Schat-chen; history, traditions and narratives of the Queres Indians of Laguna and Acoma

ii A. T /!? 14 1? M

I3I./TL 1 '-~ \^ 1 1 .01 1

i HISTORY, TRADITIONS AND NARRATIVES

i OF THE

QUERKS INDIANS

^nH
LAGU MA' AND ACOMA

JOHN M, OUNN

7

SCHAT-CHEIsT

HISTORY

TRADITIONS AND NARATIVES

OF THE

QTJERES INDIANS

LACxUNA AND ACOMA

:

JOHN M.

k

A part of this History was published ir\

"RECORDS Or THE PAST"

Washington, D. Gin 1904

The Continental pronunciation is used for all foreignwords in the stories, traditions
and anecdotes, found in last part of this work.

The drawings In this book are drawn by Queres Indians

Copyrighted 1916 by JOHN M. GUNN

1917

ALBRIGHT & ANDERSON
Albuquerque, N. M.

PREFACE

The eternal glory of all great things belongs to the
one who has placed the first stone. — Kenan.

We of today, the great Aryan race, who hold the
scepter of civilization, must acknowledge our indebted
ness — "with becoming admiration, what we have inher
ited from our Cushite predecessors." — Baldwin.

They were the first civilizers, the first enlightened
nation of antiquity. They taught the world the art of
navigation, the phonetic alphabet and the science of num
bers. They are the ones who gathered from different
parts of the world and tamed nearly all of what we call
our domestic animals. They were the architects who
built the great monuments and cities, now in ruin, of
Arabia, Egypt, Mexico and Central America. When at
the height of their glory this nation had colonies in prac
tically all parts of the world.

Hannibal, Thales, Dido and Cleopatra were of that
nationality.

And the Queres Indians of Laguna and Acoma are
one of the last fading remnants of that great people.

INDEX

, Page

Preface 3

Introduction 7

Schat-chen —

Authentic History 11

Espejo and Beltran 23

Juan de Onate, First Governor of the Province 35

The Pope Rebellion 40

Diego de Vargas, Governor of New Mexico 46

Pedro Rodriguez Cubero's Administration 52

Antonio de Obejada and the Grant Title Papers 53

Ancient History 65

History of Aztec and Toll-tecs 77

The Tolltecs or Nah-wish 81

Queres Settlement in Florida and West Indies 85

Ancient Religion and Beliefs of the Queres 89

Modern History of Laguna and Acoma 93

Prophecy of She-ake 101

Traditions and Narratives of the Queres —

The Tradition of Ship-op 109

Ko-pot Ka-nat 115

The Sits-Shrai-Wa 120

I-Sto-a-Moot and Hi-Stchi-an Ko-a-Suts 122

Sutsu-Nuts, the Ruler of the Ka-Tsi-Na 127

qi-Yo Ke-Pe 134

The Unsealing of Katsina Kutret 139

Masts-Tru-Oi, the Cliff Dweller 144

Ru-Ru-Ka-Moot and the Awl 155

Pais-Chun-Ni-M-oot, the Fire Brand Boy 161

Moki Tradition 167

The Battle of the Sto-ro-ka and the Kats-tsi-na 173

Pusts-Moot 176

Is-To-A-Moot and the Buffalo Man • 184

I-Sto-A-Moot and His Sister 190

The Turtle, the Deer and the She Wolf 192

Yo-A-Schi-Moot and the Kun-Ni-Te-Ya 195

Ko-Chin-Ni-Na-Ko and Ko-Ci-Ma 205

The Governor of Acoma and the Kun-ni-te-ya 209

The Hunter Girl and the Giantess 211

The Coyote and the Horned Toad 214

Sh-Ah-Cock and Miochin or the Battle of the Seasons. . . .217

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page
Frontispiece — Pueblo of Laguna.

A Plume Offering to the Deities 12

The Village of Acoma 14

A Queres Woman in Native Costume 24

Standing Rock near the Village of Acoma 34

The Butte of "El Moro" — Inscription Rock 49

Costume Worn by the Queres 58

Queres Indian in His Ancient Costume 66

Acoma and Laguna Pottery 71

Old Woman Parching Corn * 74

Ruins of Chichen 83

Symbol Representing Eyetico 88

A Queres Family 92

Mauray — One of the Hero Brothers * 108

O-Yo-Yave, the Other Hero Brother Ill

Kopot 114

Ko-kah-ki-eh, Brother of Kopot- 117

Sut-su-nuts 126

The Scouts Changed to Clowns — Komi-osh 138

Masts-Tru-Oi, the Cliff Dweller 142

A Queres Girl Carrying a Jar of Water 149

O-srats Pai-Tum-Mu 154

Ki-Nah-Ne, the Gambler 160

Hutch-a-Mun or Prayer Sticks 166

Construction of Prayer Sticks 168

Ky-ah-hy-o 170

The Sto-ro-ka 172

Sabe Nowish . . . 174

INTRODUCTION

History should be an accurate account of every sig
nificant fact, but a good deal of ancient history of remote
antiquity has come down to us from oral tradition. Be
fore the invention of the phonetic alphabet, there was
no other feasible way of recording acquired knowledge
and historical events which people wished to preserve for
future generations. After the science of letters was
understood, it was an easy matter to copy these old
yarns, but in many instances they had lost most of their
original meaning ; each one who repeated them imparted
a certain personality and made slight changes. So it
can be seen that traditions which have come down orally
from dim antiquity to the present time, with never an
attempt to analyze or confine to written words, present
quite a problem for solution. Of such is the character of
the Queres traditions. They are probably no more absurd
than those of any of the ancient nations with which we
are acquainted; for instance, the Grecian tradition of
the Golden 'Fleece, or of Cadmus and the Dragon's
Teeth, yet these traditions record two of the greatest sci
entific and historical facts of ancient times. The first
circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenecians. The
second the introduction of phonetic writing in Europe.
These old yarns would be pretty hard to decipher if we
had no other historical data to guide us; but with the
Queres it is different. We have no Herodotus, no Plato,
no Strabo or Diadorus to help us; no inscriptions
or hieroglyphics we might decipher, but we will proceed
to untangle some of these knotty old yarns and abide by
the verdict of the reader. We will begin with the au
thentic history left us by the early Spanish explorers in
this country which introduces to us the Queres Pueblo
Indians of Acoma and Laguna. We follow the accounts

8 SCHAT-CHEN

of these old Spanish Conquistadores as long as they
remain sovereigns of New Mexico, then by the pale,
flickering light of tradition trace the ancestors of these
Queres Indians away into the dim past, if not to their
origin at least to a remote antiquity, guided at times only
by fragments of traditions, a word, a phrase or certain
features of their language; scattered here and there at
long intervals along the trail now almost obliterated.
As we follow their wanderings we feel for them a mel
ancholy sympathy ; they are the same in manner, customs
and beliefs today as they were centuries before the
haughty Caucasian trod the western continent, but at the
dawn of the twentieth century we see the sign of a
change and the time may be when the descendants of
these Queres Indians will give to the world minds as
great as the world has yet produced. Hoping that they
may be guided and guarded by that great intelligence
(Sitch-tche-nock-o) the spirit of reason to whom they
pray, I have gathered these old myths, traditions and
historical facts that have survived the obliterating influ
ence of time.

A PLUME OFFERING TO THE DEITIES

SC HAT-CHEN

AUTHENTIC HISTORY

Laguna, village of the lake, though the lake has long
been drained, and where the ripples once chased each
other across an expanse of water two miles long by one-
half mile wide, now wave fields of wheat and corn.

Youngest of the Queres villages, the exact date of set
tlement is indefinite. Certain, however, something more
than 200 years have received the shelter of its walls and
passed on to oblivion.

The Spanish records of the country put the date of
settlement in the year 1699. De Thoma says: "The
Queres of Cieneguilla, Santo Domingo and Cochiti con
structed in the same year (1699) a new pueblo close to
an arroyo, four leagues north of Acoma. On the fourth
day of July, in 1699, this pueblo swore its vassalage and
obedience, and received the name of 'San Jose de la
Laguna.' But from other historical sources and tra
ditions it is evident that it was settled several years
previous to this date.

The first reference to this particular place is by Her-
nando de Alvarado, an officer in the expedition of Coro-
nado. In his report to the general he says :

"We set out from Granada (Ojo Caliente, one of the
Zuni villages) on Sunday, the day of the 'beheading of
John the Baptist, the 29th of August, in the year 1540,
on the way to Co Co (Acoma). After we had gone two
leagues we came to an ancient building, like a fortress,
and a league beyond we found another, and yet another;
a little further on, and beyond these, we found an ancient
city, very large, entirely destroyed, although a large part
of the walls were standing, which were six times as tall
as a man, the walls well made, of good stone, with gates

12 SCHAT CHEN

and gutters like a city in Castile. Half a league or more
beyond this we found another ruined city, the walls of
which must have been very fine, built of very large gran
ite blocks as high as a man.

"Here tv\ o roads separate, one to Chia (Zia) and the
other to Co Co (Acoma). We took the latter and reached
that place, which is one of the strongest places that we
have ever seen, because the city is on a very high rock,
with such a rough ascent that we repented having gone
up to the place. The houses have three or four stories.
The people are the same sort as those of the province of
Cibola; they have plenty of food, of corn and beans and
fowls, like those of New Spain. From here we went to
a very good lake or (Laguna) marsh, where there are
trees like those of Castile.

"From here we went to a river, which we named
Nuestra Senora, because we reached it the evening before
her day. In the month of September (8) we sent the
cross by a guide to the village in advance, and the next
day the people came from twelve villages, the chief men
and people in order, those of one village behind those
of another, and they approached the tent to the sound
of a pipe, and with an old man for spokesman. In this
fashion they came into the tent and gave me the food
and clothing and skins they had brought, and I gave
them some trinkets and they went off.

"The river of Nuestra Senora flows through a very
open plain, sowed with corn plants. There are several
groves and there are twelve villages. t

"The houses are of earth, two stories high. The
people have a good appearance, more like laborers than
a warlike race. They have a large food supply of corn,
beans, melons and fowls in great plenty. They clothe
themselves with cotton and skins of cows and dresses of
the feathers of the fowls.

"Those who have most authority ar^ the old mem

AUTHENTIC HISTORY 13

We regarded them as witches because they say that they
go up into the sky, and other things of the same sort. In
this province there are seven other villages, depopulated
and destroyed by those Indians who paint their eyes, of
whom the guide will tell your grace. They say that they
live in the same region as the cows, and that they have
corn and houses of straw. Here the people of another
village came to make peace with me, and as your grace
may see in this memorandum there are eighty villages
there, of the same sort as I have described, and among
them one which is located on some stream. It is divided
into twenty divisions, which is something remarkable.
The houses have three stories of mud walls, and three
others of small wooden boards, and on the outside of the
three stories with the mud walls they have three bal
conies. It seems to us that there were nearly 15,000 per
sons in this village. The country is very cold. They do
not raise fowls or cotton. They worship the sun and'
water. In some mounds of earth outside of the places
where they are buried and in the places where crosses
were raised we saw them worship there. They made
offerings to these of their powder and feathers, and
some left the blankets they had on. They showed so
much zeal that some climbed up on the others to grasp
the arms of the cross to place feathers and flowers there,
and the others bringing ladders; while some held them
others went up to tie strings so as to fasten the flowers
and feathers. "

Here abruptly ends the report.

The lake of which Alvarado speaks, and which gave
to the village the name of Laguna, was a short distance
west of the pueblo. Geological evidence shows that at
some time, many years ago, a stream of molten lava
flowed down the valley, following the river, and filling up
the channel where the stream ran, between bluffs, thus
damming the river in many places and forming lakes.

AUTHENTIC HISTORY 15

Such was the lake at Laguna. It is evident that a much
larger stream than the present one once flowed through
the valley, filling the ha sins formed 'by the lava flow and
then pouring over the rocky obstructions, and in time
wore a new channel through the solid lava, in some places
a quarter of a mile long and forty feet deep, which must
have taken ages to complete ; the water being furnished in
all probability by local glaciers, as there are signs of gla
cial action and moraines in the Zuni mountains to the
west. After a new channel had thus been formed and
the lake drained there came a period of drought and the
beavers, taking advantage of the narrow channels, con
structed artificial dams, again backing up the water and
refilled the basins. Such was the lake when Alvarado
and his soldiers first passed through here.

When the Indians came to build the town the beavers
were frightened away, but the villagers continued to re
pair the dam from time to time until the year 1850,
when on account of religious disputes the people refused
to obey the officers or work together in unity. The dam
washed away and the lake was drained. The Spaniards
named the stream which supplied the lake the Rio del
Gallo, probably on account of the mud hens which in
fested these marshes and lakes in great numbers, and
which have some resemblance to a chicken, but as no
mention is made of any habitation, it is safe to say that
there was no settlement here at that time.

Fifteen miles southwest of Laguna rises the great
rock of Acoma, crowned by the ancient pueblo of the
same name. Basking in the summer suns and swept by
the winter blasts of centuries, the old village, though
now slightly in ruins, still smiles on the rugged mesas
and fantastically shaped rocks with which nature has
surrounded it, the great buttes and curiously eroded pil
lars, nearly all of which have some entertaining story of
folk-lore connected with it, and are sure to excite the

16 SCHAT-CHEN

imagination when viewed for the first time. The town
was ever a source of wonder to the early Spaniards, who
visited the country. They wrote the name indifferently,
Co-co, Acuco, Tutuhaco, Hacus. Acuco was the name
most frequently used. This name was adopted from the
Zuni pronunciation. The native name for the village is
Ah-ko or Stche-ahko, a contraction of the word >Stche-ah-
ko-ki or Stchuk-ko-ki, meaning a rude form of ladder,
formed by driving sticks into the crevices of a rock. The
Acoma Indians have a peculiar habit of accenting cer
tain syllables of a word and slurring the rest. Thus it
may be seen how the word originated.

From the base to the summit the rock of Acoma is
about 300 feet, in area a)bout sixty acres. There are at
least ten trails leading up to the village from the valley
below, two of which it is practical to ride on horseback.

The date of the first settlement of Acoma lies away
back in the dim past. There was a tradition among them
when the first Spaniards came into the country that their
ancestors inhabited a valley about twelve miles north of
Acoma, between the present Mexican village of Cubero
and Mount Taylor, and that they were compelled to aban -
don their dwellings here and locate on the rock for pro
tection against the constant raids of the Navajos and
Apaches; this, they claimed, was 300 years before the
coming of the Spaniards. This story is probable-, as there
are several ruins of pueblo villages in the valley.

Their stories and traditions show that at one time
they inhabited the country to the west and south. There
are extensive pueblo ruins in these parts not many miles
distant from Acoma; the inhabitants, no doubt, being
compelled to flee to the rock for mutual protection against
their warlike neighbors.

One of the most notable sights in the vicinity of
Acoma is the enchanted mesa, 430 feet from base to sum
mit, with an area on top of about twelve acres. The

AUTHENTIC HISTORY 17

Indian name for this gigantic rock is Kut-se-nmh, mean
ing he who stands in the door. The walls are precipitous,
but there is one place where it is practicable to climb
to the top by the aid of ladders. It is not probable that
this butte was ever inhabited.

Although Fray Marcos de Niza was the first white
man to visit Zuni and the first to give to the world a def
inite description of Acoma or Hacus, as he called the
village, Coronado 's soldiers were the first Europeans to
gaze on the wounderful pueblo, and although most of Cor-
bnado's army passed this way on their journey to the
Eio Grande, Coronado himself did not see Acoma till two
years later, on his way back to Mexico.

As these pueblos are closely associated with the
early Spanish history of New Mexico, I will begin with
the first explorations in the country. The history of these
pueblos is like a trail ; it has its beginnings and endings,
crooks and turns, forks, branches and crossings ; in some
places it is clear and easily followed, in other places it is
dim or totally obliterated, and the historian is compelled
to grope around, with no landmarks to guide him, nothing
but a few fragments of tradition scattered here and there
at long intervals. The authentic history of Laguna and
Acoma begins with Coronado 's expedition at Zuni. On
August 29, 1540, Coronado sent Alvarado with a com
pany of twenty men to explore the country to the east,
taking as guide the war captain of Pecos, who, with two
companions, had come to Zuni to see the white men. The
soldiers named the war captain "Bigotes," meaning
"Mustaches." The instructions to Alvarado were to re
turn in eighty days, but, arriving at the Eio Grande and
exploring the country quite thoroughly, he sent a messen
ger back with the report which we have already seen.
About this time word was received that Tristan de Arel-
lanes would soon arrive with reinforcements and fresh
supplies from Sonora, so Coronado decided to move on

18 SCHAT-CHEN

to the river. With this end in view he dispatched Garcia
Lopez de Cardenas to intercept Alvarado on his return
and pick out a suitable place to camp the army for the
winter. As soon as Arellanes arrived Coronado placed
him in command, with instructions to move on to the
river, after resting the army twenty days, while Coro
nado himself, with a company of thirty men, instead of
following the direct route which Alvarado had traveled,
diverged to the south of Acoma in order to explore the
country and visit a group of six or eight pueblos, at that
time supposed to have been inhabited, to the southeast of
Zuni.

After a journey of eight days of hardships, occa
sioned by cold and lack of water, Coronado and his little
band reached the Rio Grande, near Isleta, and soon after
joined Alvarado and Cardenas, twenty-four miles further
north. The winter of 1540-41 seemed to have been very
severe, but the Spanish suffered very little from the cold,
being domiciled in comfortable houses. Castenada says :
"As it was necessary that the Indians should give the
Spaniards lodging places, the people in one village had to
abandon it and go to others belonging to their friends,
and they took nothing with them but themselves and the
clothing they had on." But the Spaniards' clothing was
wearing out and to provide new wearing apparel for his
soldiers Coronado ordered the governor of Tiguex, a
large pueblo close to where the army was encamped, to
furnish 300 or more pieces of suitable cotton cloth. The
governor agreed to furnish what cloth his people could
spare, but suggested that the levy be divided among the
different pueblos. Acting on this suggestion, Coronado
sent his soldiers up and down the valley to collect the
cloth. This turned out to be nothing less than a foraging
expedition. Instead of taking what was given, the
soldiers took what they wanted. At one of the towns a
Spaniard got into trouble over a woman, the wife of

AUTHENTIC HISTORY 19

one of the principal men of the village. The Indians
brought this grievance before the commander, but failed
to obtain satisfaction. Concluding that there was no
1 justice to be expected from the Spaniards they decided on
a bold move, and one which, had it been successful, would
have seriously effected the Spaniards. This was to drive
the horses of the expedition inside the fortifications of
Tiguex. /This village was surrounded by a palisade or
picket fence of cedar posts. In getting possession of the
horses one of the Indian herders was killed, but the other
escaped and gave the alarm to the Spaniards, who came
in a body to the rescue of their animals. The pueblos
were forced to abandon the greater part of the herd, but
a few of the horses were rushed into the enclosure and
the gates hastily barred. The next day some of the
Spaniards went to the village to see about their horses.
The Indians refused to allow them to enter the fortifica
tions. The horses were being chased around and shot
with arrows.

One account says that forty head of horses and seven
head of the general's mules were killed at this time by
the Indians. The Spaniards then attacked the town, but
on account of its being so well fortified they could ac
complish nothing. The general then ordered his soldiers,
under Cardenas, to attack another town close to Tiguex,
but not so well fortified. The fight lasted two days and
nights, and then, under promise of fair treatment, the
Pueblos surrendered. The instructions to Cardenas were
to make an example of the Indians, so as to intimidate
the rest of the natives and make them fear the Spaniards.
Accordingly he had 200 of them burned at the stake,
The rest of the Pueblos, whom the Spaniards had under
guard, seeing the fate of their companions, broke away
from their captors, but were pursued by the horsemen
and slain to a man.

The same day that this tragedy happened the main

20 SCHAT-CHEN

body of the army, under Tristan de Arellanes, arrived
from Zuni. Intercourse between the Pueblos and the
Spaniards was suspended. For nearly two months the
army remained in its quarters, partly for this reason and
partly on account of the snow and cold weather. The
order which had been executed by Cardenas had its effect.
The natives were suspicious and afraid of the ^Spaniards
and refused all attempts at communication volunteered
by the white men, especially at the village of Tiguex. As
time passed the Spaniards became restless and wished to
restore friendly relations and confidence with the natives.
For this reason Cardenas, with a guard of thirty men,
went to the village of Tiguex to have a talk with the
principal men. The governor and one man agreed to
meet him outside the village, provided he came alone and
unarmed. This was complied with, and when the three
had come together the governor seized Cardenas, while
his companion struck him twice on the head with a club
which he had brought concealed under his blanket. The
guards, seeing their chief in danger, rode hastily up and
rescued him, while the two Indians retreated to the shel
ter of the village, the inhabitants meanwhile pouring a
shower of arrows on the Spaniards, but without doing
any severe damage. Coronado then ordered an attack
on Tiguex, but on account of its fortified condition and
the fierce resistance of the Indians he changed his tactics
and settled down to besiege the town, well knowing that
in time the natives would be compelled to surrender. The
siege lasted fifty days. The lack of water at last deter
mined the Indians to abandon the town. This was done
one dark night, but they were discovered and the sentries
gave the alarm, and a fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued, in
which nearly all the Indians were killed or forced to jump
into the river and were drowned. What few escaped
were captured the next day and forced into slavery.

I have related how the war captain acted as guide for

AUTHENTIC HISTORY 21

Alvarado to the Eio Grande, and from there to Pecos,
where the Spaniards were royally received. There at the
village of Pecos Alvarado met an Indian of a different
tribe, a foreigner. The Spaniards gave him the name of
Turk, on account of his peculiar head-dress. He enter
tained his eager listeners with wonderful stories of a land
far to the east, which he called ' ' Quivira, ' ' and the fan
tastic imagination of the Spaniards easily pictured a land
far richer than Hernando Cortez had found in Mexico,
or Francisco Pizarro in Peru. The Turk accompanied
Alvarado 's command back to the Rio Grande, and when
Coronado arrived and heard the stories the Turk was
the lion of the hour; nothing was talked of but the land
of "Quivira" and the great treasures of gold and silver
which the Turk described.

The Turk claimed that he had brought some trinkets
of gold and silver and that the people of Pecos had taken
them away from him. To obtain these trinkets Coronado
sent Alvarado with a small squad of men back to Pecos.
The people of the village solemnly denied ever having
seen the gold and silver of the Turk. Unable to get what
he was sent for, he succeeded in arresting the governor
and his war captain and took them to the army headquar
ters, and during all this time they were held as close pris
oners by order of Coronado. The historian tells us how,
after keeping these two Indians prisoners for six months,
they finally turned them loose, and then the expedition
started on that grand march, with the Turk as guide, in
search of the '" Quivira/' across the seemingly boundless
plains of Kansas, and after reaching somewhere near the
south boundary of Nebraska, they strangled the unfortu
nate Turk, thinking that he had deceived them, and then
returned to the land of the Pueblos.

It is possible that the Turk was sincere and was
leading the Spaniards to the great copper deposits of
Lake Superior. Although Pedro de Tobar had arrived

22 SCHAT-CHEN

with supplies and reinforcements to assist Coronado- in
his search for the "Quivira," the general decided to re
turn, and after giving the army a brief rest, conducted the
expedition back to Mexico, passing by Acoina and the
present site of Laguna in the year 1542.

Almost half a century passes before we again hear
of this country. The reports brought back by the expedi-
ton of Coronado were not reassuring, and few cared to
brave the cold, the drought, the storms and the priva
tions which seemed the only reward to (be gained; but
among these few were yet stout hearts willing to plunge
into the wilderness of what is now New Mexico and Ari
zona for the sake of science and their religious faith.
Among these was Antonio Espejo, who commanded an
expedition to New Mexico in 1582. This expedition was
organized by Fray Bernardino Beltran for this purpose,
and for which he obtained permission from the viceroy
of Mexico to rescue or determine the fate of three priests
— Augustino Bodrigues, Juan de Santa Maria and Fran
cisco Lopez — who had come to the Pueblos the summer
previous with a small escort of twenty-eight men, under
the command of Sanchez Chamuscado ; the priests with
their servants remaining among the Indians while the
escort was sent back to Mexico. A short time after,
however, two of the servants appeared in Mexico and re
ported that the priests had been assassinated, and to
determine the truth this expedition started toward the
north, following the Eio Grande, or as near to it as prac
tical. Arriving at the pueblo of Tiguex, which Espejo
calls Paola, in the winter of 1582, they learned that the
report which the servants had circulated in Mexico was
true.

ESPEJO AND BELTRAN

Espejo and Beltran then turned their attention to
exploring the country, visiting Acoma, Zuni and the
Moqui villages, and going as far west as where the town
of Flagstaff now stands. From there they returned,
passing by Zuni, Acoma and the present site of Laguna,
in the early summer of 1!>83, and after visiting a few
more of the Pueblos in the vicinity of the Eio Grande
the explorers continued on to the Pecos village, where
their reception was not very cordial, but nothing occurred
to mar the record of the expedition. From here they fol
lowed the Pecos river to its junction with the Eio Grande,
and thence to Mexico.

f Espejo and Beltran were men of intelligence and
humane principles. The account of their expedition is a
bright page in history, not like that of Coronado and
some others, who came later, who left to posterity a rec
ord stained with blood. Espejo was the first to give to
the world an exact and minute account of the country
and its inhabitants. He says: "Here we found houses
very well built, with gallant lodgings, and in most of
them were stoves (fireplaces probably) for the winter
season. Their garments were of cotton and deerskins
and the attire both of men and women was after the man
ner of the Indians of Mexico. But the strangest thing
of all was to see both men and women wear shoes and
boots with good soles of neat's leather, a thing which
we never saw in any other part of Mexico. The women
keep their hair well combed and dressed, wearing nothing
else on their heads. In all these towns they had caciques,
people like the caciques of Mexico, with sergeants, to
execute their commands, who go through the town pro
claiming with a loud voice the pleasure of the cacique,
commanding the same to be put into execution. The

A QUERES WOMAN IN NATIVE COSTUME

ESPEJO AND BELTKAN 25

weapons they use are strong bows with arrows headed
with flint, which will pierce through a coat of mail, and
macanas, which are clubs of half a yard to a yard long,
so set with sharp flints that they are sufficient to cleave
a man asunder in the midst. They also use a kind of
shield made of rawhide, ' ' It is a peculiar fact that with
in the last 100 years many of the arts practiced by the
Pueblo Indians at the time of the Spanish invasion have
been discontinued or lost.

One of these was the tanning of leather. At Laguna
the first settlers understood the art, as the old vats in the
sandstone indicate. This process was accomplished,
probably, by the aid of the canaigre root, a species of
dock, which carries a large percentage of tannic acid and
which grows luxuriantly in the arid places of the south
west.

Another was the raising of the cotton plant. This
was cultivated at Laguna and Acoma and probably by
the Pueblos farther west. It is true the climate is too
cold to make much success farming cotton at these
pueblos, but it may have been of a more hardy variety
than that which is now cultivated in the southern states.
The average temperature at Laguna and Acoma is about
60 degrees, but subject to extreme variations. In the
winter the thermometer frequently records 20 degrees
be]ow zero, and in summer very often 100 degrees above.
They still do some weaving, such as belts and legging
strings and a coarse woolen cloth which in color is black
and used as an outer garment by the women, and worn
in the same fashion as when Castenada wrote his narra
tive. He says: "They wear long robes of feathers and
skins of hares and cotton blankets. The women wear
blankets, which they tie or knot over the left shoulder,
leaving the right arm out." They also wove a coarse
cloth out of the maguey plant. This cloth was used as
a background on which to construct their feather robes.

26 SCHAT-CHEN

The women wear heavy leggings ; these leggings are of
buckskins, wound several times around, in some in
stances two or three inches thick. The principal reason
for wearing them now seems to be style, but it may have
been adopted primarily to guard against snakes.

At Laguna and Acoma were formerly large droves of
turkeys ; they were herded something after the manner of
sheep. They told the Spaniards that the turkeys were
reared for their feathers.

They had no idea of the metals other than the name.
Espejo, being a practical miner, examined the mineral
resources of the country over which he traveled quite
thoroughly, considering the time he was here, and speaks
very flatteringly of the mineral deposits; not quite so
enthusiastically, however, as Fray Geronimo Zarata de
Salmeron, whom I will speak of later, who says :

"As for saying that this is a poor country, I answer
that there has not been discovered in the whole world a
country of more mineral deposits than New Mexico. "
When we consider that at that time New Mexico em
braced nearly all of the country west of the Missouri
river, we come to the conclusion that Salmeron was cor
rect in his statement. The ideas of the early Spaniards
with regard to the mineral wealth of New Mexico were
romantic, and would have led one at that time to suppose
that Midas had visited this country. The seven cities of
Cibola — what fantastic dreams of gold and silver chased
each other through the brains of those old Spaniards, and
when it was discovered that those fabled cities were
nothing more than rude Indian villages, with houses
built of mud, with no doors except a hole in the roof, as
one writer says, "like the hatchways of ships." An
other mirage started up in the distance to lure them on--
The "Gran Quivira" — but still it is not to be wondered
at that the most absurd tales of treasure in this vast
wilderness of the north would find belief after the dis-

ESPEJO AND BELTRAN 27

covery of such quantities of gold and silver by Cortez in
Mexico and Pizarro in Peru, and this feverish craze
seems to have been the principal incentive for most of
the early explorations in this country. In the year 1862
there was found in the pueblo of San Juan, forty miles
north of Santa Fe, a peculiar old document by Theodore
Greiner, at that time agent for the Pueblo Indians. It
Supposes to be a conversation between Cortez and
Montezuma. This is the manuscript translated from the
Spanish :

"They will respect and obey me in whatsoever I will
command, there being nothing in my order against you.
I will treat all with much leniency, without prejudice to
any. I will teach them the law of Jesus Christ, God of
Heaven, Him unto whom all should render and give in
finite thanks for the benefaction they are about to re
ceive from the Children of the Sun ; that they should ever
come to receive cheerfully the waters of baptism and
to which should respond all the Indians who hold good
faith and disposition to follow the Christian faith.

"From this issued much pleasure and delight among
all the people, dances taking place in which there was
shown no rancor or complaint against the Children of the
$un, and seeing this the king, Montezuma, who had
manifested as much joy, said to the great Cortez that, as
Ms children had had so much joy in being transferred to
his ( Cortez 's) control, he charged him that he would
look upon them and would treat them with much leniency,
and would teach them to warship the most true God, to
which Cortez answered him that he thus would act, for
which purpose they both signed it in Mexico the same
date. After this being signed Montezuma commanded all
the Indians to present homage (render tribute) to the
great Cortez, which the Indians fulfilled, running to their
places of habitation, some to bring jars of gold, others
pieces of silver, oth-°rs pointing out the very rich mines

28 SCHAT-CHEN

they had of gold and silver. The young Indians pre
sented their baskets of fruit and eatables for all the
Children of the Sun. This current of feeling and action
reached all the Indians. In all the pueblos they came
to visit, nothing was hidden. And the great Cortez re
galed them with all that was brought for which reason
there was much joy, that he saw for himself that in being
subdued they had not felt nor held complaint, and that
they were rather pleased with the Children of the Sun
on being acquainted. Montezuma and the great Cortez
returned to confer. Montezuma asked of the latter that
he would tell him how he knew of this kingdom, as that
was what he wished to make manifest. The great Cortez
said: 'Great monarch, I will tell you how I came to
know of the discovery of this great kingdom. There
was a little schoolgirl named Maria Aguada de Jesus in
the convent, who was absent from school for two hours.
Upon the mistress going to punish her this said child
said that if she would not punish her she would tell the
truth of where she had been. Then the mistress said,
"Well, tell me where you have been." Then she said to
the mistress: "In that moment much water appeared,
which I saw, and I went through it until Iwas able to
step upon the other side, where there was a great king
dom in which were many Indian dances ; and I saw a great
king who had an imperial crown of gold upon his head,
all emplumed." Whereupon the mistress went and re
lated this to the king of Spain, and as this king now had
notice of the king of Indians but did not know where he
was to 'be found until this little girl discovered it, the
king ordered that she (the little child) should take three
days' time to arrive and bring with her the plumes of
that king's crown for certain. The child came and the
king, being about to go forth to dance, as soon as he took
off the crown the girl took the plumes and went and pre
sented them to the king of Spain.

ESPE JO AND BELTRAN 29

" 'As soon as the king took hold of the plumes in
his hand, he said: "Eagle plumes the king of the Indians
wears; make diligence to know where he is that I may
engage to conquer him." Thus it was, great monarch,
that your kingdom was made known. Now I also wish
you to answer me, concerning how mnay provinces has
New Mexico, and mines of gold and silver?' The mon
arch said: 'I will respond to you forever as you have to
me. I command this province, which is the first of New
Mexico — the pueblo of Teguayo, which governs one hun
dred and two pueblos. In this pueblo there is a great
mine near-by in which they cut with stone hatchets the
gold of my crown. The great province of Zuni, where
was born the great Malinche. This pueblo is very large,
increasing in Indians of light complexion, who are gov
erned well. In this province is a silver mine and this
caiptal controls eighteen pueblos. The province of the
Moqui ; the province of the Navajos ; the great province of
the Grand Quivira that governs the pueblos of the Queres
and the Tanos. These provinces have different tongues,
which only La Malinche understands. The province of
Acoma, in which there is a blackish-colored hill in which
there is found a silver mine/ Seeing this, the great
monarch sent Malinche to these provinces of New Mex
ico to the new conquests. And La Malinche conquered
and took possession of the part in which were all in the
best disposition to comply with the orders of the great
monarch, for which he commanded it to the Spaniards
who entered to locate their missions."

There doesn't seem to be anything particularly re
markable about this old manuscript but nonsense, except
where it speaks of: "The province of Acoma, in which
there is a blackish-colored hill in which there is found a
silver mine."

