No region of our Southwest presents more instructive antiquities than the ancient province of Tusayan, more widely known as the Moki reservation. In the more limited use of the term, Tusayan is applied to the immediate surroundings of the Hopi pueblos, to which "province" it was given in the middle of the sixteenth century. In a broader sense the name would include an as yet unbounded country claimed by the component clans of this people as the homes of their ancestors.
The general character and distribution of Tusayan ruins (platexvi) has been ably presented by Mr Victor Mindeleff in a previous report.[31]While this memoir is not regarded as exhaustive, it considers most of the large ruins in immediate proximity to the three mesas on which the pueblos inhabited by the Hopi are situated. It is not my purpose here to consider all Tusayan ruins, even if I were able to do so, but to supplement with additional data the observations already published on two of the most noteworthy pueblo settlements. Broadly speaking, I have attempted archeological excavations in order to obtain more light on the nature of prehistoric life in Tusayan. It may be advantageous, however, to refer briefly to some of the ruins thus far discovered in the Tusayan region as preliminary to more systematic descriptions of the two which I have chosen for special description.
The legends of the surviving Hopi contain constant references to former habitations of different clans in the country round about their present villages. These clans, which by consolidation make up the present population of the Hopi pueblos, are said to have originally entered Tusayan from regions as far eastward as the Rio Grande, and from the southern country included within the drainage of the Gila, the Salt, and their affluents. Other increments are reputed to have come from the northward and the westward, so that the people we now find in Tusayan are descendants from an aggregation of stocks from several directions, some of them having migrated from considerable distances. Natives of other regions have settled among the ancient Hopi, built pueblos, and later returned to their former homes; and the Hopi in turn have sent colonists into the eastern pueblo country.
These legends of former movements of the tribal clans of Tusayan are supplemented and supported by historical documents, and we know from this evidence that there has been a continual interchange between the people of Tusayan and almost every large pueblo of New Mexico and Arizona. Some of the ruins of this region were abandoned in historic times; others are prehistoric; many were simply temporary haltingplaces in Hopi migrations, and were abandoned as the clans drifted together in friendship or destroyed as a result of internecine conflicts.
There is documentary evidence that in the years following the great rebellion of the Pueblo tribes in 1680, which were characterized by catastrophes of all kinds among the Rio Grande villagers, many Tanoan people fled to Tusayan to escape from their troubles. According to Niel, 4,000 Tanoan refugees, under Frasquillo, loaded with booty which they had looted from the churches, went to Oraibi by way of Zuñi, and there established a "kingdom," with their chief as ruler. How much reliance may be placed on this account is not clear to me, but there is no doubt that many Tanoan people joined the Hopi about this time, and among them were the Asa people, the ancestors of the present inhabitants of Hano pueblo, and probably the accolents of Payüpki. The ease with which two Franciscan fathers, in 1742, persuaded 441 of these to return to the Rio Grande, implies that they were not very hostile to Christianity, and it is possible that one reason they sought Tusayan in the years after the Spaniards were expelled may have been their friendship for the church party.
With the exception of Oraibi, not one of the present inhabited pueblos of Tusayan occupies the site on which it stood in the sixteenth century, and the majority of them do not antedate the beginning of the eighteenth century. The villages have shifted their positions but retained their names.
At the time of the advent of Tobar, in 1540, there was but one of the present three villages of East Mesa. This was Walpi, and at the period referred to it was situated on the terrace below the site of the present town, near the northwestern base of the mesa proper. Two well-defined ruins, called Kisakobi and Küchaptüvela, are now pointed out as the sites of Old Walpi. Of these Küchaptüvela is regarded as the older.
Judging by their ruins these towns were of considerable size. From their exposed situation they were open to the inroads of predatory tribes, and from these hostile raids their abandonment became necessary. From Küchaptüvela the ancient Walpians moved to a point higher on the mesa, nearer its western limit, and built Kisakobi, where the pueblo stood in the seventeenth century. There is evidence that a Spanish mission was erected at this point, and the place is sometimes called Nüshaki, a corruption of "Missa-ki," Mass-house. From this place the original nucleus of Walpians moved to the present site about the close of the seventeenth century. Later the original population was joined by other phratries, some of which, as the Asa, had lived in the cliff-houses of Tségi, or Canyon de Chelly, as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century. This, however, is not the place to trace the composition of the different modern villages.
Sichomovi was a colony from Walpi, founded about 1750, and Hano was built not earlier than 1700. The former was settled by the Badger people, later joined by a group of Tanoan clans called the Asa, fromthe Rio Grande, who were invited to Tusayan to aid the Hopi in resisting the invasions of northern nomads.
By the middle of the eighteenth century the population of the province of Tusayan was for the first time distributed in the seven pueblos now inhabited. No village has been deserted since that time, nor has any new site been occupied.
In order that the reader may have an idea of the Tusayan pueblos at the time mentioned, an account of them from a little-known description by Morfi in 1782 is introduced:[32]
Quarenta y seis leguas al Poniente de Zuñi, con alguna inclinacion al N. O. están los tres primeros pueblos de la provincia de Moqui, que en el dia en el corto distrito de 4-1/2 leguas (112 recto) tiene siete pueblos en tres mesas ó peñoles que corren linea recta de Oriente á Poniente.Tanos[33]En la punta occidental de la primera, y en la mas estrecho de su eminencia están situados tres de los quales el primero es el de Tanos (alli dicen Tegüas), cuyas moradores tienen idioma particular y distinto del Moquino. Es pueblo regular con un plaza en el centro, y un formacion de calles. Tendrá 110 familias.El segundo[34]pueblo dista del precedente como un tiro de piedra, es de fundacion moderna, y se compondrá de mas 15 familias que se retiraron aqui de:GualpiGualpi que dista del anterior un tiro de fusil, es mas grande y populoso que los dos anteriores, puede tener hasta 200 familias. Estas tres pueblos tienen poco caballada, y algunas vacas; pero mucho ganado lanar.Mosasnabi[35]Al poniente de esta mesa, y á legua y media de distancia está la segunda, cuyo intermedio es un (112 v.) arenal, que ertrando un poco en ella la divide en dos brazas. En el septentrional, que es el mas inmediata á Gualpi hay dos anillos distantes entre si un tiro de piedra. En la cima del primero está situado el pueblo de Mosasnabi compuesto de 50 familias poco mas ó menos.Xipaolabi[36]En la cumbre del secundo cerrito se fundó el quinto pueblo llamado Xipaolabi, que tendrá solo 14 familias: está casi arruinado, porque sus vecinos se han trasladado al brazo austral de la mesa y formaron el sexto pueblo llamado:Xongopabi[37]Xongopabi goza mejor situacion que todos los demas, tienen tres quarteles mui bien dispuestos y en ellas unas 60 familias. Estos tres pueblos tienen mas caballada que los primeros y mucho ganado menor.OraybeDos y media leguas al Poniente de esta mesa, está la tercera, y en sucima el septimo pueblo que llaman Oraybe. Es como la capital de la provincia, el mayor y mas bien formado de toda ella, y acaso de todas las provincias internas. Tiene once quarteles ó manzanas bien largas y dispuestos con calles á cordel yá (113 r.) todos vientos, y puede llegar su poblacion á 800 familias. Tienen buena caballada, mucho ganado menor y algun vacuno. Aunque no gozan sino una pequeña fuente de buena agua, distante del pueblo mas de una milla al Norte, han construido para suplir esta escasez, en la misma mesa, y mui inmediato à las casas seis cisternas grandes donde recoger la agua de las lluvias y nieves.
