Arizona republican., 1899-05-12

unknown to history. I know of no more interesting than that of the crea ton of fire.
 "There is a great deal more to learn with the Moquis, but every year robs them of more and more of their abo- riginap traits Tn ten years time be- lieye their racial distinction will have entirely disappeared. In the absence of an epidemic, a census which I took several years ago shows the tribe can about hold it's own in point of nun 'bers The outbreak of smallpox, which forced me to return east, is likely to carry off a great many Of the Moquis. and a loss Of this sort can, never be made up.
 Besides this Gecimation of the tribe within the last year white people have taken to going to the village in num- bers. The village is located about eighty miles west of the Grand canyon and thirty miles from the Santa Fe raiiroad- The railroad people have been running excursions from the road to the village at the time the snake dance, the flute dance and the basket dance have taken place. The excur sionists have been loaded into four mule wagons, driven to the village, where they camped that night; wit . messed the dances and returned to the railroad the following day This has caused the Indians to learn the ways of the white man in enc respect-they ask every visitor to contribute some money in return for the privilege of seeing the dance, and in this way quite a deal of money is put into circulation among them. When I first knew them they did not know what it was to have money.
 ''By nature the Mcquis are a peace full people. They are short of stature and slight. At first they chung very closely to the customs of their ances- tors and resented the first attempt made to introduce the white mans ed- ucation among them. I remember when I first visited them years ago, just after it had been decided to try to ed ucate them, a young lieutenant Of caF- airy with six men rode over to my camp from the railroad to get somc information about the Moquis. He was on his way to another village, a larger one, where he proposed to en force the government order that some of the Indian children be sent to an Indian school, a building for which had ben erected fifteen miles distant The lieutenant wanted me to go with him, but I refused, because it would have been fatal to my plan to learn the In- dian rites
 "The cavalrymen camped with me that night, and the next morning rcda over to the other village. That after. noon they returned, but without any children. The lieutenant said that when he reached the village he found every inhabitant armed and saw tha- if he attempted any force he and hiS soldiers would be wiped out He said he was going back ito the railroad and telegraph for four companies of cav airy to come to his assistance. The Indians, he said, would be made to give up their children
 '.The day went by and all sorts Of rumors began to circulate as to what was going to happen. I had learned the Indian language fairly well, and the old chiefs told me that over at the ether village they believed the whole United States army, whatever that was. was coming. A few days later I no- ticed commotion among the Indians. and saw away out on the prairie long line of blue marching in our direction. It proved to be the four companies of regulars, headed by major, now adju- tant general, Corbin. The troops went into camp on the mesa below the cliff where the obstinate villagers lived. I camped with them, and the next morn ing Major Corbin sent a message up to the Indians to send down six of their chiefs for barley
 After a while the chiefs came down and were very meek indeed. After a bit the colonel ordered an advance, and we marched up to the village. What was our amaZement to find the place deserted. There was not an h. dian in sight. But at last one of cur prisoners told us that they were out on the point-that is, a point of land stretching out north away from the village and out of sight of the dwell ings. We followed this up and found it to be true. There they were, hud- .dled together, 800 men, women and children, expecting to be killed, I sup pose. They had no idea there were so many white men in the world, and were simply terrified at the thought that Washington-for to the Indian every government official and the gov ernment is Washington-had come ou. in such array against them.
 'MajCr COrbin talked to. them anj explained how impossible it was for them to resist Washington and how their children were going to be edu- cated whether they wanted them to be or not Just to emphasize his words about the power of the soldiers, the major ordered one of the two noun tain howitzers discharged Now thos4 howitzers carried very ugly little shell about a mile out on the mesa, where it tore the sand up and dug si big hole. The Indians were. almost paralyzed with fright, except enc of the chiefs whom the troops were hold ing as hostage. At the report of the gun he went over the side of the cliff. which must have been at least twenty feet high, as if he had been shot. and though the troops fired in the direction he had gone and hunted for him, WE never saw him again.
 After parleying a while lcnger, Ma