Aside from tradition, which has mythical mines of
gold and silver scattered all over New Mexico, Arizona

30 SCHAT-CHEN

and California, it looks like there may be something in
this story, somewhere in the vicinity of Acoma.

Here is a letter which may have some bearing on
the subject. It explains itself, barring probably a slight
introduction. Col. W. Gr. Marmon, to whom the letter
was written, came to this country in 1868 and married
into the Laguna tribe, and was therefore a member of
the pueblo. William Brockway, who wrote the letter,
was employed by the Atlantic & Pacific Eailroad Com
pany as foreman on a work train :

"July 18, 1889.

"Pursuant to our agreement, entered into July 1st,
1889, regarding a silver mine in Valencia county, N. M.,
I will endeavor to give you a sketch of the history of the
finding of this mineral. It will necessarily be a long story
to make the matter plain to you, but I will make it as brief
as possible. During the winter and spring and up to
July 1st, 1882, I was employed on the A. & P. E. E. as
foreman of a work train. I had with me as timekeeper
and operator Matt Daly, who was given the mineral by
an Indian at McCarties station. We were laying at Mc-
Carties and working between Bluewater and Eio
Puerco. Daly showed me the mineral about the time it
was given him. We were all this time like two brothers,
sleeping together and everything, but the exact location
of this mineral I was knowing to. He showed me the
mineral at once. It looks just as if silver and lead had
been melted and run together. It is as dark through as
lead or darker, in thin pieces, but cuts bright with a
knife; it is in exactly the form of melted lead. I con
sidered this a freak of nature, a blow-out of an ore chim
ney at a time of immense heat and eruption. I finally
got him to have it assayed. He sent a piece to Burling-
ame — Denver — and got a return of $800, and a little
more, to the ton. He would not believe it and sent
samples to San Francisco and Socorro and they all

ESPEJO AND BELTRAN 31

agreed closer than usual in assays. He was then satis
fied he had a good thing and told me considerably of his
past mining experience and said he had been beat out
of the only good claims he ever had in Leadville and the
Black Hills and was bound no one should know of the
locality of this mineral until he was sure of his location.
He made no location, as he was in error regarding lo
cating on Indian land, on account of being all through
the Black Hills campaign with Crook and saw the gov
ernment would not let any whites locate on Indian land.
His idea then was to go to Washington; he had a friend,
Congressman Boss of Ohio, who had been an operator
with him when they were boys together. He told me
repeatedly that all he wanted was a very narrow strip
from the side or end of the grant ; that the mineral was
just inside of the grant line. I at this time never had
any doubts or thoughts of it being anywhere but on the
Acoma grant, nor ever have since. It was mutually un
derstood between us that it was there. The mineral was
given him at McCarties. It was from there he went to
the place, never being gone long enough to go any dis
tance. The fact of his wanting this map shows it was
not on the Navajo reservation, although I was with him
in the cashier's — Deni son's — office when he told Joe
Allen, a relative of Drnison's, that if he (Allen) insisted
upon it, that it was on the Navajo reservation, he could
have it so. Joe Allen worked on Matt two or three days
and I guess started him on the drunk in order to get
the information from him. You have probably heard of
this story and of their hunting the Navajo country high
and low for this mineral. I know that Matt was never
on or near the Navajo reservation and that was how he
came to admit to Allpn +hnt it was in the Navajo reserva
tion, just to put him off. I believe I have seen the
Indian at McCarties station that gave Matt the mineral.
He used to hang around the boarding cars. I don't

32 SCHAT-CHEN

know as he lives right there at the station. Also Matt
told me of an Indian at Bibo's store at Grants taking a
piece of this mineral as big or bigger than your hand
out of the top of a sack of wool. He bought it of the
Indian and buried it, so he told me. We were ordered
into town the last day of June, '82, to disband our outfit.
Matt and I roomed together at LilwalPs on Front street.
He had said before this that he would start for Washing
ton when we got through with the work or job we were
at. On July 5th or 6th he started, on the night of the
third he got on the drunk that finally caused his death
in Elmira, N. Y. I said to him the night of the 4th in
the room at LilwalPs, when I saw he was on the drunk,
that I proposed going east with him. He would not hear
to it, said he wanted me to stay right where I was and
watch things and see that no one got onto it while he
was gone and that I should consider myself a partner
in it. He would have told me where it was, that is the
exact location, but I said no, that if anyone should get
onto it while he was away I might be blamed for it, and
I would rather not know it; of course being distinctly
understood always that it was in the neighborhood of
where he was given the mineral. I said to him: "Now,
Matt, between you and me as partners in this matter, is
there enough in this to justify you in going V9 He said
there was not sacks nor teams enough in Albuquerque
to haul away what was just buried under the sand all
ready to sack up. He said it was covered up by sand
but you could kick it out of the sand or soil with your
foot. He kept on the drunk all the way east and died in
Elmira, N. Y., from exhaustion and delirium. The map
I send with this is the one I gave him at LilwalPs. I
have marked a few locations I wanted to look up, the line
running northwest and southeast is on a dike of trap
rock, but I think you would do better to hunt among the

ESPEJO AND BELTRAN 33

Indians for lead. It was my intention to hunt this up
myself. I have been at McCarties twice about six years
ago for that purpose, but could only stay a day or two and
could do nothing. I got the job at El Eito in hopes of
being transferred to McCarties "

It appears from this old document that the name
Zuni originated and was applied to these Indians at that
early date. The name is a construction of a Queres
word, Se-un-ne, meaning acquainted. The Zuni name for
themselves is iShe-we.

The first Spanish explorers in this country called
them "Cibola." The Queres language has given several
words to the English vocabulary — Coconino, the name
of a county in Arizona, The word is a modification of
Co-ne-ne, a name applied to the Supai Indians, inhabit
ing a branch of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. The
name means nearly the opposite of the word for Zuni ; as
generally applied it means a person who is dull, or very
reserved, or hard to get along with.

STANDING ROCK NEAR THE VILLAGE OF ACOMA

JUAN DE ONATE, FIRST GOVERNOR
OF THE PROVINCE

In the early spring of the year 1598, Juan de Onate
entered the province of New Mexico with a command of
201 men, taking formal possession and assuming control
as first governor of the territory, commissioned by Count
de Monterey, viceroy of Mexico. Going as far north as
the pueblo of San Juan, close to where the Rio Chama
enters the Eio Grande, here he established his headquar
ters and base of supplies, naming the new settlement San
Gabriel. Onate entered upon the work with an energy
Worthy of the time, visiting all the pueblos of New Mex
ico, and even those in what is now the territory of Ari
zona, the first year, receiving from each their oath of
allegiance and obedience to Spain. It was Onate 's wish
and cherished ambition to explore the country to the
west, as far as the coast, and as everything seemed tran
quil, he decided to carry his wish into effect. Going
ahead with a small company, intending to rendezvous at
a certain place in Arizona where Juan de Zaldivar with
reinforcements should join him later. It had been noticed
that the cacique or governor of Acoma, Zuta-kapan (the
name probably a constrtuction of Seutchene-kapana,
meaning I gave him pancakes), was one of the very last
to come before the governor and take the oath of alle-
gience, and this was done in a sullen manner. But at this
time Onate considered the occurrence not wortty of se
rious thought. The oath was taken on October 27, 1598.
On December 4, just a month and 8 days later, Zaldivar
and his companions arrived at Acoma, and camped at the
foot of the rock. The Spaniards confiding in the appar-
rent friendship of the Indians, climbed the steep trail and
were scattered through the village in small groups, when

36 SCHAT-CHElsT

all at once without a moment's warning, the Indians
rushed upon them and hand-to-hand the Spaniards fought
for their lives, but the numbers were against them. Zal-
divar was killed by Zutakapan with a club. Besides
Zaldivar, 10 of his men fell before the fury of the In
dians. Two servants were thrown into the crevices of
the rock and perished there. Five of the soldiers jumped
from the rock to the valley below; one lost his life and
thex)ther four escaped with slight injuries. These car
ried the news back to Onate, who, hearing of the trouble
had returned to San Gabriel. He immediately dispatched
Vicente de Zaldivar with 70 men to punish the Acomas
and quell the revolt. On January 21 the Spaniards ap
peared before the pueblo of Acoma. On the 22nd they
began the attack, fighting two days and one night before
the Indians surrendered. Of the 3,000 inhabitants of
the village but 600 remained. These were compelled by
the Spaniards to abandon the village on the rock and
build habitations in the valley, the old town being de
stroyed and the fortification torn down. Onate 's account
of this is certainly exagerated, not only with regard to
the number of inhabitants, but other things.

On the south side of the Acoma mesa is a detached
portion with quite a wide space separating it from the
main rock on which the village stands, except at one place
where it narrows down, forming a possible crossing. It
is said that after the Spaniards had gained possession of
this rock, Vincente de Zaldivar clad in a full suit of mail
jumped across this chasm. But this circumstance should
go a long way towards expelling any doubt as to the loca
tion.

Some historians think that the description of the
place where the fight took place, as given by Onate, is
not applicable to Acoma, and that it is a question whether
this trouble did not occur at some other village similarly
situated. The Acoma Indians have no tradition of this

JUAN DE ONATE 37

particular fight or that the town was ever destroyed, nor
does the old village show any evidence of having once
been torn down, and there is no indication of any set
tlement having been made in the valley near the Acoma
mesa. It is possible that Zaldivar and his companions
mistook some other pueblo for the real Acoma.

To the west of Acoma and within a radius of 15 to
20 miles are the ruins of several different pueblos, some
of these like Acoma and similarly located, one in partic
ular, about 16 miles west of the pueblo. Here are the ruins
of a village, or rather two villages, close together, on a
rock of about the same dimensions as that of Acoma.
The place is known to the Americans as the i i Montezuma
mesa" and to the Acoma and Laguna Indians as the
Aut-sin-ish, meaning "like a woman's dress." The ruins
appear as though the village had been destroyed by some
other force than the slow disintegration that time pro
duces.

To jump from either Acoma or this rock would be
equally dangerous. At the foot of the mesa in the valley
are the ruins of a compact village, which might corre
spond to the dwellings which the Spaniards compelled
the Indians to build after the village on the rock was de
stroyed.

On the 7th of October, 1604, Onate, accompanied by
32 men, sallied forth on his last trip of exploration that
history records. This was the second attempt to clear
away the mists that veiled the country to the west.

Like the former expedition, in which the brave Zal
divar lost his Kfe, this came very near ending disas
trously. Passing by Acoma in the fall of 1604, then to
Zuni and from there to the Moqui pueblos, thense south
west to about where the town of Prescott is located,
thence south to the Gila river, which he followed to its
junction with the Eio Colorado, which stream he fol
lowed to its mouth; crossing the river here he took for-

38 SCHAT-CHEN

mal possession of the country to the west in the name of
Spain.

On his return, instead of retracing the route already
traveled, Onate struck a direct course northeast toward
the pueblos. The expedition was launched almost im
mediately into a trackless desert, where thickets of cac
tus contested their march at every step. They suffered
severely from lack of water. Their provisions became
exhausted and finally they were compelled to kill and
eat their horses for food. The expedition at last reached
Zuni in a forlorn condition in the spring of 1605. Onate
held the office of governor until the year 1608.

From this date on for 72 years the history of New
Mexico is almost a complete blank. Santa Fe was settled
by Europeans some time between 1605 and 1616. There
are several reasons for this discrepancy. Principal
among these was the Pueblo revolt of 1680. General
Antonio de Otermin, who was governor of New Mexico
at that time, may have carried many of the records away,
and these might yet be found in Mexico or in Madrid, and
possibly some of them in Eome. What were left were
destroyed by the infuriated Indians.

Another destruction of valuable records occurred
in 1846. Governor Manuel Armijo allowed many val
uable records to be used in making cartridges to repel
the Americans under the command of General Kearney,
but were never used. It was reported that William A.
Pile, who was governor of the territory in 1869-70, con
signed many valuable documents, historical records and
land papers to the waste basket, thinking no doubt that
was the quickest way to settle the grant title question,
which was even then, and has been ever since, a thorn in
the side of New Mexico, by retarding immigration and
keeping the people in isolated communities where igno
rance is the password. There are many valuable church
records of historical value still in existence. In 1618 Ger-

JUAN DE ONATE 39

onimo de Zarate de Salmeron was appointed first parish
priest of the pueblos, embracing Jemez, Zia and Acoma,
consequently visiting the latter many times. He returned
to Mexico, where he lived to write a valuable work, en
titled Relaciones. Acoma, ever a rebellious factor, re
volted against the Spanish rule in 1629 and again in 1645.

In the year 1650 the Pueblo Indians were on the
verge of a grand rebellion, faint rumblings of the storm
which 30 years later swept the Spaniards from the coun
try. A priest by the name of Juan Ramirez lived in
Acoma during the decade 1650-60 and returned to Mex
ico, where he died in the year 1664. The Acomas, who
from the first defied the authority of the Spanish soldiers,
allowed the priests to come among them unmolested,
and had these old generals used a milder form of per
suasion to bring the Pueblo Indians under subjection
than the force of gunpowder, the sword, and the battle-
axe, I would have no hesitation in saying that there would
have been little trouble with these people.

Nearly all who wrote at this time of the Pueblos tes
tify to the amity of their disposition. Alvarado says,
"The people have a good appearance, more like laborers
than a war-like race." Castaneda says, "These people
are not cruel.'7 Jaramillo says, "All these Indians, ex
cept the first in the first village of Cibola, received us
well."

THE POPE REBELLION

The coming of the bearded warriors with coats of
mail had been prophesied years before by the Indian
seers, and the natives as a rule revered the first of those
haughty Conquistadores with a deference almost akin
to worship, but the cruel treatment in return and the
heartless persecution kindled a spark of hatred and
distrust which smouldered in the hearts of the Pueblo
Indians for years, and at last blazed forth in that
fierce fire of revenge, the great Pueblo revolt, some
times called the "Pope rebellion," when, with but
probably a single exception, every Caucasian was put to
death or driven from the country, and for 12 years the
Pueblos held the country against the successive attacks
of Otermin, Eamirez, Cruzate and Posada and it was
owing to enmity among the Pueblos, which resulted in a
war, and prevented them from acting in unity, that Diego
de Vargas reconar^rrd them in 1691-92.

There is a difference of opinion among historians as
to the cause of these wars among the Pueblos after the
Spaniards were compelled to abandon the country. I
will not stop to debate the cause. Enough to say that
the facts show it to have been jealousy and rivalry. This
rebellion, which proved so destructive to the Spaniards,
was planned and generaled by a Tigua Indian from
the Pueblo of San Juan, known to history as Pope, at
that time a fugitive from justice, and living in Taos. The
word Pope is a Queres word, "you tell," and it is prob
able that he was of Queres extraction.

It was intended that the general revolt should take

place on the 13th of August, and plans laid accordingly.

Somewhere about the latter part of June or the first of

July Pope sent to each of the different Pueblos, with the

exception of the Piros, who refused to join the rebellion,

THE POPE KEBELLION 41

messengers with final instructions and bearing a knotted
cord for each of the villages, each knot corresponding
to a day, and when the last knot was counted the
massacre was to begin ; but Pope, hearing that the Span
iards were aware of the contemplated outbreak, changed
the date to three days earlier, and the storm burst forth
with all its fury on August 10, 1680. Every Spaniard was
sentenced to death, 380 soldiers and civilians and 21
priests suffering that penalty, and all surviving Caucas
ians were compelled to flee from the country to save
their lives. General Antonio Otermin, who was governor
of New Mexico at that time, was forced to abandon Santa
Fe, and with a venom compounded of jealousy, hatred
and ignorance, every paper and Spanish document was
destroyed. Churches were desecrated, pillaged and torn
down, and mines that had been worked by the Spaniards
were filled up and a severe punishment was inflicted on
anyone who should speak a word of the Spanish language.
All marriages performed by the priests were annulled
and Spanish names cancelled. Pope also decreed that all
villages which had harbored the Spaniards should be
abandoned, and he even went so far as to prohibit the
planting of grain and garden seeds which the Spaniards
had introduced. It was further decreed that no Span
iard should ever witness their custom dances or religious
ceremonies, rites, etc. To the latter they adhere to the
present day.

When Otermin was driven from Santa Fe, Pope be
came dictator, a good commander in war, but a poor
executive and counsellor in time of peace.

Intoxicated by his success, Pope, like Alexander the
Great, imagined that he was superior to mortal beings
and insisted that the Pueblos pay him divine honors. The
Indians soon tired of this hero worship and of certain
obnoxious customs that he had instituted, and Pope was
deposed and Luis Tupatu, a Tano, of the village of Pi-

42 SCHAT-CHEN

cures, was elected to his place, but held the office only a
short time, when he was deposed and Pope reinstated,
but he died in 1688, and Luis Tupatu was again placed
in command. He held the office until he surrendered to
the authority of Diego de Vargas in 1691 ; but long be
fore this the internal wars among the tribes had severed
the bonds of union, and Pope's dream of an empire com
prising all the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona faded
like the colors of the rainbow as the storm disappears.

•In speculating on this rebellion, though tradition is
silent and history meager, it is barely possible that La
iSalle, that daring French explorer, or his emissaries had
more to do with inciting this revolt than has ever been
recorded.

FIKST SETTLEMENT or LAGUNA.

During this period the inhabitants of the .pueblo of
Cieneguilla, a Queres village near Santa Fe, abandoned
their town and moved in a body to Laguna. Others in
small bands soon followed from the Queres villages Zia,
Santo Domingo and Cochiti. About one-half mile south
west from the pueblo of Laguna are the ruins of a small
village. This, according to tradition, is the first settle
ment made at this place. The town was settled by In
dians from Acoma and called Koshtea. They organized
an independent or separate government of their own*.
This led to trouble with the parent town, Acoma, culmi
nating in a series of fights. It was at this time that the
Queres Indians around Santa Fe were leaving their vil
lages and seeking new habitations. They were welcomed
by the villagers of Kosh-tea, but the newcomers, not lik
ing the location of Kosh-tea, on account of its exposed
position, settled on the present site of Laguna. This was
a rough sandstone hill or point of ridge covered with
oak brush, cedar and pinon. The place was known to
the hunters and people who frequented these parts as
Kush-tit Kow-ike. Kushtit is a word used for dry sticks
and limbs suitable for firewood, and Kowike is a con-

JUAN DE ONATE 43

traction of the word Kowisho or Kowinesho, meaning a
pond or lake.

The old pueblo of Kosh-tea was finally abandoned,
the inhabitants taking up their residence in the new vil
lage of Laguna, or as they call it, Kowike. The internal
wars among the Pueblos produced great changes. All
the tribes were greatly reduced in numbers. The Tom-
piros were completely exterminated. The Queres, for
some reason, suffered least of all.

One branch of the Tanos, tiring of the ceaseless war
fare and fearing the vengeance of the Spaniards, should
they return, moved away from Santa Fe, under the lead
ership of Frasquillo, a mere boy, who had been educated
by a Spanish missionary, and had a fairly good educa
tion. For this reason and from the fact that he had dis
tinguished himself in murdering his benefactor, Simon
de Jesus, he was placed in command. This band sent
their agents to Laguna and Acoma in search of a new
location to build habitations, but being of a different tribe
and late antagonists of the Queres, they were advised to
move on. They next went to Zuni, but with no better
success. From here they went to the Moquis. These
people being of a mild disposition allowed them to settle
in their country for a certain length of time, but, like the
Goths whom the Greeks allowed to settle in Grecian ter
ritory, at the expiration of that time they refused to
move, and their descendants still live in the village of
Tigua, or as it is sometimes called, Han-no. At the
breaking out of the Pope rebellion there were three
priests in Acoma — Christobal Figueroa, Albino Maldo-
nado and Juan Mora. With regard to the manner in
which these priests were put to death historians differ.
One account says that they were taken to a high point
on 'the edge of the Acoma mesa, where the face of the
rock is a sheer precipice of 300 feet, and compelled to
jump off. Two were killed outright on striking the

44 SCHAT-CHEN

ground beneath; the third escaped in a peculiar manner.
In jumping, the air caught under his cloak or gown, form
ing a sort of parachute, and thus the force of the fall was
broken. The Indians, seeing how he escaped death, at
tributed it to divine intervention and gave him his lib
erty. Another account says that they were tied together
with a hair rope and driven through the streets of the
village, beaten with sticks and pelted with rocks until
Figueroa, becoming desperate, infuriated the Indians by
prophesying that within three years the (Spaniards would
return, that the village of Acoma would be torn down,
and the inhabitants exterminated. On hearing this the
Indians rushed upon them and speedily put them to
death. The bodies were afterward placed in a cave in the
rocks north of the town.

In 1681 Otermin came back to recapture the pueblos.
He met with no serious opposition, as most of the Indians
had abandoned their villages and fled to the mountains.
Some of these abandoned towns Otermin had burned, but
fearing the effect of a severe winter on his stock he re
turned to El Paso, taking with him eight prisoners and
393 newly converted Indians, principally from Isleta.
Among the captives was a Queres priest or medicine man,
known as Pedro Naranjo, from the pueblo of San Felipe,
who had the distinction of being one of Pope's chief ad
visers and councillors. When questioned with regard to
the Pueblo revolt, he said that there were two principal
causes: First, the persecution of the Indians by the
various predecessors of Otermin; and, second, the inter
ference of the Spaniards with the Indians' religion, which
came to a climax during the administration of Governor
Trevino, who had all the estufas destroyed.
THE PKIEST WHO SUKVIVED.

Near where the town of Bernalillo now stands, but on
the opposite side of the Rio Grande, is a heap of moulder
ing ruins, last sad relics of a once happy and prosperous
village. This is the Tiguex of Coronado, Paola of

THE POPE KEBELLION 45

Espcjo, and Puari of Kodrigues. This was a Queres
village and called by the natives ' t Po-ri-kun-neh. ' ' The
name signifies butterflies. Here is where Coronado
allowed the atrocities to be committed in the winter of
1540-41. At the time of the breaking out of the rebellion
there was a priest at this village, who, by kindness and
humanity, had won the affections of the natives; so, in
stead of putting him to death, one of the Indians took him
a long way from the village under cover of darkness, and
then giving him sufficient food for several days, com
manded him to go in peace. The priest kept in the moun
tains, avoiding the settlements and traveling westward
until he reached the Pescado spring near Zuni; here he
was discovered by a party of Indians, who were hunting
antelope. The Zunis took pity on the poor, half-starved
being, fed him and took him to the village of Zuni. There
he adopted the costume of the Indians. I shall speak of
him again.

DIEGO DE VARGAS, GOVERNOR OF
NEW MEXICO

In 1691 Die'go de Vargas was commissioned governor
of New Mexico by the Count of Galves, viceroy of Mex
ico at that time, and dispatched with an escort of fifty
soldiers to bring the Pueblos into subjection. The Pueb
los, as we have seen, were divided against one another,
and de Vargas foundat comparatively easy to recapture
the towns along the Bio Grande and around Santa Fe.
After the river pueblos were brought into subjection de
Vargas led the attack in person against the pueblos of
the west, Laguna and Acoma, Zuni and Moqui. The La-
guna Indians, hearing that the Spaniards were coming,
placed all the women and children of the tribe on a high
bluff, or rather bench of the mesa, about three miles north
of the town, and left the old men to guard them. The
old fortifications are still there. The place is known as
the Stchumits Sin-otes (white bluff).

The Spaniards were repulsed at the first attack, but
the Lagunas, seeing that further resistance was useless,
surrendered . After arranging terms of peace with them,
de Vargas secured the services of the cacique and his war
captain to act as guides for the expedition to Acoma and
Zuni.

The Spaniards named the cacique Antonio Coyote.
His Indian name was "Kum-mus-tche-kush" (white
hand).

The war captain they called Pancho. The expedi
tion arrived at Acoma on November 3 with something
over 100 Spanish soldiers (the command having been re
inforced) and fifty Indian auxiliaries.

The Acoma s surrendered without a blow and on the
4th again swore the oath of allegiance and obedience to

DIEGO DE VAKGAS 47

Spain. On reaching the pueblo of Zuni, de Vargas was
met by an unexpected obstacle, the natives having fled
to the top of "Thunder mountain," from which it was
impossible to dislodge them. The Spaniards decided to
surround the mountain, which is only a large butte of
about 1,000 feet altitude, and starve the Indians into sub
jection. The Indians laughed at the Spaniards and would
thrown down rushes, which had been brought from the
springs in the valley, to make the enemy think that there
was abundance of food and water on the mesa. But time
passed ; the wily Spaniard kept his ground ; things began
to look serious for the Zunis ; they knew that the tanks of
water would soon be exhausted and the food consumed.
They held a council and it was decided that the priest,
whom we have before spoken of, should treat with his
countrymen. The priest asked for a tanned buckskin, then
with a piece of kiel he wrote a message to the command
er. When the writing was finished the priest handed it
to the chief man, requesting him to have it thrown down
where the soldiers would see it. One of the warriors,
tying a stone in the end of the skin, threw it far out from
the edge of the mesa. The Spanish guards were on the
alert and saw that something of importance was taking
place on the mountain, and hardly had the skin touched
the ground when they were there to pick it up ; but imag
ine their surprise when, upon examination, they found a
message in their own native tongue. It was speedily de
livered to de Vargas, who at once opened negotiations
with the priest, and terms of surrender were agreed
upon. The priest accompanied de Vargas and his com
mand when they returned to the river. Several of the
Zuni Indians, who had become attached to the priest, fol
lowed as far as Laguna, where they took up their resi
dence. This story of the priest is traditionary, but there
is historic evidence enough to show that some priest sur
vived the massacre of August 10. Gushing refers to him

48 SCHAT-CHEN

in some of his writings of the Zuni history and tradition.
De Thoma says, "Fray Jose de Esboleta, a native of Es-
tella, in the heroic province of Navarre, came to New
Mexico in the year 1650 and took charge of the missions
of Oraibe, one of the Moqui villages," and that Juan, a
Picuries Indian, informed the authorities at El Paso that
he had seen the priest alive in the pueblo of Xongopavi,
one of the Moqui villages, in 1682, enslaved by the In
dians. De Vargas, however, makes no mention of him
in his reports, but this may be accounted for from the fact
that de Vargas was brief in all his writings, verifying the
old saying that actions speak louder than ,words ; or as
one writer, speaking of de Vargas, says: "His manu
scripts, unlike the old Spanish documents, which are
beautifully engrossed, forces on you the reflection that
as he carved his way through the country with the blade
of his sword, he did his writing with the hilt."

There is no mention in history of this fight at La-
gnna. De Vargas states that after receiving the oath of
allegiance and obedience of Acoma he and his command
moved on towards Zuni. Arriving there they found the
Indians fortified on the butte, "Thunder mountain," or,
as he calls it, "Penasco de Galisteo," and that before be
ginning the attack he sent a certain man of the pueblo to
tell them that he had come with peaceable intentions, and
on November 11 the Zuni Indians surrendered. In one of
the houses he found several articles of church apparel.

As I have said, this incident of the fight at Laguna
and the negotiation of the treaty with the Zunis, through
the help of the priest, is merely traditionary, but from
the fact that the Indians say that the captain of the Span
iards was named Diego, seems to show that this trouble
took place during his administration. But there are
other events which indicate that it may have happened
during Cubero's term of office. It seems that Cubero
banished three Mexican citizens to the pueblo of Zuni

THE BUTTE " EU MORO."

THE BUTTE OF "EL Mono" — INSCRIPTION ROCK

50 SCHAT-CHEN

whom the Zuni Indians promptly killed, and for which
violation of the law Cubero led an armed expedition
against them, and it may have been during this campaign
that the incidents related occurred.

From Zuni de Vargas made a short trip to some of
the Moqui villages and then returned to the Rio Grande
by the way of Acoma and Laguna. He left, however, his
autograph on the rock "El Moro," or "Insciption
Rock," about thirty miles east of Zuni. Although the
inscriptions were known to the natives and some of the
early traders in that part of the country, they were first
copied and made public by Lieutenant J. H. Simpson,
September 19, 1849. He was first lieutenant topograph
ical engineer to Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Washington.
This is the inscription translated :

"Here was General Don Diego de Vargas, who con
quered for the Holy Faith and the Royal Crown at his
own expense, all of New Mexico, in the year 1692." De
Vargas was not the first, however, who carved his name
on this rock, as there are other inscriptions bearing the
early date of "Don Juan de Onate, April 16, 1605," and
"Don Jose de Basconzeles, 1626."

Referring to the priest, it is possible that he returned
to Zuni and took up his abode, adopted the costume and
accommodated himself to the customs of the Indians (in
fact there is traditionary evidence to emphasize this
statement), and by so doing was dropped from the church
calendar. The Zuni Indians who followed the command
as far as Laguna brought with them a new society or
order called "Chaquin. " In some respects it resembles
Masonry. The Zunis claimed that it had been taught to
them by the priest, but not being allowed to practice it in
Zuni, on account of the opposition of the medicine orders,
they had come to Laguna, which, being a new pueblo, any
new order would be welcomed. It is quite a popular order

DIEGO DE VARGAS 51

yet, and known as the "Chaquin," or the Order of the
Black Mask.

The two guides and several others from Laguna ac
companied the command to the Eio Grande. There de
Vargas presented Antonio Coyote (Kum-mus-che Kush)
with a cane as a badge of office as governor of the new
pueblo, and requested the Lagunas to return to their vil
lage and build a church, and that when it was completed
he would send a priest to preside.

The^church was built in due time. The old structure
still stands, adjoining the present Roman Catholic church,
on the south, and is known as the " House of the Princi-
pales." Once every year in April the old men of the
tribe meet in this building and rehearse their beliefs and
ancient traditions. The priest, Fray Juan Merando,
came, as promised, and brought with him the image of'
San Jose. Taking the image to the river he dipped its
feet into the water and rechristened the stream Eio de
(San Jose, the name which the stream bears to this day.
In 1696 many of the Pueblos again revolted against the
authority of Spain. De Vargas succeeded in bringing
them all to terms as far west as Acoma, which stubbornly
refused to surrender.

PEDRO RODRIGUEZ CUBERO'S
ADMINISTRATION

The same year de Vargas' term of office expired and
Pedro Eodriguez Cubero was appointed to fill the va
cancy. Cubero had also been empowered to arrest de
Vargas on certain untrue and unjust charges, preferred
against him by those who were jealous of his fame and
.popularity and success in quelling the Indian troubles of
New Mexico.

On these charges de Vargas was imprisoned for
three years in Santa Fe, but finally, obtaining a hearing
before the viceroy of Mexico, was pardoned and re-
appointed governor of New Mexico in 1702, and Cubero
returned to Mexico. It was during Cubero 's administra
tion that Laguna took the oath of allegiance and obed
ience to Spain, which we have before alluded to, on July
4, 1699, and received the name of San Jose de la Laguna,
in honor of its patron saint, San Jose. On July 6, of
the same year, 1699, the Acomas renewed their oath of
obedience and allegiance which had been so many times
broken, and their patron saint was changed from San
Pedro to San Estevan. De Vargas died on April 7, 1704,
at the town of Bernalillo, and his remains were buried
in the wall of the old church at Santa Fe.

ANTONIO DE OBEJADA AND THE
GRANT TITLE PAPERS

Let us go back to the year 1689. Domingo Giron
Petriz de Cruzate, at that time military governor of New
Mexico, was waging a war of extermination against the
Pueblos. In his attack on the Zia Indians 600 of them
were killed and 73 captured, the captives being taken to
Mexico as slaves. Among these captives was an Indian
known by the name of Antonio de Obejada (probably a
corruption of Antonio de Ojeda). He seldom is men
tioned in history. He was one of the principal chiefs in
the Pope rebellion, and held the same rank as Tupatu,
Catiti and Jaca of Taos. He claimed to be a native of
Zia.

He was well educated, being able to read and write
the (Spanish language, and although suffering from a
serious wound received in battle, he was taken to El Paso.
The authorities, finding him very intelligent, questioned
him with regard to the lands claimed by the different
pueblos, and on his testimony grant titles were issued to
several of the pueblo villages — namely, Picuries, San
Juan, Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Jemez, Zia,
Laguna and Acoma.

The records show that like papers were issued to all
these different pueblos in the year 1689. The original
grant title papers of Acoma and Laguna, however, have
never been found since the occupation of the country by
the Americans, but on the recorded evidence the United
States government, in 1876, surveyed to them the lands
claimed. The Acoma grant was confirmed by congress
and patented as surveyed. The Laguna grant as sur
veyed in 1876 was never confirmed by Congress. In 1890
the government appointed a commission to investigate

54 SCHAT-CHEN

the old grant titles in New Mexico and Arizona. They
found evidence to show that the Laguna claim was valid,
but too large, and suggested that it be cut down. Con
sequently it was surveyed again in 1895, giving them 2
body of land six miles square, with the village of Laguna
in the center. Subsequent to the date of the grant, 1689,
Spanish squatters settled at different times on different
parts of the land claimed by the Lagunas, and in order to
get them away without trouble the Indians bought their
improvements and what land they claimed. These par
cels of land are three in number and comprise about one-
half of the original grant. They are known as purchases.
Their claim to their land was recognized by Spain and
later by the republic of Mexico. We will speak of these
different purchases as we come to them.

In 1744 Joaquin Codallos became governor and cap
tain general. It seems that he tried in a way to assist
the Indians, for in 1746 he had two missions established
for the conversion of the Navajos, one about fifteen miles
north of Laguna, at Cebolleta, and the other about ten
miles northwest of Laguna, at Encinal. These missions
were quite popular with the Indians for a time, but when
the novelty of the institution wore off the Navajos, like
their prototypes (Arabs) folded their tents and moved
away, and the church vestments were removed to Laguna.

Governor Codallos also lent his aid in re-establishing
the pueblo of Sandia, which had been abandoned since
the rebellion of 1680-91.

