Moqui

“ It is gratifying to observe that the Spanish writer in the remote wilds of America struck upon an important fact in ethnology: that the throwing of "harina" or flour by the people of Tusayan (Mohoçe or Moqui) , Cibola, and Zuñi (observe the odd separation of "Zibola" from either Moqui or Zuñi) was identical with the "carnestolendas" of Spain, in which, on Shrove Tuesday, the women and girls cover all the men they meet with flour. The men are not at all backward in returning the compliment, and the streets are at times filled with the farinaceous dust. ”

“ The "seven Pueblos of Moqui" (as they are called) are a similar tribe living a few leagues beyond. They formerly acknowledged the government and religion of the Spaniards, but have long since rejected both, and live in a state of independence and paganism. Their dwellings, however, like those of Zuñi, are similar to those of the interior Pueblos, and they are equally industrious and agricultural, and still more ingenious in their manufacturing. The language of the Moquis or Moquinos is said to differ but little from that of the Navajoes.—Gregg. ”

“ How 'bout reachin' the trail to the Moqui country?"
"I have been thinking of it all day," said Thurstane. "We must give it up. Every one of the branch cañons on the other bank trends wrong. We couldn't cross them; we should have to follow them; it's an impassable hell of a country. We might by bare chance reach the Moqui pueblos; but the probability is that we should die in the desert of thirst. We shall have to run the river. Perhaps we shall have to run the Colorado too. If so, we had better keep on to Diamond creek, and from there push by land to Cactus Pass. ”

“ In 1583 Espejo estimated that the Moquis numbered fifty thousand, which, doubtless, was an over estimate, as he has been accused of exaggeration. However, since their discovery their numbers have greatly diminished and steadily continue to decrease, as if it were also to be their fate to become extinct like the ancient cliff dwellers.
The Moqui Pueblos are well protected by natural barriers upon all sides except towards the south. Perched upon their high mesas the people have been safe from every attack of an enemy, but their fields and flocks in the valley below were defenseless. ”

“ It is strange that two permanently located peoples, the Moquis and the Pueblos, both living in well-built towns not far apart, and both showing signs of a budding civilization, should speak languages totally different from each other; that one of these languages should show a connection with the Aztec and the other not; that neither is related to the tongue of the Shoshones, who nearly surround them; and, furthermore, that in six of the seven Moqui towns only, the Moqui language is spoken, while in the seventh, Harno, the Tegua, a language of one of the New Mexican Pueblos is spoken. ”

“ Then all we've got to fear, Frank, is the work of Eugene and his crowd. Let us keep clear of that bad lot, and we're going to succeed. Any time, now, we may glimpse our old Moqui, returning with a message from the professor, if he sees fit to reply to your appeal. He may, though, be so set and stubborn that nothing will move him from his game of hiding. ”

“ The philological affinities of the Pueblo languages scarcely coincide with the geographical relations. The Moqui lies far west. Laying this then out of the question, the three that, in their outward signs, most strike the eye in tables, as agreeing with each other, are the Laguna, the Jemez, and the Tesuque. The other two that thus outwardly agree are the Taos and the Zuni,—two that are not in the most immediate geographical juxtaposition. ”

“ The red and dark brown painted ware we have traced from Peru to Nicaragua, and thence to the Moqui settlements. The Moquis of Arizona make great numbers of the shallow ladles with short handles terminating in animals’ heads, similar to those of Peru. We have seen the Brazilians and Moquis both using vegetable colors on pottery, and it is probably only our ignorance of Peruvian and Central American methods which hinders our tracing these processes back to antiquity. It is difficult upon any other hypothesis than that of a community of race to explain these facts. ”

“ Ingersoll’s rendering of the romantic legend which tells in few words the sad history of the ancient architects of these aërial abodes. We have observed that, according to this account, the remnant of this people who escaped the destruction visited upon the cliff-dwellers by the warlike Utes fled to the South—to the deserts of Arizona—and built the present Moqui towns. We have already stated that Mr. Jackson’s party found it necessary to travel forty miles due southward from the ruins of the Chaco Cañon in order to reach Tegua, the nearest of the Moqui settlements. ”

“ In this custom we find expressed in the clearest way a belief in the transmigration of human souls into the bodies of turtles.540 The theory of transmigration is held by the Moqui Indians, who belong to the same race as the Zunis. The Moquis are divided into totem clans—the Bear clan, Deer clan, Wolf clan, Hare clan, and so on; they believe that the ancestors of the clans were bears, deer, wolves, hares, and so forth ”

“ Davis, referring to a MS. by Cruzate, a former Governor of New Mexico, maintains that the Moqui speak the Queres language, but at the same time he says 'it is maintained by some that ... four of the Moqui villages speak a dialect very nearly the same as that of the Navajos, while a fifth speaks that of San Juan, which is Tegua.... The distance from Picoris to the Moqui villages is about four hundred miles ... yet these widely separated pueblos speak ... the same language.' El Gringo, pp. ”

“ The Moqui of Arizona, clearly identified with Coronado's "Tusayan" are not noticed on the map, of course.
If now we compare these localities in 1540 with the present sites of the pueblos of New Mexico, it is self-evident that the Zuñi, Acoma, Tiguas, Queres, Jemez, Tehua, and Taos still occupy (Acoma excepted) , if not the identical houses, at least the same tribal grounds. The Piros have removed to the frontier of Mexico, the Pecos are extinct as a tribe; of the Tanos and Picuries, a few remain on their ancient soil. Their fate is not a matter of conjecture, but of historical record. ”

“ There are fetishes and incantations which, when they have been discontinued in one pueblo, can only be recovered from some other one, often far distant.
In these and similar ways had the story of the coming of the Spaniards reached Moqui, and their horses had been represented there as man-eating creatures.{201} There came also to Zuñi Indians from the extreme east of the Pueblo region, from a village called Cicuyé. This village was situated “seventy leagues toward the east.” The arrival of Coronado was already known there. ”

