The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-08
KOCB.EHEkINA
An indian BELLE
Beautiful Maiden ola Western
Tribe.
RED MAN, A SOCIALIST
Study of Better Qualities of
First Settlers.
New York, Feb. 2S.-The New York


little known are being dug up, and put
into print from time to time.
Now comes George Wharton James
with, the matter on those weird, melan-
choly basket and tapestry weavers or
the Pueblos in the Zuni, Apache, Piute,
Navahoe country of the great southwest.
Mr.. James, an English university man
and fellow of several royal societies, after
spending years in California and the Ari-
iona region, has become authority on
scientific exploration down there, and is
the author of a works on the Lick OBJ
servatory the Grand Canyon of Colo
RADIO and the Indians of the southwest
desert tribes.
His look on Indian basketry has at
tracted attention to those Indians, and
the art is laugh in many schools. He
is giving series of lectures on the sub
iect for the New York Board Of Educa-
ton. He is also an artist in special pho
Biography.
The result of Mr. James investigation
among the Indians of the Pueblo tribes
is about to be published by Little, Brown
& Co, of Boston. Among other features
is q special chapter on the beautiful
women of the Painted Desert" He
claims TO have discovered in young girl
the belle of the Hopi tribe. a woman of
pure American type and of the highest
order of beauty.
Her name is Kuch-i-wen-ti wa, "a rose
Of the desert. a bright bird of a semi
tropic paradise, a gaZelle of the mesa
Describing her he says: Her carriage is
graceful. free and yet dignified; her man
ner unaffecter and genial; her features
moulded by ar inherent intellectually
in short. an Indian goddess of liberty,
admired and trusted by all her tribe
Winter is unknown in her country. 1t
IS the land of youth and sunshine. with
water its fertility is marvellous. In
three years a grape cutting with irriga-
ton grows fifty feet long, loaded with
cranes. and a palm shoots up as high as
n house. The rigion extends from Colo
RADIO 70 Old Mexico, from New Mexico
70 California.
The desert tribes are divided INTO three
claeses-the Pueblos. the Nomads and
the semi-Nomads. The Hopi tribe, OF
which Kuch-i-wen-ti-wa is one of the
bellies. belongs to the Pueblo DIVISION
that is the tribe living in towns well
organized All families are of the same
rank. . enjoying. perfect democracy. kuch-
t-wen-ti-wa. has no special social position
above other Indian maidens. and she is
belle because of her physical beauty
md graceful manner. She is about SIX
teen. bright. witty and adored OF the
braves She carries a curious little mir
Tor. with which she makes her toilet.
When she combs her blue-black hair
before the mirror she divides it and draws
n into immense whorls at the sides the
local fashion of the tribe. This manner
of wearing the hair is called 'nashn)L
If denotes maidenhood, signifying that
the period of careless childhood has pass
cd and the time of courtship began. The
girls skin is smooth as amber satin, her
teeth white and firm, her hair raven
black. her eyes chocolate brown, with
black pupils: her figure rounded and
sinuous almost to voluptuousness. As one
stands cntranced before her it Is hard
To imagine that she is of common In
dian family.
Her father in making cloth Tor the
family had woven an especially hne piece
of wool for Neutrality-suspicious.. she dyeu
II a deep red. and made it into a Jotsitz'
or dress-a sumner it was. The seams
are sewed with Yucca fibre. The same
plant furnishes needles for the seam
s.,ess. The red jotsitz, or dress. reveal
ing the neck and the left shoulder CO.
ouettish and free. fails gracefully TO the
srkIts.. leq-ing exposed TRIM graceful.
mouse sized feet. encased in beaded sheep-
skin moccasins. \ white belt OF red ana
white encircles her waist. over her shoul-
o,rs at festivals she wears, with languor-
o,is grace. d wonderful wrap of azure
ana white. and around her throat she
winds countless strings of wampum
These precious ornaments are her dow
ry.
But the belle of the desert is not afraid
of work Her fingers are as deXterous
a. she is beautiful. She is a noted basket
weaver. and earns enough to dress IKE
nrincess and wear blankets Of lace.
Her strings OF wampum are the rlchest
of the tribe. It is said there are but two
EXPERTS in the Painted Des ert skllfui
enough TO fashion wampum shells for her
fancy. These shells OF almost gsnlike
lustre are found along the pearl coast OF
Lower California.
one day she traded a lot of her bas-
kerry for enough shells to last me-
time. She began chipping them into COIN
like disks She drilled holes in the center
and strung them like great pearl but
tons into wampum strands each half a
ward long. Then the expert set the strings
of shells to whirling back and forth over
a sanded surface Gust as boys whizz
pennies on a twisted cordl. and polished
the shells hundreds at a time. TO agate
IKE smoothness Such wampum is con-
eidered more precious than all other pos
sessions except horses and captives.
These Southern Indians have wondrous
c,,rss for snake bites. but the secret is
relisiously guarded. 1t is said that nut
nve women in the entire snake district
of about three thousand population. to-
rether with five men. know the antidote
for rattlesnake poison They are the
PRIEST and priestesses Of the Indians
medicine men-and they serve FOR NE
handing down the secret TO their success
srs as death draws near.
The navajo people. one of the nomad
tribes of the Painted Desert. have much
the same customs as other tribes Their
marriage and religious ceremonies are
chiefly the same Mr.. James quaaintly de-
scribes the part that basket plays at
q wedding feast.
Il is called the wedding basket. In sym
bcfism il represents the underworld and
overworid. The underworld is represent
~ by a pattern woven almost around
the lower part of the basket The small
mace left open between the two edges
Of the pattern represents the Shippapu.
- entrance to the underworld. Il is be-