This town was repopulated with Indans from Moqui
(Ho pi) principally, a few from Acoma and Laguna.
Sandia is located about fifteen miles north of Albuquer
que; it has very few inhabitants now and seems to be
again on the verge of extinction. It may interest the
reader to know a little more of the history of this pueblo
of Sandia. During the revolt of 1680-90 the Indians of the
village abandoned their pueblo and moved in a body to

ANTONIO DE OBEJADA 55

Moqui. During the administration of Codallos they were
brought back and settled, first on the Bio Puerco, at a
place called Ojito, but for several reasons, principally the
incessant raids of the Navajos and Apaches, they were
again removed to the old pueblo of Sandia. The ruins of
this settlement on the Eio Puerco are still to be seen close
to the little village of Ojito. In 1788 Juan Bautista de
Anza was appointed civil and military governor of New
Mexico. He undertook the task of Christianizing the
Moqui Indians, but met with no success, further than in
ducing about thirty families to abandon their country,
which is very arid and barren, and settle among the
pueblos of the Rio Grande. As they were passing Laguna
a little girl of the party became sleepy and hid herself
among the weeds and pumpkin vines and went to sleep,
while the party continued "on without her. When night
came on she awoke, and seeing the lights in the houses,
came to the village, was adopted, and grew up with the
rest of the Laguna children. Her descendants, the Moqui
Sun people, represent one of the largest clans in the tribe.

In the year 1801, during the administration of Fer
dinand Chacon, a Spanish colony and presidio, or mili
tary post, was established at Cebolleta, fifteen miles north
of Laguna. This is the place where Governor Codallos
fifty-five years before had the mission built for the pur
pose of evangelizing the Navajos. The garrison con
sisted of thirty-five soldiers. The grant issued to the
colonists bears the date of 1801 and names thirty-three
grantees. Among the first on the list are the names of
Jose Maria Aragon and his brother, Francisco Aragon.
Soon after the settlement of the colony Jose Maria Ara
gon took up his residence among the Laguna Indians and
married a woman of the tribe. In 1802 the Navajos, who
claimed that section of the country, forced the colonists
to abandon the settlement and they returned to Chihua-

56 SCHAT-CHEN

hua, Mexico, but were brought back the following year
under a military escort, and cautioned that if they ever
returned again their lives would pay the penalty. This
statement seems singular, that free-born citizens of Mex
ico should be transported back to New Mexico by force,
and might lead one to the belief that Cebolleta was orig
inally a convict colony. But it is claimed by the old
settlers that the colonists were under contract to remain
in the country and the Spanish governor took this means
of compelling them to live up to their agreement. In
1805 the Navajos laid siege to the town in earnest. The
village was at that time surrounded by a high wall, but
the Navajos, numbering about 3,000, succeeded in forcing
the gates, and would have massacred the entire popula
tion, but for the timely assistance of the Laguna Indians,
under the leadership of Jose Maria Aragon, who was
recognized by the Spanish authorities as alcalde, or jus
tice of the peace, of Laguna. When the Navajos broke
through the gates the settlers were compelled to barricade
themselves in their houses, and then the fight began at
close quarters.

It is said that a woman killed a Navajo chief by drop
ping a metate from a window on his head. A metate is
a stone used for grinding corn by hand. The story says
that there was an American in the village at the time.
They called him the sargento (sergeant). He had re
ceived a desperate wound from an arrow, but with the
fighting instinct peculiar to those old pioneers, he climbed
to a window, and there with his trusty rifle fought until
he died from the effect of his wound. The Laguna In
dians in the meantime had attacked the Navajos in the
rear, and the latter were compelled to retreat. In return
for the services of the Lagunas the settlers recognized
the Pueblos' title to a strip of land joining the Cebolleta
grant on the south, which had been in dispute. The land
was occupied at the time by four Mexicans. Miguel Mo-

ANTONIO DE OBEJADA 57

quino, Vicente Pajarito, Pascual Pajarito and Antonio
Paguate, from the village of Cebolleta, but to quiet the
title the Lagunas purchased the improvements of these
settlers, and under petition the Spanish government gave
them a title to that part of the grant which is now known
as the Paguate Purchase. The military post, or presidio,
established at Cebolleta was continued by the Spanish
authorities until Mexico became a republic in 1821 ; then
by the republic of Mexico till New Mexico became a terri
tory of the United States, and was re-established as a
camp by the United States government, occupied first by
Colonel Jackson's command in 1846, and continued until
1862, when it was removed to "El Gallo," close to the
present town of iSan Rafael, thirty-five miles west of
Laguna, and called Fort Wingate. In the year 1760 a
Spaniard by the name of Mateo Pino settled on the La
guna grant at a place which is known as "El Rito,".but
on account of the raids of the Navajos and Apaches ho
was compelled to move away, but in 1825 his son and sole
heir, Guachin Pino, and another Spaniard, by the name
of Marcos Baca, returned to the place claiming that
Mateo Pino had been granted a large strip of land in
that vicinity. The Laguna Indians bought the claimant
out and by petition to the Mexican governor secured title
to the land. It is known as the "El Bito" purchase.

In 1836 Pino and Baca moved to a place eleven miles
west of Laguna and bought a quiet claim from a Navajo
Indian by the name of Francisco Baca, and established
the town of Cubero.

In 1870 Fort Wingate was moved to its present site
at the west end of the Zuni mountains. The history from
here down to the occupation of the country by the Amer
icans is meager and not of much interest. There were
occasional raids of the Navajos and Apaches, and even
Utes. These prowling nomads never attacked the pueblos
of Laguna and Acoma in force, but contented themselves

THIS SHOWS THE MEDIEVAL OR RECENT STYLE OF
COSTUME WORN BY THE QUERES

The pipe or flute is their national musical instru
ment. It differs from the ordinary flute by being
simply a hollow tube and requires considerable
practice by the novice to sound the notes

ANTONIO DE OBEJADA 59

with waylaying the lone herder or hunter, robbing him,
and in many cases leaving his dead body as a ghastly re
minder of their wanton atrocities. Many wonderful tales
of daring are told by the old men of the village ; of fights
with these wild denizens of the mountains; of children
that were captured by the Navajos or Apaches, and cer
tain instances, when, after long years, they returned to
their native pueblos. Many of these stories are strange
and romantic. It was necessary for the people to be con
tinually on their guard: Their stock was penned in the
village or as near as possible. The only door to the
dwellings was a hole in the roof, only accessible by means
of a ladder, which could be drawn up in time of siege.
The windows were small, with slats set in, or sometimes
a slab of selenite (crystalized gypsum) to answer the
purpose of glass. With all the trials and troubles which
they have passed through, however, Acoma and Laguna
have about the same number of inhabitants as when their
first authentic history began. The early Spaniards were
prone to exaggerate the number of inhabitants of nearly
all the pueblo villages. The population of Acoma in 1680
was estimated at 1,500; in 1798 at 757; in 1860 at 491; at
present about 500.

The population of Laguifa in 1797 was 817 ; in 1860,
988; at present about 1,500.

The Queres Indians were never particularly cruel to
their captives or criminals. When death was the sen
tence they were speedily executed or marooned on a high
rock or ledge of a precipice, from which it was impossible
to escape, and there left to perish from hunger and thirst,
or throw themselves down, to be killed on the rocks below.
This mode of punishment was called Tit-Kash. Their
war whoop was Ah-Ah-Ai, the first two syllables pro
longed, the last short and abrupt.

THE RAID OF THE APACHES.

The last raid by the Apaches in this part of the
country was in the summer of 1881 while Vitorio was

OU SCHAT-CHEN

chief of the tribe. They came in from the south, a band
of about fifty warriors. Prom the time they left their
stronghold their trail was marked by destruction. At
the Cienega, from where we will follow their course, a
spring and ranch about forty-five miles south of Laguna,
were two Mexican families. They barricaded themselves
in a little fortress which had been built for such emer
gencies and were able to repel the attack. The next
place was a spring and ranch house known as Ojo Torri-
bio. There was no one living at this place at the time,
but a Mexican named Pablo Pino had just reached the
place with two wagon-loads of freight for his sheep ranch,
seventy- five miles southwest, and seeing a band of In
dians approaching suspected it to be Apaches on the
war path. He drove his oxen into the corral and then
taking several sticks to represent rifles he and his son
climbed to the top of the house, which had a parapet
about two feet high along tne edge of the roof furnished
with loop-holes for defence. He arranged his sticks so
it might appear to the Apaches that eight or ten men
were concealed on the roof. The bluff worked, for, after
surveying the situation and a short parley, the Indians
went on, giving the house a wide berth. The fact was
that he had one good rifle, a .45-caliber magazine gun,
which might have done considerable execution. This
Pablo Pino was a nephew of Guachino Pino, who settled
at El Eito in 1825, and claimed the El Eito grant. He
was married to an American woman, Frances Skinner,
who had come to this country as a companion and assist
ant in 1851 to the wife of Samuel C. Gorman, the first
Protestant missionary to Laguna.

The Apaches crossed over a high ridge, or tableland
rather, to the head of the El Eito valley. On this table
land they met a sheep herd. They killed the two herders
and scattered the sheep to the four winds. At the south
end of the El Eito valley was a Mexican ranchman by

ANTONIO DE OBEJADA 61

the name of Gregorio Montanio, with his family, and the
morning of the day the Apaches made the descent into
the valley his wife told of a dream or vision or premoni
tion or whatever it might be called, and described the
coming of the Apaches so vividly that they decided to
hide out for the day. So, taking a lunch and a few other
necessary articles," they repaired to a little spring about
a mile distant, where there were huge rocks which of
fered excellent places for concealment, and as the day
passed they began to think it a false alarm, but about
two o 'clock in the afternoon they saw a smoke in the di
rection of their dwellings and then they knew that the
Apaches were there. They saw their house in flames.
The corral and wagons, everything that would burn, was
subjected to the torch. There were two big wagons
loaded with wool belonging to sheep men by the name of
Ballejos. These they burned and they killed every living
thing around the place that they could find. A Laguna
Indian was hunting a stray horse in that part of the val
ley and saw the band of Apaches as they wound down
through the hills. Not stopping to estimate the number
or their possible direction, his duty as he considered it
was to warn the pueblo, thirty miles distant, where he ar
rived a while after dark, but long before he arrived the
village was aroused by his cry of warning or war whoop,
and as it rang out on the still air of the evening it sounded
to one who had never heard the cry before very much
like the quick, sharp bark of the coyote, omitting the
howl.

An advanced guard was hurriedly dispatched to en
gage and intercept the enemy, while runners were sent
to the different villages to give the alarm, and in an in
credibly short space of time warriors began to arrive,
armed for strife. The gathering of the clans, probably
was the last time that the old village will ever witness
such a sight. They were all well armed with modern

62 SCHAT-CHEN

firearms and each had his emergency ration rolled up in
a cloth and tied around his body. But it seems that the
Apaches had not come with the intention of battling with
warriors worthy of their steel, for instead of coming any
further north they turned abruptly west and ascended
out of the valley at a place called the Alcon. Here, at the
brink of this mesa or tableland they ran foul of a big herd
of sheep. They killed the two herders without ceremony
or mercy and took what sheep they wanted to eat and
went on; The cook, or camp man of the sheep herd, had
gone for water with his burros (donkeys) and was just
returning. He saw the Apaches killing his companions
and made a hasty retreat, concealing himself in a deep
canyon, thus saving his scalp.

The Apaches went from here to a big spring and
ranch about fifteen miles distant, known as the Seboya,
arriving there early in the morning while the people, two
men and a woman, wife of one of the men, were at break
fast. They were mistaken for Navajos on a hunting ex
pedition and invited in. The reply was a fusillade from
a score or more of rifles and the two men fell dead,
pierced with bullets. The Apaches took the woman with
them. They were closely pursued by United States sold
iers but managed to evade them and reached Sonora, in
Mexico. After two years of captivity the woman got
away and returned to her people in Cubero.

The Lagunas, knowing that the Apaches might be
followed by United States troops, abandoned the trail
after following several miles, fearing that they might be
mistaken for the raiders.

New Mexico, as well as all of this southwestern coun
try, is subject to violent sand storms at certain seasons
of the year. The wind blowing over the dry sand seems
in some way to electrify it so that it leaves the earth and
is carried on the wind, and so dense is it at times that it
is bard to distinguish objects a few feet distant. It was

ANTONIO DE OBEJADA 63

during one of these storms that a little boy was herding a
bunch of goats about two miles west of the village of
Laguna. He had sought the shelter of a stunted cedar
tree to obtain what protection it would offer, when, like
an apparition, a painted Apache warrior on his mustang
loomed up alongside of him. The Apache reached down
and grabbed the boy and rode away to join his compan
ions. They were on their homeward journey from a ma
rauding and thieving trip and in due time they reached
their country, the Mogollon mountains, two hundred
miles southwest of Laguna. The boy was, of course, con
sidered a servant and the property of the man who cap-
turned him, but he was allowed most all the privileges of
the other children and as he grew up he became an expert
with the bow and arrow and a daring horseman, and
could outdistance the swiftest of his captors. There was
jealousy, however, among some of the younger men on
account of his abilities, but especially with one whose
affections were centered on a certain dusky damsel who
seemed to prefer the society of the captive. She over
heard a plot to assassinate the Laguna to get rid of him
and lost no time in telling him what she had heard, tell
ing him that he would have to make a break for his lib
erty, otherwise they would kill him. The plan was ar
ranged that he should hide somewhere near the camp
that night and the next day, and the following night she
would tie a fleet horse where he could find it and then
it would be up to him to make his get-away. So in the
night, when all was quiet, he went to a big hollow log
which lay on the bank of a little stream close to the
camp and crawled into the cavity. The next day the
children came to play along the stream and around the
old log. Now the Apaches as well as a great many of the
Indians of this section of the country, are very supersti
tious about a rattlesnake, so he imitated the chur-ur-ur-
ur of the reptile and they all ran away. When night came

64 SCHAT-CHEN

he crawled out from his retreat and went cautiously to
the place designated and found the horse and a lilttle
sack of food. It took but a moment to untie the animal
and spring onto his back, but by some misfortune he was
apprehended and then began a chase through the dark
defiles and steep trails of the mountains. It was hard
work to make much distance in the dark so when the day
dawned he knew that his pursuers were close behind him,
and as the hours passed that they were gaining. Ahead
of him was a deep gorge or canyon. Now there is an
other peculiar feature of nature in this country and that
is what is commonly called a cloudburst. It seems that
the cloud vapor collects over one spot, piling up miles in
height, and then as the vapor begins to condense the
water falls in torrents. Such a phenomenon was just
happening at the head of this gulch, but he reached the
opposite bank just as the flood swept by and when he
had gained the ridge beyond, looking back, he could see
his pursuers baffled by the raging torrent of water. He
kept on his course, eventually reaching Laguna. His par
ents were still living and welcomed their long lost son.

ANCIENT HISTORY

Thus far we have followed authentic history or tradi
tions, which can be verified by historic records. We now
take the trail of tradition pure and simple. This lays
before me a task of no small magnitude, to trace this peo
ple back over the road now all but obliterated, with no
familiar landmarks to guide me, nothing but the few frag
ments of tradition scattered here and there at long in
tervals, the sound of a word that has survived the chang
ing influences of time or the echo of an ancient song that
seems to float down to us from the dim past. Rollin, the
great historian, says something to the effect that the
principal incentive to the study of the history of a people
and the value derived from it is to discover where they
made mistakes and to profit by their experience. With
philosophers and statesmen this is true, but with the av
erage person the incentive is curiosity and the value de
rived is the satisfaction of knowing.

This peculiar condition of the mind called curiosity,
a compound of reason and instinct, or in the undevel
oped brain probably the first shadow of reason. We find
throughout the animal kingdom, with few exceptions, a
certain desire or longing, to find out, to become familiar
with that which is mysterious, or that which they do not
understand. It is this same mystic influence that impels
the human mind to delve into the unknown and to gather
fragments of truth, which, arranged in proper order, we
call knowledge. Who are the Queres Idians ? Who were
their ancestors, and where did they come from! The
early Spanish explorers in the country classified the
Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona according to their
languages into nine different nations, viz., Tigua, Tegua,
Tano, Queres, Piros, Tompiros, Xumanos, Tusayan and
Oibolan. Of these the Queres were then as now, one of

THIS REPRESENTS A QUERES INDIAN IN HlS

ANCIENT COSTUME

Notice the peculiar head gear, from that peculiarity orig
inated their name for hats — O-stchut-suts — a lid or cov
ering broken or torn apart

ANCIENT HISTORY 67

liio most enlightened, as well as one of the most numer
ous ; at present numbering seven different tribes — A coma,
Laguna, Zia, Santa Ana, San Felipe, iSan Domingo and
Cochiti

Their traditions are faded and covered with the dust
of ages and badly patched with fragments from other
traditions, but enough is left revealed to show that we
may be able to trace these people, if not to their origin at
least to a remote antiquity. The meaning of the name
Qneres is rather indefinite; it seems to be an obsolete
word, but possibly may be some word changed by Span
ish usage. There is a secret society or medicine order
called Korina, or Que-ran-na, which may have suggested
the name to the Spaniards. Han-no is their own name for
their people. The word is significant ; literally translated
it means "Down East/ but it may be a Phoenician word,
as Hanno was a name common among the Phoenicians.
In all tradition there is a thread of truth, which, if it could
be untangled from the romance which ages of supersti
tion and ignorance have surrounded it, would prove a
valuable addition to history. One great trouble in deci
phering these old traditions is that in many instances
they have been mixed, not only with other traditions of
the same people, but with traditions from other people.

When a Queres Indian commences to tell a story he
begins by saying Humma-ha; these words to him now
have no particular signification, and are used merely as
words of attention or introduction, as we would say
4 i Once upon a time," but at one time they meant some
thing more, as the words indicate, Humma, when, and
ha, east, and were used to introduce a class of stories
brought from an eastern country. Among all the tribes
of the Queres nation there is a tradition, or rather two
versions of the same tradition, called "Shipop, stchemo ;"
the exodus from Shipop.

One version of the tradition says that in an eastern

68 SCHAT-CHEN

country all the people came out of a big water into which
poured all the rivers of the earth, and though these rivers
flowed for ages, never was the big water augmented, but
that it would rise and fall at intervals.

Another version of this same tradition says that
somewhere in the north, a few days7 journey from the
present Pueblo village, all the first people came out of
a deep hole in the earth. Into this hole poured four great
rivers from the four cardinal points, and although these
rivers flowed constantly, never was the pit completely
filled to the brim. The water would, however, rise and
fall rhythmically. The latter version of the tradition is
part Queres and part borrowed. Many of the Indian
tribes of the southwest have this tradition of their origin
in the bottomless pit. These traditions, as the Indians
tell them, are clothed with a great deal of romantic and
mythical nonsense, having been handed down orally from
generation to generation, each one who repeats them
making slight changes. Thus one tradition becomes
merged or confounded with another, until time and place
become a confused mass ; so when asked where his ances
tors came from the Queres Indian will answer "From the
north, " which is correct, but only answers a part of the
question, as we shall proceed to demonstrate. Many of
the old folk lore tales not only describe in a way the
country from which they were brought, but also give the
direction. Thus some refer to the north, others to the
east or southeast.

The story or tradition of Shipop says that when the
•first people came out of the water the land was soft, or,
as they express it, the land was not ripe (Sah-kun-unt),
and that, not finding firm ground on which to build hab
itations, they continued on to the south of the unripe land
and there finding a suitable place built a village and
called it the " Kush-kut-ret ; " kush is now an obsolete
word, but in ancient times it was their word for white;

ANCIENT HISTORY 69

kutret is the Queres word for house, so the structure they
built must have been a compact village or pueblo, with
numerous rooms, resembling a large house. We will call
it the " White Village.'7

From here the tradition refers to a country still east
of the l i unripe land, ' ' a country of no small extent, for it
was considered a remarkable feat to make a journey
around it, and they say that but few men ever made the
trip. They tell us that the country was surrounded by
water on all sides (shra-ena-komisho-putch), literally the
edge of the water all around. Their early traditions and
beliefs point to this island, for such it must have been, as
the cradle of the Queres nation — the island of Shipop.
Now, in the water which surrounded this island lived a
monstrous animal or fish, the " Wa-wa-keh," that vomited
water. This fish came up and threw such quantities of
water over the land that it was submerged, and all the
people who had remained on the island perished. These
traditions at first seem nonsensical, but when we apply
reason, assisted by the recent discoveries in archaeology,
we find that they are consistent. They are peculiar in
one way, showing that these Indians were at one time
a seafaring people.

Along with these romantic traditions there are sev
eral others for making this assertion. They speak of the
land they once inhabited as being surrounded by water
(shra-ena-kowisho-putch), and the end or limit of the
world, or where the sky to their early belief, met the
horizon. Th£v call the ed^e of the water "kowisho-
putch," and they call the place where the sun rises and
sets "the house of the sea or lake of flame," "kowi-
kutch," showing that the sun must have risen and set,
according to their belief in former times, in the waters.
The big animal or fish, "Wa-wa-keh," that vomited or
blowed water, was the whale. Certain feature of the lan
guage also verify this statement. The name for some of

70 SCHAT-CHEN

the colors was suggested to them by the water; thus,
striped, kow-i-shu-shuts, the trembling of the sea or lake ;
spotted, ko-i-sup-pe-uts, the splashing of the sea or lake ;
the name for white, know-istchum-mits, the reflection of
the light on the sea or lake ; the name for blue, kow-
wishk, though somewhat obscure, may be traced to a sim
ilar source, a word or phrase meaning "like the sea or
lake." I have traced these Indians to their origin, or at
least as far back as their traditions will take us, and wit
nessed the destruction of their island home.

Of course, we cannot accept their romantic theory of
the destruction of their land by the marine monster, the
" Wa-wa-keh, ' ' but we can believe that such a catastro
phe may have happened, caused by some seismic disturb
ance of nature, as geology cites us many such instances
even in modern times. In tracing these people I have given
but a hasty glance along the trail they long since trav
eled. Let us follow these argonauts of the western hemi
sphere as their boats leave the island. Their course is
west ; they reach the coast of Florida at a time when that
peninsula was shoals and shifting sand bars, or vast
swamps and marshes. Not finding a suitable place to
land they continue on to the south, skirting the coast till
they reach the southwest extremity of the peninsula.
Here on the islands or keys they build their first habita
tions or first settlement on the North American conti
nent and called it " Kush-kut-ret, ' ' or the "White Vil
lage. ' ' Here the traditions are verified by archaeological
discoveries of vast pueblo ruins on the keys and west
coast of Florida, constructed of conch shells. There is a
faint tradition among the Lagunas and Acomas that their
ancestors built structures of some kind of shells, and the
color of these shells may have suggested the name for
their village. On the islands and main land of Florida
are quantities of broken pottery, a silent but undisputed
witness that a superior race of Indians once inhabited the

C2 SCHAT-CHEN

peninsula. The broken pieces of pottery show that it was
vastly inferior to the nicely constructed jars which the
Pueblos of today make. But no doubt their crude pots
answered the purpose admirably for which they were
intended.

From " Exploration of Ancient Key Dwellers1 Re
mains on the Gulf Coast of Florida," by Frank Hamilton
Gushing, we copy the following:

Eeferring to the origin of the Key Dwellers, Mr.
Gushing says this : " As I have reason to think, they were
aliens come to these shores from some distant region over
the sea. * * It seems to me highly probable that not

from the main land but from the sea, not from the north
but from the south, the primitive or earliest Key Dwellers
whoever they were came or were wafted in the begin
ning."

Speaking of the culture, Mr. Gushing says this :
"While they may not pertain to a new or hitherto un
known people, they certainly do reveal either a new phase
of human culture or else an old culture in a new light. * *
* * * These collections served of themselves to indicate
that here were the remains of a people not only well ad
vanced toward barbaric civilization but of a people with
a very ancient and distinct culture."

With regard to the pottery, Mr. Gushing says : " I
found abundant specimens of shell and coarse pottery
characteristic of the Key Dwellers proper."

It is reasonable to suppose that communication was
kept up at intervals with the island until some boat re
turning learned of the terrible disaster, and seeing the
whale spouting in the vicinity of where the island had
been, adopted the theory as the most plausible that this
animal was responsible for its destruction. Years pass,
some climatic change is taking place, the rainfall each
year becomes less and less, until everything is parched
and dry. A character whom they call "Po-chai-an-ny"

ANCIENT HISTORY 1 6

comes to them from the cane brakes of the north ; he pro
fesses to have control of the seasons ; he obtains a large
number of followers ; the ruler, or "Ho-chin," is deposed,
and Po-chi-an-ny is elected to the place. He changes their
medicine from the use of simple remedies to incantations
and jugglery, but he fails to produce the desired change
in the seasons. The anger of the natives finally becomes
aroused. Po-chi-an-ny flees from their wrath, but is pur
sued and captured, and tying large stones to him they
cast him into the deep water, but matters become worse,
and at last they are compelled to move. Their course is
to the northwest.

On the banks of a large river (the tradition does not
describe this stream) they construct another village, and
in remembrance of the first settlement name this the
"White Village." Here a plague, which they call "Ki-
oat," something like smallpox, overtakes them. A daugh
ter of the ruler becomes afflicted. The disease baffles
the skill of the medicine men.

To the west of the village in a house thatched with
big leaves lives an old woman by the name of Que-o Ka-pe,
who is celebrated for her skill in medicine. The ruler
sends his war captain and brings her to the village. iShe
cures his daughter and many others merely by the appli
cation of water. The medicine men become jealous of
the old woman on account of her skill in overcoming the
disease with so simple a remedy when they were power
less with all their incantations. The medicine men hold
a consultation and Que-o Ka-pe is sentenced to be killed,
but before the deed is executed she makes a prophecy.
The Queres Indians say that she pronounced a curse on
them ; that misfortune and misery would pursue them re
lentlessly for generation after generation.

Again the disease broke out more violently than be
fore, and again they are compelled to migrate, and again
their course is toward the northwest. They say the reason

ANCIENT HISTORY 75

they bad followed this course was to join a people who
years before had come from the same place, "Ship-op,"
and had settled in this, to them, northwestern territory.
In a valley surrounded by rugged mountains and perpen
dicular bluffs we again hear of the ' ' White Village ; ' ' last
of grand settlements of the Queres.

The tradition gives several significant landmarks.
It might be questionable whether these were on the island
which was sunk or somewhere in the vicinity of the last of
the "White Villages," most probably the latter. These
landmarks were four majestic mountains. On the north
was the "Kow-i-stchum-ma Kote," literally the "moun
tain of the white lake," but probably a snow-capped
mountain. Kote is the Queres name for mountain. On
the east was a tall straight mountain called "Kut-chun-
nah Kote." On the south was the "Tout-u-ma Kote,"
the "Hooded Mountain," probably a flat-topped moun
tain, capped with basalt. On the west was a rugged
mountain covered with forests, called the ' ' Spinna Kote. ' '

From the earliest times the Queres were governed
from one central seat called "Kush Kut-ret," or the
"White Village." The ruler or "Ho-chin" was elected
for life, selected for his knowledge and executive ability.
At his death another was selected in a similar way. His
duties, besides governing the people, were to keep the
ancient traditions and history of the people of the na
tion. He was also the head of the medicine orders. He
had one officer, the war captain (Sah-te Ho-chin).

The last of the White Villages was built in Southern
Colorado, or possibly in Utah, and the tributary settle
ments extended throughout that part of the country
where the four states corner — Colorado, New Mexico,
Arizona and Utah. The destruction of this grand settle
ment was caused by a tributary village declaring its inde
pendence and electing a new ruler. This led to a general
war among the inhabitants, and to finish what the Que-

76 SCHAT-CHEN

res had- themselves begun, those fierce warriors, the Apa
ches, appear. The destruction is complete. The nations
which for thousands of years had held together, fighting
their way across the North American continent, were
scattered, some going to the valley of the Bio Grande,
others further west.

HISTORY OF AZTEZ AND
TOLL-TECS

At some time during their sojourn in that northern
country they say that one part of the nation or people
went on to the Quay-eh Puh Ko-wahk Queestche-ko-eh,
which means, South and beyond the outskirts of the
southwest settlements. Where did they go? Can we an
swer this question? We have followed their wanderings
before, sometimes by the faintest of clues. There is cer
tainly something left by which to identify them, some
landmarks, some word, name or customs that still sur
vive, that will guide us. South and beyond the outskirts
of the southwest settlements. From the way this state
ment is worded it is evident that they went a long ways.
The early historians of Mexico tell us that the Aztecs, the
ruling nation of Mexico at the time of the Spanish in
vasion, came from the north. In speaking of the emigra
tion of the Aztecs Clavegero says: "Having passed the
Eio Colorado from beyond latitude 35 degrees they pro
ceeded towards the southeast as far as the Kio Gila,
where they stopped for some time, for at present there
are remains to be seen of the great edifices built by them
on the borders of that river. From thence, having re
sumed their course towards south-southeast, they stopped
in about 29 degrees of north latitude at a place which is
more than 200 miles from the city of Chihuahua, towards
northwest. This place is known by the name of Case
Grandi, on account of an immense edifice still existing.7'

The names of different nations, tribes or communi
ties are derived or acquired in various ways, generally
from the country, or certain features of the country they
inhabit, sometimes from some national peculiarity or
racial characteristic or from some industrial occupation,
sometimes in honor of some noted character, hero or clan

78 SCHAT-CHEN

or tribe, and the country or locality gets its name from
some natural feature or characteristic or product, animal,
vegetable or mineral, or may be from the name of some
hero or noted character or from some incident or hap
pening that may have taken place or some instrument
or weapon or utensil used by the inhabitants.

Names are sometimes contorted or changed in dif
ferent ways, by abridging or abbreviating or by a people
of a different language giving the name a wrong pronun
ciation. And in certain instances some other word is
mistaken for the name and erroneously applied. So,
keeping these facts in view, we will try a little compari
son. For instance, we will take the Indian names of the
seven different Queres villages and figure out the mean
ing:

Acoma — Ah-ko — Stche-ah-ko-ki — A rude form of
ladder.

Laguna — Kow-ike — Kow-isho — A lake.

San Felipe — Kuts-tcha — Kuts-tchuma — A smooth,
rocky floor.

Zia — iSee-ah — See-ah — A snow bird.

Santa Ana — Tumi-ah — Tumo-yah— Place of fleas.

Cochiti — Ko-teet — Kote — Mountains.

Santo Domingo — Te-we — Tehua — This town is a mix
ture of Queres and Tehua Indians and they adopted the
name of the latter.

Belonging to the Laguna and Acoma tribes or pueb
los there are several outlaying villages — Indian names—
and meaning:

Paguate — Quees-tche — Hand it to me.

Paraje — See-mun-ah — Dirty mouth (the name of a
hill close by) .

Encinal — Pu-ne-ki-eh — West lower room.

Acomita — Te-chin-nuh — North river.

Mesita Negra — Ha-Sat — East floor.

Canada Cruxs — Se-ama — Door.

HISTORY OF AZTEC AND TOLL-TECS '79

The historian tells us that when the Aztecs arrived
in the land of Anahuac, somewhere about the year 1200
A. D., they established their settlement on the east border
of the Mexican lake near a place called Tescuco. Now
this may be merely a coincidence but the name sounds
very much like a Queres word and it has a practical mean
ing. The Spanish pronunciation of Tescuco is Ta-scu-co,
the Queres would be Tuh-scu-co, meaning, "Pull me out."
Torquemado speaks of one tribe of the Aztecs that for
merly inhabited caves in the mountain of the north.

Let us call to mind the nations of Anahuac or tribes
of the Aztecs as they were classified, seven or more in
number — Tepanecas, Tlascalans, Hahincas, Colhuans,
Mexicans, Xochimilcas, Chichimecas. Reducing these
words or names to their simplest form we have :
Spanish Pronounced Queres Meaning

Tepane Ta-pah-na Te-pah-na North cave

Tlascal Tlas-cal Tas-cahn Pottery

Hahin Hah-en Hah-en Easterner

Colhua Col-wah Coh-wah Southern

Mexico Ma-he-co Me-hec-o Some where

Xochimil Ho-che-mal Ho-che-ne Rulers

Chichime Che-che-ma Che-che-ma Bird people

Now then we will apply the same line of deduction to
Anahuac, their name for that region where they dwelt at
the time of the Spanish invasion :

Anahuac — Ana-wahs — Una-wah-sa — Pour it in.

The City of Mexico, or Tenuchtitlan, as the ancient in
habitants called it, is situated in a valley completely sur
rounded by high mountains, and all the drainage from the
valley and the mountain slopes next to the valley collects
in several lakes which have no natural outlet. All these
lakes are brackish but one; the largest is about thirty
miles wide, and this peculiar feature of the country JIQ,
doubt gave it the name Una-wasa — Pour it in.

Az-ah or Ahs-ah in the Queres language is the name

80 SCHAT-CHEN

for a very large earthen bowl or tub. Tick-eh means to
specialize or specify. This may be the meaning of the
name Aztec, and they took this name from the peculiar
shape of the valley or basin in which they dwelt.

We have followed the trail of this branch of the
Queres people to their destination, the City of Mexico.
Why did they go? Their traditions say that they were
following on the same course that others of the same na
tion had traveled centuries before. They sent scouts to
locate this people but they returned unsuccessful, and
were sent again. This time they found them, but had
to make a subterranean journey to reach their country.