Quarenta y seis leguas al Poniente de Zuñi, con alguna inclinacion al N. O. están los tres primeros pueblos de la provincia de Moqui, que en el dia en el corto distrito de 4-1/2 leguas (112 recto) tiene siete pueblos en tres mesas ó peñoles que corren linea recta de Oriente á Poniente.
En la punta occidental de la primera, y en la mas estrecho de su eminencia están situados tres de los quales el primero es el de Tanos (alli dicen Tegüas), cuyas moradores tienen idioma particular y distinto del Moquino. Es pueblo regular con un plaza en el centro, y un formacion de calles. Tendrá 110 familias.
El segundo[34]pueblo dista del precedente como un tiro de piedra, es de fundacion moderna, y se compondrá de mas 15 familias que se retiraron aqui de:
Gualpi que dista del anterior un tiro de fusil, es mas grande y populoso que los dos anteriores, puede tener hasta 200 familias. Estas tres pueblos tienen poco caballada, y algunas vacas; pero mucho ganado lanar.
Al poniente de esta mesa, y á legua y media de distancia está la segunda, cuyo intermedio es un (112 v.) arenal, que ertrando un poco en ella la divide en dos brazas. En el septentrional, que es el mas inmediata á Gualpi hay dos anillos distantes entre si un tiro de piedra. En la cima del primero está situado el pueblo de Mosasnabi compuesto de 50 familias poco mas ó menos.
En la cumbre del secundo cerrito se fundó el quinto pueblo llamado Xipaolabi, que tendrá solo 14 familias: está casi arruinado, porque sus vecinos se han trasladado al brazo austral de la mesa y formaron el sexto pueblo llamado:
Xongopabi goza mejor situacion que todos los demas, tienen tres quarteles mui bien dispuestos y en ellas unas 60 familias. Estos tres pueblos tienen mas caballada que los primeros y mucho ganado menor.
Dos y media leguas al Poniente de esta mesa, está la tercera, y en sucima el septimo pueblo que llaman Oraybe. Es como la capital de la provincia, el mayor y mas bien formado de toda ella, y acaso de todas las provincias internas. Tiene once quarteles ó manzanas bien largas y dispuestos con calles á cordel yá (113 r.) todos vientos, y puede llegar su poblacion á 800 familias. Tienen buena caballada, mucho ganado menor y algun vacuno. Aunque no gozan sino una pequeña fuente de buena agua, distante del pueblo mas de una milla al Norte, han construido para suplir esta escasez, en la misma mesa, y mui inmediato à las casas seis cisternas grandes donde recoger la agua de las lluvias y nieves.
The distribution of the population of Tusayan in the seven pueblos mentioned above remained practically the same during the century between 1782 and 1882. Summer settlements for farming purposes were inhabited by the Oraibi for brief periods. Between the years 1880 and 1890 a beginning of a new distribution of Hopi families began, when one or two of the less timid erected houses near Coyote spring, at the East Mesa. The Tewa, represented by Polaka and Jakwaina, took the lead in this movement. From 1890 to the present time a large number of Walpi, Sichomovi, and Hano families have built houses in the foothills of the East Mesa and in the plain beyond the "wash." A large schoolhouse has been erected at Sun spring and a considerable number of East Mesa villagers have abandoned their mesa dwellings. In this shifting of the population the isolated house is always adopted and the aboriginal method of roof building is abandoned. The indications are that in a few years the population of the East Mesa will be settled in unconnected farmhouses with little resemblance to the ancient communal pueblo.
This movement is shared to a less extent by the Middle Mesa and Oraibi people. On my first visit to the pueblos of these mesas, in 1890, there was not a single permanent dwelling save in the ancient pueblos; but now numerous small farmhouses have been erected at or near the springs in the foothills. I mention these facts as a matter of record of progress in the life of these people in adapting themselves to the new conditions or influences by which they are surrounded. I believe that if this exodus of Hopi families from the old pueblo to the plain continues during the next two decades as it has in the last ten years, there are children now living in Walpi who will some day see it uninhabited.
This disintegration of the Hopi phratries, by which families are separated from one another, is, I believe, a return to the prehistoric distribution of the clans, and as Walpi grew into a pueblo by a union of kindred people, so now it is again being divided and distributed, still preserving family ties in new clusters or groupings. It is thus not impossible that the sites of certain old ruins, as Sikyatki, deserted for many years, will again be built upon if better suited for new modes of life. The settlement near Coyote spring, for instance, is not far from the old site of a former home of the Tanoan families, who went to Tusayan in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and the peoplewho inhabit these new houses are all Tanoan descendants of the original contingent.
In order to become familiar with the general character of Tusayan ruins, I made a brief reconnoissance of those mentioned in the following list, from which I selected Awatobi and Sikyatki as places for a more exhaustive exploration. This list is followed by a brief mention of those which I believe would offer fair opportunities for a continuation of the work inaugurated. The ruins near Oraibi were not examined and are therefore omitted, not that they are regarded as less important, but because I was unable to undertake a study of them in the limited time at my disposal. There are also many ruins in Tusayan, north of the inhabited pueblos, which have never been described, and would well repay extended investigation. Some of these, as the ruins at the sacred spring called Kishuba, are of the utmost traditional importance.
I.Middle Mesa ruins—(1) Old Shuñopovi; (2) Old Mishoñinovi; (3) Shitaumû; (4) Chukubi; (5) Payüpki.II.East Mesa ruins—(1) Kisakobi; (2) Küchaptüvela; (3) Küküchomo; (4) Tukinobi; (5) Kachinba; (6) Sikyatki.III.Ruins in Keam's canyon.IV.Jeditoh valley ruins—(1) Bat-house; (2) Jeditoh, Kawaika; (3) Horn-house; (4) Awatobi; Smaller Awatobi.
I.Middle Mesa ruins—(1) Old Shuñopovi; (2) Old Mishoñinovi; (3) Shitaumû; (4) Chukubi; (5) Payüpki.
II.East Mesa ruins—(1) Kisakobi; (2) Küchaptüvela; (3) Küküchomo; (4) Tukinobi; (5) Kachinba; (6) Sikyatki.
III.Ruins in Keam's canyon.
IV.Jeditoh valley ruins—(1) Bat-house; (2) Jeditoh, Kawaika; (3) Horn-house; (4) Awatobi; Smaller Awatobi.
This method of classification is purely geographical, and is adopted simply for convenience; but there are one or two facts worthy of mention in regard to the distribution of ruins in these four sections. The inhabited pueblos, like the ruins, are, as a rule, situated on the eastern side of their respective mesas, or on the cliffs or hills which border the adjacent plains on the west. This uniformity is thought to have resulted from a desire to occupy a sunny site for warmth and for other reasons.
The pueblos at or nearest the southern ends of the mesas were found to be best suited for habitation, consequently the present towns occupy those sites, or, as in the case of the Jeditoh series, the pueblo at that point was the last abandoned. The reason for this is thought to be an attempt to concentrate on the most inaccessible sites available, which implies inroads of hostile peoples. For the same reason, likewise, the tendency was to move from the foothills to the mesa tops when these invasions began.
