Page:All the Year Round - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/481

Charles Dickens] some still remain, while the ground around is strewn with fragments of vases which have crumbled into decay from age.

Not far from the present pueblo is a lofty mesa, which rises about a thousand feet perpendicularly from the plain; upon this are many ruins of houses and a sacred altar, constituting all that remains of old Zuñi. The following tradition is related about this place. Long before the first appearance of the white man, a dreadful flood visited the land. Waters gushed forth from the earth, and huge waves rolled in from the west, drowning man and beast; even the wild Apaches and Coyotes did not escape. Then many of the people of Zuñi rushed to the lofty mesa, but many more perished in the waters. Night came, and yet the waters rose higher and higher, until they reached the water-mark still distinctly visible high up on the cliff wall. The great Spirit was very wroth with his people, and must be appeased by a fitting sacrifice. So the son of the cacique and the most beautiful maiden in the tribe were bound and lowered down into the seething flood; then the waves abated, and the remnant of the people were saved. The young man and the maiden were transformed into two lofty pillars of stone, which rise from a natural battlement on one part of the summit. Time has worn these two pillars into four; they are still greatly venerated by the people of Zuñi. After building a town on the lofty mesa, they lived there for many years, but as it was far removed from their fertile bottom-lands, and as no second flood visited their country, they removed to their present abode. When the Spaniards, however, made war against them, they fled for a second time to their ancient stronghold, and, according to their own account, made a fierce resistance, by fortifying the only two approaches by which the summit could be gained, and by hurling huge stones upon their assailants; the enemy, however, was victorious.

Spanish influence was never strong enough at Zuñi to convert the natives to Christianity; they tolerated the presence of a church outside the walls of the pueblo (now a ruin), but they still cling devotedly to their old traditions, and attribute their temporal prosperity, and the comparative immunity of their country from drought, to the steadfast observance of their ancient ceremonies. They believe in the one great Spirit, and in Montezuma his son, who will some day come again to them from the east, and unite all the nations once more under his banner.

Our party found the people of Zuñi to be very honest, but uncommonly sharp traders, so much so that they had the greatest difficulty in buying any sheep from them, although they had flocks in abundance; they parted with their maize and farm produce much more readily, but they understood the value of everything so thoroughly that they always insisted on receiving quid pro quo. They seemed to take great pleasure in keeping tame eagles and turkeys. Albinos are unusually common amongst them, whose complexions are as fair as those of Europeans. Like the other branches of the Pueblo Indians, the women of Zuñi are very chaste, and plurality of wives is not allowed.

Situated to the north-east of the San Francisco Peaks, about twenty miles from the Colorado Chiquito, on the opposite side to the mountains, are grouped, within a radius of seven miles, the seven villages of Moqui. The country is arid and uninviting, much broken and partly formed of steep mesas, partly of volcanic peaks. Upon the very edge of some of these mesas the villages are planted. They are mostly of three stories, built in the form of a square, with a court common to the whole community forming the centre. The first story, or basement, consists of a stone wall fifteen feet high, the top of which forms a landing extending round the whole. A flight of stone steps leads from the first to the second landing, and thence up to the roof. The doors open upon the landing. The houses are three rooms deep; the first being used for eating, cooking, &c.; the others as sleeping apartments; great neatness is observable both in the household arrangements and personal habits of the people. They sit upon skins on the floor, clothe themselves with linen trousers, shirts, and a Navajo blanket thrown across their shoulders. Upon the walls hang bows, arrows, quivers, antlers, blankets, articles of clothing, &c.; vases, flat dishes, and gourds, filled with meal or water, stand usually along one side of the room. In complexion they are rather fair for Indians; although quiet in their manners, they are very light-hearted; honesty, frankness, and hospitality are amongst their good qualities, but they want the manly bearing of the Zuñi Indians, and have, until lately, lived in great fear of their warlike neighbours, the Navajos.

The most interesting features about their villages are the reservoirs which they build to retain the rain water. At the back of the building upon the mesa itself, a good-sized reservoir, some five feet or upwards in depth, and lined throughout with ma-