Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-28
MYSTERY CLOAKS
CITY IN ROCKIES.
EthnoIogist of Smithsonian
Institution Gets Queer Lam
guage Used in Ciwinah.
By THOMAS R. HENRY.

Hidden in the depths of a mountain
valley in the Southern Rockies is a
strange city, inhabited from time i'm
memorial by mysterious people.
The city of Ciwinah. with its popu-
iation of approximately 1000, is de-
scribed by DR.. John P. Harrington,
ethnologist of the Smithsonian Institu
ton, as quaint and isolated as Lhasa,
Walter Hough, veteran Smithsonian
anthropologist, who visited Ciwinah
many years ago, describes the adobe
city isolated in a great dreamy valley.
as having more of an atmosphere Of
mystery about it than anything I have
known"
The inhabitants are Indians of the
Zuni tribe. The most curious fact is
that they speak a language which is
found nowhere else and which anthro-
biologists in the past have tried in vain
to connect with some of the other In
dian languages. 1t was TO solve this
mystery that DR.. Harrington, one of
the worlds foremost experts on primi-
tive American languages, visited Civil
nah. BY making use of the kymograph,
device by which sounds are recorded
with mathematical exactnesS in the
form Of lines on Sooted paper, and by
comparisons with the language of
nearby tribes, Dr. Harrington, he says
in a report Just issued by the Smith
sonian Institution, that there is a
distinct relationship between the tongue
spoken at Ciwinah and the other Ian
guages of the pueblo peoples From
this a connection can be traced to the
basic stock on Indian languages in
general.
Alphabet Has 35 Letters.
''The language he says. sis about as
harsh and clear-sounding as German,
with an alphabet of 35 letters, including
sounding words of this language are
"towayalannah," name of the famous
mesa to the south, and Honawona:
literally Our Holder of Trails"
This last he says, can be interpreted as
either God" or Fate" and is a COM
mon word in the religious observances.
BY means of the kymCgraph he Sc
cured the entire alphabet, the sounds
making their own pictures. and with
this as basis will be able to construct
a dictionary.
The city of Ciwinah. Dr. Hough ex-
plains, belongs to the same general
culture as that of the pueblos 1t is
located in Northern New Mexico, ON a
branch of the Little Colorado River.
While it now is only 40 miles from a
railroad 1t is seldom visited by any one
from the outside world and in the past
was almost inaccessible. The great
difference between it and other pueblo
settlements he says, is that it was con-
on level ground with no sys-
tenn of defenses. Yet it apparently re-
manned secure until the coming of the
Spaniards, who conquered it and con-
verted the people.
Native Festivals Maintained.
Nominally the people of Ciwinah, he
says, are Christians and the church is
the most conspicuous building in the
ancient city. But a great deal Of the
old Zuni symbolism has been worked
into the religion and native festivals
still are maintained.
Other efforts by Smithsonian lin
gusts to rescue obscure Indian Ian
guages before the last speakers die are
recorded in the same report. Leaving
Ciwinah DR.. Harrington went into
wilderness of soapstone mountains near
the Klamath River in Northern Cali
fornia to study the disappearing Ian
guage of The Karuk people and few
weeks afterward found the last speaker
of the language of the San Juan In
dams, an old woman in her late eigh-
ties, on her deathbed. He remained
with her until she died, gathering in
formation about the language and Gus
toms of her people.
Also. the institution reports, Spe
cial effort has been made to rescue the
remnants of the languages
of the Louisiana Indians. OF the speech
of the Atakapa or ''man-eating In
dians," formerly spoken over a consid-
cradle stretch of the Gulf Coast. DR..
John r. Swanton was able to rescue
only a few words remembered by one
old woman. Other languages, he
found, had been completely lost when
the last speakers died within the past
few years.