Early settlers near East Mesa appeared to have chosen exposed sites for their pueblos. This would imply that they feared no invasion, and legendary history indicates that the first pueblos were erected before the hostile Ute, Apache, and Navaho appeared. The early settlements on Middle Mesa were also apparently not made with an absorbing idea of inaccessibility. All the Jeditoh villages, however, were on the mesa tops, these sites having been selected evidently with a view to protection, since they were not convenient to the farms.
For many reasons it would seem that the people who occupied the now ruined Jeditoh villages were later arrivals in Tusayan than those of East and Middle Mesas, and that, as a rule, they came from the eastward, while those of Middle Mesa arrived from the south. The first colonists of all, however, appear to have been the East Mesa clans, the Bear and Snake families. If this conjecture be true, we may believe that the oldest pueblos in Tusayan were probably the house groups of the Snake clan of East Mesa, for whom their traditionists claim a northern origin.
The site of Old Shuñopovi (platecv) at the advent of the first Spaniards, and for a century or more afterward, was at the foot of the mesa on which the present village stands. The site of the old pueblo is easily detected by the foundations of the ancient houses and their overturned walls, surrounded by mounds of soil filled with fragments of the finest pottery.
The old village was situated on a ridge of foothills east of the present town and near the spring, which is still used. On the highest point of the ridge there rise to a considerable height the massive walls of the old Spanish mission church, forming an inclosure, now used as a sheep corral. The cemeteries are near by, close to the outer walls, and among a clump of peach trees about half a mile east of the old houses. The pottery,[38]as shown by the fragments, is of the finest old Tusayan ware, cream and red being the predominating colors, while fragments of coiled and black-and-white ware are likewise common.
The ruins of Old Mishoñinovi lie west of the present pueblo in the foothills, not far from the two rocky pinnacles at that point and adjacent to a spring. In strolling over the site of the old town I have noted its ground plan, and have picked up many sherds which indicate that the pottery made at that place was the fine cream-color ware for which Tusayan has always been famous. The site offers unusual opportunities for archeological studies, but excavation there is not practicable on account of the opposition of the chiefs.
Old Mishoñinovi was a pueblo of considerable size, and was probably inhabited up to the close of the seventeenth century. It was probably on this site that the early Spanish explorers found the largest pueblo of the Middle Mesa. The ruin of Shitaimovi, in the foothills near Mishoñinovi, mentioned by Mindeleff, was not visited by our party.
PL. CV— SKETCH MAP OF THE MESA COUNTRY OCCUPIED BY THE HOPI INDIANSBUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY—— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CV.SKETCH MAP OF THE MESA COUNTRYOCCUPIED BY THE HOPI INDIANS
The ruin of Chukubi bears every evidence of antiquity. It is situated on one of the eastward projecting spurs of Middle Mesa, midway between Payüpki and Shipaulovi, near an excellent spring at the base of the mesa.
Chukubi was built in rectangular form, with a central plaza surrounded by rooms, two deep. There are many indications of outlying chambers, some of which are arranged in rows. The house walls are almost wholly demolished, and in far poorer state of preservation than those of the neighboring ruin of Payüpki. The evidence now obtainable indicates that it was an ancient habitation of a limited period of occupancy. It is said to have been settled by the Patuñ or Squash people, whose original home was far to the south, on Little Colorado river. A fair ground plan is given by Mindeleff in his memoir on Pueblo Architecture; but so far as known no studies of the pottery of this pueblo have ever been made.
One of the best-preserved ruins on Middle Mesa is called Payüpki by the Hopi, and is interesting in connection with the traditions of the migration of peoples from the Rio Grande, which followed the troublesome years at the close of the seventeenth century. In the reconquest of New Mexico by the Spaniards we can hardly say that Tusayan was conquered; the province was visited and nominally subjugated after the great rebellion, but with the exception of repeated expeditions, which were often repulsed, the Hopi were practically independent and were so regarded. No adequate punishment was inflicted on the inhabitants of Walpi for the destruction of the town of Awatobi, and although there were a few military expeditious to Tusayan no effort at subjugation was seriously made.
Tusayan was regarded as an asylum for the discontented or apostate, and about the close of the seventeenth century many people from the Rio Grande fled there for refuge. Some of these refugees appear to have founded pueblos of their own; others were amalgamated with existing villages. Payüpki seems to have been founded about this period, for we find no account of it before this time, and it is not mentioned in connection with ancient migrations. In 1706 Holguin is said to have attacked the "Tanos" village between Walpi and Oraibi and forced the inhabitants to give hostages, but he was later set upon by the Tano and driven back to Zuñi. It would hardly seem possible that the pueblo mentioned could have been Hano, for this village does not lie between Oraibi and Walpi and could not have been surrounded in the way indicated in the account. Payüpki, however, not only lay on the trail between Walpi and Oraibi—about midway, as the chroniclerstates—but was so situated on a projecting promontory that it could easily have been surrounded and isolated from the other pueblos.
The Hopi legends definitely assert that the Payüpki people came from the "great river," the Rio Grande, and spoke a language allied to that of the people of Hano. They were probably apostates, who came from the east about 1680, but did not seem to agree well with the people of the Middle Mesa, and about 1750 returned to the river and were domiciled in Sandia, where their descendants still live. The name Payüpki is applied by the Hopi to the pueblo of Sandia as well as to the ruin on the Middle Mesa. The general appearance of the ruin of Payüpki indicates that it was not long inhabited, and that it was abandoned at a comparatively recent date. The general plan is not that common to ancient Tusayan ruins, but more like that of Hano and Sichomovi, which were erected about the time Payüpki was built. Many fragments of a kind of pottery which in general appearance is foreign to Tusayan, but which resembles the Rio Grande ware, were found on the mounds, and the walls are better preserved than those of the ancient Tusayan ruins.
A notable absence of fragments of obsidian, the presence of which in abundance is characteristic of ancient ruins, was observed on the site of Payüpki. All these evidences substantiate the Hopi legend that the Tanoan inhabitants of the village of Middle Mesa, above the trail from Walpi to Oraibi, made but a short stay in Tusayan.[39]
There is good documentary evidence that Sandia was settled by Tanoan people from Tusayan. Morfi in 1782 so states,[40]and in a copy of the acts of possession of the pueblo grants of 1748 we find still further proof of the settlement of "Moquinos" in Sandia.[41]
When Otermin returned to New Mexico in his attempted reconquest, in 1681, he reached Isleta on December 6, and on the 8th Dominguez encamped in sight of Sandia, but found the inhabitants had fled. The discord following this event drove the few surviving families of the Tiwa on their old range to Tusayan, for they were set upon by Keres and Jemez warriors on the plea that they received back the Spaniards. Possibly these families formed the nucleus of Payüpki. It was about this time, also, if we can believe Niel's story, that 4,000 Tanos went to Tusayan. It would thus appear that the Hopi Payüpki was settled in the decade 1680-1690.
The two ruins of Küchaptüvela and Kisakobi mark the sites of Walpi during the period of Spanish exploration and occupancy between 1540 and 1700. The former was the older. In all probability the latter had a mission church and was inhabited at the time of the great rebellion in 1680, having been founded about fifty years previously.
