| OCR Text |
Show TIIE SEVEN ZTEC CITIES OF TUE ARIZONA DESBET. (Special Correspondence of the Ubbild.) MtMjuw Pahlos, Sept 1, 1872. THE TRir. After a hard and toilsome march over many miles of desert and mouu tains, I have at length arrived aumny the descendants of the ancient Mont-zumas Mont-zumas of Mexico. That they are strango and unaccustomed to the siJit of white men may be interred from the fact that when we arrived within a h -1 mile cf town we saw thit the houio tops were covered with people, to fKe tho strangers. There they remained until we arrived within fifty yards of their walled city, when two or three of ihctn veniured down to meet us; and our welcome was civil but received. Before pupating farther of the Moquis, 1 will give you a description of our journey thither and of the country we found. About the middle of AuRUt, accompanied by Mr. Jame. Carlton, I left Johnson's ranch, Kaue county, uur train coDsisttu ui mree pack and two riding animals. At the Oolurado river wo found tho Fowoll Exploring party on tho ovo of starting down the fraud canyon, to finish up that part of their work. The expedition expedi-tion having left one of their boats at the mouth of tho Faria river, we found a ready means of crossing; that is, after doing about two days work on it in order to make it capable of floating float-ing on the surface- of the liquid por-phyrio por-phyrio substance, of which we found the Colorado to consist. Although the water was very thick, it would however how-ever find its way through tho cracks of our boat, which very near tilled in crossing. At this point tho river is about three hundred yards wide, with a current of about five miles per hour: just below, however, thore is a rapid which would not bo very pleasant run ning on uorsuuacK. uy luwiuk uui im-mals im-mals one at a time we succeeded, after some lusty pulling on the oars, in making mak-ing the other side in safety. - MEETING MOQUIS TRADERS. Just as we were getting ready to start out two men fiom the Oryba village camo down to tho river; they wore on their way to Kanab and had two donkeys ladened with blankets, for which they expected to get horses. They first went down to the water edge and after bowing toward each point of the compass, cast upon the surface of the unheeding Colorado a small pinoh of white powder. Coming back to our camp fire they greeted us pleasantly, and seemed to bd overjoyed at our presenoe at the crossing. We offered them the use of the boat to oross with, but they seemed to be rather dubious of undertaking Shcjob themselves, and one of thein proffered mo a ten C0Dt : green back if I would help them over. L generously declined the hire, and i gave them to understand that we I did not work for filthy lucre. In a short time we had them safely over and they went on their way rejoicing. I believe they are the first Moquis that have ventured to cross the river safely on a trading expedition. At tho mouth of the Faria J. L. Lee is building build-ing himself a nice little farm. Here a a part of his family resides, nearly a hundred miles from Kanab, which is just on the outer edge of civilization; being generally unprotected and alone it was thought best not to leave the boat on the opposite side, so after getting get-ting everything across I btought it back and returned on a couple of logs. From tho river to a little btream called Jioincopie, a aistance or aoouc sixty miles, we found plenty of water in the rocks, but no streams nor springs. Grazing was splcndid,but in a dry season sea-son it would be little better than a desert. des-ert. On the Moincopie timber is plenty; the land is good and needs but very little irrigating. THE FIRST OF THE PABLOS. The first of the Fables we came to was Oryba. The placo was probably built lor and formerly contained over a thousand inhabitants, but now there are not over three hundred, and considering con-sidering the filthy style of their living it is a wonder that they wore not all dead long ago. The town is built probably eight hundred feet above the valley, upon the point of a long plateau, the surfaoe of which is generally devoid of soil or vegetation. The fiat surface of the rooks scooped out by the washings of nature into many large basins forms natural reservoirs for water, which are filled during the rainy season. The first evening we made our camp outside of the wall. There, among the sheep pens and other filth, with no wood aud very dirty water we passed our first night, which was a wet ono, at Oryba. Everybody seemed to be suspicious of us, and no body invited us in. Our worst trouble was the animals, for tho feed was eaten off for miles around by the sheep. Down in tho valley a few miles away there was tolerable good feed, but small patches ot corn and melons and other vegetables dotted the plain here and there, so that stock running loose without a herder was out of the quostion. With a few lumps of indigo I enticed a young fellow into