THE TOLLTECS OR NAH-WISH

This people were called the Nah-wish or Ka-tsi-na
or as historians call them Tolltecs. They must
have been of small stature, as their old ruined dwellings
show, and as they are represented in the Queres dances
by small boys. In their migrations south from the San
Juan country these two tribes followed along the conti
nental divide or as near as practical, as shown by two
distinct classes of ruins. In the Queres dialect the H
sound is used where L is used in some of the other dia
lects. The name Toll-tecs or To-eh-tick-eh as the Queres
would pronounce it, means simply those who are here.
Their home in the north as the Spanish historian writes
it they called Hua-hua-tlapallan. "Wah-wah" means
there, "t" north, "ha-pallan" oaks, so their country must
have been somewhere to the north in the oaks. They left
that country somewhere about the year 600 A. D., ac
cording to Clavigaro. In making this calculation he
speaks of the first Tacpatl ; that they used that as a start
ing point to reckon dates from, something after the plan
of the Greeks reckoning their dates from the first Olym
piad. Tac-path means to wash the head. It probably
refers to some custom that was adopted; there is some
religious ceremony connected with it. They settled about
fifty miles east of the principal lake at a place called, or,
as the historian spells it, Tollantzinco, probably meaning
"To-eh-una-seek" — where it sleeps. This tribe united
with another people called the Chi-chi-macas, or "Bird
People. " They seem to have been of the same nation
ality and came from a place called Amaquemecan. This
word probably is Ma-eh-mah-can, meaning a place where
the stocks or stems of a certain kind of cactus of the
yucca variety are very plentiful. For instance, the plains
adjacent to the Florida mountains, New Mexico. The

82 SCHAT-CHEN

leader of this band was Xolotl, which means Holioth,
"the howler." There is another tribe spoken of by the
Spanish historians, the Chalchese. In Queres dialect
there is a word, Cah-shash, meaning white. Kush is the
old name for white ; the word they use now is Stchunmts.
This latter name is taken from their word for shine.

According to the early traditions of Yucatan the orig
inal civilizers and the ones who constructed those great
buildings, were bearded white men, who came from the
east in ships, from a place called Xibalba (pronounced
Habalba), an island that was afterward overwhelmed by
some terrific inundation. Now in this name Xibalba let
us substitute the letter h in place of the 1 as we have be
fore explained. We have Hib-ahba. You see the similar
ity. The island of iShipop.

We have completed the circle. The road has led us
back to where we started from, but there are other trails
leading away from this mysterious island. Clial-chase
sounds something like Chaldea. If they are the same,
then the Queres and the ancient Cushite are in some way
related. The earliest enlightened nation of antiquity.
Let us compare a few words from each of the two lan
guages :

Cushite. Queres.

Gush Kush — white

Chaldea Chal-chase — Cah-shash — white

Sika — gold Sow-ka — metal

Hanno — man's name Hanno — people

Schat-tu — book Schat-chen — book

Aupir — the West Wa-puh — the West

Osiris — sun Osrats — sun

Carthage or Kartha — Kutret or Kah-tret — city or village

Kahtan represents a great enlightened epoch in
Arabia about 4500 B. C. The country was divided into a
northern and southern province, the north under Phoe-

84 SCHAT-CHEN

necian rule and the southern under the rulership of Cah-
tan. These Chal-chase may have come from Arabia at
that time with all the acquired knowledge of the age and
located in the country which they named Yucatan (mean
ing west or Pu Kahtan), and built those cities and monu
ments, which although now in ruin are marvelous. The
names of these places show that they spoke the same lan
guage as the Queres.

Chi chan or Che Shan, a shrine. This probably ex
plains the secret of the She-ken that came to the Queres
from the south pass, who had the wonderful flowers that
would wither up and then come to life again and bloom,
which I shall speak of in another place.

Chi-asps or Chi-apas, the three stars forming the
belt in the constellation of Orion. Mitla, a measure or
span with the thumb and forefinger, pronounced Mat-ha
or Mat-ya by the Queres.

These Chal-chase are probably the Colhuas, the
bearded white men who came from the south and who did
the first remarkable building in the valley of Anahuac or
Mexico. The Cushite or Phoenician seem to have had
colonies in almost all corners of the world, and their
language was most widely spoken, but their traditions,
myths and legends tell us that the Cushite people ap
peared in Arabia in nine or more tribes, supposed to have
been not less than 8,000 years B. C. Where did they
come from? The island of Ship-op.

The Arabian tradition says that these tribes or com
munities were separately organized and governed by
chiefs whose names are given. At the head of these
chiefs was Ad, he seems to have been the first ruler of the
nation. Isn't it reasonable to suppose that they named
the land to which they migrated in honor of their ruler,
Ar-abia or Ad-ah-pea, meaning where Ad stopped or
stayed, and also the land from which they came, calling
it Ad-lantis or Ad-hantis or Ad-hatse, meaning the land
of Ad.

QUERES SETTLEMENT IN FLORDIA
AND WEST INDIES

Let us explore the coast of Florida and the adjacent
islands, and if our supposition is correct we should be
able to verify it by some token, some landmark left still
standing, that will identify the Kush-Kutret (Queeshtie-
Ha or (Shell Ruins) as a Queres settlement.

The first land discovered by Christopher Columbus
on Friday, October 12, 1492, was an island called by the
natives Gua-fcBL-han-ne. This name is a Queres word
meaning "It comes from the east." The small barques
made from hollowed out tree trunks which they called
"canoe" is a Queres word, "ca-no," to travel. Tobacco
comes from "To-pat-to, meaning, drousy.

Potato comes from "po-ta-ta," to select one. Hayti,
pronounced Hy-te or Hot-te, is the Queres name for
obsideon, or mountain glass. The natives no doubt went
there to get the stone to make arrow points. Jamacia from
"Hamaica," meaning eastern. The Caribe were a people
who wore their hair reached in the middle like a crest.
The Queres name for roach or crest is "Caripet."

When inviting their friends or visitors into the house
the Queres Indians generally designate the direction
from which they are to enter, as : Ha-oop, meaning come
in from the east ; Tit-oop, come in from the north; Pu-oop,
come in from the west ; Co-oop, come in from the south.
And this is how Cuba got its name— Co-oop or Co-oop-ah,
as they would say it. Enter from the south.

The only obstacle offered the Spanish in the conquest
of Cuba was by a casique or chief by the name of Hatuey,
but he and his band were overpowered and Hatuay was
condemned to be burned at the stake, the fate of a slave
who rebels against his master. Hatuey is a Queres word

86 SCHAT-CHEN

meaning pollen, generally applied to the pollon of the
corn tassel.

Las Casas says: "The Indians in admiring any ar
ticle of European manufacture continually repeat the
word Tu-rey, which in their language signifies Heaven. ' '
The Queres use this word a good deal. It is Tu-ey, simply
an exclamation of agreeable surprise or admiration.

The Aztec tribes had historical records, rude draw
ings and designs painted on bark or skin or cotton cloth.
Some were on a kind of thick paper like cardboard. The
early missionaries in Mexico imagined that these figures
were symbols of idol worship and conceived the idea that
if they were destroyed the conversion of the natives to
Christianity would be easier and in obedience to an edict
issued by Juan de Zummaraga, a Franciscan monk, the
first bishop of Mexico, as many of these annals as could
be collected were piled in a heap and burned.

The invasion of the Apaches is supposed to have
been between 800 and 1,000 years ago. The Navajo In
dians who inhabit the country where the Queres had their
last settlements show a mixture of the Pueblo and
Apache. Many words in the Queres and Navajo are alike
and some of their religious customs are similar; for in
stance, the sand paintings. The Queres call the Navajos
' ' Moa-shrum. ' ' The name means, "those who came out
of the hills, or rough country. "

There are several incidents related in these tradi
tions which I have necessarily omitted, not being able to
definitely locate the places where they happened. The
Queres tell that at one time, on account of famine, their
ancestors were reduced to cannibalism. The tradition
seems to point to Florida as the place where this happen
ed, which does not seem possible, with the sea so near,
teeming with its myriad forms of animal and vegetable
life.

Now here is something that Mr. Gushing says which
might throw some light on the subject: "It was perfectly

QUERES SETTLEMENT IN FLORIDA AND WEST INDIES 87

obvious that the place had been a true bone heap estab
lished on a slight artificial elevation in the midst of an
ancient inclosed pond or water court, and it was also evi
dent that the human remains therein deposited had been
dismembered before burial.

"I discovered that the whole heap was permeated,
so to say, with broken human remains, large bones and
small, many of which had been split or shattered."

. Another incident they speak of was a people called
the She-ken, who came to them from the south pass,
wherever that may have been. These people were under
the leadership of a man by the name of Korina; that
when they arrived each one of the party carried in his
hand a peculiar flower or plant, and that these flowers
were continually changing, withering and then resuming
their former shape; and the party continued on to the
northeast into the forest, where they built houses of
boards.

I have attempted to untangle these old traditions in
a truthful and logical manner, but have necessarily been
compelled at times to assume certain premises and deduce
the conclusions. There is still room for a good deal of
speculation. Was the island of Shipop Plato's Atlantis,
which Ignacio Donnelly attempted to prove existed at one
time in the Atlantic ocean I If .such an island existed
there must be certain indelible signs left ; for instance, a
body of land, such as it seems to have been, would have
diverted or split the Gulf Stream, and the changing of
this current could be noticed in the fossil remains on the
coast of Europe. If these Queres Indians are descend
ants of the Atlanteans it gives them an unbroken national
record of at least 10,000 years.

"I/I

THIS is A SYMBOL REPRESENTING EYETICO, M»?HER OF ALL LIFE

— NATURE

It is an ear of corn perfect in every grain, the plume is a

feather from every known bird; after four years this corn is

planted and another ear is selected from the same grain

ANCIENT RELIGION AND BELIEFS
OF THE QUERES

The religious belief of the ancient Queres Indians
is as strange as their ancient history. It is philosophical
and reveals a depth of thought far ahead of their descend
ants of the present day. The belief in a supreme being or
beings is as old as reason in the human brain. The first
theory of a deity evolved by mental reasoning was neces
sarily crude, but as the mind expanded old theories were
dropped and new ones adopted, and so it has been going
on since the dawn of reason. Everything in creation,
nature in all its varied forms, shows itself to be the
product of profound reason, and whence this reason?
Who will be the Copernicus or the Newton to discover the
true theory? Is there a personal God, or is all matter
imbued more or less with intelligence? The religion of
the Queres is not exactly a polytheism, neither is it a
pantheism, but seems to be a compound of the two, with
a slight strain of totemism. Their theory is that reason
(personified) is the supreme power, a master mind that
has always existed, which they call Sitch-tche-na-ko. This
is the feminine form for thought or reason. She had one
sister, Shro-tu-me-na-kor memory or instinct. Their be
lief is that Sitch-tche-na-ko is the creator of all, and to
her they offer their most devout prayers, but never to
Shro-tu-me-na-ko. They say it is bad to do so. This
shows that they know of the two divisions of the mind,
reason and instinct, and also that they were aware of the
apparent uselessness and possible evil consequences of
cultivating the subjective mind. E-yet-e-co is the most
beloved of all the deities; to her they can all pray; she
is the mother who brought them forth and receives them
when they die. E-yet-e-co means the earth, but they

90 SCHAT-CHEN

speak of her in much the same manner as we speak of
nature. She-wo-na, the spirit of force, who reveals him
self in the fog, the rain, the dew, and the mists, who man
ifests his power in the roll and surge of the waters, the
storm, and the rending stroke of the lightning, and whose
voice is the deep roar of the thunder; Sitch-tche-na-ko
created him out of a dew drop. Shru-wat-tu-ma, the evil
spirit. Here is something singular; literally the name
means the one from a short way up. Spiritualists claim
that the evil spirits inhabit the lower plane; jns^ above
the earth. Thus we have mind (reason and instinct),
matter and force woven into a religion. Without mind
there could be no conception of anything. Without mat
ter there could be no force that we know of and vice versa.
The evil spirits in all religions are a logical creation.
There seems to be an opposition pervading all nature, a
part of nature's laws, thus force and resistance, attrac
tion and repulsion, positive and negative, action and re
action, construction and destruction, good and bad. Here
the religion takes more the form of polytheism: Wa-ah-
me-na-ko, the guardian spirit; Ka-tu-te-a, the giver or
spirit of charity ; Kap-poon-na-ko, the spirit of sleep ; she
seems to have been a demigoddess, because she is said to
have been the wife of Hutch-a-mun Ki-uk, the ruler of the
first Kush-kut-ret ; Moe-a-na-ko, the spirit of the yellow
earth; Mots-sin-ne-na-ko, spirit of the hills and moun
tains.

There are several more, but their identity is lost.
Merely the name remains, and many appear to be bor
rowed from some other religion or else the product of
ignorant jugglery. The only thing in their religion
which indicates totemism was the worship of the Siti
Shri Wa. This was a monstrous green serpent, with
horns, that they say inhabited the big water. The Queres
knew something of astronomy; they knew the difference
between the fixed stars and the planets, and had names

ANCIENT KELIGION AND BELIEFS OF THE QUEUES 91

for some of the constellations. They say the sun had
eight children. Is this only a coincidence in their myth
ological tales, or had they by some means discovered the
eight major planets.

"In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a joyous voice ;
Forever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine."

— Addison.

A QUERES FAMILY

MODERN HISTORY OF LACUNA
AND ACOMA

Resuming the history of Laguna and Acoma where
we left it, just before the Mexican war, the first and most
notable event was the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in
1848, by which New Mexico and Arizona became the
property of the United States. The invasion of the
Americans produced a change in these old pueblos, slow
at first, but like the sleeper at the sound of an awakening
call, these people of a forgotten past rouse to action.
The causes which had so long kept them in a state of idle
ness and bondage have ceased to exist. Advancement is
the countersign, and as time passes we recognize no
longer the old customs and Indian traits ; all have changed
yrith the advance of education and modern civilization.

In 1851 Samuel C. Gorman, a native of Cincinnati,
Ohio, came to Laguna as a missionary sent by the Bap
tist Mission Society. In 1856 the Indian Department of
the Government authorized Mr. Gorman to have a build
ing erected for school purposes and as a chapel. This
building is still used as a government assembly place and
Protestant church. Mr. Gorman was recalled shortly
after the breaking out of the Civil War.

Sometime during the decade, 1850-60, the United
States government purchased a drove of camels to be
used in exploring the deserts of the Southwest. An ex
pedition with some of these animals equipped for the pur
pose passed through Laguna in 1857. The direct object
of the expedition was to explore the country to the West
and locate a military road to the coast.

In the latter fifties Gen. McCook established a Mili
tary camp at Laguna, which was continued about a year ;
the foundations of the old barracks are still visible north

94 SCHAT-CHEN

of the town. Gen. McCook recruited a company of La-
guna Indians to act as scouts in the campaign after these
bloodthirsty followers of Nane and Mangus Colorado,
and it is needless to say that they settled many a long
standing account with their old-time foes, the Apaches.

In the early sixties President Lincodn sent to each
of the Pueblo villages a silver-headed cane, to be held by
the governor of the Pueblo as a badge of office.

In 1866 the Navajo Indians became a dangerous
factor in the Southwest. Early in the sixties, or to be
more exact, in 1862, the Government established an
agency and military post in the Navajo country, known
as Fort Defiance, to keep these savage bandits in some
kind of subjection, and to quell their lawless maraudings,
which had long held the country in a state of terror.
While the exact cause may have been various imaginary
wrongs on the part of the red men, we will accept the fol
lowing, which, like most happenings of that kind, come
unexpectedly and all at once:

Early one morning a powerful Navajo came to a
kitchen door at Fort Defiance and asked for a drink of
water. The cook, having just finished washing the dish
es, as the Indian stepped to the door, accidentally or in
tentionally threw the pan of dirty water in the Indian's
face. Enraged beyond the boundary of reason, the Na
vajo drew an arrow and laid his insultor lifeless on the
floor. The guard seeing what had happened, but not
knowing the cause, thinking it to be assassination, fired
on the Navajo, killing him instantly.

The Navajos in the vicinity of the post rushed to their
arms. The news of the killing flashed over the Navajo
country with almost the speed of thought, and it quickly
became evident to the soldiers at the post that the Indians
were on the war path. The Navajos at once began a raid
of destruction and devastation. Gen. Canby, assisted

MODERN HISTORY OF LAGUNA AND ACOMA 95

by such experienced Indian fighters as Gen. Carleton
and Kit Carson, took the field, and commenced a vigor
ous campaign against them, pursuing them relentlessly.
Their sheep and horses were confiscated or driven
into corrals and killed; peach orchards were cut down;
the cavalry horses turned loose in their fields of grain,
and what the horses could not destroy was burned by the
soldiers. Two years of war was enough for the Nava-
jos; the lean, starved warriors began coming in singly
and in bands to surrender and accept what terms of peace
or punishment might await them; the first time in his
tory probably that these fierce descendants, perhaps, of
those same people who gave to the world that noted
warrior, Genghis Kahn, ever bowed to a conqueror. As
soon as they were gathered in they were taken to the
Bosque Eedondo on the Pecos river, where a reservation
had been set aside for them and a military post estab
lished. Owing to certain features of the climate it proved
very unhealthy for the Navajos, and the death rate soon
became fearful. Gen. William T. Sherman was on a tour
of inspection at that time, and it occurred to the captives
that he might do something for them, but Sherman re
fused to listen to the petition of the warriors to be again
returned to their old reservation. Then it was that all
the young women of the tribe, dressed in their best at
tire, besieged the old commander. They promised that if
allowed to return to their old reservation the women of
the tribe would so train their children that never again
would the Navajos go on the war path against the Amer
ican government. They told in their way of all the sor
rows and griefs that the war and their captivity had
caused. The gallant old general was conquered ; the hero
of many a hard-fought battle, who led the famous march
from Atlanta to the sea, had surrendered, and on his
recommendation the Navajos were returned to their old
reservation in northwestern New Mexico. The Lagunas

96 SCHAT-CHEN

and Acomas assisted the government in this war from
start to finish, and won great praise from their officers.
As I have once before said, the Navajos are largely mixed
with the Queres Pueblos, and ethnologists will some time
confirm this statement.

In 1868 W. F. M. Arny was appointed agent to look
after the affairs of the Pueblo Indians and give them a
helping hand. Arny was a man who was not afraid to act
on his own convictions of what was right; not like too
many before and since, who, from fear of doing some
thing wrong, do nothing or as little as possible to hold
their positions and draw their salaries. The Pueblos now
had some show of redress by law. Years of subjection
and seclusion have produced a state of timidity among
these people which only time and proper education will
ever eradicate.

In the year 1871 Walter G. Marmon was appointed
government teacher at Laguna, the first teacher ever ap
pointed by the government to teach among the Pueblos.
Some time previous to this date some of the more pro
gressive Indians, seeing the advantages of an education,
had instituted a select or subscription school and hired
a Mexican by the name of Manuel Cassuas, who was fair
ly well educated in Spanish, to teach their children.
However, when Mr. Marmon came to Laguna as teacher,
not one in the tribe could speak*the English language, and
only one could read and write the Spanish. He was Luis
Sarracino, and was educated in Durango, Mexico, by the
Eoman Catholic church, but joined the Protestant church
while Mr. Gorman was here. Arriving at Laguna, Mr.
Marmon at once became teacher, doctor, counsellor and
minister. On taking charge of the school house he dis
covered that there were no seats in the building. In an,
ante-room of the Eoman church were two sets of
stocks, relics of the past ; these Mr. Marmon had sawed
into blocks for seats. One day the parish priest visited

MODEBN HISTOEY OF LAGUNA AND ACOMA 97

the school, and in the course of the conversation Mr.
Marmon remarked that he was again using the stocks;
that he had resorted to them to help teach the youthful
Lagunas. The priest replied that he was putting them
to better use than they had ever been put to before.

It had been the custom for a number of years, or at
least since the new Eoman church had been built (in the
latter part of 1799 or the fore part of 1800) to bury the
dead either in the church or in the yard in front. The
church is about sixty feet long and 25 feet wide, the yard
probably 100 by 50 feet, and at this time the inhabitants
of the village of Laguna numbered about 1,000. It can
readily be seen that in a few years all the space would
be occupied ; and such was the case. The remains of one
would be exhumed and another deposited, the bones of the
exhumed being carelessly thrown over into an out-corral
adjoining the churchyard. Mr. Marmon made a report
to the agent regarding this inhuman custom, and asked
that he come to Laguna. When the agent arrived he
found things as stated, and called a meeting, forbidding
them from burying any more of the dead in or around the
church, both on account of sanitary principles and for
humanity's sake; so by common consent they abandoned
the practice and seected two new sites for graveyards,
Protestant and Eoman Catholic, respectively. In 1875
Dr. John Menaul was sent to Laguna as missionary by
the Presbyterian board of missions. He was also ap
pointed government teacher, Mr. Marmon having re
signed.

Dr. Menaul established a printing press at Laguna,
devoted to missionary work, principally. He translated
and published in the Queres language McGuffey's first
reader. In 1884 a bell was placed on the school building
by Pueblo subscription. Dr. John Menaul spent ten years
of earnest work among the Lagunas. He left in 1887,
loved and respected by all. The old mission built by Mr.

98 SCHAT-CHEN

Gorman in the early fifties stands about one-half mile
northeast of the village, and is still used as a dwelling,
and though constructed of adobe and having received
but slight repairs since it was built, is apparently as sub
stantial as ever. A good deal of history is connected
with the old building; its walls have echoed to the tread
of Sherman, Logan, Carleton, Canby, Kit Carson and
many others, whose names adorn the history of the Unit
ed States. Part of Gen. Lew Wallace's famous story,
"Ben Hur," was composed beneath its rustic roof.
"Billy the Kid,7' the hero of the Lincoln county war,
spent two weeks in one of the rooms of this old house, a
fugitive from justice.

A notable event, and one worthy of record, occurred
in the year 1876. The 4_coma grant was to be surveyed.
To the northwest of the village about 25 miles is a big
spring, called El Gallo, known to the Indians as the
warm spring. This was one of the landmarks in the
boundary calls of the grant papers issued to Acoma by
Spain in 1689. In 1862 the government established a mil
itary post at this place and set aside the land around the
spring for a military reservation. The post was aban
doned in 1868. This was the same year that the Navajos
were brought back from the Bosque Kedondo, but the
land was still held as a military reservation. When the
post was abandoned a number of camp followers and ex-
soldiers, whose time had expired, remained. The spring
flows a large volume of water and the soldiers had con
structed an irrigation ditch and had several fields under
cultivation. These improvements the squatters wished to
retain, but the land being a military reservation they
were notified to move, but they refused to go, and a de
tachment of soldiers was sent to remove them. They ob
stinately resisted, until one of them, a Mexican, attempt
ing to decapitate the officer in charge, was killed. The
others then left without further trouble. In 1870 the

MODERN HISTORY OF LAGUNA AND ACOMA 99

place was opened for settlement, and all those who had
been expelled returned, and with them came others. In
the meantime it became known that the spring was the
property of the Acoma Indians; a council was held and
the squatters were advised to bribe the officers and prin
cipal men of the tribe to change the boundary calls by
representing to the surveyor that another spring, about
ten miles further east, was the "Ojo del Gallos," or
Warm spring. Besides the considerations in money,
these settlers proposed to give to the Acomas part of
the Laguna grant, which as yet had not been surveyed.
The Acomas gave their testimony to the surveyor, as
agreed upon, and by so doing the Acoma tribe lost about
one-third of their original grant, which was surveyed and
later patented to them, according to the survey.

It now remained to put the Acomas in possession of
the Laguna land. The Indians of Acoma were notified
to be upon the ground on a certain day, and a Mexican
justice of the peace would give them legal possession and
title to the same. The Mexicans and Americans in the
scheme knew it was a farce, but the unfortunate Indians
were sincere, and considered the Alcalde's court as su
preme. The Laguna Indians, becoming aware of what
was going on, came to Mr. Marmon, who was at that time
conducting a trading post at Laguna. Considering that
the only way to stop the trouble was by a display of force,
he hastily armed two companies (one of infantry and one
of cavalry) with Springfield muskets, which had been
placed in the town for the protection of the Lagunas from
the Apaches. He took command of one company in per
son and the other he placed under the command of
George H. Pratt, a government surveyor, and, like him
self, a veteran of the Civil war, and together they
marched to the scene of trouble.

The Acomas were already on the ground in large
numbers, armed with every conceivable weapon. The

100 SCHAT-CHEK

two Laguna companies and the alcalde (justice of the
peace) and posse arrived on the ground at about the same
time, and without further ceremony the alcalde began to
read the decree which would put the Acomas in posses
sion. The charge was sounded, the alcalde and his posse
fled, but the Acomas held their ground, and a pitched
battle ensued, in which quite a number were seriously
hurt, but no one fatally. The Acomas were finally forced
from the land. The agent was notified of the trouble,
and came at once to the village. He called a joint meet
ing of the officers and principal men of each pueblo. This
land in question was a purchase by the Laguna pueblo
from a Spaniard by the name of Garviso, about the year
1825, and the Mexican government issued them a title for
the same. It is called the Santa Ana Purchase.

When the Acoma grant was surveyed a part of the
purchase fell inside the Acoma lines. After a good deal
of debate a compromise line was agreed on. The La-
gunas were to relinquish about one-half of what they
claimed inside of the Acoma grant and the Acoma pueblo
gave to Laguna a quit-claim for the balance of the dis
puted lands, inside the Acoma lines, and so it was settled.
The first irrigating ditch was taken out of the San Jose
river by the Laguna Indians about nine and a half miles
west of the village of Laguna, in 1840. The next ditch
was taken out about three miles west of where Acomita
now stands, in 1860, or ten years before the Acomas had
any settlements in the valley of the San Jose. Acomita
was built in 1870.

PROPHECY OF SHE-AKE

Away back in the Queres tradition they tell of a cer
tain medicine man and seer of the nation who made a
number of prophecies, which have practically all been ful
filled. Coronado refers to this prophecy in his letter to
Mendoza, viceroy of Mexico. He says: "They declare
that it was foretold among them more than fifty years
ago that a people such as we are should come, and the
direction they should come from, and that the whole
country would be conquered. " The story says that this
old magician would 'lay himself flat and, striking the
ground with his clenched fist, commanded his audience to
listen. Then he would tell what he saw and heard. He
told of the coming of the Spaniards, the bearded warriors
with shirts of metal, and how that they would conquer
and enslave the Indians. Then he told of the people of
the light-colored hair, who would come from the east,
would conquer the country and would be the friends and
champions of the Pueblo Indians ; that these people from
the East would build metal roads (sow-a-ka-he-an-ne),
and the prophecy or curse pronounced by Queo-Kape
would be lifted and the rains would return, and then the
Queres Indians would again be a prosperous, contented
and happy people. In 1880 the iron bands of the great
Santa Fe railroad stretched slowly from the East into
the lands of the Pueblos. The prophecy was being ful
filled. Eobert Gr. Marmon, a brother of W. Gr. Marmon,
was elected governor of Laguna, probably the first white
man that ever held the ancient office of ruler of the
Queres Indians. Many of the old customs were aban
doned and their further practice prohibited by a vote of
the people. Certain ones of the conservative class on
this account left Laguna and moved to Isleta, on the Rio
Grande.

102 SCHAT-CHEN

With regard to the government of these Pueblos,
they are both democratic and republican, or representa
tive. All business of minor importance is regulated by
the governor and a staff of officers. In Laguna the ex
ecutive body consists of a governor, two lieutenant-gov
ernors, a war captain, seven fiscals, or supervisors, one
for each of the villages ; seven major domos, or overseers
of ditches, one for each village. When there is business
of such a nature that the officers clo not feel competent
to decide, it is then laid before the whole people in council
for their vote. These officers meet once a month, or
oftener if necessary. Their pay is. 50 cents a day while
in council. Eegarding their land tenure, the grant is held
in common, but each individual or family have their own
private fields or parcels of land, and any man or family
can hold as much land as they can cultivate. Failure to
cultivate any land for a period of three years works a
forfeiture, and the land reverts to the pueblo. They can
buy and sell lands among themselves, but not to an out
sider or one who does not belong to the tribe.

The Laguna Indians claim to have had three books of
records of the past. These were in existence until within
recent years, but on account of religious disputes they
were either hidden away or destroyed. The oldest of
these was the book of "Water People;" the next was the
book of the "Eagle People;" the third and most recent
was the book of the "Corn People." What these books
were like is only conjecture. The Indians say they were
painted on some kind of skin. The writing was no doubt
symbolic, as there is no evidence of phonetic writing hav
ing been understood among them. Laguna was con
structed by refugees from the river pueblos after the
Spanish invasion, of the Queres stock principally. They
brought their books with them, along with their house
hold goods. Could these old records be brought to light
they might prove of historic value.

PROPHECY OF SHE-ARE 103

What a pity that all the history of this great Cushite
people has perished — disappeared completely! It seems
mysterious, but yet there might not have been very much
written. They seem to have been of a very secretive dis
position. We know from the Romans that time and again
the Phoenicians risked shipwreck rather than to reveal
some seceret, and on one occasion actually destroyed their
own ships, burned them up on the coast of France (Gaul),
rather than reveal to the Eomans the location of the tin
mines in England (Britain). They knew all about the
magnetic needle thousands of years before the time of
Eome. They knew the composition and secret of making
gunpowder. They had evolved or invented the phonetic
alphabet and signs which nearly every nation of the
civilized world today uses. They were the ones who in
troduced the Age of Bronze and later Age of Iron. And
where did this civilization originate ? Had we the com
plete account of this island, Atlantus, which Solon ob
tained from the Egyptian priest of Sais, we might form
some idea. Plato's account is too meager, but from what
he tells us and what has been found out, that island must
have been the seat of the Cushite empire, possibly the
cradle of the human family. Suppose that island should
again rise to the surface, after all these years. What a
revelation! Such occurrences have happened and such
may happen again. It must have been a volcanic island
which was thrown up in the ocean at a time when the
human animal was in the early stage of development and
by some peculiar good fortune he was transported there,
which being free from all other aminals left him master
of the situation, where he developed and became the rul
ing power of the world.

TRADITIONS AND NARRATIVES
OF THE QUERES

INTRODUCTION

There is nothing particularly interesting about a big
rough block of wood or stone until it is shaped down,
smoothed and polished. We hear a few discordant notes,
we think of it only as sound but when these notes are
properly arranged and rightly combined we have music.
A few rambling ideas properly arranged and clothed we
call poetry. The plain facts of history are not very in
teresting to the average person. So by embellishment, to
conform to the requirements of a story these old tradi
tions of the Quercs Indians have lost a great deal of their
meaning. There may be various reasons, but we naturally
suppose that the fondness for listening to a story to be a
hereditary trait. Whatever the cause or causes, the fact
remains that nearly every rational human being is fond
of a story, and none more so than the uneducated Indian.
To him, the many deities, the faries, the giants, are real
and personal. Let us listen to some of these old yarns
that have gladdened and delighted the hearts of the dusky
urchin for many a generation.

Let us recall those characters that have figured in
a forgotten past. Let us gaze on the mighty Wah-wah-
keh. Let us visit the haunts of the tSits-hriwa, the great
green serpent of the waters. Let us see the fairies and
ask them why they were changed to insects and com
pelled to live in such inhospitable places as the edges of
swamps and ponds.

Let us trail Masts-truoy, the cliff-dweller, to his
perilous abode on the rugged precipice. Let us bring
all of them that we can recall, and learn from them what
we can of the ancient history of the Pueblo Indians of
Laguna and Acoma.

MAUSAY — ONE OF THE HERO BROTHERS

This figure represents the Ope or Grand Master in the society or or
der of the Chaquin or Black Mask. Ope may mean Ethiopian. An ax
in the Queres language is Ope-caw-ah-ne, meaning an instrument the
Ope (Ethiopian) use to hunt with

THE TRADITION OF SHIP-OP.

Descendants of people who have emigrated to other countries have
only a vague idea of what the land of their forefathers looked like, and
as generation after generation passes away these ideas become dimmer,
especially with people who have relied wholly on oral description and
tradition; each repetition imparts a certain change until finally it be
comes apparently only myth.

In the following tradition the deep pit was the ocean, which with
their limited means was unfathomable. The rhymatic rising and
lowering of the water was the tides and what seemed to them a mystery
was that all the rivers flowing ceaselessly never augmented this water —
the ocean.

This is the genesis of the Queres Indians. They have no miracu
lous account of their beginning. Mau-say and O-yo-ya-ye, the heroes
spoken of, were probably leaders in some migration.

Somewhere in the north, a few days' travel from the
present Pueblo villages, is a deep hole or pit in the earth.
Into this pit flowed four mighty rivers from the four car
dinal points, and although these rivers flowed ceaselessly,
never was the pit filled completely to the brim, but would
rise and lower rhythmatically.

In this deep, dark abyss dwelt all the people, for as
yet there was no sun or moon. Long had they dwelt here,
but at last they became discontented and clamorous to
get out and roam the world. Now among these people
were two brothers, Mausay and 0-yo-yave. Inspired by
the daring of youth they descended to the uttermost depth
of this chasm, through the yellow, the blue, the red, and
finally, in the furthest, the white earth, they stood in the
presence of E-yet-e-co, the mother of life, and spoke the
wish of the people and asked her consent to leave the pit
and tred the earth outside. It was reluctantly given, but
telling the heroes that the time was not ripe for them to
leave their abode and to go back and tell the people that
she would place a sign in the sky when everything was
ready and that she would come and call them forth. Then
the sun shone forth in the north and a great many people
came out, but E-yet-e-co was not with the sun. Then

110 SCHAT-CHEN

the sun rose in the west and again numbers of the people
came forth, but E-yet-e-co did not appear. Then the sun
rose in the south and again a number of people ushered
forth to vanish like those who preceded them, as E-yet-
e-co still delayed. Then the sun rose majestically in the
east, and with it came E-yet-e-co, the mother of all life.
She called them from their abode and bade them go forth
in the world, but foretelling that they would visit strange
lands and have many adventures and would forget her
and their early teaching.

