Part 15

383. The next morning after the arrival of the Tse`tláni, Hastséyalti came once more to the lodge of the White Shell Woman; but he talked with her apart from the others, and when he was gone she told no one what he said. In three days he came back again; again they talked apart, and when Hastséyalti was gone she remained silent. It was her custom to sleep with one of the little girls, who was her favorite and companion. In the morning after the second visit of Hastséyalti she said to this little girl: "I am going to leave you. The gods of Tse`gíhi have sent for me; but I shall not forget your people, and shall come often to watch over them and be near them. Tell them this when they waken." When she had spoken she disappeared from the sight of the little girl, and when the people woke they searched, but could find her nowhere. They supposed she had gone to Tse`gíhi and tarried there a while before she went to Depe'ntsa to dwell forever in the house of White Shell, which had been prepared for her there. The fourth night after the departure of Yolkaí Estsán the little girl had a dream, which she related to her people in the morning. In the vision she saw Yolkaí Estsán, who said to her: "My grandchild, I am going to Depe'ntsa to dwell. I would take you with me, for I love you, were it not that your parents would mourn for you. But look always for the she-rain when it comes near your dwelling, for I shall ever be in the she-rain."

384. While at White Standing Rock the men wandered much around the country in search of food. Some who had been to To`dokónzi (Saline Water) said the latter was a better place than than that in which they lived; that there were some porcupines there, an abundance of rats, prairie-dogs, and seed-bearing plants; and that there were steep-sided mesa points in the neighborhood where they might surround large game.[170] After the departure of Yolkaí Estsán the people all moved to To`dokónzi;[171] but they remained here only a few days, and then went to Tsa`olgáhasze. Here they planted some grains of corn from the two ears that Hastséyalti had given them long ago. This was a very prolific kind of corn; when planted, several stalks sprouted from each grain, and a single grain, when ground, produced a large quantity of meal, which lasted them many days.

385. When they had been fourteen years at Tsa`olgáhasze they were joined by another people, who came from the sacred mountain of Dsilnáotil, and were therefore called Dsilnaoti'lni, or Dsilnaoti'ldine`. These were regarded as diné` digíni, or holy people, because they had no tradition of their recent creation, and were supposed to have escaped the fury of the alien gods by means of some miraculous protection. They did not camp at first with the older settlers, but dwelt a little apart, and sent often to the latter to borrow pots and metates. After a while all joined together as one people, and for a long time these three gentes have been as one gens and have become close relations to one another. The new-comers dug among old ruins and found pots and stone axes; with the latter they built themselves huts.

386. Seven years after the arrival of the Dsilnaoti'lni a fourth gens joined the Navahoes. The new arrivals said they had been seeking for the Dsilnaoti'lni all over the land for many years. Sometimes they would come upon the dead bushes of old camps. Sometimes they would find deserted brush shelters, partly green, or, again, quite green and fresh. Occasionally they would observe faint footprints, and think they were just about to meet another people like themselves in the desolate land; but again all traces of humanity would be lost. They were rejoiced to meet at last the people they so long had sought. The new-comers camped close to the Dsilnaoti'lni, and discovered that they and the latter carried similar red arrow-holders,[172] such as the other gentes did not have, and this led them to believe that they were related to the Dsilnaoti'lni. The Navahoes did not then make large skin quivers such as they have in these days; they carried their arrows in simpler contrivances. The strangers said that they came from a place called Haskánhatso (much Yucca baccata), and that they were the Haskándine`, or Yucca People; but the older gentes called them Haskánhatso, or Haskanhatsódine`, from the place whence they came.[173]

387. Fourteen years after the accession of the fourth gens, the Navahoes moved to Kintyél (which was then a ruin), in the Chaco Canyon. They camped there at night in a scattering fashion, and made so many fires that they attracted the attention of some strangers camped on a distant mountain, and these strangers came down next day to find out who the numerous people were that kindled so many fires. As the strangers, who were also diné` digíni, or holy people, said they came from Nahopá (Place of the Brown Horizontal Streak), the Navahoes called them Nahopáni. They joined the tribe, camping near the Haskánhatso and Dsilnaoti'lni.

388. It was autumn when the fifth gens was received. Then the whole tribe moved to the banks of the San Juan River and settled at a place called Tsintó`betlo[174] (Tree Sweeping Water), where a peculiar white tree hangs over the stream and sweeps the surface of the water with its long branches: there is no other tree of its kind near by. Here they determined to remain some time and raise crops; so they built warm huts for the winter, and all the fall and winter, when the days were fair, they worked in the bottom-lands grubbing up roots and getting the soil ready for gardens to be planted in the spring. The elder gentes camped farther down the stream than those more newly arrived.

389. In those days the language which the Navahoes spoke was not the same they speak now. It was a poor language then; it is better in these days.

