Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-01-24
WITH THE MOKI INDIANS.
Another Interesting Letter From Mr..
Byers, Describing the Habits and
Customs of the MOki Indians.

Special Correspondence / have
Just made my second visit to the Moki
Indians of the northern part of Arizo.
ma. The visit necessitates dive drive
by stage of nearly a hundred miles
from the Santa Fe railroad. but one
who enjoys "roughing it" for while
will always find the trip fully worth
it's hardships. On my visit of two
years ago / had the privilege of
witnessing their smoke dance and
spent sufficient time with the tribe
to learn great deal of their customs.
The Mokis, or Hokis, as they pre-
ferred to be called, are purely Pueblo
Indians, and they live very much as
they did before the white man invaded
their land-the province of TusayalL
They are peaceable and sociable.
They have never courted trouble, and
anyone who may enquire at the
threshold, "een quaqui esi?'' Gam
walcome?) is alwavs warmly received.
1t is probable, however, that this
greeting will be the more cordial if ii
seems to them that there is pro-
spect Shiba (silver) entering into
the matter, for they like their white
brother, are too lovers of "the root of
all evil" They, Indian like. are
beggars, and often at the word of greet
ing pitt one may expect to be ask
ed for ANYTHING from s'piba'' and
match tobacco and matches) to '..the
god of commerce.
There are seven villages or pueblos
in the province of Tusayan The region
is very barren, scarcely more pro-
ductive than the Painted Desert,
Of which the province is nearly a part,
and the crops, consisting of corn and
melons, are very meager indeed. The
Mokis till the dusty soil entirely by
hand. The government has sent them
plows and other farm implements
at different times, but instead of find
ing them in use in the fields thew are
hcisted upon hut as ornaments or
turned into awkward chicken coops
They raise chickens, burros and dogs,
which resemble more than the frame-
works. They eat both the chickens
and the dogs, and the burros are used
as occasional beasts of burden. All
ale supposed to hustle for their ex-
isten,e, and then to the burro that
hustles by stealing from the unfenced
corn fields there is attached the pen
altv OF having it's ears cut off The
sleepy old burro is supposed to
know better than to steal the growing
corn, but should he yield to the
temptation, for the first offense he
must have the half of one ear
amputated, for the second, the other
half, and so on till he is entirely
earless.
The huts of the Mokis are built one
and two stories in height, and OF
limestone, interlaid with adobe as
mortar. One family occupies only
one room for all purposes, except oc.
casionally one finds family using g
second room in which to store hi.
corn, blankets and various trappings.
Before new house is ready fol
habitation it must be dedicated by the
hanging of an eagle feather in the
center of the ceiling, and as soon as
some one dies in a certain room thai
particular room is infested with the
evil spirit and must be torn down.
The women of Mokiland are very gooC
and steady workers. They make al
extra fine blanket that sells some
times as high as fifty dollars, and ther
cheaper ones ranging in prices as low
as ten dollars. They also do grea
deal of bead and basket work, beside
making various novelties out of wood
cactus and pottery. These articles art
sold either to tourists or dealers, ant
considerable money is earned by then
in this way.
The Mokis have several annual cere
monies, but the oldest and most fasci
mating of all is the snake dance
which is held about the middle o
August of each year. 1t is nine
day ceremony, and is. observed for th,
purpose of appealing to the divinit,
which the Mokis believe controls TIN
rain clouds. Their region as has beel
said is very dry, and it is about tn
first of August that the need of rail
for the crops is most fully realized
On this account the Mokis prepare TO
appeal, and to appear as an answe
thereto Nature has ruled that the las
of August shall be the semi-wet seasol
for this region.
The dance is the peculiar dram
atization of an old half mystic, hal
historic legend which relates to til
union and migration of two tribes c
southwestern Indians. Semi-traditio
has it that IA youth, Tiyo, one da
long ago started out to ascertain wha
became of the water that flowed
the river by his home. He passed int