When the people came out, the earth or land was
soft, not ripe (sah-kun-nut). So they traveled on to the
south, and there, finding a place suitable, built their hab
itations or village and called it Kush-kut-ret (the White
Village) . Years pass away ; things are as they should be ;
plenty of game and plenty of rain for planting, until one
day a character came to their village or settlement from
the Esto-eh Tick-eh .(cane brakes) of the north. This
man they called Po-shi-ah-ne. He was never born as
other people, but came from a parasite. He was a great
wizard and juggler and soon obtained a large following.
He introduced a new form of medicine and worship.
About this time the rains ceased to fall or not in sufficient
quantities to support vegetation. Po-shi-ah-ne tried very
hard with incantations and magic to make the rain fall,
but failed. Then the people became angry and Po-shi-ah-
ne fled in the dark, but he was pursued, captured and
put to death. Still the drouth continued. A great fam
ine was in the land and the people were reduced to such
an extremity that they killed and ate their children or
weaker members of the tribe. During all this time there
was one man called Meech-hutch-tse (the humming bird
man) who remained sleek and fat. When asked where he
got his food he said he went back to Ship-op for it.

One evening there came to the settlement a people
from the south pass, called the She-kun, each one carrying
in his hand a peculiar flower, or plant, in full bloom; at

O-YO-YAVE, THE OTHER HERO BROTHER

112 SCHAT-CHEN

times the plant would seem to wither and die and then of
a sudden it would revive and bloom forth again. This
people went on to the northeast and built habitations out
of boards.

KOPOT

KO-POT KA-NAT.

This is probably a report, or what remains of it after being worked
over for generations, of an expedition that went back to their island
home from the settlement on the mainland. The terms of the race
were to be once around the world where the land and water meet (Ko-
wi-sho Putch), the edge or coast line of the sea showing that this land
(Ship-op) was an island. Another thing you will observe: It speaks
of the Kush-Kutret (White Village) of the southeast,, showing that the
migration was to the northwest. It also speaks of the Ko-wi-stchu-ma
Kote, showing that this mountain must have been on the island, a vol
cano no doubt that erupted and destroyed the island.

I-ye-ti-ko and her sister, I-sto-a-ko-ya, lived in the
Kush Kut-ret of the southeast. I-sto-a-ko-ya was in the
habit of bathing in the big water. This she did almost
continually, and it sorely tried the patience of her sister,
so that one day I-ye-ti-ko scolded her because of it. This
angered I-sto-a-ko-ya and she went back to Ship-op.

Now it was because of the fact that I-sto-a-ko-ya was
almost constantly in the water that the rain fell at Kush
Kut-ret. When she had gone the rains stopped, every
thing became parched and dry and Kush Kut-ret was
threatened with famine. I-ye-ti-ko, who divined the
cause of the drouth, repenting of her harshness to her
sister and fearful I-sto-a-ko-ya had been overcome by
hunger and had died, sent a blue-bottle fly to find her.

The fly flew to the east, the west, the north and the
south, but could not find I-sto-a-ko-ya. So it returned to
I-ye-ti-ko and reported that it was able to find only the
footprints of I-sto-a-ko-ya, that the footprints led toward
Ship-op, and that everywhere that she had trodden the
grass grew luxuriantly, while everywhere else it was dry
and parched.

I-ye-ti-ko next sent for Stchi-mu-ne-moot, a great
runner and trailer, and told him to follow the trail of
I-sto-a-ko-ya and bring her back to her home.

Stchi-mu-ne-moot lost no time in setting out. The

116 SCHAT-CHEN

trail, marked by green grass and flowering plants, was
easily followed. It was not until he had drawn near to
Ship-op that he paused. Here he met the Kopot brothers,
who lived in the vicinity of Ship-op. The Kopot brothers
had heard of the fame of Stchi-mu-ni-moot as a runner,
and so they halted him and asked him if he did not want
to run a race with them.

"I am going to Ship-op, " answered Stchi-mu-ni-
moot, "to bring back our mother to Kush Kut-ret. When
I have done this errand I will come back and run a race
with you. ' '

This pleased the Kopot brothers greatly, for they
were fleet runners and wonderful magicians besides.

Stchi-mu-ne-moot continued to Ship-op, where he
found I-sto-a-ko-ya. He explained to her his mission and
asked her if she would go back with him. She replied that
she would if I-ye-ti-ko would send her what she was in
need of.

80 Stchi-mu-ni-moot returned to I-ye-ti-ko with this
answer. I-ye-ti-ko prepared a bundle of clothing for
I-sto-a-ko-ya and with this Stchi-mu-ne-moot again went
to Ship-op. When I-sto-a-ko-ya undid the bundle she
found that her sister had forgotten to send a band for her
hair. So Stchi-mu-ne-moot was forced to return again
to Kush Kut-ret. He brought to I-sto-a-ko-ya the missing
band, and she retuned with him to Kush Kut-ret. Upon
her return the rains came back, giving new life to the dry
earth and saving the people from famine.

Stchi-mu-ne-moot, having accomplished all that I-ye-
ti-ko had required of him, told her that he desired to go
and run a race with the Kopot brothers. She gave him
her permission, and gave him also a to-wa-ka (a stick
or bone about two inches long and an inch and a half in
diameter,, that the runner, according to the rules of the
game, is compelled to kick ahead of him). She told him
to exchange the to-wa-ka for the one used by the Kopot

KO-KAH-KI-EH — BROTHER OF KOPOT

118 SCHAT-CHEN

brothers. He took the to-wa-ka given him by I-ye-ti-ko
and went to the Kopot brothers ' house. The door of the
house was in the roof and the Kopot brothers had placed
a big turkey with outspread wings over the opening to
cover it. After gaining admittance to the house, Stchi-
mu-ne-moot succeeded in exchanging his to-wa-ka for the
one used by the brothers.

They arranged the terms of the race. It was to be
once around the world, where the watef and the land
meet, along the Ko-wai-sh Putch. The forfeit was, on
the part of iStchi-mu-ne-moot, one eye; on the part of
the Kopot brothers, one eye from each.

When all was ready the race began. At the first kick
Stchi-mu-ne-moot sent his to-wa-ka nearly out of sight.
When the Kopots kicked their to-wa-ka, it fell down into
the house through the hole in the roof. They had to go
down after it ; and while they were looking for it the tur
key spread out its wings over the hole and made it so
dark within that it took the brothers a long time to find
the to-wa-ka. When they came out they were so angry
that they killed the turkey. By this time Stchi-mu-ne-
moot was half way round the world. He won the race
easily and claimed the forfeit. Taking an eye from each
of the brothers, he threw them into the sky, where they
remain to this day, in the tail of the constellation of the
Scorpion.

Then the Kopot brothers were very angry. They
threw the to-wa-ka that had been the cause of their defeat
at Ko-wi-stchu-ma Kote and made a great hole in the
side of the mountain. Out of the hole came the big water
animal, Wa-waka, that vomited streams of water until all
the surrounding country was flooded. Kush Kut-ret, the
white city, was inundated. The people who were able to
escape climbed to the top of a high tableland called Ma-
wha-rah. These people kindled a fire and heated stones
and threw them into the mouth of the Wa-wa-ka, finally

KO-POT KA-NAT 119

\

killing it. The water then subsided, but the people who
had taken refuge on Ma-wha-rah were all turned into
stone.

Now the crows at that time were white and possessed
the power of speech. I-ye-ti-ko warned these crows not
to pick out the eyes of the dead people, saying that if they
did not heed her warning, a great punishment would over
take them. The crows flew over the city, where all the
dead people lay in the streets. One crow said to another :
"Let us take just one eye and see what it tastes like."

So they picked out an eye, and all at once all the
crows turned black and lost the power of speech.

THE SITS-SHBAI-WA.

This story refers to the Kush-kut-ret Queestohe-ha. That means
the White Village furthest southeast. It must have been near the sea
coast. The Sits-Shriwa was some reptile which was considered sacred.

In the Kush-kut-ret Qis-chi-ha lived a little orphan
girl with her grandmother. The little girl loved to go to
the water's edge and play in the sand. One day when
she was wandering along the shore and playing in the
sand, she found a worm on the edge of the water. She
made a basin in the sand and filled it with water, put the
worm in it and each day would go and feed it. It grew
rapidly and she would increase the size of the basin by
digging out the sand and thus making it wider. Each day
it grew larger and soon became a big snake, for it was the
iSits-shrai-wa, the big water snake, with horns.

One day the girl left her grandmother, saying that
she was going down to the water to bathe. After the
bathing she went to see the snake, that had by this time
grown to be a huge reptile. It spoke to her, calling her
mother, and asked her to get on its head and to hold
tight to its horns. She did so and the big water snake
dived off into the water and went down, deep, deep, with
her holding onto its horns. At last it came to the house
of its parents. Here everything was beautiful and she
was kindly treated, and, after staying awhile with them,
she said that she must go back to her grandmother, who
would be anxious about her. The big snake then took her
on its head and carried her to the surface and placed her
on the sand close to her grandmother's house. She went
in and asked her grandmother to spread a cloth down on
the floor. Then she knelt down and, shaking her hair
over the cloth, beautiful stones and metal fell from her
hair onto the cloth.

THE SITS-SHKAI-WA 121

Then she told her grandmother about finding the
worm and feeding it and of its growing to be the Sits-
shari-wa, and of its taking her down to the house of its
parents in the water, and that while she was there, the
Sits-shrai-wa had put that magic power into her hair,
and ever afterwards, whenever she washed her hair, the
power would be exercised. As time went on, she grew to
be a woman ; her grandmother died and she was married.

One day her husband went with the other men to war
with another people, and while he was gone another
woman who resembled his wife exactly, wishing to become
his wife, contrived to throw the real wife into the deep
water and drowned her, as she supposed. At last the hus
band returned. He looked and looked at the woman and
said : l ' You look like my wife, but I do not believe that
you are. ' ' Then he asked her to wash her hair and shake
it on a cloth, but when she shook her hair, no beautiful
stones or metal fell from it. The woman said that her
hair had lost that power. Still he was not happy and
would walk along the shore and look off into the deep
water. One day when he was out on the water where it
was very deep, he was looking down into the depths when
he saw a woman rise out of the water. He was terribly
frightened, but she told him that she was his wife. Then
he wanted to take her home with him, but she refused,
saying that when he put the other woman away she would
come back.

The husband went home and, striking the other
woman in the breast with a spear, killed her ; then he car
ried the body away from the settlements and laid it down
and went down to the water's edge. Presently his wife
appeared and they went home, and from her hair still
would fall the beautiful stones and metal, when it was
washed and shaken ; the magic gift of the Sits-shari-wa.

I-STO-A-MOOT AND HI-STCHI-AN KO-A-SUTS.

A long time ago there lived, somewhere on the south
side of the Ko-wais-chu-nm Kot a character named Hi-
stchi-an Ko-a-suts. He was widely known as a wizard
and a very bad man, and, in consequence, he was greatly
feared by the people throughout the country. Now and
then he would pay a secret visit to Kush Kut-ret and
would carry away with him to his home in the mountains
some man's wife or daughter. These women, as he tired
of their company, he locked up in the caves, then sallied
forth in search of others.

One day Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts stole the wife of I-ste-
a-moot and carried her away. I-sto-a-moot was a man of
considerable note at Kush Kut-ret. He was brave as a
lion. He did not share the awe in which the other people
held Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts. Moreover he was skillful in
the use of the bow and versed in all the cunning of his
race. As soon as he discovered that his wife had been
carried away by the wizard he started in pursuit. He
traveled on and on for a long time without discovering
any clue to aid him to find his wife or her abductor. One
day, when he was almost despairing of success, he came
upon a little boy who was engaged in catching snow birds
with snares made of hair. ' This sport amused I-sto-a-
moot. He pulled out some of his own long hair, con
structed snares from it and went to work catching birds.
(Soon he and the boy were on very good terms. When
they had caught a great many birds, the boy gathered up
his snares and said that he would have to go home, as it
was getting late. He asked I-sto-a-moot to accompany
him, and I-sto-a-moot readily consented. When they
reached the boy's home the boy threw the birds in at the

I-STO-A-MOOT AND HI-STCHI-AN KO-A-SUTS 123

door of the house. They fell in a great heap upon the
floor.

"My!" exclaimed his mother from within. "You
are getting to be a great hunter, my son."

"It was not I who snared the birds, but my friend,
I-sto-a-moot, who is with me here."

The mother invited I-sto-a-moot in and welcomed
him warmly. He soon discovered that she' was a fairy.
He related his story and told her that it was his search for
his wife that had brought him into that part of the coun
try. The fairy entreated him to remain at her house over
night, saying that in the morning she would lend him her
aid to find his wife.

The next morning she told him that his wife had
been stolen away by Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts, a great ma
gician, who lived in the Ko-wai s-chum-mu Kot; but that,
if he would follow her instructions, he need have no fear
in encountering the wizard. She gave him a large knife,
seemingly of flint, a suit of clothes and a chair, and told
him to exchange these things for the ones owned by Hi-
stchi-an Ko-a-suts. She advised him that he would come
to a deep river, and she gave him a little bag of medicine
to chew and blow upon the water which would then become
still so that he would be able to cross over it.

I-sto-a-moot left the house of the fairy and set out
for the house of Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts, which he reached
after many trials and hardships. He found that Hi-stchi-
an Ko-a-suts was not at home, so he entered the dwelling
and was surprised to find himself welcomed by his own
wife. She told him that the wizard was out at the end
of the world, Ko-wai-sho Putch, running races with Shi-
wu-na. His wife wanted to go back to Kush Kut-ret at
once, but I-sto-a-moot was desirous of seeing Hi-stchi-an
Ko-a-suts, and of fighting him. Before the wizard's re
turn I-sto-a-moot succeeded in obtaining his knife, his

124 SCHAT-CHEN

coat and his chair. In place of these he left the ones he
had received from the fairy.

When Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts returned to his home
that evening and found I-sto-a-moot, he was in a towering
rage. He threatened and stormed and was going to make
an end to I-sto-a-moot at once but I-sto-a-moot put on such
a bold front that he altered his intention, but declared he
must fight with him on the day following. The next
morning the two put on their fighting dress and, arming
themselves, went forth to battle.

"Now," said Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts, when they met>
"I am going to show you how powerful I am. With a
single blow of my flint knife I will knock off the top of the
Ko-wais-chum-mu Kot. Can you do such a wonder?"

"Certainly," said I-sto-a-moot, "I have done even
greater wonders."

"Then throw," exclaimed Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts.
"You are a boaster."

"Cast your knife first," said I-sto-a-moot. "If you
cut off the top of the mountain I will acknowledge you the
victor and will go back to Kush Kut-ret defeated. ' '

So Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts threw his knife. But, in
stead of cutting off the top of the mountain, it only pasted
itself against its side, for this was the knife which the
fairy had given to I-sto-a-moot, and it was made of wax.

Then I-sto-a-moot threw his knife and cut off the top
of the mountain, for the knife which he threw was the
magic knife of the wizard.

"Wizard and conjurer," yelled Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-
suts, "the fight is not yet finished. Tomorrow we will
fight with fire. ' '

Accordingly, the next morning, they made prepara
tions. Each one built up a large heap of wood. Upon
these heaps they placed their chairs and, after setting fire
to the piles of wood, they climbed into their respective
seats and awaited the issue.

I-STO-A-MOOT AND HI-STCHI-AN KO-A-SUTS 125

The chair used by Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts was the one
made for I-sto-a-moot by the fairy. It was made of wax,
as was the coat that he wore. These quickly melted in the
flames, so that the wizard was soon burned to a cinder.

The chair of I-sto-a-moot and the coat which he wore
were the ones taken from Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts. They
were made of ice ; and they melted and extinguished the
fire.

When the wizard had been thus disposed of, I-sto-a-
moot took his wife and all the other women that Hi-stchi-
an Ko-a-suts had imprisoned in a cave, back to Kush Kut-
ret, and the people were never again in fear of the wizard.

y

^

SUT-SU-NUTS

SUTSU-NUTS, THE EULEE OF THE KA-TSI-NA.

This tradition is badly mixed up, but it shows that these Queres
people must have had at some time communication with people who
were cannibals, probably the Caribes. According to some early accounts
of these islanders they were canibals. These bags containing the stars
were apertures in the wall from which this old astronomer watched
the movements of the heavenly bodies, no doubt.

It was an ancient custom at Kush Kut-ret for all the
people to go, upon a certain day, to gather wood for the
uses of the households. On one of these occasions one of
the daughters of the ruler of the city encountered iSutsu-
nuts, the ruler of the Ka-tsi-na. They had met before
under like conditions, so iSutsu-nuts addressed the maiden
and offered to help her break the wood and tie it into a
bundle so that it might be more easily carried.

As they worked along together, Sutsu-nuts proved so
helpful and agreeable to Ko-chin-ni-na-ko that, when on
parting, he asked her to accompany him as his wife to his
home in the far west, she consented to go with him, pro
vided her parents raised no objection. Sutsu-nuts agreed
to wait four days for her, in which time she was to con
sult with her people and, if no obstacle was interposed,
was to join him again, prepared for the journey.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko returned to Kush Kut-ret with a
light heart and a nope that her parents would find no ob
jection to a man so powerful and renowned as Sutsu-
nuts. Her hope did not prove groundless, for her father,
her mother and her three sisters readily assented to her
alliance with the ruler of the Ka-tsi-na. Her sisters lent
their assistance in her preparations for the journey.
They washed and combed her long, black hair and braided
it in two braids. Inside each braid they put a package
containing pollen from the corn tassel. When her prepar-

128 SCHAT-CHEN

ations had been completed, she took leave of her people
and set out for the place where she had left Sutsu-nuts.
She found him awaiting her coming.

Together they proceeded westward until they came
to a big water that was wide and deep. Soon after cross
ing this, they arrived at the home of Sutsu-nuts. The
mother of the ruler of the Ka-tsi-na welcomed Ko-chin-
ni-na-ko to her new home, and everything went smoothly
for a time, until Ko-chin-ni-na-ko discovered that the
bread set before her was made from dough mixed with
human blood. She refused to eat the bread. When she
next went to carry water, she extracted some pollen from
one 'of the packages in her hair and ate it. Then she
threw some of the pollen into the big water. Thus she
lived for several days, but finally she ate all the pollen,
and was in despair as to how she would be able to live,
for she had resolved that she would never eat the bread
of Sutsu-nuts. While she was in the midst of the dilem
ma, an old spider woman came to her and whispered in
her ear :

"Now that your heavenly food is all gone, iSutsu-nuts
will compel you to eat the bread made from dead people's
blood. You must not remain here, but must return to
your father at Kush Kut-ret. ' '

So Ko-chin-ni-na-ko took a jar and went to the big
water. As she stood upon the brink, one of the beings
that lived in the water spoke to her, saying :

"When I was hungry, you fed me with corn pollen.
For having thrown the pollen into the water, I love you.
If you wish to return to Kush Kut-ret, I will take you
across the big water.77

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko left her water jar upon the shore
without hesitation and went with the being that lived in
the water.

When Sutsu-nuts returned to his home to find that
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was gone, he was very angry. He went

SUTSU-NUTS, THE RULEK OP THE KA-TSI NA 129

to the margin of the water, where she had left the jar, and
called aloud four times, asking the beings that lived in
the water if they knew where Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had gone.
At the fourth call the beings answered that she had gone
to Kush Kut-ret, because she did not like the food he had
given her. Then Sutsu-nuts went and called all of his
followers, the Ka-tsi-na, and started in pursuit. They
crossed the big water and, after traveling a night and a
day, they scattered out over the country. In this man
ner they soon found Ko-chin-ni-na-ko 's trail. They ran
with incredible swiftness," so that they soon overtook her;
and they struck her with a heavy club upon the calf of the
leg, felling her to the ground. Then they returned to
their own country, leaving Ko-chin-ni-na-ko for dead.

All night long Ko-chin-ni-na-ko lay unconscious. In
the morning when the sun came up and warmed her, she
recovered her senses. Still she did not move. She was
unable to continue her way. At noon two sons were born
to her. These were strong and rugged infants; and they
rolled upon the sand and kicked up their heels in the air
and crowed to see the trees and rocks around them and
the bright sun looking at them.

In a crevice of the high cliff not far from where Ko-
chin-ni-na-ko and her two sons were lying, there was a
nest of Chit-ta Ma-ka-na, or white crows. The young ones
said to their parents: "We see something yonder upon
the sands. It looks like a doe with two fawns. Allow us
to go and bring the little ones up to our nest so that they
may play with us. "

The old crows consented, and away the little crows
went to make the acquaintance of their new playfellows.
However, they soon returned to the nest and told their
parents that what they had seen was not a deer but Ko-
chin-ni-na-ko, the daughter of Hutch-a-mun Kai-ok.
Upon hearing this, the old crows went down and conduct-

130 SCHAT-CHEN

ed Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and her two boys up to the nest and
cared for them.

The sons of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko grew very fast and soon
began to run about and climb upon the rocks. One day,
seeing some rabbits, they said to their mother : t i What
are those little white animals that are running about?
May we not catch them?" Their mother told them to go
to Father Chit-ta Ma-ka-na and get him to help them.

Father Chit-ta Ma-ka-na made for each of them a
bow and arrows and instructed them how to use them.
So the boys soon became hunters. After they had been
at the home of the Chit-ta Ma-ka-na for a long time, the
boys said to their mother :

"Mother, tell us of our father. Who is he?"

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko toM them that their father was a
bad man who lived on the other side of the big water.

Then they asked her: "Who is our grandfather?"

She told them that their grandfather was Hutch-a-
mun Kai-ok, the ruler of Kush-kut-ret, and that she in
tended, in four days, to send them to his city to see him.

After that the boys were all impatience to set out for
the city of their grandfather. The four days ' preparation
for the journey seemed endless. But they passed, and,
early one morning, the sons stood before their mother to
receive her final instructions and to take leave of her.
Their mother directed them to enter the city from the
south; to approach their grandfather's house, which they
would ksow by its three ladders standing side by side,
with parrots perched upon the tops, from the south ; and
to enter the dwelling from the south entrance. She told
them that their grandfather had a room where he played
with the stars ; that he would require them to guess what
stars were contained in the bags hanging upon the walls
of the room. She enjoined them to remember that on the
north wall hung a bag containing the Mai-chin, the seven
stars in the Big Dipper; on the west wall hung iSu-qi-she,

SUTSU-NUTS, THE KULEK OF THE KA-TSI NA 131

the Pleiades ; on the east wall, Si-usphs or Chi-asps,
Orion's Belt; on the south wall, Kai-ti-tu-wi, the Scorp
ion. Finally she told them that they must procure for
her from her father some wearing apparel, for Sutsu-nuts,
before leaving her for dead upon the sand, had stripped
her of her clothing.

So the boys set out for Kush Kut-ret and the home of
their grandfather. After long wanderings and many
hardships and strange adventures, they arrived at the
city. The old ruler came out to receive them. They were
naked and their hair had never known a comb, so he sup
posed them to be from a strange people.

After the boys had been fed, the ruler asked them
to enter the room where he kept the stars. Then he told
them that, unless they were able to guess what the bags
hanging against the wail contained, he would take their
hearts out; but that, if they made correct guesses, they
should have his heart. : He pointed his finger at the bags,
one by one, and told the boys to guess. Each time they
made the correct answers. When the contents of all the
bags had been named by them, Hutch-a-mun Kai-ok laid,
himself down and told them they had won and it was
their right to take his heart. But the boys protested that
they did not want his heart. He arose, very much sur
prised, and asked:

"Who are you that you do not receive your dues?"

Then they told him their story. They related Ko-
chin-ni-na-ko 's persecution by Sutsu-nuts, her escape, her
flight, her capture and subsequent punishment, their own
strange birth and stranger adoption by the white crows.
They told him that Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had sent them to him
to request that he send her suitable apparel in which to
appear before her people.

When they had finished, the old man took them on
his knee and told them that he recognized them as his
grandchildren. Then he had them washed and dressed

132 SCHAT-CHEN

and combed, and sent them back with clothes and presents
and a welcome home for Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. The boys
hastened their return to the home of the White Crows,
where they had left their mother. They delivered the
clothing to her, and the presents and message sent by
her father.

When Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had donned the new clothes,
she and her two sons set out for Kush Kut-ret ; and, after
long journeying, arrived at the foot of the ladder that
led up to the ruler's house.

Hutch-a-mun Kai-ok had placed all his household
gods in ceremonial order; had gathered all of his family
around him and had instructed its members not to cry or
to make any demonstration when they welcomed Ko-chin-^
ni-na-ko back, until the earth trembled. ' l For, if you do
cry," he said, "something terrible will happen. " When
he had given these directions, he sang this song:

A-mo sa-mak ha-we-op. Hish-o-me shrot-sin-ni-ya

Ha-we-op ti-i I-ye-ti-ko kapsch i-an-ni. Ti-chu-qa-ya.

Shrot-sin-niya ka-ma. Em-me-he shrot-sin-ni-ya.

I-ye-ti-ko kapsch nup-si. Nup-si shrot-sin-ni-ya.

Ka-ma ni-qe-i-ko I-ye-ti-ko ya-ni-nu kot-sin-ni-ya.

Huk-ko, ko-qe-ya I-ye-ti-ko. Huk-ko, ka-ma shrot-sin-
ni-ya.

I-ye-ti-ko i-an-ni sin-na ko-qe-ya."

Translation : My dear daughter, come in ; for your
sake, come in. Here is I-ye-ti-ko in front. Sit here. For
your sake, I go. That is why — for your sake. I will go
in first to I-ye-ti-ko. I go in, my love. Look! I go. I
will place I-ye-ti-ko in front, for her sake. Now I place
I-ye-ti-ko. Now I go for your sake. I-ye-ti-ko first in
front place.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and her sons, one on each side of
her, stopped at the foot of the ladder leading to the roof
of the house, and called:

"Father, Hutch-a-mun Kai-ok, mother, Ko-chin-ni-

SUTSU-NUTS, 'THE RULEK OF THE KA-TSI NA 133

na-ko, sister Qisch-kin-ni-na-ko, sister Ko-kin-na-ko, sis
ter, Ka- sha-na-ko, do you still love me ? Do you welcome
me home?"

All in concert answered: "Yes, Yes. We still love
you and we welcome you."

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and her two sons ascended the lad
der to the top of the house, for the entrance was by means
of a hole in the roof. Here they pasued, and Ko-chin-ni-
na-ko called again, as she had before, and received the
same answer. They went down to the floor of the second
story of the house. Again she called, and again the
answer was repeated. Then they began to descend the
ladder into the room where the family was assembled,
aiwaiting them. When Ko-chin-ni-na-ko reached the last
rung of the ladder, she stopped and called again to her
father, mother and sisters. As she did so, Ka-sha-na-ko,
her sister, began to cry.

At that moment Sutsu-nuts, who had discovered that
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was not dead, and who had followed
her, rushed down the ladder, caught her and her two boys
in his arms and carried them away. And they never
came back, nor were they ever seen again by any that
knew them.

QI-YO KE-PE.

This village was located probably on the Mississipi river. Natchez
sounds like a Queres name. Some of their names for places are very
peculiar. This name may have been Nah-stchis, meaning six directions
of view, literally it means six eyes.

From the fact of the house spoken of in this story, being thatched
with big leaves, it is evident that it must have been in a tropical or
semi-tropical climate. And the village of Kush-Kutret being in the
same latitude must have been in a similar climate.

When the people lived in the Rush Rut-ret, on the
bank of a great river, one of the daughters of Hutch-a-
mun Rai-ok, the ruler, became afflicted with the disease
called Rai-ot, the scab.

All the medicine men of the village were summoned.
They counseled together, recited their spells, performed
their incantations, but without avail.

Now it was known that many miles to the west, be
yond four deep rivers, there dwelt an old woman, Qi-yo
Re-pe, in a house thatched with big leaves, who was
skilled in the use of medicine. When Hutch-a-mun Rai-
ok found that his daughter grew no better under the
treatment of the medicine men, he determined to send
for 91-7° Re-pe. To this end, he dispatched the war cap
tain to the west to bring her to Rush Rut-ret. The jour
ney proved a difficult one for the war captain on ac
count of the four big rivers which lay between Rush
Rut-ret and the home of the medicine woman. After
overcoming many obstacles, he finally found her and
persuaded her to return with him to the Rush Rut-ret.

When they reached the bank of the first river, the
old woman took off her moccasin, as if to shake the sand
out, when a herd of deer and antelope and buffalo and
all the other animals of the forests and plains sprang
into existence. This seeming witchcraft frightened the
war captain. He hurried the old woman across the
stream and they traveled as fast as they could until they

,QI-YO KE-PE 135

came to the bank of the second river. Here Qi-yo Ke-pe
removed her other moccasin and again shook it as if to
shake out the sand, when all the different kinds of birds
came forth, singing. The war captain was now more ter
rified than ever.

When they reached the bank of the third river, the
old woman again took off her moccasin. She shook the
sand out of it and this time all the reptiles of the bogs
and rocks came forth.

At the bank of the fourth river, Qi-yo Ke-pe again
took off her moccasin and shook it and thousands of in
sects of all kinds buzzed forth. The war captain was in
a panic of fright, and he hurried along faster than ever
until they reached Kush Kut-ret.

The medicine woman found the daughter of the
ruler of the city very sick and covered with sores. Yet,
not dismayed, she began her ministrations. She used no
medicine except water, but that continuously, so that
within three or four days' time the patient had almost
fully recovered. Then the war captain was sent to con
duct Qi-yo Ke-pe back to her home.

The medicine men had meantime held a consultation
by which it was determined that, since Qi-yo Ke-pe had
been able to effect a cure where they had failed, the only
way in which they could regain the confidence of the
people was to kill her. This they determined to do. >So
they followed the trail of the medicine woman until they
reached her home. She asked them to come within, but
they refused, saying that they had come to warn her that
in four days they would return and put her and her fam
ily to death.

The old woman took up the broom and, shading her
eyes as she looked at the sun, she began to sweep the
floor. As she swept she cried :

' i Qi-y° Ke-pe ko-tchu-ma, Qi-yo Ke-pe ko-tshu-ma,
Kats-o-e-tu-i-na. Ko-wa-schum-ma stcha.

136 SCHAT-CHEN

Ai-kut-to-ri-na, ai-kut-to-ri-na.
Qi-yo Ke-pe tcho-sto.
Free translation:

Qi-yo Ke-pe is not with you classed,
Qi-yo Ka-pe is above your caste.
Tens over tens of years shall come and go,
Before the scars shall cease to show,
Or trouble cease to be,
For the murder of Qi-yo Ka-pe.
On the fourth day the medicine man returned. They
took Qi-yo Ke-pe and her husband and her daughter and
son away and killed them.

When Qi-yo Ke-pe was dead, all the animals gave
utterance to their plaintive cries; all the birds drooped
their wings and stilled their joyous singing; all the bees
and other insects buzzed their grief ; all the reptiles
crawled away and hid themselves.

i

•Hi

THE UNSEALING OF KATSINA KUTRET.

This tradition goes to show that the Nowish or Katsina people,
commonly known as the Toltecs, were known to the Queres, who sent
scouts to locate them. They sopke the same language, were an earlier
colony of the same stock. Later tradition shows them located in a
deep valley in Arizona, somewhere near the Rio Gila.

When the people came from Ship-op, they sent two
scouts ahead to find the door to the Katsina Kutret that
had been sealed up for years ; but for some sin the scouts
were turned to clowns and they returned without accom
plishing anything. They were sent again and they made
inquiries wherever they went as to how they might find
the door of the place. They asked the Oshatch Pai-at-
yum-ma, the guide of the sun. He told them that they
would find it in the middle of the west ; so they went west
until they came near to the Zuni salt lake, and there met
an old fairy woman, Kum-mushk Qi-yo, the Spider
Woman. (At that time Kum-mushk Qi-yo were people)
and they asked her how to find the door of Ka-tsi-na-
Kut-ret.

She told them that if they would not tell any one
who gave them the information, she would tell them all
they wanted to know. They promised and she told them
to go to the old Badger Woman and she would open the
door for them. They had no trouble in finding the old
Badger Woman, and she said she would open the door.
She then asked them who had sent them to her and they
told her that the old fairy woman had sent them. The
Badger Woman was angry and cursed all of the fairy
women, and said that from that day on the fairies should
be insects and that their homes should be on the water
at the edge of the ponds and rivers.

The old Badger Woman had a pet antelope fawn and
she told the clowns that they could go into the Ka-tsi-na-

140 SCHAT-CHEN

Kut-ret by diving down in the Ma- say Ka-ma, the crater
in the center of the Zuni salt lake, and that in four days
she would open the door. The clowns did as they were
directed and waited and waited four years instead of
four days. In the meantime, the Badger Woman's ante
lope had attained its growth, and then she took the ante
lope with her and went to the door of Ka-tsi-na Kut-ret.
The antelope took a short run and struck the door with
his head and raised a great dust. This he did four times.
At the fourth time the door flew open and there was a
great explosion and the Ka-tsi-na people came out. They
were all yellow and sickly. Because the people were
brought forth in this way, is the reason for the Badger
and Antelope clans having first place in the Ka-tsi-na
dances.

pro 41

Pv

« '

MASTS-TRU-OI, THE CLIFF DWELLER

MASTS-TRU-OI, THE CLIFF DWELLER

In the Spin-na- Ko-ot, or wooded mountains, lived
an old woman and her son Masts-tm-oi. Their dwelling
was upon a bench or shelf of a towering cliff. Far below
it lay the broken plain and far above it rose the lofty
precipice. There was but one way to reach the dwelling
and that was by a secret and dangerous path over the
face of the cliff.

Masts-tru-oi was a wayward son. Disregarding the
teachings and prayers of his mother, he became an out
law and an abductor and murderer of women. He never
had more than one wife at a time. It was his practice to
go into the settlements, marry a wife and take her to
his cliff dwelling. If any of those to whom his fancy
turned, refused him, he would carry them off by force.
But his restless soul was not long satisfied with any
woman, and one by one, he threw them over the cliffs and
brought home others in their places.