390. When the tribe had been living six years on the banks of the San Juan, a band joined them who came from Tsi'nadzin[175] (Black Horizontal Forest), and were named as a gens from the place whence they came. The Navahoes observed that in this band there was a man who talked a great deal to the people almost every morning and evening. The Navahoes did not at first understand what this meant; but after a while they learned he spoke to his people because he was their chief. His name was Nabiniltáhi.

391. While living at the San Juan the people amused themselves much with games. They played mostly nánzoz[76] in the daytime and kesitsé[176] at night. They had as yet no horses, domestic sheep, or goats. They rarely succeeded in killing deer or Rocky Mountain sheep. When they secured deer it was sometimes by still-hunting them, sometimes by surrounding one and making it run till it was exhausted, and sometimes by driving them over precipices. When a man got two skins of these larger animals he made a garment of them by tying the fore-legs together over his shoulders. The woman wore a garment consisting of two webs of woven cedar bark, one hanging in front and one behind; all wore sandals of yucca fibre or cedar bark. They had headdresses made of weasel-skins and rat-skins, with the tails hanging down behind. These headdresses were often ornamented with colored artificial horns, made out of wood, or with the horns of the female mountain sheep shaved thin. Their blankets were made of cedar bark, of yucca fibre, or of skins sewed together.[177] Each house had, in front of the door, a long passageway, in which hung two curtains,--one at the outer, the other at the inner end,--made usually of woven cedar bark. In winter they brought in plenty of wood at night, closed both curtains, and made the house warm before they went to sleep. Their bows were of plain wood then; the Navahoes had not yet learned to put animal fibre on the backs of the bows.[178] Their arrows were mostly of reeds tipped with wood; but some made wooden arrows.[180] The bottom-land which they farmed was surrounded by high bluffs, and hemmed in up-stream and down-stream by jutting bluffs which came close to the river. After a time the tribe became too numerous for all to dwell and farm on this spot, so some went up in the bluffs to live and built stone storehouses in the cliffs,[179] while others--the Tsinadzi'ni--went below the lower promontory to make gardens. Later yet, some moved across the San Juan and raised crops on the other side of the stream.[180]

392. Eight years after the coming of the Tsinadzi'ni, some fires were observed at night on a distant eminence north of the river, and spies were sent out to see who made them. The spies brought back word that they had found a party of strangers encamped at a place called Tha`nezá`, Among the Scattered (Hills). Soon after, this party came in and joined the Navahoes, making a new gens, which was called Tha`nezá`ni. The strangers said they were descended from the Hadáhonigedine`, or Mirage People. The remains of their old huts are still to be seen at Tha`nezá`.

393. Five years after the Tha`nezá`ni were added, another people joined the tribe; but what gods sent them none could tell. They came from a place called Dsiltlá` (Base of Mountain), and were given the name of Dsiltlá`ni. As they had headdresses, bows, arrows, and arrow-holders similar to those of the Tha`nezá`ni they concluded they must be related to the latter. Ever since, these two gentes have been very close friends,--so close that a member of one cannot marry a member of the other. The Dsiltlá`ni knew how to make wicker water-bottles, carrying-baskets, and earthen pots, and they taught their arts to the rest of the people.

394. Five years later, they were joined on the San Juan by a numerous band who came originally from a place called Thá`pahahalkaí, White Valley among the Waters, which is near where the city of Santa Fé now stands. These people had long viewed in the western distance the mountains where the Navahoes dwelt, wondering if any one lived there, and at length decided to go thither. They journeyed westward twelve days till they reached the mountains, and they spent eight days travelling among them before they encountered the Navahoes. Then they settled at To`i'ndotsos and lived there twelve years, subsisting on ducks and fish,[169] but making no farms. All this time they were friendly to the Navahoes and exchanged visits; but, finding no special evidences of relationship with the latter, they dwelt apart. When at length they came to the San Juan to live, marriages had taken place between members of the two tribes, and the people from Among the Waters became a part of the Navaho nation, forming the gens of Thá`paha. They settled at a place called Hyíetyin (Trails Leading Upward), close to the Navahoes. Here was a smooth, sandy plain, which they thought would be good for farming, and the chief, whose name was Góntso, or Big Knee, had stakes set around the plain to show that his people claimed it. The people of the new gens were good hunters, skilled in making weapons and beautiful buckskin shirts, and they taught their arts to the other gentes.

395. The Thá`paha then spoke a language more like the modern Navaho than that which the other gentes spoke. The languages were not alike. The chief of the Tsinadzi'ni and Góntso often visited one another at night, year after year, for the purpose of uniting the two languages and picking out the words in each that were best. But the words of the Thá`paha were usually the best and plainest;[182] so the new language resembles the Thá`paha more than it resembles the old Navaho.