The former or more ancient[42]pueblo was situated on the first or lowest terrace of East Mesa, below the present pueblo, on the northern and western sides. The name Küchaptüvela signifies "Ash-hill terrace," and probably the old settlement, like the modern, was known as Walpi, "Place-of-the-gap," referring to the gap or notch (wala) in the mesa east of Hano.
Old Walpi is said to have been abandoned because it was in the shade of the mesa, but doubtless the true cause of its removal was that the site was too much exposed, commanded as it was by the towering mesa above it, and easily approached on three sides. The Walpi which was contemporary with Sikyatki was built in an exposed location, for at that time the Hopi were comparatively secure from invaders. Later, however, Apache, Ute, and Navaho began to raid their fields, and the Spaniards came in their midst again and again, forcing them to work like slaves. A more protected site was necessary, and late in the seventeenth century the Walpians began to erect houses on the mesa, which formed the nucleus of the present town. The standing walls of Old Walpi are buried in the débris, but the plans of the rooms may readily be traced. Comparatively speaking, it was a large, compact, well-built pueblo, and, from the great piles of débris in the neighborhood, would seem to have been occupied during several generations.
The pottery found in the neighborhood is the fine, ancient Tusayan ware, like that of Sikyatki and Shuñopovi. Extended excavations would reveal, I am sure, many beautiful objects and shed considerable light on the obscure history of Walpi and its early population.
After moving from Old Walpi it seems that the people first built houses on the terrace above, or on the platform extending westward from the western limits of the summit of East Mesa. The whole top of that part of the mesa is covered with house walls, showing the former existence of a large pueblo. Here, no doubt, if we can trust tradition, the mission of Walpi was built, and I have found in the débris fragments of pottery similar to that used in Mexico, and very different fromancient or modern Pueblo ware. But even Kisakobi[43]was not a safe site for the Walpians to choose for their village, so after they destroyed the mission and killed the priest they moved up to their present site and abandoned both of their former villages.
It is said that with this removal of the villagers there were found to be no easy means of climbing the precipitous walls, and that the stairway trails were made as late as the beginning of the present century. In those early days there was a ladder near where the stairway trail is now situated, and some of the older men of Walpi have pointed out to me where this ladder formerly stood.
The present plan of Walpi shows marked differences from that made twenty years ago, and several houses between the stairway trail and the Wikwaliobi kiva, on the edge of the mesa, which have now fallen into ruin, were inhabited when I first visited Walpi in 1890. The buildings between the Snake kiva and the Nacab kiva are rapidly becoming unsafe for habitation, and most of these rooms will soon be deserted. As many Walpi families are building new houses on the plain, it needs no prophet to predict that the desertion of the present site of Walpi will progress rapidly in the next few years, and possibly by the end of our generation the pueblo may be wholly deserted—one more ruin added to the multitudes in the Southwest.
The site of Old Walpi, at Küchaptüvela, is the scene of an interesting rite in the New-fire ceremony at Walpi, for not far from it is a shrine dedicated to a supernatural being called Tüwapoñtumsi, "Earth-altar-woman." This shrine, or house, as it is called, is about 230 feet from the ruin, among the neighboring bowlders, and consists of four flat slabs set upright, forming an inclosure in which stands a log of fossil wood.
The ceremonials at Old Walpi in the New-fire rites are described in my account[44]of this observance, and from their nature I suspect that the essential part of this episode is the deposit of offerings at this shrine. The circuits about the old ruin are regarded as survivals of the rites which took place in former times at Old Walpi. The ruin was spoken of in the ceremony as theSipapüni, the abode of the dead who had becomekatcinas, to whom the prayers said in the circuits were addressed.
The two conical mounds on the mesa above Sikyatki are often referred to that ancient pueblo, but from their style of architecture and from other considerations I am led to connect them with other phratries of Tusayan. From limited excavations made in these mounds in 1891, I was led to believe that they were round pueblos, similar to thoseeast of Tusayan, and that they were temporary habitations, possibly vantage points, occupied for defense.Platecviillustrates their general appearance, while the rooms of which they are composed are shown infigure 253. At the place where the mesa narrows between these mounds and the pueblos to the west, a wall was built from one edge of the mesa to the other to defend the trail on this side. This wall appears to have had watch towers or houses at intervals, which are now in ruins, as shown infigure 254.
PL. CVI— THE RUINS OF KÜKÜCHOMOBUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY—— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CVITHE RUINS OF KÜKÜCHOMO
Fig. 253—KüküchomoFig. 253—Küküchomo
The legends concerning the ancient inhabitants of Küküchomo are conflicting. The late A. M. Stephen stated that tradition ascribes them to the Coyote and Pikya (Corn) peoples, with whom the denizens of Sikyatki made friendship, and whom the latter induced to settle there to protect them from the Walpians. He regarded them as the last arrivals of the Water-house phratry, while the Coyote people came from the north at nearly the same time. From his account it would appear that the twin mounds, Küküchomo, were abandoned before the destruction of Sikyatki. The Coyote people were, I believe, akin to the Kokopor Firewood phratry, and as the pueblo of Sikyatki was settled by the latter, it is highly probable that the inhabitants of the two villages were friendly and naturally combined against the Snake pueblo of Walpi. I believe, however, there is some doubt that any branch of the Patki people settled in Küküchomo, and the size of the town as indicated by the ruin was hardly large enough to accommodate more than one clan. Still, as there are two Küküchomo ruins, there may have been a different family in each of the two house clusters.
Fig. 254—Defensive wall on the East MesaFig. 254—Defensive wall on the East Mesa
It has been said that in ancient times, before the twin mounds of Küküchomo were erected, the people of Sikyatki were greatly harassed by the young slingers and archers of Walpi, who would come across to the edge of the high cliff and assail them with impunity. Anyone, however, who contemplates the great distance from Sikyatki to the edge of the mesa may well doubt whether it was possible for the Walpi bowmen to inflict much harm in that way.
Moreover, if the word "slingers" is advisedly chosen, it introduces a kind of warfare which is not mentioned in other Tusayan legends, although apparently throwing stones at their enemies was practiced among Pueblos of other stocks in early historic times.[45]
We may suppose, however, that the survivors of both Küküchomo and Sikyatki sought refuge in Awatobi after the prehistoric destruction of their pueblos, for both were peopled by clans which came from the east, and naturally went to that village, the founders of which migrated from the same direction.
The small ruin at Kachinba, the halting place of the Kachina people, seems to have escaped the attention of students of Tusayan archeology. It lies about six miles from Sikyatki, about east of Walpi, and is approached by following the trail at the foot of the same mesa upon which Küküchomo is situated. The ruin is located on a small foothill and has a few standing walls. It was evidently diminutive in size and only temporarily inhabited. The best wall found at this ruin lies at the base of the hill, where the spring formerly was. This spring is now filled in, but a circular wall of masonry indicates its great size in former times.
There are evidences that the large hill on top of East Mesa, not far from the twin mounds, was once the site of a pueblo of considerable size, but I have not been able to gather any definite legend about it. Near this ruin is the "Eagle shrine" in which round wooden imitations of eagle eggs are ceremonially deposited, and in the immediate vicinity of which is another shrine near which tracks are cut in the rock, and which were evidently considered by the Indian who pointed them out to me as having been made by some bird.[46]It is probably from these footprints, which are elsewhere numerous, that the two ruins called Küküchomo ("footprints mound") takes its name.
