Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-13
A CHILD OF THE sun.
SOME FRESH DISCOVERIES MADE BY
FRANK CUSHING.
At Work Among His Old Friends, tho
Zuni Indians-Remains of an Ancient
City In Arizona-Secret Societies of tho
Zunis.

Frank Cushing, who achieved fame few
years ago by his notable connection with the
Zuni Indians, has been interviewed by re-
| porter. Mr.. Cushing is working director
| of the iHemenway Southwestern archao-
logical expedition, conducted under the aus
| pices of the United States bureau of ethnol-
| ogy, of the Smithsonian institution, OF which
! Sylvester Baxter is the secretary and Pro
! fessor Adolphus F. Baudelier is the Spanish
| historian. The work now being done by the
expedition is properly continuation of Zuni
chronological researches originally begun by
Mr.. Gushing some six years ago.
| This Zuni country is in New Mexico, not
! far from the Arizona line, in a desolate coun-
| try of volcanic production, where the houses,
| mostly three story, are built Of stone, ter
race shaped and plastered with mud. There
| are no doors or windows in the lower stories,
| the ascent being made on the outside by
means of ladders which may be drawn up so
/ as to cut off all communication. This peo-
| pie, the Zuni Indians Of New Mexico and
! Arizona, are now mere handful of not many
! more than 900, Mr.. Cushing said, but in their
keeping is wonderful history which per-
petuates an ancient cultus related to that of
the Toltecs, the Aztecs and the Incas.
| BY living among the tribe Mr.. Cushing has
made great gain for chronological learning.
| The motives that promoted the expedition
were various. On Mr.. Cushings part there
was, first of all, the advancement of his work
by strengthening the ties between the people
and himself, and second, the good of the
people. by arousslig them to a desire for edu-
cation and advancement through what had
been seen in the east, as the Zunis-or a num-
Der of the chief men of Zuni-had made
trip, under Mr.. Cushing's guidance, to Wash
ington and to the Atlantic, or ''the ocean of
SUNRISE" which was to them land of fable.
WATER FROM THE ATLANTIC.
A senior priest advanced what was to Mr..
Cushing an important reason for undertake
ing the trip, namely: To bring back to Zuni
sacred water from ''the ocean of sunrise or
''the waters of the world of day."
The primary reason for taking the "water
that brings rain and the water of the sacred
medicine altar" as the Zunis term it, from
the Atlantic ocean was the position of the
latter with reference to the sun. Nai-iu-tche,
the senior priest of the Order of the Bow,
promised Mr. Cushing entrance into the
Order of the Ka-ka as a reward for the great
service of conducting them TO the ocean.
Otherwise entrance could not have been OBJ
tanned without marriage into the tribe. The
Zunis say that their gods brought them to a
dry and sterile country for a home, but that
their forefathers taught them the prayers
and songs whereby that land might be blessed
with rain. They therefore addressed their
prayers to the spirits dwelling in the ocean,
the home of all water, as the source from
which their blessings came. They believe
their prayers brought the clouds from the
ocean, guided by the spirits of their ances-
tors and the clouds gave the rain. These
prayers could not be efficacious, however,
without the help of a drop of ocean water to
start them Alright.
A most wonderful and most recent discov-
cry mentioned by Mr.. Cushing the find
ing of the remains of a large city that be-
longed to the Zunis. and which must have
gone down in ruin and burial as much as
eleven centuries ago. Mr.. Cushings work
men are still engaged in excavating and
bringing more of this inferred city TO light.
The evidences apparent incline the scientist
(Air. Cushingl to the belief that the topcg-
raphy of the country round about this newly
discovered city, which is fifteen miles east by
southeast from Phoenix, on Salt river, in
Arizona, was very materially changed by
terrible earthquakes at about that period Of
time, and that the destruction of this ancient
Zuni city of the results. Develop
ments thus far made indicate that it was
compactly built city, about two by three
miles in area; that its streets we're macadam-
lied, and that a plentiful number of aque-
ducts extended through the city, affording
an abundance of irrigation.
A ''CHILD OF THE SUM-
"After four months in Zuni, early in 1880,
! was counted one of the Children of the
Sun" said Mr.. Cushing. AZ learned Of the
existence of thirteen orders or societies, some
of which We're actually esoteric, others of
less strict nature, but all most deliberately or
ganized and of definitely graded rank rela-
tive to one another. Their existence is a fact
of ethnologic Importance.
'Functionally, these orders are Invisible
into four classes: Those of War, Of the
Priesthood, of Medicine and of the Chase.
OF the first class (Martial) there is but one
society-the A-pi-thaln-shi-wa-ni, or the
Priests of the Bow at once the most power
ful and the most perfectly organized of all
native associations, in some respects resent
bling the Masonic order, being strictly secret
or esoteric 1t is possessed of twelve degrees,
distinguished by distinctive badges.
early learning this, strove for nearly
two years to gain membership in it, which
would secure at once standing with the tribe
and entrance to all sacred meetings as well
as eli5i bility to the head chieftaincies. l
succeeded and the memory of my expert
ences in this connection are to me the most
interesting chapter of my Zuni life.
For the Zuni there is city of the living
and another for the dead. As the living may
wander through far countries, so may the {
dead return to their birthland, or pass over
from one ocean 10 another. Possibly, at some
remote period the ancestors of the ZuniS have I
believed in the transmigration of the soul. /
Their belief today, howe ver, relative 20 the |
future life is spiritualistic. San Francisco |
Examiner.
Plants and the Electric Light.
According to Berlin paper some dis
agreeable results have followed the cleo /
tric lighting of the Winter palace at St /
Petersburg. the intense brilliancy of the /
light having been found to cause dire de- |
struction among the ornamental plants /
used for the decoration OF the banQueting /
halls Il appears that the complete illu- 1
mination of the rooms for a single night I
is enough 10 cause the leaves 10 turn vel
low and dry up, and ultimately to fall of 1
The damage 70 the celebrated collection Of |
palms at the palace is especially serious I
II is supposed that the injury is princi- 4
paily due 10 the sudden change from the
sunless days Of the northern winter and 4
from the subdued light of the plant houses
TO the binding light of the banoueting
halls. Ii has been shown beyond a doubt
that the rapidity of the injurious action
and the amount are directly proportional
to the intensity OF the illumination, and