396. While the Thá`paha lived at Hyíetyin they had always abundant crops,--better crops than their neighbors had. Sometimes they could not harvest all they raised, and let food lie ungathered in the field. They built stone storehouses, something like pueblo houses, among the cliffs, and in these stored their corn. The storehouses stand there yet. The Thá`paha remained at Hyíetyin thirteen years, during which time many important events occurred, as will be told, and then they moved to Azdeltsígi.

397. Góntso had twelve wives; four of these were from the gens of Tsinadzi'ni, four from the gens of Dsiltlá`ni, and four from the gens of Tha`nezá`ni. He used to give much grain from his abundant harvests to the gentes to which his wives belonged; but, in spite of his generosity, his wives were unfaithful to him. He complained to their relations and to their chiefs; these remonstrated with the wives, but failed to improve their ways. At last they lost patience with the women and said to Góntso: "Do with them as you will. We shall not interfere." So the next wife whom he detected in crime he mutilated in a shameful way, and she died in consequence. He cut off the ears of the next transgressor, and she, too, died. He amputated the breasts of the third wife who offended him, and she died also. He cut off the nose of the fourth; she did not die. He determined then that cutting the nose should, in future, be the greatest punishment imposed on the faithless wife,--something that would disfigure but not kill,--and the rest of the people agreed with him.[183] But this had no effect on the remaining wives; they continued to lapse from virtue till all were noseless. Then they got together and began to plot mischief against their husband, Big Knee. They spoke so openly of their evil intentions that he feared to let any of them stay in his lodge at night and he slept alone.

398. About this time the people determined to have a great ceremony for the benefit of Big Knee; so they made great preparations and held a rite of nine days' duration.[184] During its progress the mutilated women remained in a hut by themselves, and talked about the unkindness of their people and the vengeance due to their husband. They said one to another: "We should leave our people and go elsewhere." On the last night of the ceremony there was a series of public exhibitions in a corral, or circle of branches, such as the Navahoes have now on the last night of the ceremony of the mountain chant,[185] and among the different alíli, or entertainments of the night, was a dance by the mutilated women. When their time came they entered the circle, each bearing a knife in her hand, and danced around the central fire, peering among the spectators as if searching for their husband; but he was hidden in the wall of branches that formed the circle. As they danced they sang a song the burden of which was "Pésla asilá." (It was the knife that did it to me.) When they had finished their dance they left the corral, and, in the darkness without, screamed maledictions at their people, saying: "May the waters drown ye! May the winters freeze ye! May the fires burn ye! May the lightnings strike ye!" and much more. Having cursed till they were tired, they departed for the far north, where they still dwell, and now, whenever they turn their faces to the south, we have cold winds and storms and lightning.

399. Not long after this memorable ceremony a number of Utes visited the Navahoes. They came when the corn-ears were small, and remained till the corn was harvested. They worked for the Navahoes, and when their stomachs were filled all left except one family, which consisted of an old couple, two girls, and a boy. These at first intended to stay but a short time after their friends had gone; but they tarried longer and longer, and postponed their going from time to time, till they ended by staying with the Navahoes till they died. They made particular friends with the Thá`paha, and got into the way of speaking to the latter people as they would to relations. One of the girls, whose name was Tsá`yiskid (Sage-Brush Hill), lived to be an old woman and the mother of many children. From her is descended the gens of Tsa`yiski'dni, which is so closely allied to the Thá`paha that a member of one of these gentes may not marry a member of the other.

400. Soon after the departure of the Utes the Navahoes were joined by a group of people who, when they came to tell their story, were found to have come from Thá`paha-halkaí, and to have made wanderings similar to those of the people who first came from that place. The new people spoke, also, the same language as the Thá`paha. For these reasons they were not formed into a new gens, but were joined to the gens of Thá`paha.

401. Some years later a large band came from the south to the settlement on the San Juan. It consisted of Apaches, who told the Navahoes that they had left their old tribe forever and desired to become Navahoes. They had not come to visit, they said, but to stay. They all belonged to one gens among the Apaches,--the gens of Tse`zindiaí (Trap-dyke),[186] and they were admitted into the tribe as a new gens with their old name. From the beginning they showed a desire to associate with Thá`paha, and now they are closely related to the latter and must not marry with them. Another band of Apaches, which came a little later, was added to the same gens.

402. About this time there was a great famine in Zuñi, and some people from this pueblo came to the San Juan to dwell with the Navahoes. They came first to the Thá`paha, and, although they had women in the party, they were not formed into a new gens, but added to Thá`paha. The gens of Zuñi was formed later.

403. The famine prevailed also at other pueblos, and some starving people came to the Navahoes from an old pueblo named Klógi, which was near where the pueblo of Jemez now stands. These formed the gens of Klógi, and made special friends of the Thá`paha.