Eventually he married the eldest daughter of Hutch-
-a-mun Kai-ok, the ruler of Kush-kut-ret, the white vil
lage, and took her to his home. He soon grew tired of
her and began to seek some pretext to rid himself of her.
With this evil intention he one day said to her :

"Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, I have four rooms full of corn
which you must shell and grind. One room full of blue
corn, one of white, one of red and one of variegated. You
will begin on the first room tomorrow morning and you
must have the corn shelled and ground into meal by the
time I return in the evening.

144 SCHAT-CHEN

The next morning, Masts-tm-oi, as was Ms custom,
went to play with Shi-wu-na, the deity of the elements,
at Ko-wai-sho Putch, the edge of the sea.

After he had departed Ko-chin-ni-na-ko went to the
corn rooms. She was dismayed at the task that Masts-
tm-oi had set for her, and sat down upon a pile of corn
and began to cry.

Just then Kum-mushk Qi-yo, the old spider woman,
appeared to her.

' ' Sister, why are you crying, ' ' she asked.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko told the Kum-mushk-Qi-yo what
Masts-tru-oi, her husband, had commanded her to do, and
said that she feared that if she failed to perform the task,
he would throw her down the cliff.

"iSister, you must not cry," protested the spider
woman. * ' I will help you out of your difficulty. ' '

The old spider woman left her, but soon returned,
bringing a flock of the Sinna Ka-sha-na, the magic tur
keys.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and the spider woman then fell to
work and, as fast as they shelled the corn, the magic
turkeys ground it, so that long before evening they had
the room full of blue corn all ground into meal.

When Masts-tru-oi returned from the Ko-wai-sho
Putch, he said to Ko-chin-ni-na-ko :

' ' Have you ground all the blue corn?"

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko led him to the corn room and
showed him the meal from the blue corn.

Then he said to her:

"Tomorrow you must grind the room of red corn
before I return in the evening."

So the following morning, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko went to
the red corn room. There she found the fairy. The spi
der woman greeted her and then went and brought her
the magic turkeys.

Again the magic turkeys ground the corn while Ko-

THE CLIFF DWELLER 145

chin-ni-na-ko and the spider woman shelled it ; and again
the task was completed long before the shades of even
ing fell upon the cliffs.

Masts-tru-oi returned at nightfall and said to Ko-
chin-ni-na-ko :

' 1 Have you ground all the red corn ? ' '

As before she led him to the corn room and there
showed him the meal from the red corn.

He said, "Tomorrow you must grind the room of
white corn before I return in the evening. ' '

The next day with the assistance of the spider wo
man and the turkeys, the white corn was shelled and
ground into meal. Again Masts-tru-oi, upon his return,
inspected the work, and commanded on the day follow
ing that the varu gated corn should be shelled and
ground.

The last room full of corn was turned into meal as
the others had been. Masts-tru-oi, when he found that
the four rooms full of corn were all ground, offered no
word of praise or approbation to Ko -chin-ni-na-ko, but
said :

"Tomorrow you must go to the north side of the
Ko-wais-tchum-ni Ko-ot, to the White Lake, Stchum-nuts
Ko-wai-sho, and bring me back a jar of water from it."

Ko- chin-ni-na-ko was greatly frightened at this com
mand, for she knew that it was a great distance to the
White Lake, and she despaired of being able to travel so
far and return before evening. However, the following
morning she set out with her jar upon her head for the
north side of the Ko-wais-chum-mu Ko-ot, the mountain
of the White Lake. After traveling for some distance,
she sat down to rest, when the old spider woman ap
peared beside her.

' " Where are you going, sister ?" inquired the fairy.
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko told her that Masts-tru-oi had sent

146 SCHAT-CHEN

her to the White Lake, commanding her to return before
evening with a jar of water from the lake.

"Wait," said the fairy, " and I will bring the White
Lake near. It is many miles over rough and rugged
mountains and you could never reach it."

Even as she spoke, the distance between them and
the White Lake began to diminish. The lake came
nearer, nearer, nearer; and then the Stuchum-nuts Ko-
wai-sho bubbled up at Ku-chin-ni-jia-ko's feet,

"Fill your jar from it," said the fairy, "for this is
the white water."

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had hardly filled her jar when the
lake began to recede and it soon disappeared in the dis
tance. Ko-chin-ni-na-ko took the jar of water home and
waited for the return of her husband.

He came in the evening and immediately asked for
the water from the White Lake. Ko-chin-ni-na-ko brought
the water to him. When he had tasted it, he said :

"Surely this is water from the White Lake. Me-
thinks you are very swift of foot to have walked so long
a distance in so short a time. I will put your wonderful
powers to greater proof. Tomorrow you shall go to the
Blue Lake, Qi-shk Ko-wai-sho, on the east side of the Ku-
chun-na Ko-ot, the East Mountain, and bring me a jar of
water from it."

The next morning Ko-chin-ni-na-ko started for the
Blue Lake. Soon the old spider woman appeared and
asked :

"Where are you going, sister?/'

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko told her that she was going to the
Blue Lake to get a jar of water for Masts-tru-oi.

' ' You could never get there, ' ' said the spider woman
"Give me your jar and your shoes. I will go and get
the water. You must wait here until I return. Masts-
tru-oi suspects that all is not right and tomorrow he will

MASTS-TRU-OI, THE CLIFF DWELLEE 147

follow your trail to the Blue Lake to see if you really
went there."

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko gave the spider woman her shoes
and the water jar, and the fairy disappeared. She soon
returned, bringing a jar full of water from the Blue
Lake.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko thanked her and took the water
home. When Masts-tru-oi returned that evening, he
tasted the water and said :

"Surely this is the water from the Blue Lake."

But he was angry and violent because all his plans
and plots against Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had come to nothing
and, finding no other pretext, he said:

"Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, you are a witch, a devil. I am
going away, but in four days I shall return, and then I
shall throw you over the cliffs and kill you. ' '

His wife was greatly terrified by his words and his
violent manner. She said nothing to him in answer ; but,
in the morning after he had gone away, she sat down and
began to cry.

The old spider woman came to her and asked: "Why
.do you cry, sister?"

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko repeated to the fairy the terrible
threat that Masts-tru-oi had made.

' ' You must not cry, ' ' said the fairy. ' * I will aid you.
In three days I will come to you. ' 9

After leaving Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, the Spider Woman
went to her home and spun a long thread of spider web
and wound it into a ball. On the third day she had com
pleted her preparations. She led Ko-chin-ni-na-ko to a
secret place on the cliffs where she could lower her down
without danger or difficulty. Then the fairy instructed
her as to the route she must pursue in order to reach
Kush Kut-ret ; told her that a sister fairy lived midway
between the cliffs and the city and that her house might
prove a place of refuge in time of need. She then en-

148 SCHAT-CHEN

treated Ko-chin-ni-na-ko to make all the haste possible;
then, bidding her farewell and telling her not to look up,
lest the cord break and she fall down the cliff, she
lowered her gently to the ground at the foot of the pre
cipice.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko did not linger near the cliffs, but
starting away at once in the direction of Kush Kut-ret.
She had walked a long distance and was very tired when
she discovered that night was overtaking her. The dark
ness came on rapidly. Looking back over her shoulder,
she saw that big black storm clouds had obscured the sun.
She knew that Shi-wu-na was coming in the clouds bring
ing with him his friend, Masts-tru-oi.

The storm drove onward very rapidly. Ko-chin-ni-
na-ko was in despair for she knew that Masts-tru-oi must
soon overtake her. Suddenly she heard some one call to
her and, looking up, she saw an old Spider Woman stand
ing near her.

"Come to my house out of the storm, " called the
fairy.

When they had reached the dwelling, Ko-chin-ni-na-
ko exclaimed :

' ' How can I get in ? Your house is so small. ' '

"Put your foot in at the door and instantly it will
open wide enough for you to enter, ' ' returned the fairy.

As Ko-chin-ni-na-ko entered the dwelling of the
(Spider Woman, she glanced back and saw her husband,
Masts-tru-oi, furious and scowling with rage, riding in
the clouds with Shi-wu-na, the Spirit of the Storm, who
speaks when it thunders.

Masts-tru-oi, looking down from his elevated posi
tion, beheld his wife, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. Immediately the
thundering voice of Shi-wu-na rang out, echoing from
mountain to mountain and from cliff to cliff and causing
the very earth to tremble. The rain and the hail poured

A QUERES GlKL CARRYING A JAR OF WATER

150 SCHAT-CHEN

in torrents but Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was safe in the house of
the fairy, for the house was lined with pitch so that no
rain could enter. Though the lightning flashed from all
quarters, striking the house again and again, it glanced
off each time harmless.

Masts-tru-oi, seeing that he would not be able to ac
complish the destruction of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, from the
clouds, asked his friend, Shi-wu-na, to allow him to
descend to the earth. Shi-wu-na bade him farewell and
deposited him on the ground near the dwelling of the
Spider Woman.

Meantime Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and the fairy had armed
themselves with darts of flint, resolved to resist the Cliff
Dweller's attempts to force an entrance into the house.

Masts-tru-oi attacked the door furiously and broke it
to pieces, but, before he could enter, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and
the fairy struck him with their darts on the lower part of
the legs, breaking them and bringing him to the ground.

Soon Masts-tru-oi died from his injuries. Ko-chin-
ni-na-ko and the Spider Woman took up the remains,
carried them away from the dwelling and laid them upon
the ground. As time passed away the flesh fell from the
bones and became dust, and the bones bleached in the
sunshine.

A few days after the death of Masts-tru-oi, two boys
were born to Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. She remained at the
house of the old Spider Woman until the boys were able
to travel, then she continued her journey and finally
reached Kush-Kut-ret and the home of her father.

Years passed away and the bones of Masts-tru-oi, the
Cliff Dweller, lay whitening under the sun.

Shi-wu-na, the god of the rain storm, went often to
the Ko-wai-sho Putch to play, but his companion never
came, and the heart of Shi-wu-na was saddened. No more
his deep toned voice was heard out of the rain clouds.

THE CLIFF DWELLER 151

One day Shi-wu-na's mother, Sitch-chi-na-ko, the
spirit of reason, said to him. "Why do you grieve, Shi-
wu-na?"

Shi-wu-na told her that Jie grieved because he feared
that his friend, Masts-tru-oi, was dead, since he came to
play with him at the edge of the water.

"I will discover," said his mother, "whether Masts-
tru-oi be dead or not."

Accordingly she moistened her hands and rubbing a
little dirt between them, placed it on the floor and covered
it with a cloth. Soon a big fly was produced from the
dirt, and flew up and buzzed around. iSitch-chi-na-ko
caught the fly and directed it to go and search for the re
mains of Masts-tru-oi.

The fly flew away directly, but after a time returned
to report that it had discovered the bones of Masts-tru-
oi near the house of the old Spider Woman.

Having made this discovery, Sitch-chi-na-ko sent for
her sister, Shro-tiu-mi-na-ko, the spirit of memory, or
subjective mind, and requested her to bring the bones of
Masts-tru-oi.

When the bones had been brought to her, Sitch-chi-
na-ko placed them carefully in a heap. Then she put a
heart among them and covered the whole with a covering
of cloth.

Sitch-chi-na-ko stood on the north side of the heap
of bones and, extending her hands over them, repeated.

"Hash-kun-ni o-wi-Chu-kom-mi. Pa pa pa pa pa."
Bones come together.

As she spoke, the bones fell down from the heap and
began to arrange themselves in their places.

Sitch-chi-na-ko then stood on the east side of the
bones and, extending her hands over them, repeated:

"Hash-kun-ni o-wi-chu-ko-mi. Pa pa pa pa pa."

152 SCHAT-CHEN

The bones rattled over one another and joined in
their places, each bone in its proper place.

Then Sitch-chi-na-ko stood on the south side of the
bones and, extending her hands over them as before, re
peated :

4 ' Hash-kun-ni ni-a-ni-shro. Pa pa pa-pa-pa. M
(Bones come to life.)

The covering shook; the flesh formed on the skele
ton; the heart began to beat.

Sitch-chi-na-ko stood on the west side of the bones
and, extending her hands over them, repeated:

'kJTash-kun-ni, hash-kun-ni, ti-ipt-tio. Pa pa pa-pa-pa. "
(Bones, bones arise.)

Immediately Masts-tru-oi threw the covering aside
and arose as he had been in life, except that he had a new
and a different heart.

Sitch-chi-na-ko delivered to him a few words of ad
vice and instruction. She told him that his wicked deeds
and his desire to do wrong had been the cause of his death,
and that he must mend his ways and strive to atone for
his past misdoings. (She then sent him back to his home
in the cliffs.

His old mother was overjoyed to see her son again,
and rejoiced at the change that had been wrought in him
by the strange experience he had undergone.

Again Masts-tru-oi went to the Ko-wai-sho Putch to
play and to run races with Shi-wu-na; again Shi-wu-na
was happy, and again his deep voice was heard echoing
through the mountains.

The reformation of Masts-tru-oi was complete. He
never again threw any one down the cliffs, but lived long
and happily with his mother in his elevated dwelling on
the side of the precipice.

O-SRATS PAI-TUM-MU

RU-RTJ-KA-MOOT AND THE AWL.

This is a story of some one who left the colonies in this country
and went on to the Aztecs settlement in Mexico. The awl spoken of
was a compass or magnetic needle.

One day Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, who had been roaming
through the woods and over the hills near Kush-kut-ret,
sat down under a tree to rest. Soon she fell asleep un
der the tree where a ray of sunlight came through the
leaves and shone upon her. 0-srats Pai-tum-mu, seeing
her, came down upon a ray of sunlight and paid court to

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko awoke. Seeing the 0-srats Pai-
tum-mu, she was at first frightened, but his address was
so pleasing and his ways so winning that she quickly re
covered from her fright.

Thereafter Ko-chin-ni-na-ko went every day to the
tryst beneath the tree, and every day 0-srats Pai-tum-mu
came down to her on the sunbeam. At length they
married. Ko-chin-ni-na-ko kept the secret from her peo
ple. This she was able to do the more easily because
O-srats Pai-tum-mu possessed the power of rendering
himself invisible to whomsoever he willed. For a long
time he continued his secret visits.

Meantime the people of Kush Kut-ret were enduring
many hardships. The rains ceased and the country be
came dry and unproductive. No corn would grow.
Finally it was determined that, in order to save the peo
ple from starvation, they must move into a more favored
country. The day for the departure was, accordingly,
fixed and the crier was sent to notify all the people of
the proposed exodus.

On the night before the departure, a boy was born
to Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. Knowing that the birth of the boy
would betray the secret of her marriage, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko

156 SCHAT-CHEN

determined to leave the child in Rush Kut-ret. So she
prepared a recess in the wall of the house, placed the
child therein and sealed up the opening. Then she went
out with the other people to seek a new home in the Qe-
ya pu ko-wak. (Outskirts of Southwestern Settlement.)

After they had gone, the baby, who had been sleep
ing, awoke and began to cry. This sound reached the ear
of an old woman who, being blind, lame, decrepit and un
able to travel, had been left behind. When she heard the
cry it seemed to be saying these words:

"Ko-sha sia-no, si-a-no. Ko-sha si-a-no, si-a-no,

Ko-sha si-a-no, si-a-no,

Yu-e-tit Kush-kut-ret Quisch-chi Ko-a,

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko ai-a-mi aquich.

Translation :—

Last night I was born, I was. born,

Last night I was born, I was born,

Last night I was born, I was born, I was born,

From the north Kush Kut-ret, to the south of the
south.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko has abused me."

The old woman went in search of the child and, at
last, found it.

The people had left food for the old woman, and she
chewed some of the nuts with which she had been pro
vided and fed them to the baby. On this diet he grew to
be a big, strong youngster, and soon began to call the old
woman ' * grand mother. " As he grew older, he was con
tinually asking his grandmother about himself, who his
mother was and where he lived.

The old woman told him that his mother was Ko-
chin-ni-na-ko, the daughter of the ruler of Kush Kut-ret,
and that his father was the 0-srats Pai-tum-mu.

The years passed away and the child that had been so
cruelly deserted by its mother and so kindly fostered by

RU-RU-KA-MOOT AND THE AWL 157

the old woman had developed into a young man of very
pleasing appearance. Moreover, he was a daring and
skillful hunter. He knew the haunts of the bear and the
lion; he knew the grazing places of the deer and the
antelope ; and he knew where the beavers built their dams.
While still a mere youth, he had named himself ' ' Eu-ru-
ka-moot," for that was the sound that the stick made
when he scraped the hair off the deerskin preparatory to
tanning.

One evening Eu-ru-ka-moot was sitting with his
grandmother before the fire. He had been asking her, as
he had asked many times before, about his parents, and
what way the people went when they left Kush Kut-ret.
The old woman had told him all she knew, when an awl,
that had been sticking in the rafters of the ceiling for
many years, spoke up and said:

" Eu-ru-ka-moot, I will take you to where your
mother is, to the Qe-ya Pu Ko-wak. I will point the way,
if you will carry me and feed me. A small piece of raw
hide or buckskin will do for my food. When I am hungry,
then you must stick me into the rawhide or buckskin un
til I squeak. "

Eu-ru-ka-moot said to the awl:

"You are my friend. Some day we will go away to
gether. ' '

Soon after this the old woman died. Then Eu-ru-
ka-moot took the awl down from the rafters and started
on his travels. The awl pointed the way to the south
west, and Eu-ru-ka-moot followed whither it pointed. In
this manner they pursued their journey for some time
without incident, until, one day, as Eu-ru-ka-moot was
sitting upon the rocks resting and feeding the awl, he let
it fall into a deep crevice. At first he was at his wits
end to know how to recover his friend and guide ; but as
he sat there, looking down into the crevice and ponder-

158 SCHAT-CHEN

ing, the awl spoke to him, telling him that there was an
old iSpider Woman living near and that he must go and
speak to her and get her to help him.

Eu-m-ka-moot soon found the old Spider Woman
who greeted him as her grandson, and when he told her
his troubles, offered her assistance. The fairy then left
him, but soon appeared and gave him a ball of cord made
of spider web. She instructed him to drop one end of
the cord into the crevice where he had lost the awl. When
he had done this, the old woman went down into the
crevice. She fastened the end of the cord to the awl and
commanded Ru-ru-ka-moot to pull on the line. In this
manner the awl was restored to him. He thanked the
Spider Woman for her assistance and went on his way
with a light heart. They journeyed for many days until,
at length, they arrived at the Qe-ya Pu Ko-wak. There
Ru-ru-ka-moot found his mother.

At first Ko-chin-ni-na-ko did not know him, for he
had grown during their separation from a new born baby
to be a strong, handsome young man. But when he told
her that he came from Kush Kut-ret and had related to
her his history, she knew that he was her son. So he was
received into the family of the ruler.

After remaining a short time with his mother, Ru-
ru-ka-moot continued journeying, still traveling south-
westward to the Qe-ya Pu Ko-wak Qisch-ko-a,

It was known to Ru-ru-ka-moot that the maidens of
this settlement were renowned for their beauty, but that
a wicked enchantment had been cast over them ; that any
man who went there and married among them would
come under the spell of the enchantment and would surely ,
die. However, Ru-ru-ka-moot took up his residence at
the Qe-ya Pu Ko-wak Quisch Ko-a, and, in course of time,
fell in love with a beautiful maiden of the place. His
father, 0-srats Pai-tu-mu, came to him and gave him

BU-BU-KA-MOOT AND THE AWL 159

a magic stick or wand, and told him that, by its influence,
he would be able to break the spell.

This proved to be true. Ru-ru-ka-moot married the
maiden of his choice, and all the girls of the settlement
were freed from the enchantment.

ff/

Kl-NAH-NE, THE GAMBLER

PAIS-CHUN-NI-MOOT, THE FIEE BRAND BOY.

This story, you will observe, points to the north as the dwelling
place of the Queres nation. From thence they migrated south also,
and indicates one of the reasons why they moved out.

Many years ago, when the earth was still young, a
great people dwelt in the Mountains of the north. For a
long time this nation was prosperous and. there was an
abundance of crops in the land. But the time came when
the rivers ceased to flow and the clouds refused to refresh
the earth with rain and the fields lay barren in the parch
ing sun. Famine came upon the people, for they were
accustomed to take from the fields only so much of the
harvest as was needed for the winter store.

In the midst of the famine, stories came to them of
the rich fields of the south. iSome even of the young men
who had wandered far in search of game, had seen these
fields, green with waving corn and traversed by a great
river. So, despairing of being able to feed so numerous a
people from the meager returns of their almost unpro
ductive fields, the old men in the council determined that
to move south would alone save the people from starva
tion.

When this decision became known, the women im
mediately made ready all that they could carry of their
goods ; and then the nation turned their backs upon their
homes and journeyed toward the Southland.

^Not all the people went out, however, for in one of
the villages a mother and her child remained. The
mother soon died, but the child lived, for after his
mother's death he was fed by the birds that came to him
every morning in flocks, bringing seeds and grain.

Time passed. The child was no longer a child, but
a youth roaming the mountains and plains in search of

162 SCHAT-CHEN

game and working daily in the field, for the rains had
long since returned and the corn grew green and tall. It
had been the custom of the youth from his earliest child
hood to scatter corn meal before the door every morning
at the rising of the sun as an offering. One morning, as
he scattered the meal, a smooth black stone was in the
basin. He took the stone and held it in his hand, and
immediately he heard a voice speaking out of the stone.
The youth answered the voice and it continued saying:

"I am your grandmother, and I live in the stone.
Your mother was Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, (the daughter of
Hutch-u-mun Kai-ok, the ruler of Kush Kut-ret. Your
father is the sun, the ruler of the heavens."

All day long the boy pondered over the strange
happening. Never before, within his memory, had he
heard the sound of any human voice save his own. Now
he began to feel the weight of his loneliness. He was
filled with a great longing for companionship. The next
morning, on going to scatter the meal, he saw that the
sun, in its coming up, had drawn very near the earth, so
that it seemed to raise from immediately behind a high
mountain in the east. The light so dazzled him that he fell
upon the ground, wondering and afraid. Then he heard
the sun calling in a loud voice :

"Sa-mu-ti." (My son).

The youth rose and answered, " Naish-ti-a ! " (My
father!) '

Then the sun looked upon him kindly and said :

"When I come up from the east four times, I shall
take you with me, for I have long desired to show you to
my people to prove to them that I have a son. Hence
forth you shall be called Pais-chun-ni-moot.'

On the fourth day thereafter the sun stood above the
mountain. The youth climbed the mountain, and the sun
took him. Then they journeyed on together, and at noon

PAIS-CHUN-NI-MOOT, THE FIRE BKAND BOY 163

they came up in the middle of a great room where all the
peoples of the earth were assembled. The sun spoke,
saying :

' ' My people, this is my son, Pais-chun-ni-moot, whom
I have brought with me that you might see him."

Then the people took counsel together and said:
"We will try, if he be the child of the sun."

So they took the youth into a room in the north, and
the room was filled with bees ; but he caught the bees and
robbed them of their honey and they did not sting him.
Then they took him to a room in the west that was filled
with yet smaller bees, and these he caught as he had the
first, and was not stung. Then they took him to a room
in the south where the fiercest of the captive bears were
kept, and the youth rode the bears and was not bitten
They took him to a room in the east and put him among
the lions, and the lions fawned upon him.

When the people beheld all this, they cried with
one voice : ' ' This is indeed the child of the sun. ' '

And when the sun saw that the people were con
vinced, he ordered them to go to the mountains and
gather leaves. These they brought and made from them
a bed for the youth; and they warmed him in the leaves
until he was made in the image of his father.

Then the people cried, "Behold Pais-chun-ni-moot!
He will go to the mountain where Kai-na-ni dwells and
release our people."

Now Kai-na-ni was a mighty man of craft and cun
ning who dwelt in a high mountain of the west. He was
a skillful gambler in a game of his own invention. His
dwelling was a great cave in which he plied his craft and
imprisoned the people who were foolish enough to wager
their bodies upon the cast of the reeds. So numerous had
become his captives and so great his wealth that the peo
ple greatly feared him. They endeavored many times to
kill him, but their efforts had always failed, for Kai-na-

164 SCHAT-CHEN

ni was a skillful necromancer. So now they hailed the
child of the sun as the hero who would deliver their enemy
into their hands and rescue their people from imprison
ment. In order that he might accomplish this, he made
for himself implements in imitation of Kai-na-ni 's reeds.
With these he practiced daily until he became certain of
the order in which they would fall. Then, while tEe great
sun went over the earth, the Fire-brand Boy went under
the earth until he came to the mountain where the
gambler lived.

In order that he might not be surprised by his
enemies, Kai-na-ni had set a crane to watch before his
door. As Pais-chun-ni-moot approached, the crane was
so blinded by the brightness of his appearance, that the
was enabled to pass by and enter unannounced into the
dwelling. As he opened the' door, he called :

"Tso-yot, Kai-shi Nai-ya, Pai-shi, these being the
names of the sticks.

Kai-na-ni sat upon a bear skin under a large basket
suspended from the ceiling. In his hand he held the reeds.
Tso-yot, white with a black band around the middle ; Ka-
shi, black with a white band around the middle ; Nai-ya,
white, with black spots ; Pais-shi, black with white spots.
In the playing, the gambler threw the reeds up against
the bottom of the basket and the players wagered upon
the order in which they would fall upon the skin beneath.

As Pais-chun-ni-moot entered, Kai-na-ni said: "You
are brave/' Then he went out and spoke to the crane,
* ' Why did you not warn me ? ' ' and struck the crane with
a stick so that it stooped. Ever since that day the legs of
the crane have been bent.

Returning to the cave, Kai-na-ni said, "Let us
gamble. ' ' And he made ready to cast the reeds.

But Pais-chun-ni-moot said, "See, I have reeds of
my own. ' ' He took them from his pouch and handed them
to the gambler.

PAIS-CHUN-NI-MOOT, THE FIRE BEAND BOY 165

Kai-na-ni took them in his hands and blew upon them
and said, ' i They are good. Let us gamble with them. ' '

Then the Fireband Boy lay down his bundle of furs
and said, "I wager this against all the people you have
imprisoned in your house."

But Kai-na-ni hesitated, saying, "Let us eat first."

He set before Pais-chun-ni-moot food mixed with
human blood. Seeing this Pais-chun-ni-moot took from
his wallet honey and bread and gave this to Kai-na-ni.
When they had eaten Kai-na-ni said to Pais-chun-ni-
moot :

"Now do you cast the reeds."

But Pais-chun-ni-moot answered, "I came as a
learner. ' '

So Kai-na-ni threw the reeds and lost. The Fire
brand Boy Straight-way released the imprisoned people.

Kai-na-ni then wagered his house and lost again. He
wagered his eyes and lost them also. Thus was the
gambler punished for all his evil doing ; and Pais-chun-ni-
moot returned joyfully to his people.

But Kai-na-ni 's heart was full of evil. He arose
from his bed and felt his way around the mountain. In a
cleft of the rocks he found ya-ka-cha, and under the trees
he found si-mus-cha. These he mixed together with his
hands and blew his breath upon them so that the fire came
out of them and the gum was melted. The flame filled the
mountain, and the rocks became like water which ran out
of the cave and down the mountain side. The villages
of the people were laid waste and the valleys were over
whelmed. The people fled to the mountains round about
to escape the fire which burned on for many days, adding
fresh matter to the deluge of melted rock and defying the
efforts of all to stem the flood.

I-sto-a-moot, the arrow boy, shot an arrow in the air.
As the shaft went up, it pierced the clouds and the rain
fell and the fire was extinguished

I

HUTCH-A-MUN OR PRAYER STICKS, SHOWING HOW THE PLUMES ARE
ATTACHED OFFERINGS TO THE ELEMENTARY DEITIES

MOKI TRADITION.

Once the ruler of the Ka-tsi-na became angry because
the people of Moki were imitating the dance of the Ka-tsi-
na. So he went to Moki and asked the ruler of the Moki
to prohibit it. The Moki ruler replied to the ruler of the
Ka-tsi-ma that the people of the Moki would paint and
dance as they pleased.

The ruler of the Ka-tsi-na responded, "I will wager
my people against the people of Moki and we will play
the game of moccasin to decide the issue. ' '

The Moki ruler agreed to this and the ruler of the
Ka-tsi-na said, i ' On the fourth night from now I will re
turn to Moki with my people. ' '

When he had departed, all the men of Moki set about
making Hutch-a-mun all but one, whose name was iShip-
ki. He was not popular among the people, so he did not
seek to mingle with them. Having nothing to do, Ship-ki
wandered away from town. As he was going along, he
heard a voice calling :

' ' Ship-ki, come here. ' '

He went toward the voice and soon discovered an old
Spider Woman who said to him:

"Why are you not making prayer sticks as the other
men are ? ' '

* ' Because I have no friends, ' ' said he. ' * Everybody
likes to scold me and make me miserable. ' '

"You go to where they are at work," directed the
fairy. "Bring me a stick, any kind of a stick that they
may throw away, and two feathers that they do not want ;
and I will help you to make a Hutch-a-mun. ' '

Ship-ki went to the house where the men were work
ing and brought the stick and the feathers. The Spider
Woman helped him and showed him how to make a

I

SHOWING THE CONSTRUC-

TIQN OF THE HUTCH-A-MUN

OB PRAYER STICK OFFERINGS

TO THE SUN WITHOUT THE

PLUMES

THIS DRAWING SHOWS HOW THE
HUTCH-A-MUN OR PRAYER STICKS

ARE CONSTRUCTED

Offering to Sitch-tche-na-ko (Reason)
without the plumes

MOKI TRADITION 169

Hutch-a-mun. Then she gave him a peculiar pot, called
Kai-ya-hai-ya, shaped like a shoe, and said to him.

' ' I will go with you. I will hide behind your ear and
will direct you when the Ka-tsi-na come to play the moc
casin game."

When the Ka-tsi-na came on the fourth night there
after, they caused a great crack or fissure to open near
the village. Then they dug out a room in the side of the
mesa upon which the village stood, and took up their
quarters in the room. -

The ruler of the Moki brought out his men and
ranged them in four lines opposite the four lines of the
Ka-tsi-na where they were drawn up near the fissure.

Four moccasins were then placed between the forces,
and the leaders of the Moki and of the Ka-tsi-na took up
their positions near them.

The moccasin game was played by placing the four
moccasins in a row, and one of the contestants, sitting be
hind the row of moccasins, chanting an incantation and
making passes with his hands, strove to deposit the stone
in one of the moccasins so quickly and skillfully that the
other contestant would not discover which moccasin re
ceived the stone. The leader of the Ka-tsi-na undertook
to cast the stone and the Moki leader to guess the moc
casin. The first cast was made and the Moki missed the
guess. Then the Ka-tsi-na cast one line of the Moki down
into the fissure.

As the Moki leader was about to essay a second
guess, Ship-ki climbed upon a ladder that stood against
the wall of the mesa and shouted :

"Choose the moccasin next to the wall."
Just at that moment a flock of wild geese settled
down upon the field where the game was being played and
began to dance. A heavy storm of snow began to fall and

THIS IS WHAT IS CALLED A KY'AH-HY-O

It te an earthen pot made in the shape of a boot; after filling it with

water the toe or foot part is thrust into the hot coals and ashes,

where the contents soon boils

MOKI TBADITION 171

the air grew cold. The men of both the Moki and Ka-
tsi-na were freezing.

Ship-ki produced the pot that the Spider Woman had
given him and placed it in the midst of the freezing men.
It immediately began to boil and throw off great clouds
of steam that soon melted the snow and warmed the air.

While all this was going on, the leader of the Moki,
hearing Ship-ki call to him from the ladder, replied :

"Who are you to tell me how to choose? I am doing
the choosing.7'

He guessed and lost again, and another file of his
followers were cast into his fissure.

When the Ka-tsi-na cast the stone the third time,
Ship-ki, having remounted the ladder, called out :

"Choose the middle moccasin, next to the wall."

Hearing him the leader of the Ka-tsi-na, who, no
doubt thought iShip-ki a foolish fellow, said :

"Let him come down and guess."

The Moki leader, having witnessed the wonder
worked by Ship-ki 's magic pot, consented.

Ship-ki descended from the ladder, and pointed out
the moccasin that contained the stone. Again and again
Ship-ki guessed the right moccasin, and each time the
Moki cast a file of the Ka-tsi-na • into the fissure.

When only one file of the Ka-tsi-na remained, the
leader called for a truce. He conceded to the Moki the
privilege of dancing and painting with Ka-tsi-na paint.

When a treaty had been concluded, the ruler of the
Moki approached Ship-ki and said to him. »

"I am no longer in power. Henceforth you shall
be the ruler. From that time Ship-ki became the ruler
of the Moki.

THE STO-RO-KA

THE BATTLE OF THE STO-KO-KA AND
THE KATS-TSI-NA

The Zuni Indians are a mixture of two races. Frank Hamilton
Gushing, who spent a good many years among them studying their
language, customs and history, identifies them as a mixture with the
ancient cliff dwellers, a branch of the Nowish or Toltecs and the
Yumas and this is how it happened, according to Queres version.

The Sto-ro-ka or Kur-ret-ti-kii, are described as a
race of Ko-qui-ma, or Hermaphrodites. They occupied
the country in the vicinity of the lake that is known to the
Qe-res as the Arrosauk and now called Mormon Lake,
situate south of Flagstaff, Arizona.

The Ka-tsi-na warred against the. Sto-ro-ka and were
defeated in a severe battle fought near the Jaralosa
Spring, north of the Zuni Salt Lake.