our service, and wo saw our horses going go-ing about five miles to get their supper. sup-per. About nino o'clock one by the the suggestivo name of 'Lie," who had been out herding sheep, came into town. This man had formerly visited Utah and could speak a little English. Eng-lish. He invited us to his houso and sat before us some supper, which consisted con-sisted of pokah, taq-oo-beck and melons. mel-ons. "Fekah'' is the bread of tho Moquis, and on this they live principally princi-pally at Oryba. I had not yet found out how it was made, nor what it consisted con-sisted of; I only knew that it tasted good, and that was sufficient lor a hungry man. At the othor villages I I saw tho process of making it, and i will speak of that hereaftor. "Tan oo-beck" oo-beck" is the meal of green corn rolled up in the husk and baked in tho ashes. It is very sweet and nutritious. Let a lot of mush mado from black corn meal stick to thp ridps of a pot, in thin layers, until it has scorched, then scrape it off, and from this you can judge about how pekah looks, aud I tastes. From this homeiy faro and : plenty of excellent melons wo mado a I hearty supper, and returned to our camp among tho sheep pons, "Lio" promising that he would havo a houie cle&Dcd out for us on the morrow. TRADING AND PHOTOORAPUINa. ' I TV, ni mnnr1 ,- l,; intoabou.se, bui tho place was vory ; filthy aud wo had not been thore many i minutes until Carlton declared he could foci something crawling on him. All that day wc wero the ccntro of an admiring group and I did con siderable trading with them. The principal articles in demand with them are indigo and ammunition; their arti- ; cles of merchandise being buckskin , and blankets. Of the latter they woave i some very lino ones, littlo inferior to the celebrated Navajo blnnkels.of which also they generally have a quantity on hand lor trad;ng. The next day I put up my dark tent and mado preparations prepara-tions for making some pio'uros. Tuba who formerly lived in Oryba and was one of their ohiefs, had beon to Salt Like last summer, and had undergone un-dergone the ordeal of photography. Tho photos which ho brought back were objects of wonder to the simple Moquis, and considered a quick and sure passport to another world. Apprehending Ap-prehending considerable difficulty in getting pictures of them, I had taken quito a numbor of photographs of other Indians nnd also white people to show them. They were pleased with the pictures and sci'tncd to understand them, but when I told them by signs Ac, that i wished some of them, they wtro sure to nsk mo what I wanted to do with them, anil shaking their heads would mutter, "Mouil'1' "Mo-qui !" which uioaun "die." Kven Lie. tho supcrotitious cut, after living in I'tab long onouh to It'iirn to speak tho 10 o hsU lanvuage well, would not consent fir mo to photograph cither him nor hia hou-e, so concluding thit I would get out my instruments anl oat.h what I could on tho fiy, T went to work, and before they knew what I was doing, had several good negatives of groups and houses. They are tho most curious people in the world. The moment a person commences doing anything they crowd around in large numbers. When I commenced work, about thirty or forty gathered around me. but as soon as they found out what 1 was doing, they soon had business in some other part of the town. When making views from the Btreets. the place indeed had the appearance of being a moqui town in reality;. the only sign of I i to was an occasional pair of black eyes witching mo from around the corner, or from a window. AH that 1 could eay or do would not induce any of them lo stand still long enough to get a picture, if they knew it. If I left my camera standing in tho middle of the s'.rcet it was perfectly safe ; they would gather around it in my absence, but when I returned they would scatter like a flock of sheep. INDIAN TOWNS, OR AZTEC CITIES. Oryl a consists of ihrco or four long ruw or uioosa ot nouccs, eacn otto intended in-tended to be a separate fortification of itself, The houses aro of stono and mud, three and four stories high. In entering them you ascend to the roof of the first story by a ladder placed against tho wall; from this landing tho ascent is made to each successive floor by rock steps, which form tho gablo end of each separate bouse. Some of the houses are white washed insido, and have a clean appearance. Tho streets are narrow, anl in tho shape that natoro formed them, with the addition of all the ti th and dirt left by man and beast. We staved at, Oryba three days, and then crime on over to yho-pow-la-wee and Mce-hom-o neah, two smaller villages thin 0 ya T ey aro built on tlm siiuiy pfa'rj-u, but perched on small bui tcs five hundred foet high, and probibly half a mile upuit. j-uuir uuiiu iruui me vuuey is probably fifteeu hundred feet. To desoribe tho romantic surroundiugs of this interesting people requires a readier pen than mine, but with my