,
self-reliant and persevering. They are
peaceable, industrious and hospitable and
are said to be the best governed people in
the world. As nearly as can be ascertained
they are free from every gross vice and
crime and Mr. C. F. Lummis, who knows them
well, believes them to be a crimeless
people.
The Moquis of Arizona are the most primitive
of the Pueblo Indians and are worthy
representatives of their race. They are of
the Aztecan branch of the Shoshonean family
and probably the lineal descendents of the
cliff dwellers. Their home is on the Painted
Desert in northeastern Arizona where they
have lived for many centuries. It is a
barren and desolate spot and has been
likened to Hades with its fires
extinguished. Nevertheless it is an
exceedingly interesting region and furnishes
many attractions. The landscape is highly
picturesque and the phantasmagoric effects
of the rarified atmosphere are bewitching.
In the early Spanish days Moqui land was
designated as the Province of Tusayan and
was shrouded in mystery. The seven Moqui
towns were at one time regarded as the seven
Cities of Cibola, but later it was decided
that Zuni and not Moqui was the true Cibola.
When Coronado, at the head of his intrepid
army, marched through the land in the year
1540, he procured native guides to aid him
in exploring the country, hoping to find
fabulous wealth which failed to materialize.
He heard of a race of giants whom he wished
to meet, but instead of finding them
discovered a river with banks so high that
they "seemed to be raised three or four
leagues into the air." What he saw was the
Colorado River with its gigantic canon walls
and wealth of architectural grandeur and
beauty. The bewildering sight naturally
astonished him as it does every beholder.
Think of a fissure in the earth over a mile
deep! But the Grand Canon of Arizona is more
that a simple fissure in the earth. It is
composed of many canons which form a
seemingly endless labyrinth of winding
aisles and majestic avenues--fit promenades
for the Gods.
The land of the Moquinos is full of
surprises and, although they are not all as
startling as the Grand Canon, they are
sufficiently striking to make Arizona a
wonderland that is second to none on the
continent.
The Moquis live in seven towns or pueblos
which are built upon three rocky mesas that
are many miles apart. The mesas are about
seven thousand feet above sea level and from
six to eight hundred feet higher than the
surrounding plain. Upon the first or eastern
mesa are located the three towns of Te-wa,
Si-chom-ovi and Wal-pi. Tewa is the newest
of the three towns and was built by the
Tehuan allies who came as refugees from the
Rio Grande after the great rebellion of
1680. They were granted permission to build
on the spot by agreeing to defend the Gap,
where the trail leaves the mesa, against all
intruders.
Upon the second or middle mesa are the towns
of Mi-shong-novi, Shi-pauli-ovi and
Shong-o-pavi; and on the third mesa is O-rai-bi,
which is the largest of the Moqui villages,
and equal to the other six in size and
population. The entire population of the
seven Moqui towns numbers about two thousand
souls.
In 1583 Espejo estimated that the Moquis
numbered fifty thousand, which, doubtless,
was an over estimate, as he has been accused
of exaggeration. However, since their
discovery their numbers have greatly
diminished and steadily continue to
decrease, as if it were also to be their
fate to become extinct like the ancient
cliff dwellers.
The Moqui Pueblos are well protected by
natural barriers upon all sides except
towards the south. Perched upon their high
mesas the people have been safe from every
attack of an enemy, but their fields and
flocks in the valley below were defenseless.
The top of the several mesas can only be
reached by ascending steep and difficult
trails which are hard to climb but easy to
defend. The paths on the mesas have been cut
deep into the hard rock, which were worn by
the soft tread of moccasined feet during
centuries of travel, numbering, perhaps,
several times the four hundred years that
are known to history.
The houses are built of stone and mortar,
and rise in terraces from one to five
stories high, back from a street or court to
a sheer wall. Some of the remodeled and
newly built houses have modern doors and
windows. The upper stories are reached from
the outside by ladders and stone stairways
built into the walls. The rooms are smoothly
plastered and whitewashed and the houses are
kept tidy and clean, but the streets are
dirty and unsanitary.
In these sky cities the Moquis live a
retired life that is well suited to their
quiet dispositions, love of home life and
tireless industry. The men are kind, the
women virtuous and the children obedient.
Indeed, the children are unusually well
behaved. They seldom quarrel or cry, and a
spoiled child cannot be found among them.
The Moquis love peace, and never fight among
themselves. If a dispute occurs it is
submitted to a peace council of old men,
whose decision is final and obeyed without a
murmur.