“ The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the west and troubled them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard to get away, for the monsters could see all over the country from the tops of the mesas. The king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman in his country and a thousand horses to any man who would deliver his people from these giants. ”

“ In these sky cities the Moquis live a retired life that is well suited to their quiet dispositions, love of home life and tireless industry. The men are kind, the women virtuous and the children obedient. Indeed, the children are unusually well behaved. They seldom quarrel or cry, and a spoiled child cannot be found among them. The Moquis love peace, and never fight among themselves. ”

“ The Moquis are a semi-civilized people living in seven towns on the plateau in northern Arizona. Our first accounts of them date from the expedition of Coronado in 1540. Their history is similar to that of the town-building Indians of New Mexico, except that after a successful revolt against the Spaniards, in 1680, they have remained independent. They are kind-hearted and hospitable, cultivate the soil, raising grain and vegetables, and possessing large flocks of sheep and goats. They weave very fine blankets, an art which they have taught several neighbouring tribes. ”

“ As we approach the southern border of the group, the stage of culture becomes higher. The natives of the Pueblo of Moqui, whose curious serpent-worship has been so well described by Captain Bourke, [142] are of this stock, and illustrate its capacity for developing a respectable civilization. The Kizh and Netela, who were attached to the mission of San Capistrano, were also Shoshonees.
b. The Sonoran Branch.
In the valley of the Gila river the Shoshonian and Sonoran branches of the Uto-Aztecan stock were in contact from time immemorial. ”

“ The smallness of the distances between those in the Chaco valley suggests that their inhabitants must have been united in a confederation; and one can easily see that an actual juxtaposition or partial coalescence (p. 092) of such communities would have made a city of very imposing appearance. The pueblos are always found situated near a river, and their gardens, lying outside, are easily accessible to sluices (p. 093) from neighbouring cliffs or mesas. The Moqui pueblos. But in some cases, as the Wolpi pueblo of the Moquis, the whole stronghold is built upon the summit of the cliff ”

“ The last object of this communication from the high plains of New Mexico, is the most curious, and the most strongly indicative of the wild, superstitious notions of the [164] Moqui mind. It consists of a small quantity of wild honey, wrapped up in a wrapper or inner fold of the husk of the maize, as represented in E, [reproduced in Figure 67.] It is accompanied by these remarks:
“A charm to call down rain from heaven.—To produce the effect desired, the President must take a piece of the shuck which contains the wild honey, chew it, and spit it upon the ground which needs rain ”

“ The only reasonable explanation why any people should select a location like that of the Moquis is on the hypothesis of choice. There is much of the animal in human nature that is influenced by instinct, and man, like the brute, often unconsciously selects what is most congenial to his nature. Thus instinct teaches the eagle to nest on the highest crag and the mountain sheep to browse in pastures which only the hardiest hunter dare approach. For no better reason, apparently, do the Moquis occupy their barren mesas; they simply prefer to live there above any other place. ”

“ The horse transformed the Utes, Apaches, Comanches, and Navajos from snapping-turtles into condors. Thenceforward, instead of crawling in slow and feeble bands to tease the dense populations of the pueblos, they could come like a tornado, and come in a swarm. At no time were the Moquis and their fellow agriculturists and herdsmen safe from robbery and slaughter. Such villages as did not stand upon buttes inaccessible to horsemen, and such as did not possess fertile lands immediately under the shelter of their walls, were either abandoned or depopulated by slow starvation. ”

“ The soul certainly has a great deal to do with the body.
While our travellers sleep, let us glance at the singular people among whom they have found refuge.
It is said hesitatingly, by scholars who have not yet made comparative studies of languages, that the Moquis are not red men, like the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Lenni-Lenape, the Sioux, and in general those whom we know as Indians. It is said, moreover, that they are of the same generic stock with the Aztecs of Mexico, the ancient Peruvians, and all the other city-building peoples of both North and South America. ”

“ The Great Father and Mother of the Moquis created men in nine races from all manner of primeval forms. The Pima creator made man and woman from a lump of clay, which he kneaded with the sweat of his own body, and endowed with life by breathing upon it. ”

“ These hive-like colonies are usually placed, for further defence, on the summits of the lofty plateaus, which in the region of New Mexico are detached by the broad cañons with which that remarkable region is intersected. By such means this ingenious people seek protection from the wild tribes with which they are surrounded. Thus permanently settled, while exposed to the assaults of marauders, the Moquis cultivate the soil, raise corn, beans, cotton, and more recently vegetables derived from intercourse with the Mexicans. ”

“ Harkness having been reached, it was doubtful if the rancher would arrive in time. The old Indian recognized the symptoms of an approaching climax in the ceremonies, and what that climax was to be he guessed only too well. No white man had ever seen the snake dance of the Moquis and lived to tell of it, if his presence were known. That Jeffries Mayberry was to share the fate of many another unfortunate victim in the tribe's past history, was what Black Cloud feared. ”

“ Most of the Pueblo tribes call themselves the descendants of Montezuma; [II-40] the Moquis, however, have a quite different story of their origin. They believe in a great Father living where the sun rises; and in a great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down. The Father is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine; but from the Mother are all joys, peace, plenty, and health. In the beginning of time the Mother produced from her western home nine races of men in the following primary forms: First, the Deer race ”

“ AMONG the aboriginal tribes of the Southwest is that of the Moquis, an isolated remnant of a former wide-spread nation. These Indians are of particular interest, especially as a study for the ethnologist, on account of their peculiar manner of living, strange customs, etc., as well as in being little known and seldom visited by the white man. ”