As one enters Antelope valley, following the Holbrook road, he finds himself in what was formerly a densely populated region of Tusayan. This valley in former times was regarded as a garden spot, and the plain was covered with patches of corn, beans, squashes, and chile. The former inhabitants lived in pueblos on the northern side, high up on the mesa which separates Jeditoh valley from Keam's canyon. All of these pueblos are now in ruins, and only a few Navaho and Hopi families cultivate small tracts in the once productive fields.
The majority of the series of ruins along the northern rim of Antelope valley resemble Awatobi, which is later described in detail. It is interesting to note that in the abandonment of villages the same law appears to have prevailed here as in the other Tusayan mesas, for in the shrinkage of the Hopi people they concentrated more and more to the points of the mesas. Thus, at East Mesa, Sikyatki, Kachinba, and Küküchomowere destroyed, while Walpi remained. At Middle Mesa, Chukubi and Payüpki became ruins, and in Antelope valley Awatobi was the last of the Jeditoh series to fall. There has thus been a gradual tendency to drift from readily accessible locations to the most impregnable sites, which indicates how severely the Hopi must have been harassed by their foes. It is significant that some of the oldest pueblos were originally built in the most exposed positions, and it may rightly be conjectured that the pressure on the villagers came long after these sites were chosen. The ancient or original Hopi had a sense of security when they built their first houses, and they, therefore, did not find it necessary to seek the protection of cliffs. Many of them lived in the valley of the Colorado Chiquito, others at Kishuba. As time went on, however, they were forced, as were their kindred in other pueblos, to move to inaccessible mesas guarded by vertical cliffs.
Of the several ruins of Antelope valley, that on the mesa above Jeditoh or Antelope spring is one of the largest and most interesting. Stephen calls this ruin Mishiptonga, and a plan of the old house is given by Mindeleff.
The spring called Kawaika, situated near the former village of the same name, was evidently much used by the ancient accolents of Antelope valley. From this neighborhood there was excavated a few years ago a beautiful collection of ancient mortuary pottery objects, which was purchased by Mrs Mary Hemenway, of Boston, and is now in the Peabody Museum at Cambridge. These objects have never been adequately described, although a good illustration of some of the specimens, with a brief reference thereto, was published by James Mooney[47]a few years ago.
Among the most striking objects in this collection are clay models of houses, dishes, and small vases with rims pierced with holes, and rectangular vessels ornamented with pictures of birds. There are specimens of cream, yellow, red, and white pottery in the collection which, judging by the small size of most of the specimens, was apparently votive in character.
The ruins called by Stephen "Horn-house" and "Bat-house," as well as the smaller ruin between them, have been described by Mindeleff, who has likewise published plans of the first two. From their general appearance I should judge they were not occupied for so long a time as Awatobi, and by a population considerably smaller. If all these Jeditoh pueblos were built by peoples from the Rio Grande, it is possible that those around Jeditoh spring were the first founded and that Awatobi was of later construction; but from the data at hand the relative age of the ruins of this part of Tusayan can not be determined.
There are many ruins situated on the periphery of Tusayan which are connected traditionally with the Hopi, but are not here mentioned. Of these, the so-called "Fire-house" is said to have been the home ofthe ancestors of Sikyatki, and Kintiel of certain Zuñi people akin to the Hopi. Both of the ruins mentioned differ in their architectural features from characteristic prehistoric Tusayan ruins, for they are circular in form, as are many of the ruins in the middle zone of the pueblo area. With these exceptions there are no circular ruins within the area over which the Hopi lay claim, and it is probable that the accolents of Kintiel were more Zuñi than Hopi in kinship.
Many ruins north of Oraibi and in the neighborhood of the farming village of Moenkopi are attributed to the Hopi by their traditionists. The ruins about Kishyuba, connected with the Kachina people, also belong to Tusayan. These and many others doubtless offer most important contributions to an exact knowledge of the prehistoric migrations of this most interesting people.
Among the many Tusayan ruins which offer good facilities for archeological work, the two which I chose for that purpose are Awatobi and Sikyatki. My reasons for this choice may briefly be stated.
Awatobi is a historic pueblo of the Hopi, which was more or less under Spanish influence between the years 1540 and 1700. When properly investigated, in the light of archeology, it ought to present a good picture of Tusayan life before the beginning of the modifications which appear in the modern villages of that isolated province. While I expected to find evidences of Spanish occupancy, I also sought facts bearing on the character of Tusayan life in the seventeenth century.
Sikyatki, however, showed us the character of Tusayan life in the fifteenth century, or the unmodified aboriginal pueblo culture of this section of the Southwest. Here we expected to find Hopi culture unmodified by Spanish influence.
The three pueblos of Sikyatki, Awatobi, and Walpi, when properly studied, will show the condition of pueblo culture in three centuries—in Sikyatki, pure, unmodified pueblo culture; in Awatobi, pueblo life as slightly modified by the Spaniards, and in Walpi, those changes resulting from the advent of Americans superadded. While special attention has thus far been given by ethnologists mainly to the last-mentioned pueblo, a study of the ruins of the other two villages is of great value in showing how the modern life developed and what part of it is due to foreign influence.
A knowledge of the inner life of the inhabitants of Tusayan as it exists today is a necessary prerequisite to the interpretation of the ancient culture of that province; but we must always bear in mind the evolution of society and the influences of foreign origin which have been exerted on it. Many, possibly the majority, of modern customs at Walpi are inherited, but others are incorporated and still others, of ancient date, have become extinct.
As much stress is laid in this memoir on the claim that objects from Sikyatki indicate a culture uninfluenced by the Spaniards, it is well to present the evidence on which this assertion is based.
(1) Hopi legends all declare that Sikyatki was destroyed before the Spaniards, called the "long-gowned" and "iron-shirted" men, came to Tusayan. (2) Sikyatki is not mentioned by name in any documentary account of Tusayan, although the other villages are named and are readily identifiable with existing pueblos. (3) No fragment of glass, metal, or other object indicative of the contact of European civilization was found anywhere in the ruin. If we add to the above the general appearance of age in the mounds and the depth of the débris which has accumulated in the rooms and over the graves, we have the main facts on which I have relied to support my belief that Sikyatki is a prehistoric ruin.
No Tusayan ruin offers to the archeologist a better picture of the character of Hopi village life in the seventeenth century than that known as Awatobi (platecvii).[48]It is peculiarly interesting as connecting the prehistoric culture of Sikyatki and modern Tusayan life, with which we have become well acquainted through recent research. Awatobi was one of the largest Tusayan pueblos in the middle of the sixteenth century, and continued to exist to the close of the seventeenth. It was therefore a historic pueblo. It had a mission, notices of which occur in historical documents of the period. From its preponderance in size, no less than from its position, we may suspect that it held relatively the same leadership among the other Antelope valley ruins that Walpi does today to Sichomovi and Hano.
