Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1875-12-10
MI q INDIANS.


coma occupied by the Moqui Indians, a
tribe differing 50 widely in their habits
aud customs from the ordinary tribes
of North American Indians as to lead
to the supposition that they spring
from a distinct race. They are q gen
tie, peace-loving people, and. unlike
the wilder tribes, do moi follow the
chase, but in q rude way cultivate the
soil, from which they gain a scanty
supply Of corn and some of the COM
o n vegetables.
Cattle, sheep and goats which they
raise in considerable numbers, find
perennial pastnrage in the valleys ard
on the slopes leading uptoths "mesas'
upon which their towns are built.
Their h~abitations, which are built of
stone, bear evidence of having been
erected at a period antedating the dis
covery of this continent, and are still
substantial edifices, that give promise
Of remaining after the remnant Of the
tribe shall have passed away.
These houses are frequently four
stories high, each successive story re-
csding like terraces on a hillside, and
arc so connected Is to make it uncer-
tain where one house ends or the other
begins. The architecture of these
buildings bears q striking similarity to
that of the ruins of ancient buildings
found in many parts of Arizona, and
which are not unfrequently met along
the course Of the Colorado and San
Juan rivers. The non of the Moqui
tribe, unlike the average Ind an, per-
form field labor, and gather and garner
their crops with a frugality which may
be the outgrowth Of necessity, but
which seems to be the effect OF a re-
mote but not to be underrated civiliza-
ton, which their traditions claim as
having at q time prevailed through
out the present territories of Arizona
and New Mexico, and the adjacent
states Of Sonora and Sinaloa, in Mex
loo. The women, as in other tribes, do
not bear the burdens while the men
lounge in idleness and indulge in the
vices incident to barbaric life, but are
busted with domestic duties. They
wear, in . primitive sort of way, such
blankets IS can not be woven on the
best looms that the inventive talent OF
Europe or America can produce, and
which are equalled only by those
made by the Navaioes, a neighboring
tribe, whose tastes and Of life
closely correspond with their own. Pos
sessing q country isolated by great
stretches Of arid desert, and almost i'm
penetrable mountain ranges aud spurs,
the warlike Comanches, Apaches and
Arapahoes, whose hand is against ev-
cry man, have not molested them, and
they have, since their history has been
known among us, pursued their inno-
cent %svocations u~ndisturbed by the tur
moil of contending tribes, or the ag-
gressive innovations of the restless
immigrant whose search for Arcadia
IL too often marked by t~reachery and
injustice.
The tribe, whose traditions point to
. remote time when their people COW
cred . vast region over which the ru.
ins Of ancient villages and fortified
towns are thickIy scattered, has now
dwindled TO q mere handful-less than
iva thousand-and the empty, moss.
grown houses that line the ancient
courts aud streets of their seven re-
manning towns, give melancholy evi'
deuce that the gentle race Is rapidly
passing away. Among the long lisI
Of American pastoral triSss, the
Moquis, In their love Of agricultural
pursuits, their affection for their off
spring, the consideration with which
they treat their women, the interest
they take in manufactures, as illus
trsted in the production OF blankets
wooden cloths, pottery. etc., the ab.
sence, In their midst, Of firearms OF
other implements Of war, the love Of
home and the t additions that cluster
srouhd It, their horror of contention,
and their shrinking modesty Of de-
meanor msrk them, II not . separate
type, - . tribe occupying an advanced
position In intelligence aud civilization.
They have been i~mportuned to re-
move TO more fertile regions, but have
invariably refused to do SO, preferring
to remain on the prehistoric spot, and
preserve the traditions and the results
OF the labors Of . long line Of ances
tors whose pesceful triumphs crowned
lives that were simple, earnest and
fruitful.
At His DEATH BED.-We learn from
the ReVeiNe that the wife Of Andrew
Gsasmayou arrived from San Fran