They are shy and suspicious of strangers,
but if addressed by the magic word lolomi,
their reserve is instantly gone. It is the
open sesame to their hearts and homes, and
after that the house contains nothing too
good to bestow upon the welcome guest. They
are true children of nature, and have not
yet become corrupted by the vices of white
civilization. The worst thing they do is
that the men smoke tobacco.
Their industries are few, but afford
sufficient income to provide for their
modest needs. They are primarily tillers of
the soil, and as agriculturists succeed
under circumstances that would wholly baffle
and discourage an eastern farmer. Several
years ago a man was sent out from Washington
to teach the Moquis agriculture, but before
a year had passed the teacher had to buy
corn from the Indians. They make baskets and
pottery, weave cloth and dress skins for
their own use and to barter in trade with
their neighbors. They like silver and have
skilled workmen who make the white metal
into beads and buttons and various trinkets
for personal adornment. They care nothing
for gold, and silver is their only money.
Chalchihuitl is their favorite gem and to
own a turquoise stone is regarded as an omen
of good fortune to the happy possessor.
Just how the Spaniards got the notion that
the Moquis loved gold and possessed vast
stores of that precious metal is not
apparent unless it be, as Bandelier
suggests, that it originated in the myth of
the El Dorado, or Gilded Man.[2] The story
started at Lake Guatanita in Bogota, and
traveled north to Quivera, but the wealth
that the Spaniards sought they never found.
Their journey led them over deserts that
gave them but little food and only a meager
supply of water, and ended in disaster.
The mesas are all rock and utterly barren,
and their supplies are all brought from a
distance over difficult trails. The water is
carried in ollas by the women from springs
at the foot of the mesa; wood is packed on
burros from distant forests; and corn,
melons and peaches are brought home by the
men when they return from their work in the
fields. A less active and industrious
people, under similar circumstances, would
soon starve to death, but the Moquis are
self-supporting and have never asked nor
received any help from Uncle Sam.
In the early morning the public crier
proclaims in stentorian tones from the
housetop the program for the day, which
sends everyone to his daily task. They are
inured to labor and do not count work as a
hardship. It is only by incessant toil that
they succeed at all in earning a living with
the scanty resources at their command, and
the only surprise is that they succeed so
well. There is scarcely an hour during the
day or night that men and women are not
either coming or going on some errand to
provision the home.
The men travel many miles every day going to
and from their work in the fields. If a man
owns a burro he sometimes rides, but usually
prefers to walk. What the burro does not
pack, the man carries on his back. He often
sings at his work, just as the white man
does in any farming community, and his song
sounds good.
The burro is the common carrier and, because
of his sterling qualities, is a prime
favorite in all of the pueblos. If he has
any faults they are all condoned except one,
that of theft. If he is caught eating in a
corn field he is punished as a thief by
having one of his ears cut off; and if the
offense is repeated he loses his other ear
in the same manner.
The area of tillable land is limited and is
found only in small patches, which cause the
farms to be widely scattered. The soil is
mostly sand which the wind drifts into dunes
that sometimes cover and destroy the growing
crops. The peach trees are often buried in
sand or only their top branches remain
visible. There are no running streams of
water and rains are infrequent.
Corn is the principal crop and support of
the Moquis. If there is a good crop the
surplus is stored away and kept to be used
in the future should a crop fail. The corn
is planted in irregular hills and cultivated
with a hoe. It is dropped into deep holes
made with a stick and covered up. There is
always enough moisture in the sand to sprout
the seed which, aided by an occasional
shower, causes it to grow and mature a crop.
The corn is of a hardy, native variety that
needs but little water to make it grow. The
grain is small and hard like popcorn and
ripens in several colors.
It is carried home from the field by the
men, and ground into meal by the women. The
sound of the grinding is heard in the street
and is usually accompanied by a song that
sounds weird but musical. The meal is ground
into different grades of fineness and when
used for bread is mixed with water to form a
thin batter which is spread by the hand upon
a hot, flat stone. It is quickly baked and
makes a thin wafer that is no thicker than
paper. When done it is removed from the
stone by the naked hand and is rolled or
folded into loaves which makes their prized
pici bread. It is said to be only one of
fifty different methods which the Moquis
have of preparing corn for the table, or
about twice the number of styles known to
any modern chef.
The Moqui woman is favored above many of her
sex who live in foreign lands. As a child
she receives much attention and toys galore,
as the parents are very fond of their
children and devote much time to their
amusement. They make dolls of their Katcinas
which are given to the children to play
with. A Katcina is the emblem of a deity
that is represented either in the form of a
doll carved out of wood, woven into a plaque
or basket, or painted on tiles and pottery.
