The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-03
THE LAST OF THE AvA-SuPIS.
PASSING or THE MOST INTEREST
ING TRIBE IN THE SOUTHWEST.


stricken Handful Hu<IdIed I'm
Narrow Canon Aboriginal in
Their Uncontaminated Simplicity.
A Democratic Tribe of Uncommon
Neutrality-suspicious. and Legends.
From the New York Post.
Ontario Calm a dozen years more
the Ava-Supis, the most interesting print
tive tribe in the Southwest, will proba-
bly, have disappeared from the face of
the earth. The tribal traditions have it
that there was once over 1850 Ava Supis,
and that they were worthy antagonists
of the warlike Apaches. Now there are
less than 12O, and they ere miserably poor
and pitifully accomplishing amid their
misfortunes. Kit Carson believes there
were about 5000 Ava-Supis when he scout
ed in the Southwest in the forties. Form
erly the tribe had great bands of horses
and herds of cattle, and were peaceful
masters of northern Arizona, except
where the more powerful and warlike
Navejos ranged. Now the detected sur
Vivors live in a narrow canon made by
sixty miles northwest of Williams Sta
ton. on the Santa Fe Railroad. The
Canon is known as Cataract Canon, and
how any human being can get a living
there is the first question visitor asks.
Evidence abounds that Cataract Canon
mas been occupied by human beings for
many generations The Ava-Supis have
tradition that part of the tribe of
their forefathers' fed there to hide them
selves among the rocky caves and I'll
tanic boulders. The tribe was at war
with the Zunis then for four years. and
IN two summer seasons each tribe lost
over 1900 of its finest warriors. The ap-
proach to the canon is by narrow,
tortuous trail, which descends from the
broad plateau above winding in and out
between the towering walls and preci-
plces. In some places the passageway be-
tween the rocks is less than yard wide,
and Indians going that way with their
aboriginal weapons of warfare would
have to walk in single file. In some places
1t is so narrow that a person with a
burden finds it difficult to avoid pitching
into the depths below. No other tribe in
the country occupies such an inaccessible
locality. White men never go there unless
on science bent.
Through the center of the little valley
flows cold, clear stream fed by the
mountain SHOWS of the distant Bill Will
liams Peak. The current is rapid, and the
power is utilized in crude way for grind
ing the grain, which is one of the prin-
cipal crops of this Arcadian people At
the lower end of the stream the water is
diverted into acequias. which carry it to
the fertile fields Irrigation is necessary
for all crops, as the rain clouds seldom
fbafy- so+a
ley, and the snow never falls. The soil
is a rich, black loan, made by the debris
left in overhows of an adjacent branch
of the Colorado through untold seasons.
1t produces, in addition to various kinds
of grain peaches, grapes, mesquite beans,
and a species of guava.
Cut off as the Ava-Supis have been
from all other tribes and from the out
side world during the last half-century
of mighty changes among all the red men
of the West, they have known less of
the vicissitudes of the Indian tribes than
any other red people. Very few Of the
Ava-Supis have ever been twenty miles
from their canon home. Not one in twenty
of the ablest bucks have ever so much
as heard a bell ring or looked upon a
railroad train. Only ten years ago they
had never seen a shotgun. Not three
white people go to see the Ava-Supis in
their strange canon in a whole year. The
tribe Is not under control of the Indian
Bureau, and until 1895 no attempt was
made to lead these aborigines into paths
Of civilization. A more peaceabie, tracta-
BILE, and quiet people would be hard to
find. DR.. Wells says they are the most
docile savages he has ever known, and
he believes their peculiar simplicity of
character and their complete ignorance
of intoxicants and gambling games de-
monstrate that they are just as their an
cestors and all aborigines were until the
whites came among them.
1.-THE young men," continued DR.. Wells,
"who wish to study the Indian of the
West at home, living the same life, think
ing the same things, eating the same food,
AMI dressing Almost as his ancestors Old
when Cortez overcame Montezuma-long
before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth
will find a wealth of material among the
poor, forlorh, and amiable Ava-Supis.
There are but three firearms in the whole
tribe, and they are as highly priced as
a box of diamonds would be by white
people. The Ava-Supis are the most dex-
ferrous users of the bow and arrow or
any people alive. The tribe has less OF
an idea what a great, busy throbbing
world they live in than any tribe in the
Union. One day discharged a few ounces
of dynamite to break a rock where ! was
geologizing. and the simple people ran
as If a horrible demon pursued them.
They had never heard anything like that
before. and they thought all the many
dreadful spirits in their quaint mythology
had come to demand their lives.
1.-THE Ava-Supis are an unusually moral
people. There have even been occasions,
wears ago, when fragrant immortality was
nunished by death. The tribe believes in
monogamy The old Chief Samalaha
(meaning very rich), however, has
special dispensation, and he has three
wives to slave for him. Failure to pro-
vide for her justifies a wife in securing
a divorce which is done in the simplest
nossible manner-by leaving the lodge
of her husband and refusing thereafter
IN recognize him. Should there be man
ar the bottom OF the domestic row, the
chief has then the satisfaction of arraign-
ing him before the council and it Is the
duty of that august body to assess the
damages. The amount is usually based
upon the ability Of the defendent to pay,
and when a sum has been fixed 1t must
be instantly liquidated-the dealth penalty
is the alternative. This rigid justice Is
supposed to exercise beneficial restraint
anon +he hot blood of the Ava-Supis. The
| government of this primitive congrega-
tion Is i'm the hands of chief, who -
elected by popular vote. The office Is not
hereditary. and IL is seldom that son
succeeds the father. The disposition
! seem to favor passing the honor around.
'oThe most interesting custom among
the Ava-Supis, because it undoubtedly