The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-14

to run for their homes but before they could reach the walls of the pueblo the ground opened and they were all swal- lowed up. Then darkness covered the sky, and for many hours the shrieks of those who had been left within the city walls were heard above the sounds of the falling of their homes. When light came again there was not a sign of habitation left upon all the wide mesa. Nearly the whole tribe had been swept away But some of them were saved. In one place where the ground opened 1t had partly closed again, leaving two separate mesas upon it's sides. The lower was broader than the upper, and, moreover, opened out into the channel Of a great stream, but the upper was cut off from approach either by ascent or from their brethren below. At the bottom life might be supported on fish and stray fowl and on the sides of their rocky prison grew bushes and stunted trees which yielded an abundance of berries and pineholes in season. So the little band set about to be in life again. First of all they sought to build path to their imprisoned brothers on the up- PNi t'SSei' ASil lluIllbeIS were lCN, and they had only such rude imple- ments at hand as might be made from the tough young saplings. Each day saw them painfully and slowly advan- cling upward, but each day told upon the hungry and suffering people in the aerial prison. As the days passed by the workers made feverish haste Sometimes, when the winds were still they could hear the cries of anguish and distress floating out upon the still air. Then they would see the glaring eager eyes, as the despairing creatures hung over the precipice and shouted for aid. At times the steady monotone of the workers would be broken by shriek, and, glancing upward, they would see between them and the sun the body of some one of their demented kindred, who had hurled himself into the abyss
 At last the workers reached the sum- init, but to their horror not one of their kinsmen was left. Strewed about in all manner of shapes were the remains of their loved ones and friends Their famine-stricken faces would have told the story of their death, if it had not al ready been known. Sadly, and after the barbaric rights of their people, the remains were committed to their final rest, and their companions returned to what seemed hopeless lives below
 But the Ava-Supis were brave and patient, even in the shadow of despair. | They set about and gathered large | quantities of the fruits and nuts, stor- ing them away for the winter season. The fish they dried to the same purpose. Then they resolved to continue the road from the upper mesa still upward, with the hope that perhaps they might reach | their old homes The work was slow | Almost a generation had passed before | they reached the broad mesa where | once had been their homes. They saw nothing. The plains stretched away on | every side in utter barrenness. Their only home, after all, was down in the deep canon where the Great Spirit had sent them. Sorrowfully they returned, and yet with lighter hearts than they had known for many days Most of them now had been born in the shadow | of the mighty walls. There they would be contented to live, and, perhaps if | they accepted the vengeance that had been visited upon their fathers and themselves in due meekness of spirit, it would not be counted against them when they died and reached their home
 behind the stars.
 The tradition continues to relate how men from other tribes, generations af- terward found the pathway hewn with so much toll and care, and came and settled among the Ava-Supis. Gradu- ally intercourse sprang up with the out
 side world. From the Moqui villages
 they obtained seeds of many kinds, and grew into semi civilized pursuits.
 All traditions have more or less foun- dation, though sometimes, and, indeed, often it is very meagre. It is possible
 that the narrow detile which is now the
 happy home of the Ava-Supis was the
 result of one of those fearful earth
 quakes which in times past were not at
 all uncommon In these attitudes The
 mesa above is covered for miles around
 with debris and volcanic deposit, indi-
 eating a mighty earth disturbance at
 some time.--St. Louis Globe-Democrat