New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1904-07-23
MIGRATIONS OF THE ZUNIS.

MIukAllONS Ot lnE LUNIS.
The early records of our country
when legend supplied the place of his
tory tell us that original inhabitants
of North America, the so-called In
dians. were nomads; that is to say i'll
war as we'll as peace, they wandered
from place wherever their hunting
and predatory instinct might lead
them. Coming down to a later time,
but still in the legendary rather than
the historical realm, we find whole
tribes of indians as having abandoned
their wandering existence, as having
resorted to mode of life more nearly
akin to that of the white race which
finally subdued or as we say, civilized
them. Among the most important of
these converts to existence under mod
dern conditions are the Zunis, Mokis
and Pueblos of the great Southwest,
more particularly of New Mexico and
Arizona who to-day inhabit the mesas
and the cliff caverns of the Colorado
River whose canyon bed is the worlds
greatest geological mystery.
The Worlds Fair at st. Louis offers
countless marvels of human kind to
visitors, not one of the strange, rare
and curious thing as to be seen at that
wonderful exhibition rivals or even
approaches in human interest the exhi-
bit known as the Cliff Dwellers. This
is more than merely diversional
scheme; it is contribution to the
science of ethnology which teaches the
derivation of the tribes of the human
family, science which seeks to answer
the great question; whence came man
and whittier is he going. To study
these questions just such and exhibi-
tion as that of the Cliff Dwellers at
the Worlds Fair in ST. Louis furnish
es the best means For here we not
only see an interesting horde of high
ly gifted semi -savages pursuing their
daily lives under perfectly natural
conditions, but these extraordinary
humans have built for themselves in
the heart of tho metropolis of the
Mississippi Valley home large enough
to accommodate all of their tribes but
that home is faithful duplication OF
the homes they have left in Arizona
and New Mexico and whittier they
will again go when the term of their
Worlds Fair sojourn shall have been
completed.
These Indians, unlike most North
American aborigines. have the theatri.
cal instinct They are great mimics,
they present entire plays in theil
native tongue and under native aus
pices. Even the little children take
part in them when they dance thu
Eagle Dance, the Kiote Dance an(
similar festal shows. In sleight o.
hand, an accomplishment III which thu
fakirs of Farther Indian excel, thes'
Mokis distance their Oriental proto
types in elegance and mystification @
portrayal. If, as has been said, NEGRO
NANCY is art of apparently making
something out of nothing the; grea
Shungopavi of the Zunis among TIN
Cliff Dwellers is past grand meste
of this .'black art. Herman, Keller
Houdin, Blitz and even the fame,
Cagliosto are out -classed by the mar
| VelS OF un1S SOn Oh tne WESTERN VIII
whose stateliness of demeanor is til
best endorsement of the completeness
of his performance Since the open
ing of the Cliff Dweller Reservation
at the Worlds Fair it has been visite
by thousands of travels from all part
, of this country and abroad. Stai
Q men of science have sat in rapt atten
Q tion in the little Tearo Moki nc
through one performance OF the Zun
7 miracle workers but through severs
8 in the vain attempt to solve the my
Q steries there presented. When the
8 have gone away baffied, no longe
s able to believe the sensible and tru
. avouch of their own eyes" they hay
!, contented themselves with watchin
IS the Indian women weaving marvelor
. blankets and rugs, the men at Il