Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1919-04-25


can IndianS-the HaVaSupai-
walled up in ObScurity in a
deep canyon of western Arizona re-
vealS a situation so astonishing that
1t would seem incredible if the story
came from a source less reliable than
the American Museum of Natural His
tory, writes J. A. Brashears in the
New York Sun.
clustered in fertile valley, where
sheer walls cut the great plateau to
depth of 5000 feet, Leslie Spier a
member of the museums staff, has
found tribe of wild primitive In
dams still living the lives of their an
cestors and in almost total ignorance
of the forward march of civilization.
Here on the banks of Cataract creek,
which flows nOrthward to cascade in
to the torrents of the Grand Canyon,
these abOrigines and their fOrebears
have lived for ten centuries with sell
dom a glimpse of the territory lying
beyond the canyon top. The chief of
the tribe counts the visits of the white
man on the fingers of one hand.
AnthrOpologists have poked into the
utmost corners of the earth, from pole
to pole; have studied and classified the
various tribes of Indians for years,
while in some remarkable manner the
Havasupai, living within our very bOr-
ders, have escaped notice.
These Indians-there now are only
175 in the tribe-conStitute the only
purely aboriginal and primitive COM
munity in the United States today.
They have lived like hermits. The
customs and machines, the social ad-
vances of the outside world have fail
ed TO penetrate the fastness of their
realm.
Not Easy 20 Visit Them.
To reach their home, a 50-mile ride
over a waterless tract is necessary.
When the brink of the chasm is
reached the drop of 5000 feet has to
be made mostly on foot along a hardly
perceptible trail. Only a small part
of the hazardous twelve-mile descent
can be made mounted. One must lit
orally cling to the walls of the canyon.
In no place is the trail wider than
three feet and the animals rub their
sides raw through scraping along the
side of the canyon.
In one place the two walls come
together and form a corner. Here it
is necessary to make a 5O0-fOOt drop
by ZigZagging from wall to wall This
is the most perilous section of the
journey for the trail is nothing more
than a series of steps. The animals
must jump from one to the other. AS
the men on foot must walk in front
their lives are constantly endangered.
Should a pack animal miss its footing
the man in front would be knocked to
oblivion.
Today the Havasupai subsist on a
marvelously cultivated tract two and
One-Quarter miles long and about one
quarter of a mile wide. They depend
chiefly on agriculture for their sup
port. but liz former days they descend
ed far south down their valley in quest
of deer antelope and bear. The camps
are situated along the east side of the
creek. which irrigates the land so we'll
that enough food is harvested off this
small section of one and one-half
square miles to supply them from sea-
son TO season.
Some of Their Customs
Mr. Spier Classics the tribe as sin
termediary," since their culture en-
braces traits peculiar to the four adj
iacent tribes of the southwest area.
"In general characteristics, he said.
"they lean more toward the Pueblos of
northern Mexico. The custom that pre-
walls among the PuebIos-that of the
men and women working together in
the field-also exists among the Supai.
THE men also make clothing out of
buckskin. a domestic trait character
istic of the Pueblos. The influence of
the other adjacent tribes. while slight,
may be seen in the construction OF
various types of huts and tepees. The
Havasupai build four different types.
There is a log and mud hut common
among the Navajos; the conical
matched tepee built to a great extent
among the Mohaves and the square
matched hut of the Plateau Indians.
Among the American Indians" he
continued. "tbe nomadic and warlike