The present condition of the ruins of Awatobi is in no respect peculiar or different from that of the remains of prehistoric structures, except that its mounds occupy a position on a mesa top commanding a wide outlook over a valley. On its east it is hemmed in by extensive sand dunes, which also stretch to the north and west, receding from the village all the way from a few hundred yards to a quarter of a mile. On the south the ruins overlook the plain, and the sands on the west separate it from a canyon in which there are several springs, some cornfields, and one or two modern Hopi houses. There is no water in the valley which stretches away from the mesa on which Awatobi is situated, and the foothills are only sparingly clothed with desert vegetation. The mounds of the ruin have numerous clumps ofsibibi(Rhus trilobata), and are a favorite resort of Hopi women for the berries of this highly prized shrub. There is a solitary tree midway between the sand dunes west of the village and the western mounds, near which we found it convenient to camp. The only inhabitants of the Awatobi mesa are a Navaho family, who have appropriated, for the shade it affords, adwarf cedar east of the old mission walls. No land is cultivated, save that in the canyons above mentioned, west of the sand hills; some fair harvests are, however, still gathered from Antelope valley by the Navaho, especially in the section higher up, near Jeditoh spring.
The ruin may be approached from the road between Holbrook and Keam's Canyon, turning to the left after climbing the mesa. This road, however, is not usually traveled, since it trends through the difficult sand hills. As Keam's Canyon is the only place in this region at which to provision an expedition, it is usual to approach Awatobi from that side, the road turning to the right shortly after one ascends the steep hill out of the canyon near Keam's trading post.
My archeological work at Awatobi began on July 6, 1895, and was continued for two weeks, being abandoned on account of the defection of my Hopi workmen, who left their work to attend the celebration of theNimanor "Farewell"katcina,[49]a July festival in which many of them participated. The ruin is conveniently situated for the best archeological results; it has a good spring near by, and is not far from Keam's Canyon, the base of supplies. The soil covering the rooms, however, is almost as hard as cement, and fragile objects, such as pottery, were often broken before their removal from the matrix. A considerable quantity of débris had to be removed before the floors were reached, and as this was firmly impacted great difficulty was encountered in successful excavations.
With a corps of trained workmen much better results than those we obtained might have been expected, and the experience which the Indians subsequently had at Sikyatki would have made my excavations at Awatobi, had they been carried on later in the season, more remunerative. While my archeological work at certain points in these interesting mounds of Awatobi was more or less superficial, it was in other places thorough, and revealed many new facts in regard to the culture of the inhabitants of this most important pueblo.
I found it inexpedient to dig in the burial places among the sand dunes, on account of the religious prejudices of my workmen. This fear they afterward overcame to a certain extent, but never completely outgrew, although the cemeteries at Sikyatki were quite thoroughly excavated, yielding some of the most striking results of the summer's exploration. The sand hills west of Sikyatki are often swept by violent gales, by which the surface is continually changing, and mortuary pottery is frequently exposed. This has always been a favorite place for the collector, and many a beautiful food bowl has been carried by the Indians from this cemetery to the trading store, for the natives do not seem to object to selling a vase or other object which they find on the surface, but rarely dig in the ground for the purpose of obtaining specimens.
The name Awatobi is evidently derived fromawata, a bow (referring to the Bow clan, one of the strongest in the ancient pueblo), andobi, "high place of." A derivation fromowa, rock, has also been suggested, but it seems hardly distinctive enough to be applicable, and is not accepted by the Hopi themselves.
While the different pueblos of Tusayan were not specially mentioned until forty years after they were first visited, the name Awatobi is readily recognized in the account of Espejo in 1583, where it is called Aguato,[50]which appears as Zaguato and Ahuato in Hakluyt.[51]In the time of Oñate (1598) the same name is written Aguatuybá.[52]Vetancurt,[53]about 1680, mentions the pueblo under the names Aguatobi and Ahuatobi, and in 1692, or twelve years after the great rebellion, Vargas visited "San Bernardo de Aguatuvi," ten leagues from Zuñi. The name appears on maps up to the middle of the eighteenth century, several years after its destruction. In more modern times various older spellings have been adopted or new ones introduced. Among these may be mentioned:
Aguatuví. Buschmann, Neu-Mexico, 231, 1858.Aguatuya. Bandelier in Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology,iii, 85, 1892 (misquoting Oñate).Aguitobi. Bandelier in Archæological Institute Papers, Am. series,iii, pt. 1, 115, 1890.Ahuatu. Bandelier, ibid., 115, 135.Ahuatuyba. Bandelier, ibid., 109.Ah-wat-tenna. Bourke, Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona, 195, 1884 (so called by a Tusayan Indian).Aquatasi. Walch, Charte America, 1805.Aquatubi. Davis, Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, 368, 1869.Atabi-hogandi. Bourke, op. cit., 84, 1884 (Navaho name).Aua-tu-ui. Bandelier in Archæological Institute Papers, op. cit.,iv, pt. 2, 368, 1892.A-wa-te-u. Cushing in Atlantic Monthly, 367, September, 1882.Awatúbi. Bourke, op. cit., 91, 1884.Á wat u i. Cushing in Fourth Report Bureau of Ethnology, 493, 1886 (or Aguatóbi).Zagnato. Brackenridge, Early Spanish Discoveries, 19, 1857 (misprint of Hakluyt's Zaguato).Zaguate. Prince, New Mexico, 34, 1883 (misquoting Hakluyt).Zuguato. Hinton, Handbook to Arizona, 388, 1878 (misquoting Hakluyt).
The Navaho name of the ruin, as is well known, is Talla-hogan, ordinarily translated "Singing-house," and generally interpreted to refer to the mass said by the padres in the ancient church. It is probable, however, that kivas were used as chambers where songs were sung in ceremonials prior to the introduction of Christianity. Therefore why Awatobi should preeminently be designated as the "Singing-house" is not quite apparent.
The name of the mission, San Bernardino,[54]or San Bernardo, refers to its patron saint, and was first applied by Porras in honor of the natal day of this saint, on which day, in 1629, he and his companions arrived in Tusayan.
The identification of Tusayan with the present country of the Hopi depends in great measure on the correct determination of the situation of Cibola. I have regarded as conclusive Bandelier's argument that Cibola comprised the group of pueblos inhabited by the Zuñi in the sixteenth century.[55]Regarding this as proven, Tusayan corresponds with the Hopi villages, of which Awatobi was one of the largest. It lies in the same direction and about the same distance from Zuñi as stated in Castañeda's narrative. The fact that Cardenas passed through Tusayan when he went from Cibola to the Grand Canyon in 1540 is in perfect harmony with the identification of the Hopi villages with Tusayan, and Zuñi with Cibola. Tobar, in Tusayan, heard of the great river to the west, and when he returned to the headquarters of Coronado at Cibola the general dispatched Cardenas to investigate the truth of the report. Cardenas naturally went to Tusayan where Tobar had heard the news, and from there took guides who conducted him to the Grand Canyon. Had the general been in any Hopi town at the time he sent Tobar, and later Cardenas, it is quite impossible to find any cluster of ruins which we can identify as Tusayan in the direction indicated. There can be no doubt that Tusayan was the modern Hopi country, and with this in mind the question as to which Hopi pueblo was the one first visited by Tobar is worthy of investigation.
In order to shed what light is possible on this question, I have examined the account by Castañeda, the letter of Coronado to Mendoza, and the description in the "Relacion del Suceso," but find it difficult to determine that point definitely.