404. The next accession was a family of seven adults, who came from a place called Tó`hani (Near the Water). They first visited the Dsiltlá`ni and remained, forming the gens of Tó`hani, affiliated now with Dsiltlá`ni.

405. The people who joined the Navahoes next after the Tó`hani came from a place called Tha`tsí, Among the Red (Waters or Banks), which was west of the San Juan settlement. From their traditions it appeared that they were not a newly created people; they had escaped in some way from the alien gods, and were for these reasons regarded as diné` digíni, or holy people. They were divided into two gentes, Thá`tsini and Kaídine`, or Willow People, and for a while they formed two gentes among the Navahoes; but in these days all traces of this division have been lost, and all their descendants are now called, without distinction, sometimes Thá`tsini and sometimes Kai or Kaídine`.

406. Before this time the Navahoes had been a weak and peaceable tribe; but now they found themselves becoming a numerous people and they began to talk of going to war. Of late years they had heard much of the great pueblos along the Rio Grande, but how their people had saved themselves from the anáye the Navahoes did not know. A man named Napaílinta got up a war party and made a raid on a pueblo named Kinlitsí (Red House), and returned with some captives, among whom was a girl captured by Napaílinta. From her is descended the gens of Kinlitsí, whose members are now close relations to Tsinadzi'ni (the gens of Napaílinta), and cannot intermarry with the latter.

407. The captives from Kinlitsí were, at first, slaves among the Navahoes;[187] but their descendants became free and increased greatly, and from them came another gens, Tliziláni, Many Goats, also closely related to Tsinadzi'ni.

408. Next in order came a band of Apaches from the south representing two gentes,--Destsíni (Red Streak People), and Tlastsíni (Red Flat Ground People). These were adopted by the Navahoes as two separate gentes and became close relations to the Tsinadzi'ni.

409. Not long after the arrival of these Apaches some Utes came into the neighborhood of the Navahoes, camping at a place called Tsé`di`yikáni (a ridge or promontory projecting into the river), not far from Hyíetyin. They had good arms of all kinds, and two varieties of shields,--one round and one with a crescentic cut in the top. They lived for a while by themselves, and were at first unruly and impertinent; but in the course of time they merged into the Navahoes, forming the gens of Notá or Notádine`, Ute People.

410. About the time they were incorporated by the Navahoes, or soon after, a war party of the Utes made a raid on a Mexican settlement, somewhere near where Socorro now is, and captured a Spanish woman. She was their slave; but her descendants became free among the Navahoes and formed the Nakaídine` (White Stranger People), or Mexican gens, who cannot now intermarry with Notádine`.

411. Góntso, or Big Knee, chief of the Thá`paha, was still alive and was a famous old man; but he had become feeble and had many ailments. There was a great ceremony practised in those days called natsi'd, which lasted all winter,[184] from harvest-time to planting-time; but the Navahoes have long ceased to celebrate it. This ceremony was held one winter for the benefit of Big Knee at the sacred place of To`ye'tli, the home of the War Gods. One night, while the rites were being performed, some strangers joined the Navahoes coming from the direction of the river. Adopted by the Navahoes, they formed the gens of To`yetlíni, and became closely allied to Notádine` and Nakaídine`.

412. On another occasion during the same winter some Apaches came from their country in the south to witness the ceremony of natsi'd. Among the women of the Thá`paha was one who visited the Apache camp and remained all night there. She became attached to an Apache youth, with whom she secretly absconded when the visitors left. For a long time her people did not know what had become of her; but many years after, learning where she was, some of her relations went to the Apache country to persuade her to return. She came back an old woman, bringing her husband and a family of three girls. The girls were handsome, had light skins and fair hair. Their grandmother, who admired them very much, insisted that a new gens should be made of them. So they were called Háltso, Yellow Bodies,[188] and originated the gens of that name. Their father died an old man among the Navahoes.

413. On another night of the same winter, while the ceremony for Big Knee was going on, two strange men, speaking the Navaho language, entered the camp. They said they were the advanced couriers of a multitude of wanderers who had left the shores of the great waters in the west to join the Navahoes. You shall now hear the story of the people who came from the western ocean:--

414. Surrounding Estsánatlehi's home were four mountains, located like those at the Place of Emergence--one in the east, one in the south, one in the west, and one in the north. She was in the habit of dancing on these mountains,--on the mountain in the east to bring clouds; on the mountain in the south, to bring all kinds of goods,--jewels, clothing, etc.; on the mountain in the west, to bring plants of all kinds; and on the mountain in the north, to bring corn and animals. On these journeys for dancing she passed from the east mountain to the south, the west, and the north mountain, the way the sun goes; and when she was done dancing on the north mountain she retraced her course (without crossing it) to the east; but she never completed the circle, i.e., she never passed from the north directly to the east. Over the space between the north and the east mountains she never travelled. This is the way her trail lay:--