Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-01-13


two stones were lying by it which were
no doubt used, as well as the we'll
battered tongue.
We went to the fields and found the
Indians on their little farms of few
acres each; some were harvesting and
some were repairing their bitches.
Some had orchards of wild plums,
others peaches. others apples, some
had corn and others alfalfa and mel
ons.
Part of the Indians have mud or
brush huts on their farms, where they
live during the working season, going
back to the pueblo when their work
is done. Mr.. johnson says they spend
too much time at their dances, having
one or two month. They carry on
many of the antics of the clowns, as
described in the Delight Makers. THE
local school has just been discontinued
and the Johnsons were packing up to
move to Albuquerque.
We visited the threshing floor in the
pueblo where they were threshing and
cleaning wheat just as Abraham did
in the days gone by We found the
reapers cutting wheat with small
sickles in the field I tried it myself,
but found the sand burrs very uncom-
Portable, as they stick to my fingers
like needles. The Indians use their
lands in severalty and small holdings.
In their threshing the women and chill
dren combine to make some amuse-
ment out of it. They have chief or
governor of the town whose authority
is respected. These Indians are gener-
ally under feet inches. Their faces
are pleasant and intelligent and they
are not disposed to war They have
still good supply of scalps from the
old days when they defended them
selves against the Navajoes. These
scalps make their appearance in scalp
dances but are kept concealed at other
times. These people evidently have
no space to Increase, as their arabic
land is not capable of it. They have
their farms at the foot of box canyon,
and their land is narrow. Below comes
the Pena Blanca (Mexican) settlement
and there is no room to extend in that
direction.
This morning we got up at o'clock
and had breakfast of eggs, coffee and
crackers before day. Mr.. Pearson got
our breakfast for u.s. Off now for the
painted cave and stone lions
We had hot and weary journey to
the painted cave and stone lions. The
cave is only shallow but high recess
in the canyon side and has few cliff
houses in the immediate vicinity, and
a ruined pueblo of about 100 rooms a
mile and a half above The cave is
shallow enough to be in full light but
deep enough to protect the paintings
from the rain. The work is mostly in
red paint, but some black and white is
used. There are some improbable hui
man figures and some impossible birds,
snakes, and beasts. Some antiquari-
ans have supposed the beasts were of
an extinct species. One of them has
been classed as a mammoth, but !
think is clearly wolf. A man on
horseback with bride on the horse
and the reins in his hand shows that
the pictures are junior to the Spanish
invasion which introduced the horse
to the aborigines.
The work, though, is very quaint and
interesting
] After passing the painted cave q
mile, We found water, which was q
great luxury. We had left our wager
and drove five or six miles from the
cave and made the balance of our tri1
on horseback.
The climb from the cave to the tor
of the mesa where the lions are is
about as bad as trail can be and al
the same time be regarded as possible
no 70 H. o.. ~
last and found them just as when Cap
tain S. B. Evans saw them and as he
had said-a little disappointing. The,
are lying down with tails extended
and heads between their fore feet
But the heads are SO mutilated as tt
I be almost gone-a vandalism which
the Cochiti Indians attribute to Mexi
can herders.
The lions lay within circle O.
stones are about FIVE feet in length
The opening points south, and the
lions are carved out of single boul
der and stand to the southeast with
a cedar tree about twelve feet higl
just behind them.
/ At the stream in the canyon we
found Fred Starts old camp, consist
l. AAeo u q oA1So WiiiSA hS DQllI lOul yCdls
ago when he was making a plaster
cast of the lions. The original cas-
is in the Walker museum Chicago
university Of which Prof Starr is one
of the faculty. Mr.. Starr made twelve
copies before breaking his model The
lions are carved out of very hare
sandstone boulder.
4 We are now feeding the horses pre-
paratory to hitching up for the drive
to the railway at Thornton, where we
expect to catch the train again.
4 The view from the lions is grant
one, as the vista is almost unlimited
in all directions.
4 Just across the next canyon is the
Rita de los Frijoles. where SO many
4 cliff houses and communal houses re
main. North and east lie the Tschre
ga and Tsankawi. the Pajarito anc
! Puye. where so many thousands of PEG
pie once lived. No doubt the cave ant
the lions have both been places of re
! ligious interest in the past.
Even now il is almost impossibla IL