The iSto-ro-ka went into the battle with bow strings
made from the fibres of the soap weed, while those of the
Ka-tsi-na were of deer and antelope sinews. While the
battle was in progress, a terrific storm of rain and hail
came down upon the warriors. The bow strings of the
Ka-tsi-na were wet by the rain and soon became limp and
useless ; while those of the Sto-ro-ka, being made of vege
table fibre, were only rendered more tense and conse
quently more efficient, by the wetting.

Thus, by the aid of the storm, the Sto-ro-ka were
victorious in the battle, and soon brought the Ka-tsi-na
to sue for peace. A treaty was agreed upon between the
chiefs. In order to preserve this treaty, the headman of
the Ka-tsi-na had a history of the fight and the conditions
of the treaty inscribed upon the side of a smooth sand
stone bluff. Below the writing were drawn in outline,
three deer, two bucks and a doe. This was the emblem of
the Ka-tsi-na.

The bluff upon which this strange record still may be

THIS FIGURE is CALLED THE SABE NOWISH

The name is, probably, Saba Nowish. Saba was the Sheba
spoken of in the Scriptures and this people may have come
from that city or some other part of southern Arabia. The
Zuni Indians are of the Nowish tribe; they call themselves
She-we. Might not this name have been taken from Sheba?

THE BATTLE OF THE STO-KOKA AND THE KATS-TSI-NA 175

seen stands eight or ten miles west of the Jaralosa Spring
and about twenty-five miles northwest of the Salt Lake
of Zuni, close to a spring known to the natives as Ojo
Benow (Ojo Venado.)

PUSTS-MOOT.

South of Kut-si-ma, the enchanted mesa, lived Puts-
moot and his mother. Puts-moot from his youth up had
always been active and energetic in all the sports and in
the work which fell to his lot. He learned to trap and to
hunt, and became famous among the people for his skill
with the bow.

However, Pusts-moot was not like other young men,
for he had an enormous head, not like the head of others,
but three times as large ; and he bore a very ugly and
repulsive visage. This affliction did not seem to worry
Pusts-moot who was always good tempered and cheerful.

On day the town crier of Acoma, near which Pusts-
moot dwelt, announced that on the fourth day thereafter
the people would assemble and go forth to gather
Hashtcha, a species of yucca, from which to make
baskets.

It was the custom on such excursions for each young
woman to select from among the young men an escort and
companion for the day.

On the third day, the day before the appointed time,
Pusts-moot repaired to Acoma, to learn that he had been
chosen to escort Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, daughter of the gov
ernor.

Imagine his surprise at this intelligence ! He of the
big head and the ugly visage had been elected by the
beauty of the town.

Pusts-moot returned home and advised his mother
of his good fortune. His mother said nothing, but pro
ceeded to prepare lunch for him to take with him, consist
ing of corn meal cakes shaped into hollow balls and filled

PUTS-MOOT 177

with honey. The next morning he went early to join the
people. Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was awaiting him and they set
out toward the east to Stchum-mu-ya, the place of the
bees.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had two sisters. These sisters had
for their companions Ha-ta-we-moot and Shro-a-ka-moot.
At Stchum-mu-ya, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and her sisters with
Pusts-moot and the two other young men left the main
body of the people and went by themselves to gather bear
grass, Hashtcha. Although this arrangement was pleas
ing to the maidens and to Pusts-moot, it did not please
Ha-ta-we-moot and Shro-a-ka-moot, for they did not like
Pusts-moot, being jealous of his fame as a hunter and
more jealous of the favor shown him by Ko-chin-ni-na-ko.
So they had much sport and made very merry between
themselves over his deformities.

At midday the party lunched, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko eating
the cakes brought by Pusts-moot and Pusts-moot eating
those brought by Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, as was the custom.
After luncheon they worked, digging the long leaves of
the bear grass. For this purpose they used a sharpened
stick made from a hardwood called Ti-y-up which grows
in rocky places and resembles a currant bush. The wood
is very hard and is used also for making arrows and
Hutch-amun, the prayer sticks. In the evening the young
people returned to Acoma, taking with them the bundles
of bear grass they had gathered.

Arriving at home, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko called to her par
ents telling them that she had come home. The Ho-chin
invited Pusts-moot into the house, and, drawing him
aside, told him that the reason that Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had
selected him for a companion was because she wanted him
for a husband.

Pusts-moot replied that he was well pleased with Ko-

178 SCHAT-CHEN

chin-ni-na-ko and desired to make her his wife, provided
no objections were found by the Ho-chin.

The Ho-chin responded that he was satisfied with
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko 's choice.

So Pusts-moot and Ko-chin-ni-na-ko were married,
to the great surprise of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko 's many friends,
who regarded Pusts-moot as a monster and not a man.
Soon after the celebration of the marriage, Pusts-moot
took his wife to his mother's house. His mother was
overjoyed to find that her son had made "such a con
quest, and took her to her heart at once. Alone with
her, the mother asked her if she was satisfied with her
lot now that she had married a man who was afflicted
not only with a horrible deformity, but with poverty as
well. Ko-chin-ni-na-ko responded that she was perfectly
contented.

Upon receiving this brave answer, the mother said:
" We are called poor, my daughter, but in fact we are not
so*. Though we make no display of riches still we are
far richer than even the Ho-chin, your father.

The she took Ko-chin-ni-na-ko by the hand and,
opening the door of a room, told her to look within.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was indeed surprised at what she
beheld, for the room was filled with beautiful clothing,
dresses, deerskin, ornaments and beads of turquoise.

The mother took Ko-chin-ni-na-ko by the hand again
saying, "We have yet another surprise in store for you."

She led the wondering girl to another room where
hung upon the wall a huge and hideous mask with a great
shock of hair upon its crown. This mask reminded Ko-
chin-ni-na-ko of Pusts-moot. While she was looking at
it, a handsome young man entered the door and stood
watching her. As Ko-chin-ni-na-ko turned toward him,
the mother said, "Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, this is Pusts-moot

PUTS-MOOT , 179

transformed, and that, " pointing to the mask, '4s his de
formity. ' '

It is needless to say that Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was
pleased with the transformed Pusts-moot and that they
lived together happily ever after.

One day, soon after the occurrences just related,
Pusts-moot was out hunting, when he came upon a large
plant, the Mush-mu-ti-ka, or Spanish bayonet. He was
about to pass this plant when he saw a large brilliantly
colored butterfly, hovering over the dry stalk; Pusts-
moot wondered at seeing the butterfly, for it was winter
time, and determined to catch it. So he started off in
pursuit of it. As soon as Pusts-moot approached, the
butterfly flew away. Pusts-moot following, over rocks,
around trees and through thickets, until, in a very rocky
place, just as he was sure of catching it, it disappeared
in the brush. Pusts-moot plunged into the thicket, still
intent upon the capture. In the .very densest part of the
wood, he came suddenly upon a boy seated upon the
ground. He accosted the boy and asked if he had not
seen a butterfly flying about among the bushes.

"No, I have not seen it," answered the boy.

Pusts-moot started again upon his search for the
butterfly, but the boy called out after him, ' ' Pusts-moot,
come here, I have something to say to you/'

"Wait until I find the butterfly," answered Pusts-
moot.

Again the boy called to him, "Pusts-moot, I am the
butterfly. I am a No-wish, I am the Sap-no-wish." (An
elf or browny.)

Upon hearing this, Pusts-moot returned to where
the boy was seated, and the boy continued: "I was sent
by the Ho-chin of the Ka-tsi-na. I took the form of a
butterfly in order to entice you to this spot. The Ho-

180 SCHAT-CHEN

chin of the Ka-tsi-na sent me to bring you to the land of
We-ni-mot"

"Is it far?" inquired Pusts-moot.

"Not very far," answered the No-wish.

1 ' Then I will accompany you, ' ' said Pusts-moot.

"No," said the No-wish, "I will put you in this
arrow and we shall travel very rapidly."

The No-wish produced a bow and a hollow arrow,
and, putting the arrow to his mouth, he drew a breath
upon it.

Pusts-moot felt himself grow thinner and thinner,
until he became so attenuated that he slipped into the
arrow easily, drawn by the breath of the No-wish.

The No-wish placed the arrow upon the bow and
shot it toward the west, toward the land of the We-ni-
mot, or the Ka-tsi-na Kut-ret. Then, throwing the bow
aside and transforming himself into a fly, he followed
the flight of the arrow. On and on they flew over mesas
and mountains until, at length, the arrow began to curve
downward and finally stuck in the ground close to the
door of Ka-tsi-na Kut-ret. The No-wish changed him
self from the form of a fly to the form of a boy, and at
once released Pusts-moot from his imprisonment- in the
arrow. Then they approached the entrance to the Ka-
tsi-na Kut-ret. The entrance was a big hole in the ground
covered by the Skutch, a big toad.

When the toad saw Pusts-moot and the Sap No-wish
approaching, he settled himself firmly over the hole and
closed his eyes, feigning sleep.

"Toad, move over toward the north," commanded
the No-wish.

The toad slowly blinked his big eyes and answered
sleepily, "If I move to the north, it will be good for the
north.

PUTS-MOOT 181

The No-wish then shouted, * ' Toad, move over toward
the west."

" If I move to the west, it will be good for the west, ' '
grumbled the toad.

"Toad, move over toward the south," was the next
command.

"If I move to the south, it will be good for the
south, ' ' said the toad ; and he did not budge.

"Toad, move over toward the east," said the No-
wish.

Thereupon the toad moved toward the east and al
lowed Pusts-moot and the No-wish to enter the Ka-tsi-na
Kut-ret.

They found themselves in a deep and gloomy cavern
that led away under the earth. They followed this, and
soon came to a beautiful country. Before them lay a
broad and mirror like lake that gave forth light like the
light of the sun. At the edge of the lake they encountered
four old Spider Women who directed them to follow. The
Spider Women walked to the water's edge, and stooping
down, parted the water with their hands.

Pusts-moot and the No-wish drew near, and there
before them lay a broad dry road crossing the lake, with
the water piled up on either side. By this road they pur
sued their journey. By-and-by they came out of the lake
and entered a country where the tall corn waved and the
pumpkins grew luxuriantly. There were broad meadows
and thick woods where roamed herds of deer and ante
lope.

Upon the margin of the lake Pusts-moot and his
guide were met by the Ho-chin of the Ka-tsi-na. He
welcomed Pusts-moot in the name of the Ka-tsi-na people,
complimented him upon his prowess as a hunter and di
rected him to convey this message to his mother; that
he thanked her in the name of his people, because she

182 SCHAT-CHEN

always remembered them, because she always threw the
fragrant soup from the deer and antelope toward the
west, because she threw the crumbs and wafted the steam
from the boiling pots toward the west that the Ka-tsi-na
might enjoy them. Then the Ho-chin continued, telling
Pusts-moot that he had sent for him in order that he
might reward him and his mother and make them a
present.

At the order of their chief, the Ka-tsi-na brought
loads of green corn and pumpkins and piled them in a
heap, so large a pile that a hundred men could not have
carried it away. Then the Ho-chin told Pusts-moot that
this offering of corn and pumpkins was his and that he
must take it home with him. He. then went on to say that
the Ka-tsi-na people would, in four days, pay a visit to
Acoma, that they would arrive there in the evening, that
they would dance during the night and would return to
the Ka-tsi-na Kut-ret in the morning. He said they would
come in the storm with iShi-wu-na, the deity of the ele
ments.

Pusts-moot, responding, thanked the Ho-chin and the
Ka-tsi-na for their kindness and their presents ; but de
clared that of the latter he could only accept a small por
tion, as he had far to go and was unable to carry so

"You can easily take it all," said the Ho-chin. He
then called in the four old Spider Women who had opened
the road through the lake for Pusts-moot and the No-
wish.

The old women took a very small bag and began to
fill it. The heap of corn and pumpkins seemed to shrink
to a mere handful which they easily put into the little
bag. Pusts-moot strapped vthe bag to his waist, but
hardly felt the weight of it.

"When you reach your home," instructed the Ho-

PUTS-MOOT 183

chin, ' ' empty the bag upon the floor, and the contents will
resume their original bulk,"

Pusts-moot took leave of the Ho-chin and his people,
and, guided by the Old Spider Women and the No- wish,
recrossed the water and reached the door of the cavern.
After some parley with the toad, Pusts-moot and the No-
wish again reached the outside of the cavern.

As he had done before, the No-wish drew Pusts-moot
into the arrow and shot him toward his home; then,
changing himself again to a fly, he followed the arrow.
Pusts-moot came to earth at the very spot from' whence
he had started on his flight to the land of We-ni-mot. The
No-wish again quickly changed himself to the form of a
boy. He drew the arrow from the ground and, blowing
upon it, expelled Pusts-moot from it. Then he bade fare
well and vanished.

During the absence of Pusts-moot Ko-chin-ni-na-ko
and his mother were growing hourly more and more
anxious, wondering what had befallen him to keep him
from them for so long a time. Suddenly they heard his
greeting from above, for the outside doors to the houses,
in those days, were in the roof instead of on the side. He
was soon with them, telling them of his wonderful
journey to the Ka-tsi-na Kut-ret in the land of the We-ni-
mot. He united the little bag and turned it bottom up
ward and the corn and pumpkins fell out in a great heap
that filled the room. His wife and mother were greatly
surprised to see such things as green corn and pumpkins
newly broken from the vines in winter.

Four days later, in the evening, the black storm
clouds began to roll up from the west. In the clouds came
the Ka-tsi-na. They brought with them great loads of
corn which they gave to the people of Acoma. Then all
night long they danced their wierd and beautiful masked
dances. Before the morning dawned they disappeared
and went back to their home in the land of We-ni-mots.

IS-TO-A-MOOT AND THE BUFFALO MAN.

Is-to-a-moot, the arrow boy, was one of the most
celebrated characters in Qe-res history. Beside being a
successful and daring hunter, he was a great traveler and
the hero of many wonderful adventures. It is not sur
prising then that he won the hand of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko '
against a field of many rivals.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was the most beautiful maiden in
all A-co-ma; but, unfortunately for Is-to-a-moot and her
self, she was vain and fickle.

Shortly after the marriage, during Is-to-a-moot 's ab
sence on a hunt, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko went early one morning
to the spring for water. While she was filing her jar
with water, she was approached by Mu-shaitch Hutch-tsi,
the Buffalo Man. She did not seek to avoid him, for, to
speak the truth, she rather admired his appearance ; and
when he spoke to her, she answered boldly. He proposed
to ber that she accompany him to his home. 'iShe readily
consented, and directed by the Buffalo Man, she climbed
upon his back. Then he started swiftly away in the direc
tion of his own country in the northeast.

When Is-to-a-moot returned from the hunt, he search
ed long and vainly for his wife. He inquired among the
people, but none of them could give him news of her.
Then he became sad and moody and lost all interest in his
work and in the hunting. He went no more among the
people, but sat all day long in his house, mournful and
sad.

Among the many trophies of the chase that Is-to-a-
moot possessed was an eagle that he had caught and
tamed. While Is-to-a-moot. was sitting in his house
mourning, the eagle had been fasting, for no one came to

IS-TO-A-MOOT AND THE BUFFALO MAN 185

feed it. One day the eagle went up to where Is-to-a-moot
was sitting and said to him:

"If you will give me something to eat, I will take
you to your Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. "

This speech of the eagle aroused Is-to-a-moot
from the inaction into which he had fallen. He found
some food and fed the eagle. The eagle then spread its
wings and told Is-to-a-moot to mount upon its back. This
he did and the eagle set off, flying toward the north
east. They traveled in this manner for many days, un
til they came to a very rough and mountainous country.
Here the eagle stopped and directed Is-to-a-moot to
alight.

' i I have brought you this far, ' ' said the eagle, i i and
can go no farther. From this place you must travel on
foot to the country of the Buffalo.''

Is-to-a-moot took leave of the eagle and commenced
his long march alone. He found himself in the midst of
a vast wilderness the like of which he had never before
seen. He looked all about him, but saw no familiar land
marks, so he determined to continue toward the north
east in the -blind hope of finding the Mushaitch Hutch-
tsi and Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. He had not gone far when he
succeeded in killing a deer that crossed his path. While
he was engaged in dressing the carcass, an old Spider
Woman came to him and spoke to him:

"My grandson, you are looking for your wife, Ko-
chin-ni-na-ko. Kemain with me four days and then I will
help you, for there are many dangers ahead of you."

Is-to-a-moot thanked the Spider Woman for her
proffered aid and told her that he would. So he carried
the meat of the deer to the house of the Spider Woman
and laid it upon the floor. The old woman cut the meat
Into thin strips and hung it up to dry, in order that Is-
to-a-moot might carry it with him on his long journey.

186 SCHAT-CHEN

The next day and the next Is-to-a-moot hunted to
ward the east, bringing home to the Spider Woman each
night the game he had killed. In the meantime, the
Spider Woman had, been busy preparing some magic
powders or medcine.

After staying four days at the house of the old wo
man, Is-to-a-moot took leave of her and proceeded on his
journey. At parting the Spider Woman gave him the
medicine she had prepared, instructing him that, if any
thing impeded his progress or threatened to delay him, he
was to chew some of the medicine and blow it upon the
obstacle, when immediately his path would be cleared.

Day after day Is-to-a-moot journeyed. Whenever
he came to a deep ravine or canon that was difficult to
pass, he chewed some of the medicine and, blowing it into
the canon, commanded it to close up in order that he
might pass. When he approached a high mountain very
difficult to climb, he chewed some of the medicine and,
blowing it on the mountain, commanded it to sink down
in order that he might cross. And the canon would close
up and the mountain would sink down until he was safely
over.

By-and-by he came to a country inhabited by snakes.
It was the land of the snakes. Snakes blocked the path
and Is-to-a-moot was obliged to pause. However, he
bethought him of his magic medicine. He chewed some of
it and blew it upon the snakes. Then he commanded,
"Pish-ti-i, Shru-wi-pish-ti-i. " (Behave snakes, behave).
The snakes were overcome by sleep and Is-to-a-moot
passed safely through their country.

Soon afterwards he arrived at the borders of the
country of the mountain lions. There were lions crouch
ing upon all sides, ready to spring upon him. Here he
chewed some of the medicine, and blowing it on the lions
said, "Pish-ti-i, mo-kaitch, pish-ti-i." (Behave, lions,

IS-TO-A-MOOT AND THE BUFFALO MAN 187

behave.) Sleep overcame the lions and Is-to-a-moot
passed through their country safely.

Then he came to the country of the bears. Bears
walked about and growled angrily at him. He chewed
some of the medicine and, blowing it on the bears, said,
'"Pish-ti-i, quai-ya, pish-ti-i." ('Behave, bears, behave.)
The bears immediately went to sleep and Is-to-a-moot
passed safely through their country.

Then he came to the country of the wolves. Wolves
in great packs sniffed the air and trotted around him. He
chewed some of the medicine, and blowing it upon the
wolves, said, "Pish-ti-i, ku-kun, pish-ti-i." (Behave
wolves, behave.) The wolves fell asleep at once and Is-
to-a-moot passed in safely through their country.

At last Is-to-a-moot came to the place where the
sky comes down and meets the earth. At first he was
appalled at the angry appearance of the%sky. He ap
proached it several times, but each time drew back afraid.
Finally, his courage having slowly risen, he drew near
enough to blow some of the medicine against the sky, say
ing as he did so, "Pish-ti-i, ho-wak, pish-ti-i" (Behave,
sky, behave.) The sky at once became tranquil and Is-
to-a-moot was no longer afraid. At his command, the sky
slowly rose so that he was enabled to pass under.

Very soon he discovered the Buffalo Man alseep.
Is-to-a-moot approached him cautiously. He saw that
the Buffalo Man slept with his head pillowed on Ko-chin-
ni-na-ko's dress, so that she could not stir without
awakening him. When Is-to-a-moot had drawn near
enough, he blew upon the Buffalo Man some of the magic
medicine, and commanded him to sleep on. Then he went
to looking about to see what he might discover.

He soon found another woman who the Buffalo Man
had carried away from he-r home as he had carried away
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. He helped both of the women to free

188 SCHAT-CHEN

themselves from the Buffalo Man. Then, accompanied
by them, he started upon his return journey.

As they went along, it seemed to Is-to-a-moot that
the wind moving through the long grass was whispering,
" Hurry! Hurry! Hurry " The chirp of the cricket and
the rasp of the grasshopper said, "Hurry! Hurry
Hurry !"

They hastened their steps. They reached the sky
and, by the aid of the magic medicine, passed under it.
They passed in succession the countries of the wolves, the
bears, the lions and the snakes. Over mountains and
across canons they hurried, until they came within sight
of the village where Is-to-a-moot lived. But, as they
sighted their home, they also beheld a cloud of dust in
the distance, and they knew that Mu-shaitch Hutch-tsi
and his people were pursuing them. Eealizing that they
could not reach the village before they would be over
taken, Is-to-a-moot and the women sought safety by
climbing into a cottonwood tree. They had no sooner con
cealed themselves among the leaves and branches, than
the herd of buffalo^ went thundering by. All but one of
them passed the tree. That one was a calf with short
hair named 0-ko-to-wa-ni. Happening to look up into the
tree, he spied the fugitives and immediately gave the
alarm. The whole herd of buffalo turned and came down
on the tree with a rush, bellowing and tossing the dirt
with their horns. They struck the tree blow upon blow
with their heads and caused it to shake and tremble. It
was a very small tree, and Is-to-a-moot knew that it would
not long be able to withstand the fierce attacks of the
buffaloes. So he blew some of the magic medicine upon
the tree saying, "Hi-tchi-i si-ka-ka" (cottonwood, grow
large.) The cottonwood quickly grew to such a size that
the buffaloes could not break it down or even shake it.

Is-to-a-moot then unslung his bow and began to slay

IS-TO-A-MOOT AND THE BUFFALO MAN 189

the buffaloes that continued their blind assaults upon the
tree. Soon they were lying dead upon the ground. Then
Is-to-a-moot and his companions descended from their re
fuge. Is-to-a-moot kindled a fire and cut some meat from
the big buffalo that had carried away his wife. He broiled
the meat upon the fire and gave to the women to eat.
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko refused to eat the meat of Mu-shaitch
Hutch -tsi but the other woman ate because she was very
hungry.

Thenjs-to-a-moot waxed very angry. " You will not
eat the meat/' he cried to Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. "You still
love the buffalo man. Then die that you may still be
with him."

With that he drew an arrow from his quiver and shot
her through the heart. She died and Is-to-a-moot
married the other woman whom he had rescued from the
buffalo man.

I-STO-A-MOOT AND HIS SISTEE.

Many years ago there lived in Acoma two young
people, brother and sister. Their father and mother were
dead, and the support of the household rested upon the
brother, I-sto-a-moot. The sister had many suitors for
her hand, but she found no one among them that pleased
her. One of these suitors was a Chi-an-ni, a medicine
man. Although he was very devoted, the maiden heartily
disliked him and avoided his presence whenever she was
able.

One day while the brother was absent from home,
having gone on a hunt, his sister fell ill. The medicine
man was called to see her. While alone with her, he took
an eagle feather and, thrusting the quill into her breast,
he bit it off close so that it could not be seen.

When I-sto-a-moot came home, he found his sister
apparently dead. He was overcome with grief at his loss
and would sit alone for hours mourning.

Now this young man had a friend, a big star, with
which he often communicated. As he sat by the side of
his dead sister, alone in his grief, the star came and
shone in at the door and asked him what the trouble
was.

After he had related the cause of his mourning, the
star said to him :

"Be braVe. Do as I direct, and all will yet be well
with you and your sister. You must bury her body be
fore the door of your house, and each night you must
watch over her grave. (Something strange and awful will
happen, but you must do nothing until I appear to you
again.

So I-sto-a-moot buried his sister before the door
way and kept nightly watch over the grave. On the
fourth night as he sat before the door, he saw two big
gaunt wolves approaching, dragging between them a log

I-STO-A-MOOT AND HIS SISTEK 191

of wood. When the wolves reached the grave they laid
the log of wood down and began to dig. Soon they un
earthed the body of the young girl, and after dragging it
out, deposited the log in its place and then carefully re
filled the grave.

As the wolves started away with the body, the star
appeared to I-sto-a-moot and told him to follow them.
So he followed the wolves toward the southwest, the star
accompanying him.

The wolves carried their burden to an open cave in
the rocks. When I-sto-a-moot and his companion reached
the place, they halted. The star gave the young man four
flint darts and directed him to enter the cave. He went
in. The cave was crowded with Ku-ni-te-ya. The body
of I-sto-a-moot 's sister law within the circle. The Shai-
an-ni who had caused her death knelt beside the body,
and with the assistance of one of the Hun-ni-te-ya, he
extracted the quill from her breast. Immediately the girl
recovered consciousness and began to call for her brother.
I-sto-a-moot called to her in answer and stepped between
her and the Kun-ni-te-ya. These quickly formed them
selves in four lines to attack and overpower him. At the
command of the medicine man, the first line rushed for
ward. I-sto-a-moot poised one of his darts and cast it.
It passed along the entire line of the Kum-ni-te-ya, kill
ing or severely wounding every one of them. The next
line made its attack with like result. Then the third
line, and finally the last, came on; but I-sto-a-moot 's
darts seemed winged with death, for he killed or wounded
all except a very few who escaped by changing them
selves into animals.

When the enemy had been thus summarily defeated,
I-sto-a-moot took his sister home with him to Acoma.
Though she soon recovered her wonted bodily health
and her beauty, she was ever afterwards blind during
the daytime, but could see at night.

THE TURTLE, THE DEEE AND THE SHE WOLF.

Once there lived near each other a doe and a she
wolf. Each had two children; those of the wolf being
little snarling, savage cubs, while those of the doe were
pretty and playful little spotted fawns.

The doe and the wolf were close friends and often
went on excursions over the hills and through the forests.
One day the cubs of the wolf said to their mother :

"Wa-wa wa," which meant that they wanted some
thing.

"Wait awhile," said the mother wolf.

The wolf then went to the doe and said to her, i i Let
us go and gather I-mast-chu (cactus), for our dinner.

They went together to a place where the cactus grew
plentifully and while the doe was gathering the plants,
the wolf sprang upon her and killed her. Then, cutting
the carcass in two, took half of it home to her cubs.
After giving meat of the doe to her children, the wolf
gave some also to the fawns. While the cubs of the wolf
ate the meat paw, the fawns put their meat on the fire to
cook. As they sat by the fire they heard the meat among
the coals say:

1 ' Ur ur stch stch ! Do not eat me, my children. I am
your mother. The cruel wolf killed me while we were
gathering i-mast-chu together. But you will find my
spirit in the deer's house in the land of the We-ni-mot.
Go to the turtle man and he will take you across the big
water. ' '

The fawns, though sad and sorrowful at the death
of their mother, said nothing. The next day, however,
when the old wolf was away, having gone to bring the
other half of the carcass, the fawns went to visit the
cubs. Soon the cubs said to them:

THE TURTLE, THE DEER AND THE SHE WOLF 193

"Oh, what spotted skins you have! What made
them so?'"

"Our mother smoked us with corn cobs," replied
the fawns. "Would you like to have spotted skins like
ours?"

The cubs thinking to amend their ugliness, thought
that they would.

So the fawns built a big fire of corn cobs in the den
and going out, closed the door upon the cubs. As the
smoke thickened the cubs howled and coughed and
sneezed, and implored the -fawns to let them out. But
the fawns refused to open the door, and soon the cubs
were smothered by the smoke. The fawns then opened
the door and went in to find the cubs quite dead. Then
they put a bow in the hand of the boy cub with the arrow
drawn and pointing at his sister whom they placed with
a basket balanced upon her head, a little in front of her
brother.

Having placed everything to their satisfaction, they
left the wolf's den and set out for the deer's house in
the land of We-ni-mot. When they reached the brink of
the big water, the old turtle man was there and soon
carried them to the other side. The fawns told the turtle
man that the wolf was probably pursuing them and that
he must delay her as long as possible in order that they
might get safely into the deer's house before she could
overtake them.

After the fawns had been gone for some time, the
she wolf came along. The old turtle man was digging
in the ground and was singing, in a deep low voice ; " Si-
a-nii-ya nu-ya."

The wolf called to him, saying that she wished to
cross the big water.

Four times have I been from the east to the west, ' '

(, i

194 SCHAT-CHEN

he replied. Then he counted slowly ; ' * One, two, three,
four."

Again the wolf called to him; so he went and took
her on his back and slowly crossed the big water with
her. But when he reached the opposite bank, the old
turtle man would not allow her to land, until he had
sung his song again. Then he put her ashore and she
ran away in the direction of the deer's house.

The fawns had already reached their destination and
were safe with their mother in the deer's house.

When the wolf reached the place, she called down
from above: "Are the fawns there?" "Yes they are
here," was the answer. "Send them up to me," said
the wolf. ' ' Come and get them, ' ' was the reply. ' '

So down leaped the wolf into the deer's house. But
a big buck was ready to receive her on his -horns and when
he threw her off, another caught her, and so they tossed
her until she died.

YO-A-SCEI-MOOT AND THE KUN-NI-TE-YA

A .popular superstition among the Queres Indians is
the fanciful and fantastical order known as the Kun-ni-
te-ya or ghost people. Though this order is purely im
aginary there are many superstitious ones among the
people who believe not only that the order has existence,
but also that the members of it are witches who possess
the power of changing their forms to those of animals.
For this reason they are called two headed. On the other
hand, the majority of the people have no belief in witch
craft nor in the existence of the Qun-ni-te-ya, and scoff
at the idea that any one has the power to change himself
into an animal.

Among the practical ones who held to this latter faith
was Yo-a-schi-moot, and among the firm believers in all
the magic and the miracles of the times was Yo-a-schi-
moot 's beautiful wife. So insistent was she in her
support of this belief, that Yo-a-schi-moot finally began
to think that perhaps she knew more of witchcraft than
he had before suspected. So he determined to watch her
movements to see if she held any communion with witches
or demons.

One night, as Yo-a-schi-moot was lying awake, a
big black cat came to the window of the room. He heard
the cat say in a low whisper :

"Why do you not come? They are all there and
waiting. ' '

"Be quiet, " answered the wife. " Yo-a-chi-moot is
not yet asleep. ' '

When he heard this, Yo-a-schi-moot feigned sleep.
When his wife heard his deep, regular breathing, she
cautiously arose and glided out of the room. Presently
she returned, bringing a bowl of cooked meat and an ear

196

SCHAT-CHEN

of smutty corn. She placed the ear of corn beside the bed
where Yo-a-schi-moot was lying, then, taking the bowl of
meat with her, she stole silently out of the house.

She had scarcely disappeared when Yo-a-schi-moot
rolled over in bed, intending to follow her. As* he did
so, he heard a voice, which seemed to be that of his wife,
saying :

"Are you awake."

He did not answer, but got up from his bed and stood
upon the floor. Then the voice asked :

' ' Where are you going ? ' '

He did not answer, but began to grope about him,
thinking that perhaps his wife was still there and that
he had dreamed that she had gone away. Suddenly his
hand encountered the ear of corn.

"Ya-ka pu-shu-na. This is what has been fooling
me," he cried; and, taking a firm hold upon the ear of
corn, he threw it violently against the wall. Then he
went swiftly and silently out of the house, following his
wife whom he soon described going on before him toward
the west. Yo-a-schi-moot followed far enough behind
so that lie could see her shadowy form without being seen
by her. After going westward for a considerable dis
tance, she turned her course to the north and east. Soon
she came to a place known as the Kun-ni-te-ya Kut-ret, a
big open cave in the rocks. She lost no time in entering
the cave. Yo-a-schi-moot approached as near as he
thought prudent and concealed himself under one of the
numerous blankets that were lying on the ground. From
his station he was able to see that the cave was filled with
Kun-ni-te-ya, some of them being people whom he knew
intimately and met with every day in the village. He
heard the Ho-tchin of the Kun-ni-te-ya ask:

"Why are' you not on time?"

YO-A-SCHI-MOOT AND THE KUN-NI-TE-YA 197

i ' My husband would not go to sleep, ' ' answered Yo-
a-chi-moot's wife, "and I could not get away."

"So much for marrying outside the order, against
my counsel," responded the Ho-chin. "We will now
proceed with our ceremonies. I will cause the rainbow to
appear." In lieu of the rainbow a large hoop is started
rolling and members wishing to change their shape must
jump through the revolving ring at the same time mak
ing a wish. "You will each and all walk under it and,
by merely willing it, assume whatever shape of animal
you may choose."

The rainbow appeared at hjs command, and, one by
one, the Kun-ni-te-ya passed under it. The transforma
tion hoped for did not take place. Those who expected
to assume the forms of animals still remained men and
women. They all marveled greatly at the failure of the
magic that had ever before been so potent.

' l Hold, ' ' cried the Ho-chin. i ' There is a spy, an un
believer in our midst. We must find him. Search the
cave".

The Kun-ni-te-ya departed to do his bidding, but
soon returned and reported that they had found nothing.

"Have you searched thoroughly!" asked the Ho-
chin. "Yes," they answered.

' ' Have you looked under all of the blankets 1 " " All
but the Ho-chin 7s," was the reply.

"Look under that also."

Thereupon one of their number lifted the blanket
and discovered Yo-a-schi-moot.

' ' Ha ! ' ' exclaimed the Ho-chin. i i This man has come
to join our order. He must dine with us, for that is the
first step in the initiation."

Fearful of the punishment that might follow upon
refusal, Yo-a-schi-moot went in and dined with the Kun-
ni-te-ya, eating out of the same bowl.

198 SCHAT-CHEN

"Now," said the Ho-chin, "you have taken the first
step in our initiation. For the time you are a Kun-ni-
te-ya like the rest of us and you may pass under the rain-
boy arch. Hereafter other ordeals, more trying than that
of eating, will be required of you."

Again the rainbow was formed and, as each of the
Kun-ni-te-ya passed under it, they took the shape of the
animals they willed. When it came Yo-a-schi-moot 's
turn, he chose to change himself into a cat.