There are between three and four hundred
Katcina dolls each one representing a
different divinity. When a doll is given to
a child it is taught what it means, thus
combining instruction with amusement. The
method is a perfect system of kindergarten
teaching, which the Moquis invented and used
centuries before the idea occurred to
Froebel.
When the girl is ten years old her education
properly begins and she is systematically
inducted into the mysteries of housekeeping.
At fifteen she has completed her curriculum
and can cook, bake, sew, dye, spin and weave
and is, indeed, graduated in all the
accomplishments of the finished Moqui
maiden. She now does up her hair in two
large coils or whorls, one on each side of
the head, which is meant to resemble a
full-blown squash blossom and signifies that
the wearer is of marriageable age and in the
matrimonial market. It gives her a striking
yet not unbecoming appearance, and, if her
style of coiffure were adopted by modern
fashion it would be something unusually
attractive. As represented by Donaldson in
the eleventh census report the handsome face
of Pootitcie, a maiden of the pueblo of
Sichomovi, makes a pretty picture that even
her white sisters must admire. After
marriage the hair is let down and done up in
two hard twists that fall over the
shoulders. This form represents a ripe,
dried squash blossom and means fruitfulness.
Her dress is not Spanish nor yet altogether
Indian, but is simple, comfortable and
becoming, which is more than can be said of
some civilized costumes. She chooses her own
husband, inherits her mother's name and
property and owns the house in which she
lives. Instead of the man owning and bossing
everything, as he so dearly loves to do in
our own civilization, the property and labor
of the Moqui husband and wife are equally
divided, the former owning and tending the
fields and flocks and the latter possessing
and governing the house.
The Moquis are famous for their games,
dances and festivals, which have been fully
described by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes in various
reports to the Smithsonian Institution. They
have many secret orders, worship the
supernatural, and believe in witchcraft.
Their great fete day is the Snake Dance,
which is held in alternate years at Walpi
and Oraibi, at the former place in the odd
year and at the latter place in the even
year, some time during the month of August.
It is purely a religious ceremony, an
elaborate supplication for rain, and is
designed to propitiate the water god or
snake deity.
Preliminary ceremonies are conducted in the
secret Kiva several days preceding the
public dance. The Kiva is an underground
chamber that is cut out of the solid rock,
and is entered by a ladder. It has but a
single opening on top on a level with the
street, which serves as door, window and
chimney. The room is only used by the men,
and is, in fact, a lodge room, where the
members of the several secret orders meet
and engage in their solemn ceremonials. It
is a sacred place, a holy of holies, which
none but members of a lodge may enter, and
is carefully guarded.
The snakes used in the dance are all wild,
and captured out on the open plain. Four
days prior to the dance the snake men,
dressed in scanty attire and equipped with
their snake-capturing paraphernalia, march
out in squads and scour the surrounding
country in search of snakes. One day each is
spent in searching the ground towards the
four points of the compass, in the order of
north, west, south and east, returning at
the close of each day with their catch to
the Kiva, where the snakes are kept and
prepared for the dance. The snakes caught
are of several varieties, but much the
largest number are rattlesnakes. Respect is
shown for serpents of every variety and none
are ever intentionally harmed, but the
rattlesnake is considered the most sacred
and is proportionately esteemed. Its forked
tongue represents lightning, its rattle
thunder and its spots rain-clouds. The
number of snakes they find is surprising, as
they catch from one to two hundred during
the four days' hunt on ground that might be
carefully searched by white men for months
without finding a single reptile.
The snake men are very expert in catching
and handling serpents, and are seldom
bitten. If one is bitten it is nothing
serious, as they have a secret medicine
which they use that is both prophylactic and
curative, and makes them immune to the
poison so that no harm ever results from a
bite. The medicine is taken internally and
also applied locally. Efforts have been made
to discover its composition but without
success. If a snake is located which shows
fight by the act of coiling it is tickled
with a snake-whip made of eagle's feathers,
which soon soothes its anger and causes it
to uncoil and try to run away. It is then
quickly and safely caught up and dropped
from the hand into a bag carried for that
purpose.
Visitors who attend the dance are under no
restrictions, but are free to come and go as
they please, either sightseeing or in search
of curios. If the visitor has a supply of
candy, matches and smoking-tobacco to give
away he finds frequent opportunities to
bestow his gifts. The children ask for "canty,"
the women want "matchi," and the men are
pleased with a "smoke."
