The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-11

many new THINGS, ana DlOuEAL lACHl
peach seeds, and horses and mules and
sheep, but also made the people captive,
and forced them to build churches and
drag trees across the desert from the
mountains to the WeSt-"also they inter-
fered with the songs and prayers of the
Hopituh. They went away and the
churches rotted down, and the Hopituh
returned to their own beloved dances and
ceremonies, and songs. They were at
peace for many years, but the Ute and the
Navajo still threatened, therefore they
kept to their high rock Then at last
many years later came other white men
whittier than the men from the south.
These men had no iron coats. They wore
blue clothas-blIse as tl.e jayDird-and
they brought priests and women who
taught the children to look understand
ingly on white leaves. This white man
said to the Navajo, You no come to hurt
the Hopr; to the Ute, You keep on your
own land. Hopi people velly well Like the
Panama"
1T took fear of man to set these villages
on these nights. AS I approached Walpi
L could hardly believe anything living
was upoN it. The houses, massive, dirt
colored fiat and square as rocks, secreted
themselves upon the cliff like turtles. The
first evidence of life was small field OF
corn set deep in 1.-The wash" or dry river
bed. Then an old man watching it-seated
beneath a shade of pinon boughs. Then
some peach trees knee deep in sand. Then
some red-roof houses build by the govern
ment. By this time l could see tiny ng-
ures moving about on the high lodges ana
on the roofs of the houses. Up the trail
a man on a burro was driving flock OF
sheep and goats. He wore light cotton
trousers and a calico shirt. His legs were
bare, and on his head was a straw hat.
Further up the train some old women
were toiling with huge bottles OF water
slung on their backs. From the moment
l entered that trail l was deep In the ele-
mental past Here was life reduced TO
its simplest form. Houses of heavy walls,
with interiors like cellars or caves, set for
defence upon a cliff. Here were fiat roofs,
thick. to keep out the sun and to make a
doorway for the next tier of houses above.
Here were nude children with tangled mar,
wild as colts and fleet as antelopes, dane
ing on crags as high as church spires
Here were dogs just one remove from
wolves-solemn dogs, able to climb lad
der Here were men and women seated
upon the floor and eating from plaques
Of willow and bowls Of clay of their own
shaping and burning.
1t was all strange, remote, elementary
primitive. 1t grew more so as l got deep
er into their way of living. They war
with drought and sand storms, therefore
they have but one crop-corni one meat
mutton. Some few peaches and sort
of tasteless melon they raise, but their
main food is corn, of which they make
much. and a sort of tough, heavy bread
which is much better than 1t looks, be-
eng very sweet and nutritious. Their
mutton they roast and stew, ana II Is
often very good. The corn is ground by
the women, who rub par OF stone up
and down a slab, like a laundreSs TOLL
ing at a washboard In every house there
is a corner set aside for the mealing
trough. and almost any hour OF the day
the dull rasD of the netate can be heard
accompanied by the low grunt OF the Wo-
men. The arrangement OF each room Is
practically the same. In one corner is the
fireplace. In another the mealing trough.
on the whitewashed walls hang prayer
ernblems of feathers and willow twigs, ana
CAV dolls made in the images Of deties.
Fine Jars and bowls stand about nlled
with water or meal, or fruit. Navajo
blankets are folded and laid along the
walls Bags stuffed with ceremonial
dresses are suspended from the ceiling
in the corners. In the back wall are open
ings to other rooms One leads by a
notched tree trunk to a dark chamber
a storeroom The other Ga mere cat hole)
leads to a sort of cellar where grain
and fruit are kept If the family Is
wealthy there may be other rooms con-
nected in like manner-siX or elght' or
ten, all much alike.
These cliff people are a busy folk. The
women grind meal and weave blankets
and baskets, and make very interesting,
and often beautiful pottery. The old
men make moccasins very deftly while
the younger men so down from the clin
to the fields to tend the growing crop, to
watch the struggling corn as it battles
against drifting hot sand and against sud
den ffoods-such are the eXtremeties of
their climate. Each morning while l was
in Hano 1 heard the men at early dawn
go singing down the steep trail-down
into the purple plain Their quaverins
songs floated up to me with a strange
beauty. Each morning, while 1t was still
dark, the women woke me by entering
the room where l lay, to grind corn, and
each night l went to sleep to the regular
rhythm of the mealing stone timed to the
mystical religious chant of the toiling
women
Let it be said that there is no woman
slavery among these people any more
than among the Navajos. The women
are chief property holders. The house is
generally the woman's, and descent is
through her and not through the father
The men are seldom severe in manner
and in Acoma and Walpi, as well as in
Laguna and Zuni, l saw the men taking
care of the babies, and doing 1t with
great TENDERNESS ana S0lllDB pdlleHGc.
saw no evidence OF any severity except
in case Of the old women. They seemed
to be the drudges of the household in
Walpi and in Acoma. carrying wood and
bottles of water up the steep trail, bent
withered, morose and mplaining. They
alone of all these people seemed saturn
inc. They were not smitten with rods,
they were merely ignored or ordered about
by the younger women. Incredible en-
durance was in their skinny limbs and
the querulous complaint of a vagabond
dog was in their eyes. They were the
exception. The other members OF the
village were very social in habit.
The houses are heavily built of stone
and heaped together, sometimes four
stories high with many inner rooms. This
is for defense primarily and for warmth
in winter. In Acoma the houses are built
in long rows with a blank wall to the
north This throws the open doors and
the windows toward the sun in winter.
Often the houses are built around an open
court. In earlier days the doorways were
very small, so that upon attack the cliff
people could hold at bay the Apache or
Navajo. Now they use wooden doors and
American window sashes When he built
in the cliff wall the cliffman conformed
to the lodges, but his living room WIS