After the ceremony was over, the Ho-chin addressed
him, telling him that before he could be received into full
membership, in the orde^r, he must go and bring into the
assembly of the Kun-ni-te-ya the heart of the sister he
loved best.

So the cat that, had once been Yo-a-schi-moot
emerged from the cave on this cruel and sanguinary
errand. He went straightway to his father's house where
all four of his sisters lay asleep. For a long time he
looked upon them, trying to decide which one of them he
loved best. He thought of each one in turn as a sacrifice
to the Kun-ni-te-ya, but each time came to the same decis
ion. He loved them all and all equally. Finally, when he
was almost despairing, he bethought him of a way out of
his dilemma. He had a big rooster with which he had
often talked, and it occurred to him that he loved the
rooster better than any one else in the world.

"I have it," he said to himself. "I will kill the
rooster and take his heart to the Ho-chin of the Kun-ni-
te-ya,

Accordingly he proceeded to the enclosure where he
kept the rooster. The fowl was easily captured and
quickly despatched. Taking the heart, still bleeding, Yo-
a-schi-moot returned to the Kun-ni-te-ya Kut-ret. When
the Kun-ni-te-ya had again assembled, Yo-a-schi-moot
found that there were several candidates for admission

YO-A-SCHI-MOOT AND THE KUN-NI-TE-YA 199

to the order. The others had brought the heart of a
real human, as they had been instructed to do.

The Ho-chin received the hearts from the candidates
and placed them in a semi-circle on the ground before
him. He then produced a long cactus thorn and thrust
it into the first heart along the line. The heart cried out
in tones of a person in great agony, "Ai-nai-a," (Oh!
mother!) The Ho-chin proceeded along the line,
thrusting the thorn into each heart in succession. As it
felt the prick of the thorn, each heart cried out, as the
first one had done, "Ai-nai-a." When the Ho-chin came
to the heart brought by Yo-a-schi-moot, he plunged the
thorn into it. Instead of the customary and expected
cry, the heart gave forth a loud and prolonged ' * Oo-oo-o-
oo-ooo-a."

' ' Treason and treactfery, ' ' cried the Ho-chin. i i Seize
the traitor."

11 Yo-a-schi-moot, " he stormed, when the culprit was
brought before him, "you must explain to us why you
have attempted to palm off on us a rooster's heart in
stead of one of your sister's."

Yo-a-schi-moot, frightened at the threatening mien
of the Ho-chin and his followers, could only plead that he
had no favorite sister, and that he loved the rooster with
a love passing his love for women.

But no such defense availed in the councils of the
Ku,n-ni-te-ya. Yo-a-schi-moot |had willfully disobeyed
the order of the Ho-chin and had failed to pass the second
ordeal of the initiation. The penalty for such failure and
disobedience was death; and the sentence was passed
upon him by the Ho-chin.

Yo-a-schi-moot was not advised of the fate in store
for him. All unsuspecting, but still fearful, he was led
again under the rainbow arch with the Kun-ni-te-ya and
assumed his natural form. After the assembly had been

200 SCHAT-CHEN

dismissed, tlie Ho-chin drew Yo-a-schi-moot 's wife aside
and instructed her that she had been appointed to carry
into 'effect the sentence of death that had been pronoun
ced upon her husband. The method of execution was
what was known as Tit-kash.

Yo-a-schi-moot returned home in fear and trembling,
expecting momentarily to meet with some condign
punishment. For several days he did not go abroad but
stayed in his house, guarding against any attempt on the
part of the Kun-ni-te-ya to do him harm. However, this
constant watchfulness discovered nothing, and he soon
argued himself into a feeling of a security.

One night he went to sleep in his bed. In the morn
ing he awoke to find himself lying on the narrow ledge of
rock. He rubbed his eyes and ,stared about him. At his
back was a cliff that went up to such a height and presen
ted such a smooth and unbroken surface that he could
not hope to scale it. Before him, at his very feet, was
the edge of the shelf. He looked down, and the sight
made him sick and dizzy. The ground, hundreds of feet
below him, was strewn with broken rocks among which
he could see the bones of the people who had been sacri
ficed and had fallen from the ledge.

Yo-a-schi-moot first attempted to climb the precipice
at his back, but could not find so much as a finger hold.
He meditated trying to descend, but the sight of the
bones below drove him back. In despair, he sat down,
for the ledge was so narrow that he was in constant
danger of falling off. The full meaning of his situation
now dawned upon him. He hungered and starvation
stared him in the eyes. He thirsted, and no drop of
water offered to cool his lips. If he slept, he risked fall
ing from the shelf in his sleep. Three days went by.
Yo-a-schi-moot was dying from hunger and thirst. His
body was racked with horrible pain. His mind wandered.

YO-A-SCHI-MOOT AND THE KUN-NI-TE-YA 201

All his bravery and courage deserted him and he began
to cry.

Near the spot where Yo-a-schi-moot lay was a nest
of ground squirrels, Ke-osh, where lived a mother squir
rel and her two little ones. One day, while the mother
was busy making an earthen pot, the two little squirrels
slipped out of the nest and ran playing among the rocks.
Soon they returned to their mother in a great fright.
They ran against the newly constructed pot and broke
it into bits. The enraged mother scolded them roundly
and then asked them why they were so frightened.

i t There is a dead man out there among the rocks, and
he is crying," they breathlessly answered.

"Where?" asked their mother. "Come and show
me."

Taking their mother by the hand, the little squirrels
led her to the spot where Yo-a-schi-moot lay. The mother
squirrel approached and spoke to him telling him to lie
still and asking him what the matter was.

"I am dying of hunger and thirst," said Yo-a-schi-
moot weakly.

"I will bring you food and water," said the squir
rel. So she ran away and soon returned with two cups
of the acorn, one filled with water and the other with
pollen from the blossom of the prickly pear.

"That is only a drop," complained Yo-a-schi-moot,
as she gave him the acorn cup of water. l ' It will do me
no good."

"Drink," commanded the squirrel.

So he drank and drank, and still the acorn cup re
mained full of water. Then he ate and ate out of the
other cup and still it remained full of pollen. When he
had finished drinking and eating and his thirst and
hunger were all gone, the squirrel said to him :

' i Tonight the Kun-ni-te-ya will come to see if you are

202 SCHAT-CHEN

dead; and, if you are not, they will tempt you and
frighten you until you fall from the shelf. You must
lie very still and pretend that you are dead. Tomorrow
I will come again and will help you to get away from
here."

That night, as Yo-a-schi-moot lay upon the rock,
a big snake crawled down from the face of the precipice
and hung over him. He did not move or open his eyes,
for he knew that is was a Kun-ni-te-ya ; and the snake
finally went away. Then several clowns came and tied
ears of corn and pots of water to the ends of rope and
dangled them before his eyes. Still he lay as dead, and
finally the clowns went away.

The next morning just at sunrise the squirrel came
to him again. She brought with her two seeds from the
pine cone. These she planted in a crack in the shelf close
to the wall of the precipice. When the sun was up, the
seeds put forth roots and tiny green sprouts came up out
of the crevice. As the sun rose higher the shoots grew.
By midday they were large saplings. By the middle of
afternoon they had become strong enough to bear a
man's weight. Then the squirrel directed Yo-a-schi-moot
to take hold- of the trees and climb up. Yo-a-schi-moot
slowly and painfully raised himself up into the trees.
Then he climbed by means of them to the top of the
precipice, and was soon out of danger. The squirrel
had followed him and now gave a number of pinon nuts
for his food and a black pigment. She told him to await
a favorable opportunity and then to smear the black
pigment upon his wife's face.

Yo-a-schi-moot promised to do as he was told, and,
then, bidding farewell to the ground squirrel, he set out
for his home. It was dark when he reached the town.
He passed through the streets unrecognized, for he was
greatly changed by the hardships he had undergone.

YO-A-SCHI-MOOT AND THE KUN-NI-TE-YA 203

There was a dance in progress in the village and Yo-a-
schi-moot went in and mingled with the dancers. There
he found his wife who, during his absence, had married
another man. He made himself known to her and asked
her to go with him to their house, pretending that he
had something to tell her. They had no sooner en
tered the house than he seized her and smeared some of
the black pigment on her face. She immediately fell
asleep. Yo-a-schi-moot then placed an ear of corn in each
of her hands and went away and left her. In the morn
ing when she awoke, she began to scream like a Shu-an-
ta, and continued to scream until she died.

KO-CHIN-NI-NA-KO AND THE KO-CI-MA.

Once there lived in the village of Acoma a very beau
tiful young girl by the name of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. She
had a lover, a handsome young man who lived in the same
village.

In the neighborhood of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko 's home dwelt
a Ko-qi-ma, or hemaphrodite, a singular being, who de
sired to gain the affections of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko 's lover.
This ko-qi-ma was a witch ' and possessed the power
of changing any one who came into her power to the
form of an animal.

One day the ko-qi-ma asked Ko-chin-ni-na-ko to ac
company her to the spring whither she was going to get
water with which to mix her bread. Ko-chin-ni-na-ko
went with her and then helped her to make the bread.
When they had finished their labors, the ko-qi-ma said to
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko :

" Would you not like to have a nice fat turkey for
your breakfast tomorrow morning ?"

"Ko-chin-ni-na-ko signified that she would. "But"
said she, "How are we going to get a turkey?"

"0, answered the ko-qi-ma, "I will change you and
myself to coyotes. Then we will go over to the neigh
bors' house and get one."

After much argument, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko finally
agreed to a coyote' for the time, in order that she might
procure the promised turkey.

By her magic arts, the Ko-qi-ma caused a rainbow to
appear in the sky. Then she directed Ko-chin-ni-na-ko to
walk under the rainbow, and when beneath the arch, to
say, "I will be a coyote."

When Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had done as the sorceress
directed, she immediately changed to a coyote. The Ko-
qui-ma then walked under the arch and repeated, "I will

206 SCHAT CHEN

be a coyote/' And she likewise assumed the form of the
animal.

"Now," said the witch coyote. "We will go to the
place where the turkeys are kept."

When they arrived at their destination, they found
that the walls of the turkey house were very high and
that the only means of entrance was through a small hole
in the roof.

"Jump down, commanded the witch coyote, "get a
nice fat turkey and pass it up to me."

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko sprang down into the house, and
quickly caught a fat gobbler and passed it up through
the hole to the Ko-qi-ma. When the Ko-qi-ma had
secured her turkey, she called to Ko-chin-ni-na-ko :

"I hope you will enjoy yourself among the turkeys.
I am going home."

Then she trotted away, leaving Ko-chin-ni-na-ko a
prisoner in the turkey house. Several times she at
tempted to spring out through the hole in the roof; but,
each time failing, she sat down and rested. Finally she
made a more powerful effort and succeeded in getting
her fore-paws over the edge of the hole. Then she drew
herself up through the hole and jumped down from the
top of the house. She did not know what to do, for she
knew that if she went home in the guise of a coyote her
people would not know her, but would kill her or drive
her away. iSo she went away and hid herself in the rocks.
There she stayed for days and days, living, like other
coyotes, on scraps of rawhide and other refuse that she
was able to find.

One day the young man who had been her lover be
fore she became a coyote came out on the rocks to tan a
piece of rawhide. He saw the coyote, and was greatly
surprised that it did not run away. He approached it,
looking at it closely. Finally when he was within a short

KO-CHIN-NI-NA-KO AND THE KO-CI-MA 207

distance, he said : "I believe that you are my Ko-chin-ni-
na-ko. Tell me, are you not?"

The coyote nodded its head. Then he came up to it
and took it in his arms and carried it to his mother's
house and cared for it. The condition in which he found
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was a heavy burden for the lover, but
his love never faltered. One day he set out with her
to find some one who would break the spell and restore
Ko-chin-ni-na-ko to herself.

He first went westward to Zuni; thence to the Nava-
jos and Moki. At each settlement he inquired if there
was a wizard who was able to change Ko-chin-ni-na-ko
from a coyote to the beautiful maiden that he loved. His
search in that direction proved fruitless. Then he went
to the east to all the towns, but found no conjurer power
ful enough to aid him.

He had traveled far one day and was resting under
the shade of a tree, when an old man, the man of the
yellow flint, passed by. The young man called to him;
told him his story and asked him if he could assist him.

"Perhaps," said the old man. Go you back to
Acoma and wait. In four days I will come and see what
I can do."

The young man returned to Acoma, taking the coyote
with him. In four days, true to his word, the old man
came and established himself in the open cave or rift in
the rocks north of Acoma, known as the Kun-ni-te-ya
Kut-ret. There he called together all the spirits of medi
cine, from the Navajos, the Zunis, the Lagunas and the
Acomas and from many other tribes. Then the old man
sent for the young man and the coyote.

When they had come into the cave, the old man took
from his breast a yellow flint. He laid the coyote upon
the ground, ripped open the skin with the sharp flint;
and out stepped Ko-chin-ni-na-ko, thin and pale.

The young man was beside himself with joy at the re-

208 SCHAT CHEN

covery of his lost loved one, and pressed upon the old man
an invitation to accompany them home. The old man
went home with them, and having reached the house of
the young man's mother, he was liberally rewarded. Upon
leaving, he gave to the young man and his intended bride
a few words of advice. Then he gave to Ko-chin-ni-na-
ko two am-as-kurt, two rolls of fibre twisted into a pad
to be worn upon the head when carrying water. He told
her that one of the am-as-kurt had no magic properties.
That the other was a magic one that he gave her in order
that she might punish the Ko-qi-ma; and he instructed
her in the manner of using it.

When the Ko-qi-ma heard that Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had
come back restored, she hastened to greet her.

"How do you do sister. I am glad that you have
come back to us. What pretty am-as-kurts you have ! Will
you not give me one? We will go for water together."

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko agreed to this. While they were at
the spring, the Ko-qi-ma asked Ko-chin-ni-na-ko to give
her one of the pretty am-as-kurts. They filled their jars
with water. Then Ko-chin-ni-na-ko said to the Ko-qi-
ma:

' ' Now I will give you one of the am-as-kurts ; but you
must go down to the bottom of this sand drift, and I will
roll it down to you. If you catch it, it is yours. ' '

Down went the Ko-qkma to the bottom of the sand
drift. Then Ko-chin-ni-na-ko called:

"Are you ready 1"

"Yes, ready, " answered the Ko-qi-ma,

At the word, Ko-chin-ni-na-ko started the am-as-kurf
down the drift. It rolled over and over rapidly until it
reached the Ko-qi-ma. She put forth both hands to catch
it. But it disappeared, for it was a magic am-as-kurt;
and what had once been the Ko-qi-ma was turned into a
rattlesnake and wriggled away in the sands and among
the rocks ; and Ko-qi-ma was seen no more in Acoma.

THE GOVEKNOB OF ACOMA AND THE
KUN-NI-TE-YA

One evening the governor of Acoma was sitting
alone in his house, when there entered a stranger, carry
ing a large bundle. The stranger laid his bundle upon
the ground and stood silent until the governor spoke to
him and asked him what he wanted. He then said :

"I have here in my bundle shawls, scarfs, buck
skins, leggins and belts which I wish to trade and sell to
the people of Acoma. As it is the custom, I have come
to you to notify you of my intention. ' '

"I entreat and implore you not to trade with my
people," said the governor. "That bundle contains the
apparel of the dead. I know you. You are a Kun-ni-
te-ya, a robber of the dead."

"You can not prevent me," said the Kun-ni-te-ya.
"I will trade these things to the people, and they will
surely die. Your people are doomed, for no one can
own the clothing of the dead and live."

"I beg you to depart," said the governor. "I love
my people. Tell me, is there nothing I can offer you!
Is there nothing I can do to persuade you to go and
leave my people in peace?"

"There is one thing that you can do," replied the
Kun-ni-te-ya. "Listen! If you will consent to join us,
I will go away."

"I accept the terms willingly," answered the gov
ernor. "To save my people, I will become a Kun-ni-
te-ya"

"Very good," answered the Kun-ni-te-ya. "I will
depart. But one year from this time, you must die and be
come one of us. We will come for you, but we will send
a sign before us that you may know when we are coming."

210 SCHAT CHEN

Then the stranger departed and the people of Acoma
were saved.

Time went on. Not one of the people knew that the
governor had bartered not only his life, but had sold his
future life to the Kun-ni-te-ya to save the village. The
winter melted into spring; spring blossomed into sum
mer; the young corn waved in the fields, ripened
and was cut down. The governor was seated on a
rock which overlooked the village of his people. It
was autumn. He looked out upon the town and sighed,
for he knew that his time was drawing nigh. As he sat
thus, one of the great toes began to swell. He knew that
this was the sign the Kun-ni-te-ya had sent before them.
The toe continued to swell and the pain of it became
more and more intense. At last he saw the spirits com
ing. They hovered around him waiting for the end. He
stretched his body on the rock and thus he died.

THE HUNTER GIRL AND THE GIANTESS.

The people of Laguna once lived west cross the
river, southwest from where the town now stands and the
settlement was called Ko-shti-a. There lived at that place
a man and his wife who had an only daghter. It was the
custom for all the boys of the different families to go out
on certain days in winter to kill rabbits. One day the girl
told her parents that she was going rabbit hunting. She
said: "I am only a girl, but I believe I can kill as many
rabbits as any of the boys."

She started on the rabbit hunt and succeeded in kill
ing a number of rabbits and, getting tired, stopped in a
recess or cave on the north side Ti-mi-ya, a small butte
about three miles southwest of Laguna, to rest and cook a
rabbit for her dinner. About that time an old giantess
appeared on the scene, attracted, no doubt, by the smell of
the roasting rabbits and spoke to the girl. The girl was
very much frightened at the huge being, the giantess was
as big as a mountain, her mouth was several yards across.
She told the girl that she was also hunting but was not so
successful as to have caught any game and asked her for
a rabbit. The girl threw her a rabbit which she swallowed
at one gulp and then called for another and then another
until they were all gone. Then she told the girl that she
wanted more. The girl took her clothes, one garment at
a time, and threw them to the giantess. The giantess
then said that she was going to eat the girl. The recess
in which the girl was in was so small that the giantess
could get neither her hand or her head into it.

The girl began to scream and cry and Ma-sav and
his brother, 0-yo-ya-vi, (the hero brothers) who were in
the Si-pi mountains east of the Rio Grande, heard her
crying and Ma-sav said to his brother, "Listen! I hear

212 SCHAT CHEN

some one of our people crying; let us go and see what
the trouble is."

They started and in due time arrived at the place
and found the old giant woman pounding on the opening
of the cave with a large stone, making marks which are
still to be seen on the stone. She spoke to them saying,
"My grandsons, what are you doing?" "0, we are
hunting rabbits," they replied. "What nice spears you
have and what sharp points." "Yes," said the brothers,
you can see them better if you stand up and turn your
head a little to one side."

As she was about to stand up, they threw their,
spears and each struck her in the neck and killed her. They
then cut her open and took out the girl 's clothes and re
turned them to her. Then they cut off the giantess'
head and threw it over to the southeast, where it now lies,
turned to stone, on the north side of the trail that leads
to iStchum-mu-ya, the place of the bees.

The stone into which the giantess' head was turned
is known as Sko-yo Ko-wow-we, the giant's face. The
brothers also threw the heart to the north, and its stands
in the shape of a hill northeast of Laguna on the road to
Qisch-chi, the town of Paguate. That hill is known by the
name Ka-wash-ka, the heart. After the throwing of the
parts of the body, the brothers went out and killed a good
number of rabbits for the girl and took her home.

THE COYOTE AND THE PEAIEIE DOG

One morning a coyote who was traveling through the
country, came to a prairie dog town. He was very
hungry, for he had not had his breakfast, so he said to
himself. "I will lie down here and make believe that I
am dead. Maybe the prairie dogs will come out and I
will catch one for my breakfast. "

Accordingly he stretched himself out upon the
ground and breathed very softly and lay very still so that
he appeared like a dead coyote. By and by a prairie dog
came out of his hole and saw him. He ran back in a
fright; but soon reappeared and took a long look at the
coyote. The he drew nearer and nearer, for he saw that
the coyote was dead. Soon out came another prairie dog
and then another and another, until a large number of
them were grouped about the dead coyote. They began
to rejoice that their old enemy was dead. A council was
called, and all the prairie dogs were summoned to attend
and rejoice at the death of their enemy. When they had
assembled, it was discovered that one prairie dog was
missing, so four of their number were sent to request him
to come to the council ; but the prairie dog refused to go.

"I will stay here near my den and rejoice/' he said.
"I am crippled and cannot run fast, and I do not believe
that the coyote is dead. He is only shamming. "

The four dogs returned to the council and all the dogs
danced around the body of their dead enemy, heaping in
sults upon him and calling him bad names. At last one,
more bold than the rest, poked the coyote with his paw.
The coyote sprang up seized all the prairie dogs near
him. The others scampered away in terror. The lame
prairie dog who had been watching the proceedings from
afar off, ran limping to his den calling as he went :

"Kai-ek-ko e-suts-sa, kai-ek-ko e-sus-sa." (I told
you so, I told you so.)

THE COYOTE AND THE HORNED TOAD

On the sunny side of a big, standing, sandstone rock
sat a horn toad, duh-bin-ish-ki, singing a song. And this
is what he sang :

"Mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki,

Yow-ni kut-chin-ni, yo-ni kut-chin-ni,

I-sin-mi ta-la-ma-ha. ' '
Translation :

Mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki,

The rock stands, the rock stands, right there.

A coyote (tsush-ki), happening to be in the vicinity,
heard the song and said to himself, "Ah! that is my
friend, the horn toad, singing. I must go and find him
and learn to sing that song."

The horn toad was still singing when the coyote ap
peared around the corner of the rock.

"How do you do, my friend?" said the coyote. "That
is a beautiful song you are singing. Will you not sing it
again for me ? I wish to learn it. ' '

The obliging toad sang the song over and over, the
coyote repeating the words, until he announced that he
had learned it.

"Now," said the coyote, "I must be going, for I
have a long trip before me." So he trotted away, sing
ing the song he had learned.

When the coyote had gone, the horn toad said to him
self, "He will soon return. He will forget the song and
will come back for me to sing it to him again. Perhaps
he will be friendly the next time he comes."

Then the horn toad slipped out of his skin as easily
as he would have taken off his overcoat. He put a large
sharp piece of flint into the empty skin and crawled away
and hid in the rocks.

THE COYOTE AND THE HORNED TOAD 215

As the coyote went on his journey, singing, he came
suddenly to a small pond. There was a flock of ducks
upon the pond ; and, seeing the coyote, they flew up with a
great clamor arid quacking. The noise frightened the
coyote so badly he forgot the song he had learned. As
soon as he recovered from his fright he began to sing,
but when he had sung "Mo-ki mo-ki mo-ki," he could get
no further. Try as he would he could not recollect the
remainder of the song. Finally he decided to go back to x
the horn toad and have him sing the song again. Accord
ingly he retraced his steps to the place where he had
left the horn toad. The skin of the toad still sat by the
rock, and the horn toad looked out from his hiding place
at the coyote.

"My friend," began the coyote, addressing the
empty skin, "I have forgotten the song you taught me.
Will yoTi not sing it for me again?"

For answer, the skin of the horn toad only sat and
stared at the coyote. 8*uacr«ih

"I will ask you four times to sing," growled the
coyote, "and if you do not sing, I shall swallow you.'7

Four times the coyote repeated the request, but still
the skin sat immoveable and mute. At the fourth re
quest, the coyote snapped up the skin of the horn toad
and swallowed it. The sharp flint within cut his throat
and stomach, and he fell down and died.

KO-CHIN-NT-NA-KO — IN THE MASK DANCES

SH-AH-COCK AND MIOCHIN OE THE BATTLE

OF THE SEASONS

The Queres Indian traditions unlike those of most every other
people, very rarely refer to their exploits in war and one not acquainted
with them would, of course, naturally expect the reverse. This alegori-
cal yarn of the battle of the seasons is their nearest attempt to portray
a battle scene. True, they tell of various encounters with enemies, but
the account is very meager. One reason is, that the Queres Indians
are not a war like people, and another thing, to the old men and old
women, who, as a general thing tell these stories most, the recounting
of battle scenes is not very agreeable.

You have noticed that some of the traditions refer to the White
Village of the north and others to the White Village of the southeast
and others to the White Village furtherest southeast; showing that the
migration was by stages to the northwest, to a certain point and from
there, towards the south.

In the Kush-kut-ret-u-nah-tit (white village of the
north) was once a ruler by the name of Hut-cha-rnun Ki-
uk (the broken prayer stick), one of whose daughters,
Ko-chin-ne-na-ko, became the bride of Sh-ah-cock (the
spirit of winter), a person of very violent temper. He
always manifested his presence by blizzards of snow
and sleet or by freezing cold, and on account of his alli
ance with the ruler's daughter, he was most of the time in
the vicinity of Kush-kutret, and as these manifestations
continued from month to month and year to year, the
people of Kush-kutret found that their crops would not
mature, and finally they were compelled to subsist on the
leaves of the cactus.

On one occasion Ko-chin-ne-na-ko had wandered a
long way from home in search of the cactus and had
gathered quite a bundle and was preparing to carry home
by singeing off the thorns, when on looking up she found
herself confronted by a very bold but handsome young
man. His attire attracted her gaze at once. He wore a
shirt of yellow woven from the silks of the corn, a belt
made from the broad green blades of the same plant, a

218 SCHAT CHEN

tall pointed hat made from the same kind of material and
from the top of which waved a yellow corn tassel. He
wore, green leggings woven from kow-e-nuh, the green
stringy moss that forms in springs and ponds. His moc
casins were beautifully embroidered with flowers and but
terflies. In his hand he carried an ear of green corn.

His whole appearance proclaimed him a stranger
and as Ko-chin-ne-na-ko gazed in wonder, he spoke to her
in a very pleasing voice asking her what she was doing.
She fold him that on account of the cold and drouth the
people of Kush-kutret were forced to eat the leaves of the
cactus to keep from starving.

"Here," said the young man, handing her the ear of
green corn. ' ' Eat this and I will go and bring more that
you may take home with you."

He left her and soon disappeared going towards the
south. In a short time he returned bringing with him a
big load of green corn. Ko-chin-ne-na-ko asked him
where he had gathered the corn and if it grew near by.
"No," he replied, "it is from my home far away in the
south, where the corn grows and the flowers bloom all the
year round. Would you not like to accompany me back to
my country." Ko-chin-ne-na-ko replied that his home
must be very beautiful, but that she could not go with him
because she was the wife of Sh-ah-cock. And then she
told him of her alliance with the spirit of winter, and ad
mitted that her husband was very cold and disagreeable
and that she did not love him. The strange young man
urged her to go with him to the warm land of the south,
saying that he didn't fear Sh-as-cock. But Ko-chin-ne-
na-ko would not consent. So the stranger directed her to
return to her home with the corn he had brought and
cautioned her not to throw any of the husks out of the
door. Upon leaving he said to her, "you must meet me

SH-AH-COCK AND MIOCHIN OR THE BATTLE OF THE SEASONS 219

at this place tomorrow. I will bring more corn for you. ' '

Ko-chin-ne-na-ko had not proceeded far on her home
ward way ere she met her sisters who, having become un
easy because of her long absence, had come in search
of her. They were greatly surprised at seeing her with
an armful of corn instead of cactus. Ko-chin-ne-na-ko
told them the whole story of how she had obtained it, and
thereby only added wonderment to their surprise. They
helped her to carry the corn home; and there she had
again to tell her story to her father and mother.

When she had described the stranger even from his
peaked hat to his butterfly moccasins, and had told them
that she was to meet him again on the day following,
Hutchamun Kiuk, the father, exclaimed:

"It is Mi-o-chin!"

"It is Mi-o-chin! It is Mi-o-chin !" echoed the
mother. "Tomorrow you must bring him home with
you. ' '

The next day Ko-chin-ne-na-ko went again to the
spot wehre she had met Mi-o-chin, for it was indeed Mi-
o-chin, the spirit of summer. He was already there,
awaiting her coming. With him he had brought a huge
bundle of corn.

Ko-chin-ne-na-ko pressed upon him the invitation
of her parents to accompany her home, so together they
carried the corn to Kush Kut-ret. When it had been dis
tributed there was sufficient to feed all the people of the
city. Amid great rejoicing and thanksgiving, Mi-o-chin
was welcomed at the Hotchin's (ruler's) house. «

In the evening, as was his custom, Sh-ah-cock, the
Spirit of the Winter, returned to his home. He came in
a blinding storm of snow and hail and sleet, for he was
in boisterous mood. On approaching the city, he felt
within his very bones that Mi-o-chin was there, so he
called in a loud and blustering voice :

220 SCHAT CHEN

"Ha! Mi-o-chin, are you here?"

For answer, Mi-o-chin advanced to meet him.

Then Sh-ah-cock, beholding him, called again:

"Ha! Mi-o-chin, I will destroy you."

"Ha! Sh-ah-cock, I will destroy you," replied Mi-o-
chin, still advancing.

Sh-ah-cock paused, irresolute. He was covered from
head to foot with frost (skah.) Icycles (ya-pet-tu-ne)
draped him round. The fierce, cold wind proceeded from
his nostrils.

As Mi-o-chin drew near, the wintry wind changed
to a warm summer breeze. The frost and icycles melted
and displayed beneath them, the dry, bleached bulrushes
(ska-ra ska-ru-ka) in which Sh-ah-cock was clad.

Seeing that he was doomed to defeat, Sh-ah-cock
cried out:

"I will not fight you now, for we cannot try our
powers. We will make ready, and in four days from this
time, we will meet here and fight for the supremacy. The
victor shall claim Ko-chin-ne-na-ko for his wife."

With this, (Sh-ah-cock withdrew in a rage. The wind
again roared and shook the very houses ; but the people
were warm within them, for Mi-o-chin was with them.

The next day Mi-o-chin left Kush Kutret for his
home in the south. Arriving there, he began to make his
preparations to meet Sh-ah-cock in battle.

First he sent an eagle as a messenger to his friend,
Ya-chun-ne-ne-moot (kind of shaley rock that becomes
very hot in the fire), who lived in the west, requesting
him to come and help to battle with Sh-ah-cock. Then
he called together the birds and the four legged animals-
all those that live in sunny climes. For his advance
guard and shield he selected the bat (pickikke), as its
tough skin would best resist the sleet and hail that Sh-ah-
cock would hurl at him.

SH-AH-COCK AND MJOCHJN OK THE BATTLE OF THE SEASONS 221

Meantime Sh-ah-cock had gone to his home in the
north to make his preparations for battle. To his aid he
called all the winter birds and all of the four legged
animals of the wintry climates. For his advance guard
and shield he selected the Shro-ak-ah, (a magpie).

When these formidable forces had been mustered by
the rivals, they advanced, Mi-o-chin from the south and
Sh-ah-cock from the north, in battle array.

Ya-chum-ne-ne-moot kindled his fires and piled
great heaps of risinous fuel upon them until volumes of
steam and smoke ascended, forming enormous clouds
that hurried forward toward Kush Kut-ret and the battle
ground. Upon these clouds rode Mi-o-chin, the Spirit of
Summer, and his vast army. All the animals of the army,
encountering the smoke from Ya-chun-ne-ne-moot's fires,
were colored by the smoke, so that, from that day, the
animals from the south have been black or brown in color.

Sh-ah-cock and his army came out of the north in a
howling blizzard and borne forward on black storm
clouds driven by a freezing wintry wind. As he came on,
the lakes and rivers over which he passed were frozen and
the air was filled with blinding sleet.

When the combatants drew near to Kush Kut-ret,
they advanced with fearful rapidity. Their arrival upon
the field was marked by fierce and terrific strife.

Plashes of lightning1 darted from Mi-o-chin 's clouds.
Striking the animals of Sha-ah-cock, they singed the hair
upon them, and turned it white, so that, from that day,
the animals from the north have worn a covering of white
or have white markings upon them. A

From the south, the black clouds still rolled upward,
the thunder spoke again and again. Clouds of smoke
and vapor rushed onward, melting the snow and ice
weapons of Sh-ah-cock and compelling him, at length, to
retire from the field. Mi-o-chin, assured of victory,

222 SCHAT-CHEN

pursued him. To save himself from total defeat and
destruction, Sh-ah-cock called for an armistic.

This being granted on the part of Mi-o-chin, the
rivals met at Kush Kut-ret to arrange the terms of tl^e
treaty. Sh-ah-cock acknowledged himself defeated. He
consented to give up Ko-chin-ne-ne-ko to Mi-o-chin. This
concession was received with rejoicing by Ko-chin-ne-na-
ko and all the people of Kush Kut-ret.

It was then agreed between the late combatants
that, for all time thereafter, Mi-o-chin was to rule at
Kush Kut-ret during one-half of the year, and Sh-ah-
cock was to rule during the remaining half, and that
neither should molest the other.

MONTHS OF THE YEAR

January— Me-yo sitch ta-watch. (Me-yo, a little
lizzard; sitch, cut off; ta-watch, moon.) The
month when the little lizzard 's tail freezes
off.

February — (Yu-mun — (Yu-mun, root of plant). Named
after the root of a little plant, (daughter of
spring) .

March— Stchum-mu — (The same plant above
ground).

April— Puschuts-otes — (Pus-chuts, sticky ground,
otes, to plant). Wheat sowing time.

May— Sho-wats Otes — (When the ground is soft

like ashes). Corn planting time.

June— A-chin — (Corn tassel).

July— Hi-shin — (First appearance of the ear of

corn).

August— Ya-mon — (Beard of the corn).
September — Ki-nut — (Corn when it is in the milk).
October— Ki-ti-stchi-ta-ta — (Corn fully matured).
November — Hai-a-tssi — (Fall of the year).
December — Sin-ni-kok — (Middle of the winter).