On the morning of the dance both the men and
women give their hair an extra washing by
using a mixture of water and crushed
soap-root. The white fibers of the soap-root
get mixed with the hair, which gives it a
tinge of iron gray. The children also get a
bath which, because of the great scarcity of
water, is not of daily occurrence.
To the Moquis the snake dance is a serious
and solemn affair, but to the visitors it is
apt to be an occasion for fun and frolic.
Owing to a misunderstanding of its true
meaning, and because of misconduct in the
past on similar occasions, notice is posted
on the Kiva asking visitors to abstain from
loud laughing and talking. In other words it
is a polite request made by the rude red man
of his polished (?) white brother to please
behave himself.
The dance begins late in the afternoon and
lasts less than one hour, but while it is in
progress the action is intense. The snakes
are carried in a bag or jar from the Kiva to
the Kisa, built of cotton-wood boughs on one
side of the plaza, where the snakes are
banded out to the dancers. After much
marching and countermarching about the
plaza, chanting weird songs and shaking
rattles, the column of snake priests,
dressed in a fantastic garb of paint, fur
and feathers, halts in front of the Kisa and
breaks up into groups of three.
The carrier takes a snake from the Kisa puts
it in his mouth, and carries it there while
dancing. Some of the more ambitious young
men will carry two or more of the smaller
snakes at the same time. The hugger throws
his left arm over the shoulder of the
carrier and with his right hand fans the
snake with his feather whip. The gatherer
follows after and picks up the snakes as
they fall to the ground.
After the snakes have all been danced they
are thrown into a heap and sprinkled with
sacred corn meal by the young women. The
scattering of the meal is accompanied by a
shower of spittle from the spectators, who
are stationed on, convenient roofs and
ladders viewing the ceremony. Fleet runners
now catch up the snakes in handfuls and dash
off in an exciting race over the mesa and
down rocky trails to the plains below where
the snakes are returned unharmed to their
native haunts.
While the men are away disposing of the
reptiles the women carry out large ollas, or
jars, filled with a black liquid, which is
the snake medicine that is used in the final
act of purification by washing. When the men
return to the mesa they remove their regalia
and proceed to drink of the snake medicine
which acts as an emetic. With the remainder
of the concoction, and assisted by the
women, they wash their bodies free from
paint. After the men are all washed and
puked they re-enter the Kiva, where the long
fast is broken by a feast and the formal
ceremonies of the snake dance are ended.
The snake dance is annually witnessed by
many visitors who gather from different
sections of the country and even foreign
lands. As there are no hotels to entertain
guests every visitor must provide his own
outfit for conveyance, eating and sleeping.
Even water is scarce. Local springs barely
furnish enough water to supply the native
population; and when the number of people to
be supplied is increased from one to two
hundred by the visitors who attend the
dance, the water question becomes a serious
problem.
On the lower portion of the road which leads
up from the spring to the gap at Walpi on
the first mesa, the trail is over drifted
sand which makes difficult walking. To
remedy this defect in the trail, a path has
been made of flat stones laid in the sand,
which shows that the Moquis are quick to
recognize and utilize an advantage that
contributes to their convenience and
comfort.
The Santa Fe Pacific is the nearest
railroad, which runs about one hundred miles
south of the Moqui villages. The tourist can
secure transportation at reasonable rates of
local liverymen either from Holbrook,
Winslow, Canon Diablo or Flagstaff. The trip
makes an enjoyable outing that is full of
interest and instruction from start to
finish.
Some years ago the government, through its
agents, began to civilize and Christianize
these Indians and established a school at
Keam's Canon, nine miles east of the first
mesa, for that purpose. When the school was
opened the requisition for a specified
number of children from each pueblo was not
filled until secured by force. As free
citizens of the United States, being such by
the treaty made with Mexico in 1848 and,
indeed, already so under a system of
self-government superior to our own and
established long before Columbus discovered
America, they naturally resented any
interference in their affairs but, being in
the minority and overpowered, had to submit.
When the object of the school was explained
to them, they consented to receive secular
instructions but objected to any religious
teaching. They asked to have schools opened
in the pueblos on the plan of our public
schools where the children could attend
during the day and return home at night, and
their home life be not broken up, but their
prayer was denied.
The reservation school was opened for the
purpose of instructing the Moqui children in
civilization, but the results obtained have
not been entirely satisfactory. The methods
employed for enforcing discipline have been
unnecessarily severe and have given
dissatisfaction. As recently as the year
1903 the children of this inoffensive and
harmless people were forcibly taken from
their homes and put into the schools. The
time selected for doing the dastardly deed
was during the night in midwinter when the
weather was cold and the ground covered with
snow. Under the orders of the superintendent
the reservation police made the raid without
warning or warrant of any kind. While the
people slept, the police entered their
houses, dragged the little children from
their comfortable beds and drove them naked
out into the snow and cold, where they were
rounded up and herded like cattle.
