The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-30

|
 dead of winter, threw the young Amer
 ican into an almost fatal spell of pneu-
 monla. While his new friends were
 tenderly nursing him he improved his
 time by practicng their language. The
 old chief performed 0 weird ceremony
 over him, christened him Medicine
 Flower" and claimed him as q foster
 brother. Three other Zunis were made
 his father, mother and sister by adop-
 tion
 Another story told of Cushing relates
 how his diplomacy enabled him to re-
 main friendly to the Zunis without suc-
 cumbing to pressure which they exerted
 to enforce his marriage with several
 young squaws of the pueblo. The chief,
 his foster brother, contended all along
 that he must not continue in bachelor
 hood. Such a life would cause him dis
 honor among the people. Several eligl- ble maidens were designated to bring articles to his room. Such was the first step in Zuni matchmaking. Gushing had learned that making a present In payment for such services was polite
 method employed by zuni swains to in- dicate their unwillingness to enter an l
 ors in this way. The Indians, however, regarded these actions as unfriendly to l their blood. Their younger brother finally promised them. as reward for | letting the matrimonial question drop,
 that he would take five of them east to
 the great ocean of the sunrise" There
 they could obtain sacred water to be
 used in their ceremonies. After spend-
 ing three years in Zuni he made this
 promise good. He took the five braves
 to Boston and thence to the Massachu-
 setts coast They waded out into the l sea, and, uttering strange incantations 1 the while, filled several large vases with salt water. This sacred fluid Is still employed by their priests in the per formance of certain religious offices.
 Returning with the five pilgrims, Med icine Flower brought with him a beau- tiful young American bride, the envy of
 every Zuni maidens heart
 Learning that the Zunis had among them thirteen priesthoods, each of which employed intricate ceremonials of a ee- cret nature, Cushing became eager to investigate them He joined the most sacred of these orders, "the Priesthood of the Bow" whose members were alone entitled to witness the secret doings of the other twelve. His favorita stories related to his initiation, into this order. He was required to abstain from oil or flesh for four days. He was also made to divest himself of his apparel and to sit thus upon an ant-hill for several hours in the sum- The latter ordeal can only be appreciated by those familiar with the stinging qualities of the ants inhabiting this region. To break his four-days fast he was required to eat leavened mush baked in corn husks The leaven for this delicacy was fur nished by number of old women who chewed corn until it became thoroughly molstened and then emitted it into a bowl, where 1t was allowed to ferment. In such condition 1t served as yeast His admission to this priesthood gave him an important insight into Zuni my thology. He finally became chief coun- cilor of the tribe, and upon his depar- ture left his adopted kinsmen sick at heart. But the ordeals of Zuni life, suf- fered for the benefit of science, contrib | uted greatly to the wrecking of his health
 Tn 1886 Gushing returned to the Zuni territory to make excavations, which re- suited in his being called "the Schlie- mann of the new world" During his five years in the pueblo he had heard numerous traditions, suggesting to him that the 'seven cities of Cibola." vague ly described in ancient records of Coro- nado a. Spaniard who captured them in l 1540, had once f1ourished upon this soil. As industriously and ingeniously as Schleman worked to uncover the vast | ruins of ancient Troy, did Gushing strive to exhume these crumbled strong holds of the new world. Gangs of men were put to work digging in several To- calities, with the result that the most l extravagant expectations were realized. Thousands of rare relics taken from this ground are now installed in the Pea body museum, Cambridge. In the Salt l river valley, southern Arizona, his ex- petition unearthed also twenty thou | sand rare relics, hundreds of prehistoric | skeletons and thirty-fve blocks of ru- | ined houses, covering twenty-five hum | dred acres.
 A no less surprising find was made by | this, same brilliant man four years ago | in the "Ten Thousand Islands, along 1 the gulf coast of Florida. Here he ex- cavated vast ruins, representing hun dreds of cities, once the empire of a lost | race, numbering high into the thou sands or perhaps millions. MT. Cush- ing once told me that these people | reached the height of their proud but primitive civilization, perhaps a thou sand years before Christ, and that in his opinion they approximated the early Aztecs.
 The last field work of the great eth noogist and archaeojpgist occurred on island, off the coast of Maine, whither he went last year to make a reconnaissance. He hoped to re- turn to this region for more careful study of promising ruins found there.
 Old Chief Palowahtiwa who, though leaf and decrepit from age. still lives to rule over the Zunis, has been advised oy the bureau of ethnology of the death