| Show clr i 1 oki 0 k chee ohe tamp V po ope oo i 0 A 0 0 f remarks on the difficulty of spelling indian words cokl Is the usual way we spell the name of the moki more correctly the shuming or the hop hopi but in the volume which is a small dictionary written by mormon V selman who spent 22 years as a a largely among the indians near provo thistle and in that neighborhood neighbor dood he spells the word moqui I 1 have also seen it belled mokwa so tor for the first word we note those variants As to the next word it is really a suffix the mot moat mo t excellent book on ute language published by dr edward ot of the university of california of more than pages technical complete exhaustive and scientifically accurate lie ile gives moki as moqui the hopi indian and says that the absolute form is he also says that the suffix ts tsa for eshee in one of its meanings denotes that the word to which it is attached is a noun thit this is its meaning of the thing denoted not a word of action but the thing form of is something like the gentit ve of pertaining to or inspru ment and further he gives ithe the word po 0 both long 0 s as meaning writing whatever spelling you prefer to adept moki shee po ope mo cwi po 0 or other variant means freely translated MOM of writ ing the writing of the MOM let Is take that rendition and apply it to the characters on the rock as being the writings of the moki the teat text below will draw out in detail more on that phase FB w john steele who spent two years on a mission to the moapa indians lot of nevada about 1851 to 5 53 3 says in his list of words that po ope means eye the eye writing in oth er words the thing that tells the eye what is said joe Pick says pop a means paper message the thing written mormon V selman says po kent means reading that Is rea reading ding the thing on paper and po kent kahn means the reading house the place where they teach you how to write the thing that talks to the eye selman gives the word po kent urn bah tor for to read so very closely akin are po 0 a consonant inse ted then becoming po ope and other variants ajl aji grouped around reading ng and writ ing the message the talk that thai pye eye reads and so on one other little thought gives the suffix insl as meaning the diminutive of v whatever word vord it is put on thus a horse is a kava but a colt is a kava iest again says Tavin impi means a big stone axe what we would call i maul like the big one I 1 have on my desk mch litch is 13 used to break off a chunk bt bf rock salt from a cliff when it is mounted in a wythe handle but a A Tavin impi ruia rua TSI is a little stone axe an axe child a tomahawk Tomy hawk I 1 mention that because some may see in MOM chee what should be spelled TSI tho the little moki or the little people the pits who play all kinds of 0 devilish pranks and some times the writings on the rocks are done by the little people there is no need to quarrel it is too in te resting but when I 1 put it up to my indian friend hero here about the writing on the thet rocks being done by the little people he says no it is to kob about same as cliff dweller maybe like moki MOM the word for indian is for anicent indian wee noonzie but only wee noonzie a pope Is that writing on the rocks of chic which h the meaning is obvious not recon dite nor symbolical too difficult of extracting a meaning from it but what is carrying a symbol has an in nr n r cleaning meaning is beyond the compre hension of the present day indian that Is moki MOM chee po ope done by the when they were in this neck of the woods so whether this group is done by the predecessor ol 01 the utes or by the whom they drove out I 1 tor for one can t say but let us assume it is done by the has a deep meaning conveys some secret lous symbolism outside the ken of the indians around here let us as assume all that tor for better reading as a major premise granted and go on o 0 with the story this group in clear creek candon can on this croup group I 1 think can properly be called hieroglyphs th that I 1 la I 1 hiero religious sacred sacrosanct sacro glyph to write writer a writ writing ing on a sacred or religious subject athis this group is found in an In access ible position high up on the cliffs toward the lower end of the canyon in such a peculiar place that one can not get a stand to take a photo ot of it and so tar far away that the photo can t be taken from the ground the cliffs there are of a tuft formation volcan volean ic dc origin and look exactly as it if mo ma her eatrue had stirred a plastic mass of rocks with a huge wooden spoon and one could see the spoon swipes in the now stiffened batter hopi and zuni Mth mythology and the six space regions in the hopi and zuni religion they not only have the tour four directions we have ot of north orth west south and east in that order but in addition UP and down making six as against our four note six dots to the rig right lit of the upper man now mind you I 1 am writing some thing ot of a popular nature full of lots of conjecture many premises taken for granted not proved this Is not a scientific treatise based on brov able and demonstrable facts accept accepted d by all far from it As stated it is written to make the most plausible I 1 hope of a subject so accept it or reject it as you wish six dots by the side of the man may hint a connection of a priest to whom the six space regions and their accompanying guardian spir its may be very familiar by long as and obedience to the form of religion of which that Is a basic conception and much built on it read gushing cushing mrs stevenson rc kes hes and others in the bureau ct ef american ethnology and the older writers writer in the past on the subject of the religion of the pueblo indians 1 note that the man has a feather in his hair he Is the usual type so often found there made by the chest lines tapering and the extension ot of them forma forms the legs between his begs legs may be denoted the fox skin hanging down behind his back so often seen in their dance drama pro cessions the dance drama procession depicted in the lower group in the lower grohe are seen be ginning at the left three deer then some large creature figures g gl ants in comparison larger than eith er the deer or the men among the zuni the giant come to the people during certain ot of their religious rites and dance drama processions professions process ions these are great tig fig ures masked eight feet and more tall fail actuated by a man inside look ing through a peep hole it would be a cause of merriment it if the art artl san who put this on the rock put the little man alongside the next to the last figure and attached to it by a line to indicate here Is the little duffer inside me who operates the strings to my eyes and makes makes my mouth gape the fangs snap causes my eyes to roll and sways my neck at the on lookers yes it would be quite amusing and very likely true note the pose of the big figures stooping forward walking along not lacking by a long ways in animation each differing from the other yet each ornamented and no major do mo could swagger up the street more ches than does the giant figure just ahead of the one showing the jack in the box inside him among the danl the giant Is most beautifully dressed in a rare and rich ceremonial paraphernalia often cream white and so sacred that honored Is the white man who has been permitted to see the entry into the village of these perso nations our father ancients visit us in the persons of the and no lares pr was more sacred to the hearthstone of the ancient roman than are the to the zuni hence of this group I 1 wish to think that with propriety the word hieroglyph may be used whereas with others is more appropriate this entire group is cut into the rocks in the usual manner around here which Is somewhat shallowly and no color accompanies them the rich patina on the surface of the rock Is cut through by the operation and the underlying lighter color thus exposed stands out in bold contrast at the distance of the creek side to the cliff they are best viewed from a certain spot on the very creek edge which affords a view otherwise shut oft off by crags anid and parts of the walls leaving just this one nice vista thru which the group may be seen I 1 thought the distance from the ob server by the creek side to them be between two and three hundred feet they are of large size for myself I 1 wish to believe them as representing something pertain ang to the six regional spaces in the upper part and the re presen tation of a dance drama pro session slon in the line of figures below but I 1 can not ask anyone else to accept that seiw it it does coincide with what they see in it or their fall ure to see anything by applying the touchstone ot of re corded knowledge of the religion rites and dance drama processions ot of the hopla hopis and this a sped peel men of a po ope yields us much of interest frank beckwith sr one word more before quitting this subject the tony mentioned in the article in this is sue entitled tony no cheat Is the shivwits Shiv wits indian whose picture Is shown in s book texts of the southern palates as one of his in tor mants on the language and one of the reci to him of the stories in the boot book these little touches add the fascination of the human inter est element in an already engaging subject |