oamcra I have caught a few shadows, and enclose en-close them in the shapo of piotures They have been duly received. Kds. Herald they will speak plainer than any words of mine. By trading a horse to the chief of tthe-pow -la-weo, and talking about trading a pistol to the chief of Mee Bhom-o-neah, t succeeded suc-ceeded in getting several views of each placo, notwithstanding they were all the time talking about " Moqui I " 44 Moqui ! " On our return I expect to stop with them several days and will give you a more extended account of them hereafter. here-after. Shee-mo-pav-wo, another email village we did not visit coming over, but wil on our return. Wo have been here three days and have made several fine views, some specimens of which I send you. MOQUIS BELLES. Tho unmarried ladies of this poople are a curiosity to us outside heathens; they wear their hair in euch a romantio style that thero is no danger of a fellow fel-low mistaking one for a married woman. As soon as they are marriageable marri-ageable they do their hair upon each sido of the head, something in the shajie of two great wiogs, or as it most reminded me of tho wheels of a propeller. The dear creatures look to mo as if they were just ready to fly. As soon as they enter the holy bauds of matrimony they drop their wings audit hangs in long rolls by the side of the head. I have been trying to get a setas," at they are called, but so far have found it love's labor lost, for they are tho shiest deers 1 ever met. Today To-day was the first lime that I have ever been able to get one cornered long enough to speak with.' AZTEC HOSPITALITY. It happened in this wie: A young fellow came to our camp and gave me to understand that he had a fino bearskin bear-skin which he wished to trade for powder; and also that his father, mother mo-ther and two sisters would like to see me at their house I was not slow in accepting the invitation, and armed with a saok of powder and a few beads and other trinkets, we started for his home. There are three small villages here all on tha same butte, or plateau, and elevated at least ISO feet a,bovo the valley. The trail leadiug up from below be-low winds along around the cliff, through the crevices and openings of the rooks, over steps natural and artificial that havo been used for hundreds hun-dreds of years, unfit it reaches tho top and western point of the butte where is situated the largest villago this oailed Moqui. About 200 yards farther east is Moqu ecna. and a little farther is the third and last of the seven oitios of tha desert, Tawah, at which place my young friend lived. The dining and sitting room was in the third story, the lower rooms being used for kitchen, kit-chen, work rooms, eto. We found the old folks seated on skins, while the young ladies with their winged appearance appear-ance were busily at work, ono grinding corn and tho other mixing butter for pekah. I should judge their ages to bo respectively fourteen and sixteen, and their wingn aro at least a foot long. Dinner consisting of vegetables and mutton stew, was served up io largo earthen bowls, beautifully carved and painted, out of whioh each person helped himself with his fingers, knives, forks and spoons being considered a superfluity among the Aztocs I have not quite yet harncd the dexterous gulp, which resembles tho taking of a fat oyster from a half shell, but presume I will in a few days. This afteroeoo I watobod the process of making pekah. The meal is firet mixed up into a thin batter, somo-times somo-times a bluo coloring matter is added; over a small furnace a largo flat rook is placed, and when quite hot the batter bat-ter is spread on this in a thin layer by dipping the fingers in it and sweeping them over the surface of tho rock. When cooked through, it cockles up and very much resembles a roll of brown paper. The folks havo promised mo that J shall take so mo pictures of them to morrow, and with this hope in view I have beon trailing with them at their own figures. Bus, as timo will not admit of u.y writing moro at present, pres-ent, I will close until my return to the river. ' Tuba and his wifo Tee lash nim-ki, who visited your oity last year, are now starting a new settlement on tho Moincoppc. Wo will visit them on our way home: wo will also uass near tho San Francisco mountains, among which the Hio Colorado Chiquceto heads. " DIAMONDS. By the way, I saw in an eastern paper just hel'oro leaving tho settlements, settle-ments, that diamonds had been iound in this vicinity, ofcourso I have had my eyes open ever since for something rich, but far have failed to find anything but a few agates and cornelians corneli-ans andjin occasional garnet, tho latter, however, generally of small sine. As a gonoral thing I believe, however, that the talk of rich diamonds is a humbug. If I find anything vcrv precious, I will lot you know in good timo. K. 0. Ceaman. Formerly of the Colorado Exploring Ex-ploring Expedition. |
