Show TALES I 1 odthe TRIBES by L WATSON the hopi the hopi call themselves the peaceful people but bat they can fight like fiends when they consider it necessary living as they do la in a wild land of mesas and canyons they have k partaken partaker par taken of the nature of 0 the country and are aloof implacable and wary of the outsider i they consider II 11 d a r themselves capable 0 of attending to their own hopi affairs and resent interference long ago they moved from the villages at the f dept beet of 0 tile the mesas building their picturesque homes on the elevations whore where raiding enemies could not surprise them farming in the land below must have been a very exciting and dangerous occupation sometimes when tile the fields must be cultivated almost furtively and the farmer must havo have tits ills weapons as close to hand as his digging sticks farming under primitive conditions condl tlona in scanty kanty soil Is a tedious work at best but the ilott know how to make the most of mint they have it Is related that an agricultural expert was sent to the province of tusayan as hopi land Is called to show tile the indiana how to farm they allowed p him in to experiment but when growing time came it was their own sty scanty corn watered by hand that made the crop and the experts field burned up under the ardent arizona sun the hopi religion includes fire and sun worship and also ancestor worship warship and it Is a thing to which they cling as closely as to their lives at one time they were practically forced into adopting the christian faith but during the great pueblo rebellion of 0 they returned to their own beliefs and only one hopi pueblo that of Awa continued in the new religion was thus a thorn in the side tile of the other villages with the white mans religion these people had bad also acquired their troublesome disposition mid and were constantly harassing the people ot cd the other pueblos they would not return to the ancient falth faith though they grafted some borne of it onto their new beliefs and a adhered to this mixed religion with a tenacity seemingly inspired by the love of annoying their tribesmen these c hafed more and more under the continued harassing and accordingly one night n le a many of the A wa were gathered in a large kiva their ne neighbors crept upon them s suddenly mealy u pulled up the ladder their only n ly means of escape and threw down upon the trapped men firebrands fire brands greasewood and crushed red peppers which they pulled down from where they hung drying on the houses the other converts in the pueblo were hunted down and killed by their exasperated tribesmen and only a few mostly women who abo were ivere especially proficient in the indian arts and children we were re spa spared red Pence peaceful ful people tride indeed edl 1 this happened in 1700 that it Is not a legend was proved in ln 1805 when dr J walter fewkes of the smith conlan institution excavated the ruins of Awa and found the fire black ened remains of the once nourishing flourishing pueblo and its inhabitants now the hopi live very quietly on their mesa tops they cultivate crops on the land below as they have done for centuries and they cling to their old beliefs and ceremonies people come from tar far lands to witness the famous snake dance in which tile the little brothers of the hopi are called calle al u upon pon to aid in prayers tor for rain and so 80 Off efficacious lelle fous Is their assistance that it 1 Is said never more than three days elapse until it rains the hopi raised cotton before the advent of the whites and one of their early manufactures was cotton cloth beautifully woven and often embroidered pottery making Is another art for which they are famous and although at present their skill in decoration does not flourish as it once did they copy and adapt designs centuries old with considerable effect so they are arc once more the peaceful people but perhaps if necessity should arise they would again show the world that they know how to fight P 1981 1931 getem newspaper union |