The indignity and outrage of this and other
similar acts have embittered the Moquis
until they have lost what little respect
they ever had for Christianity and
civilization. The policy of the government
is to make them do whatever they do not want
to do, to break up the family and scatter
its members. The treatment has created two
factions among the Moquis known as the
"hostiles" who are only hostile in opposing
oppression and any change in their religious
faith and customs; and the "friendlies" who
are willing to obey the boss placed over
them and comply with his demands.
Religion is the dearest treasure of mankind,
and when assailed always finds ready
defenders. Possessed by this innate feeling
of right and rankling with the injustice of
the past, is it surprising that they should
spurn any proffered help? They remember what
they have suffered in the past and do not
care to repeat the experiment. To this day
the Moquis hold the mission epoch in
contempt and nothing could induce them to
accept voluntarily any proposition that
savored ought of the old regime. Every
vestige of that period has been obliterated
from the pueblos that nothing tangible
should remain to remind them of their
undeserved humiliation.
They are a highly religious people
worshiping after their own creed, and are
sincere and conscientious in their
devotions. Almost everything they do has
some religious significance and every day
its religious observance. Their religion
satisfies them and harms no one, then why
not leave them in peace? We believe that we
can benefit them, which is doubtless true,
but might they not also teach us some useful
lessons? It would sometimes be more to our
credit if we were less anxious to teach
others, and more willing to learn ourselves.
Next to their religion they love their homes
most. The rocks upon which they live, are
they not dear from associations? Is it not
the land of their birth and the home of
their fathers during many generations? They
cling with stubborn tenacity to their barren
mesas and nothing thus far has succeeded in
driving them away; neither war, pestilence
nor famine. Repeated attempts have been made
to induce them to leave, but without
success.
Tom Polaki, the principal man of Tewa, was
the first man to respond to the call to come
down. He left the mesa several years ago,
and went to the plain below to live. Having
captured the bell wether it was presumed
that the balance of the flock would soon
follow, but the contrary proved to be true.
At the foot of the bluff near a spring on
the road that leads up to the gap Tom built
a modern house and tried to imitate the
white man. But the change did not suit him,
and after living in his modern house for a
number of years, he finally sold it and
returned to his old home on the mesa. A few
others at different times have tried the
same experiment with no better success. The
man would stay for a short time in the house
provided for him, but never made it a
permanent home for his family.
That the Moquis are changing is best
illustrated by reference to one of their
marriage customs. It is the custom when a
youth contemplates matrimony to make a
marriage blanket. He grows the cotton, spins
the yarn and weaves the cloth, which
requires a year or more of time to finish.
Since the children have gone to school it is
not deemed necessary for a young man to go
to so much trouble and expense as to make a
marriage blanket, but instead, he borrows
one from a friend in the village, and after
the ceremony is over returns it to the
owner. Even now it is not easy to find such
a blanket, and very soon they will be
priceless as no more such garments will be
made.
The only reasonable explanation why any
people should select a location like that of
the Moquis is on the hypothesis of choice.
There is much of the animal in human nature
that is influenced by instinct, and man,
like the brute, often unconsciously selects
what is most congenial to his nature. Thus
instinct teaches the eagle to nest on the
highest crag and the mountain sheep to
browse in pastures which only the hardiest
hunter dare approach. For no better reason,
apparently, do the Moquis occupy their
barren mesas; they simply prefer to live
there above any other place.
Safety has been urged as a motive for their
conduct but it alone is not a sufficient
reason for solving the problem. Their
position is safe enough from attack but in
the event of a siege their safety would only
be temporary. With their scant water supply
at a distance and unprotected they could not
hold out long in a siege, but would soon be
compelled either to fight, fly or famish.
Again, if safety was their only reason for
staying, they could have left long ago and
had nothing to fear, as they have been for
many years at peace with their ancient enemy
the predatory Navajo. But rather than go
they have chosen to remain in their old home
where they have always lived, and will
continue to live so long as they are left
free to choose.
The modern iconoclast in his unreasonable
devotion to realism has, perhaps, stripped
them of much old time romance, but even with
all of that gone, enough of fact remains to
make them a remarkable people. Instead of
seeking to change them this last bit of
harmless aboriginal life should be spared
and preserved, if possible, in all of its
native purity and simplicity.