In Hakluyt's translation of Coronado's letter, it is stated that the houses of the "cities" which Tobar was sent to examine were "of earth," and the "chiefe" of these towns is called "Tucano." As this letter was written before Coronado had received word from Tobar concerning his discoveries, naturally we should not expect definite information concerning the new province. Capt. Juan Jaramillo's account speaks of "Tucayan" as a province composed of seven towns, and states that the houses are terraced.
In the "Relacion del Suceso" we likewise find the province called "Tuzan" (Tusayan), and the author notes the resemblance of thevillages to Cibola, but he distinctly states that the inhabitants cultivated cotton.
Castañeda's account, which is the most detailed, is that on which I have relied in my identification of Awatobi as the first Hopi pueblo seen by the Spaniards.
It seems that Don Pedro de Tobar was dispatched by Coronado to explore a province called Tusayan which was reported to be twenty-five leagues from Cibola. He had in his command seventeen horsemen and one or two foot-soldiers, and was accompanied by Friar Juan de Padilla. They arrived in the new province after dark and concealed themselves under the edge of the mesa, so near that they heard the voices of the Indians in their houses. The natives, however, discovered them at daylight drawn up in order, and came out to meet them armed with wooden clubs, bow and arrows, and carrying shields. The chief drew a line of sacred meal across the trail, and in that way symbolized that the entrance to their pueblo was closed to the intruders. During a parley, however, one of the men made a move to cross the line of meal, and an Indian struck his horse on the bridle. This opened hostilities, in which the Hopi were worsted, but apparently without loss of life. The vanquished brought presents of various kinds—cotton cloth, cornmeal, birds, skins, piñon nuts, and a few turquoises—and finding a good camping place near their pueblo, Tobar established headquarters and received homage from all the province. They allowed the Spaniards to enter their villages and traded with them.[56]
Espejo's reference to Awatobi in 1583 leaves no doubt that the pueblo was in existence in that year, and while, of course, we can not definitely say that it was not built between 1540 and 1583, the indications are that it was not. Hopi traditions assert that it was in existence when the Spaniards came, and the statement of the legendists whom I have consulted are definite that the survivors of Sikyatki went to Awatobi after the overthrow of the former pueblo. It would not appear, however, that Awatobi was founded prior to Sikyatki, nor is it stated that the refugees from Sikyatki built Awatobi, which is within the bounds of possibility, but it seems to be quite generally conceded that the Sikyatki tragedy antedated the arrival of the first Spaniards.
There can, I think, be no doubt that the Hopi pueblo first entered by Pedro de Tobar, in 1540, was Awatobi, and that the first conflict of Spanish soldiers and Hopi warriors, which occurred at that time, took place on the well-known Zuñi trail in Antelope valley, not far from Jeditoh or Antelope spring. This pueblo is the nearest village to Cibola (Zuñi), from which Tobar came, and as he took the Zuñi trail he would naturally first approach this village, even if the other pueblos on the rim of this valley were inhabited. It is interesting to consider a few lines from Castañeda, describing the event of that episode, to see howclosely the site of Awatobi conforms to the narrative. In Castañeda's account of Tobar's visit we find that the latter with his command entered Tusayan so secretly that their presence was unknown to the inhabitants, and they traversed a cultivated plain without being seen, so that, we are told, they approached the village near enough to hear the voices of the Indians without being discovered. Moreover, the Indians, the narrative says, had a habit of descending to their cultivated fields, which implies that they lived on a mesa top. Awatobi was situated on a mesa, and the cultivated fields were in exactly the position indicated. The habit of retiring to their pueblo at night is still observed, or was to within a few years. Tobar arrived at the edge of Antelope valley after dark (otherwise he would have been discovered), crossed the cultivated fields under cover of night, and camped under the town at the base of the mesa. The soldiers from that point could readily hear the voices of the villagers above them. Even at the base of the lofty East Mesa I have often heard the Walpi people talking, while the words of the town crier are intelligible far out on the plain. From the configuration of the valley it would not, however, have been easier for Awatobians to have seen the approaching Spaniards than for the Walpians; still it was possible for the invaders to conceal their approach to Walpi in the same way. If, however, the first pueblo approached was Walpi, and Tobar followed the Zuñi trail, I think he would have been discovered by the Awatobi people before nightfall if he entered the cultivated fields early in the evening. It would be incredible to believe that he wandered from the trail; much more likely he went directly to Awatobi, the first village en route, and then encamped until the approach of day before entering the pueblo. At sunrise the inhabitants, early stirring, detected the presence of the intruders, and the warriors went down the mesa to meet them. They had already heard from Cibola of the strange beings, men mounted on animals which were said to devour enemies.
It may seem strange that the departure of an expedition against Tusayan was unknown to the Hopi, but the narrative leads us to believe that such was the fact. The warriors descended to the plain, and their chief drew a line of sacred meal across the trail to symbolize that the way to their pueblo was closed; whoever crossed it was an enemy, and punishment should be meted out to him. This custom is still preserved in several ceremonials at the present day, as, for instance, in the New-fire rites[57]in November and in the Flute observance in July.[58]Thepriests say that in former times whoever crossed a line of meal drawn on the trail at that festival was killed, and even now they insist that no one is allowed to pass a closed trail. The Awatobi warriors probably warned Tobar and his comrades not to advance, but the symbolic barrier was not understood by them. The Spaniards were not there to parley long, and it is probable that their purpose was to engage in a quarrel with the Indians. Urged on by the priest, Juan de Padilla, "who had been a soldier in his youth," they charged the Indians and overthrew a number, driving the others before them. The immediate provocation for this, according to the historian, was that an Indian struck one of the horses on the bridle, at which the holy father, losing patience, exclaimed to his captain, "Why are we here?" which was interpreted as a sign for the assault.
It must, however, be confessed that if the pueblo of Walpi was the first discovered an approach by stealth without being seen would have been easier for Tobar if the village referred to was Walpi then situated on the Ash-hill terrace, with the East Mesa between it and the Zuñi trail. To offset this probability, however, is the fact that the Zuñi trail now runs through Awatobi, or in full view of it and there is hardly a possibility that Tobar left that trail to avoid Awatobi. He would naturally visit the first village, and not go out of his way seven miles beyond it, seeking a more distant pueblo.
The effect of this onslaught on men armed with spears, clubs, and leather shields can be imagined, and the encounter seems to have discouraged the Awatobi warriors from renewed resistance. They fled, but shortly afterward brought presents as a sign of submission, when Tobar called off his men. Thus was the entry of the Spaniards into Tusayan marked with bloodshed for a trifling offense. Shortly afterward Tobar entered the village and received the complete submission of the people.
The names of the Tusayan pueblos visited by Tobar in this first entrance are nowhere mentioned in the several accounts which have come down to us. Forty years later, however, the Spaniards returned and found the friendly feeling of Awatobi to the visitors had not lapsed. When Espejo approached the town in 1583, over the same Zuñi trail, the multitudes with their caciques met him with great joy and poured maize (sacred meal?) on the ground for the horses to walk upon. This was symbolic of welcome; they "made" the trail, a ceremony which is still kept up when entrance to the pueblo is formally offered.[59]
The people, considering their poverty, were generous, and gave Espejo "hand towels with tassels" at the corners. These were probably dance kilts and ceremonial blankets, which then, as now, the Hopi made of cotton.
