Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 171, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1914 — the ENCHANTED MESA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

the ENCHANTED MESA

*Wp T w iih 111 the sixteenth cen- ■ tury that the Spaniards first W&ijjßp'* states of Arizona and New : %!TOr Mexico. Fabulous tales of the wealth and treasure of {WJOSP great cities in the unknown VJ' North found eager listeners among the adventurous Spaniards in the central valley of Mexico. Report followed report; each more lurid than the last, until the viceroy of New Spain, Inflamed by the tales of Pizarro's brilliant conquest of Peru, organized a jpeat. expedition and sent It out to discover and conquer the faraway Eldorado and bring back the treasure they so fondly hoped to find there. The great Coronado was chosen commander-in-chief, and on Easter morning of the year 1540 began the most remarkable journey of discovery in America. For months they traveled over the deserts, mountains, and plains, meeting with all the vicissitudes and dangers of an unknown country, until at last they reached the “land of standing rocks, ’’ the home of the cliff-dwelling Indians In the present states of Arizona and New Mexico. Here they found not only wild and warlike Indians but a gentler race of aborigines much further advanced In culture than any other Indians they had met since leaving central Mexico. They were an agrluhllural people, dwelling In many-storied stone or mud houses, and their descendants to this day live, In many Instances, on the same sites and In a few cases In the Identical buildings that their ancestors occupied when the Spaniards first saw them over three and a half centuries ago. ' N The old buildings, called pueblos by the Spaniards, are the oldest continu-ously-inhabited structures on the American continent, and their Inhabitants are more nearly in their original condition than any other .American Indians today. As an example of the canyonß one may be mentioned, known to the Alans as Iseye, the walls of which rise sheer from the sands of Its river-bed over 1,000 feet, and where erosion has sculptured the most stupendous natural monuments In stratified sandstone In the world. Alternating with the canyons are mesas, flat-topped mountains, many of which are crowned with living Indian towns, such as the pueblos of the Hopi Indians In Arizona and the superbly situated Acoma in New Mexico, while others reveal the broken-down walls of ancient cities of the Stone Age people. Among the living Indian tribes that call this wondrous land home are the Hopi and Navajo, the most interesting of all the remaining Indian tribes In the United States. The Hopi people are town-builders and live on the top of the cliffs In the midst of a great desert, sustaining themselves by agriculture and small bands of sheep. Eight little rock-built villages are the homes of this tribe; they number 2,000 souls, and they have probably lived in their fortress-like cities for 1,000 years. They have no chiefs In the strict sense of the word but are governed by men who have shown by their lives and characters that they are good leaders. They are a splendid and fearless people who represent today but a remnant of the once-power-fnl Indian nation, a phase of humanity rapidly passing away before the aggressive march of Western civilization. The Hopi Indians are experts in the art of basketry and pottery, as well as in the weaving of cotton. Their religious life Is marked by elaborate ceremonials, of which the best known is the snake dance. They look upon rattlesnakes as messengers to the gods, and In the snake dance formally charge them with requests and prayers. The ceremony begins In an underground chamber, known as an estufa, and ends when the dancers

emerge carrying the serpents in their mouths. The Navajos are a progressive tribe of Indians of Athapascan linguistic stock. The name of Spanish derivation, Is said to signify "the people with large fields.’’ In features the Navajos resemble the Pueblos rather than the Northern tribes with which they are affiliated in language. They are hardy, proud and independent, but shun no form of industry which offers remuneration, and show much agricultural skill. They thrive without snbßldy from the government, which provides them school houses. The general culture of the Navajos Is similar to that of the Pueblos, but there are some striking differences, particularly as to dwellings. Instead of the peculiar storied structure of the Pueblo, the Navajo house, or “hogan,” Is a conical construction of poles stood on end and covered with earth, with a low, projecting entrance porch at one side and a smoke hole at the apex. The Navajos are highly religious, with many divinities, and a vast lore of myths, legends, songs and prayers. They have, also hundreds of musical compositions and a series of complex ceremonial dances known only to the medicine men. Socially the Navajos are characterized by a well-developed clan system, with descent In the female line. Many of their women are possessors in their own right of large agricultural and personal wealth. In government they are controlled by the older influential men who meet in Informal council for the transaction of tribal-business. The tribe Is best known for its blankets, ponchos, rugs, belts, garters and saddle girths, which are woven by hand from the wool of their flocks, and which no power loom has been able to imitate. They have also acquired from the Spaniards the art of working silver and turn out many creditable ornaments. The Navajos first appear In history under the present name in 1629, and Christian missionaries worked among them In the middle of the eighteenth century. They were decidedly warlike at the time, fighting constantly with the Pueblos on the one hand and with the white settlers of New Mexico on the other.. In 1849 a United States expedition entered their county and forced a treaty of peace. This treaty having been frequently broken. Col. Kit Carson was sent against them In 1863 and took the greater part of

the tribe captive to Fort Sumner, where they were kept until 1867 when they were allowed to return to their original country. In 1868 a treaty was made with them whereby, in return for the cession of their land to the government, they were established on their present reservation. The Navajos are remarkable in being the only Indian tribe which has increased In numbers. In 1869 there were less than 9,000. According to the United States census for 1910 there were 22,455 members comprised in nearly fifty clans.