The pueblo, called "Aguato" in the account of that visit, was without doubt Awatobi. The name Aguatuybá, mentioned by Oñate, is also doubtless the same, although, as pointed out to me by Mr Hodge, "through an error probably of the copyist or printer, the name Aguatuybá is inadvertently given by Oñate among his list of Hopi chiefs, while Esperiez is mentioned among the pueblos." In Oñate's list we recognize Oraibi in "Naybi," and Shuñopovi in "Xumupamí" and "Comupaví," the most westerly town of the Middle Mesa. "Cuanrabi" and "Esperiez" are not recognizable as pueblos.
Espejo, therefore, appears to have been the first to mention Awatobi as "Aguato," which is metamorphosed in Hakluyt into "Zaguato or "Ahuzto,"[60]although evidently Oñate's "Aguatuybá" was intended as a name of a pueblo.
I have not been able to determine satisfactorily the date of the erection of the mission building of San Bernardino at Awatobi, but the name is mentioned as early as 1629. In that year three friars went to Tusayan and began active efforts to convert the Hopi.[61]
It is recorded[62]that Padre Porras, with Andres Gutierrez, Cristoval de la Concepcion, and ten soldiers, arrived in Tusayan, "dia del glorioso San Bernardo (que és el apellido que aora tiene aquel pueblo)," which leaves no doubt why the mission at Awatobi was so named. Although an apostate Indian had spread the report, previously to the advent of these priests in Tusayan, that the Spaniards were coming among them to burn their pueblos, rob their homes, and devour[63]their children, the zealous missionaries in 1629 converted many of the chiefs and baptized their children. The cacique, Don Augustin, who appears to have been baptized at Awatobi, apparently lived in Walpi or at the Middle Mesa, and returning to his pueblo, prepared the way for a continuation of the apostolic work in the villages of the other mesas.
But the missionary labors of Porras came to an untimely end. It is written that by 1633 he had made great progress in converting the Hopi, but in that year, probably at Awatobi, he was poisoned. Of the fate of his two companions and the success of their work little is known, but it is recorded that the succession of padres was not brokenup to the great rebellion in 1680. Figueroa, who was massacred at Awatobi in that year, went to Tusayan in 1674 with Aug. Sta. Marie. Between the death of Porras and the arrival of Figueroa there was an interval of eleven years, during which time the two comrades of Porras or Espeleta, who went to Tusayan in 1650, took charge of the spiritual welfare of the Hopi. Espeleta and Aug. Sta. Marie were killed in 1680 at San Francisco de Oraibi and Walpi, respectively, and José Trujillo probably lost his life at Old Shuñopovi at the same time. As there is no good reason to suppose that Awatobi, one of the most populous Tusayan pueblos, was neglected by the Spanish missionaries after the death of Porras in 1633, and as it was the first pueblo encountered on the trail from Zuñi, doubtless San Bernardino was one of the earliest missions erected in Tusayan. From 1680 until 1692, the period of independence resulting from the great Pueblo revolt, there was no priest in Tusayan, nor, indeed, in all New Mexico. Possibly the mission was repaired between 1692 and 1700, but it is probable that it was built as early as the time Porras lived in Awatobi. It is explicitly stated that in the destruction of Awatobi in 1700 no missionaries were killed, although it is recorded that early in that year Padre Garaycoechea made it a visit.
The disputes between the Jesuits and Franciscans to obtain the Hopi field for missionary work during the eighteenth century naturally falls in another chapter of Spanish-Tusayan history. Aside from sporadic visits to the pueblos, nothing tangible appears to have resulted from the attempts at conversion in this epoch. True, many apostates were induced to return to their old homes on the Rio Grande and some of the Hopi frequently asked for resident priests, making plausible offers to protect them; but the people as a whole were hostile, and the mission churches were never rebuilt, nor did the fathers again live in this isolated province.
In 1692 Awatobi was visited by Don Diego de Vargas, the reconquerer of New Mexico, who appears to have had no difficulty bringing to terms the pueblos of Awatobi, Walpi, Mishoñinovi, and Shuñopovi.[64]He found, however, that Awatobi was "fortified," and the entrance so narrow that but one man could enter at a time. The description leads us to conclude that the fortification was the wall at the eastern end, and the entrance the gateway, the sides of which are still to be seen. The plaza in which the cross was erected was probably just north of the walls of the mission.
There would seem to be no doubt that a mission building was standing at Awatobi before 1680, for Vetancurt, writing about the year named, states that in the uprising it was burned.[65]At the time of thevisit of Garaycoechea, in the spring of 1700, he found that the mission had been rebuilt. In this connection it is instructive, as bearing on the probable cause of the destruction of Awatobi, to find that while the inhabitants of this pueblo desired to have the mission rehabilitated, the other Tusayan pueblos were so hostile that the friends of the priest in Awatobi persuaded him not to attempt to visit the other villages. This warning was no doubt well advised, and the tragic fate which befell Awatobi before the close of the year shows that the trouble was brewing when the padre was there, and possibly Garaycoechea's visit hastened the catastrophe or intensified the hatred of the other pueblos.
At the time of Garaycoechea's visit he baptized, it is said, 73 persons. This rite was particularly obnoxious[66]to the Hopi, as indeed to the other Pueblo Indians, notwithstanding they performed practically the same ceremony in initiations into their own secret societies. The Awatobians, however, or at least some of them, allowed this rite of the Christians, thus intensifying the hatred of the more conservative of their own village and of the neighboring pueblos. These and other facts seem to indicate that the real cause of the destruction of Awatobi was the reception of Christianity by its inhabitants, which the other villagers regarded as sorcery. The conservative party, led by Tapolo, opened the gate of the town to the warriors of Walpi and Mishoñinovi, who slaughtered the liberals, thus effectually rooting out the new faith from Tusayan, for after that time it never again obtained a foothold.
The visit of Padre Juan Garaycoechea to Tusayan was at the invitation of Espeleta, chief of Oraibi, but he went no farther than Awatobi, where he baptized the 73 Hopi. He then returned to the "governor," and arrived at Zuñi in June. According to Bancroft (p. 222), "In the 'Moqui Noticias'ms., 669, it is stated that the other Moquis, angry that Aguatuvi had received the padres, came and attacked the pueblo, killed all the men, and carried off all the women and children, leaving the place for many years deserted." Although I have not been able to consult the document quoted, this conclusion corresponds so closely with Hopi tradition that I believe it is practically true, although Bancroft unfortunately closes the quotation I have made from his account with the words, "I think this must be an error." Espeleta, the Oraibi chief, and 20 companions were in Santa Fé in October, 1700, and proposed a peace in which the Hopi asked for religious toleration, which Governor Cubero refused. As a final appeal he desired that the fathers should not permanently reside with them, but should visit one pueblo each year for six years; but this request was also rejected. Espeleta returned to Oraibi, and immediately on his appearance an unsuccessful attempt was made to destroy Awatobi, followed, as recounted in the legend, by a union with Walpi and Mishoñinovi, by which the liberal-mindedvillagers of the Antelope mesa were overthrown. Documentary and legendary accounts are thus in strict accord regarding the cause of the destruction.