Part 27
"In the interesting account entitled 'Some Deities and Demons of the Navajos,' by Dr. W. Matthews, in the October issue of the "Naturalist" (note 306), he mentions the fact that the warriors offered their sacrifices at the sacred shrine of Thoyetli, in the San Juan Valley. He says that the Navajos have a tradition that the gods of war, or sacred brothers, still dwell at Thoyetli, and their reflection is sometimes seen on the San Juan River. Dr. Matthews is certain the last part is due to some natural phenomenon. The following account seems to furnish a complete explanation of this part of the myth. Several years ago a clergyman, while travelling in the San Juan Valley, noticed a curious phenomenon while gazing down upon the San Juan River as it flowed through a deep canyon. Mists began to arise, and soon he saw the shadows of himself and companions reflected near the surface of the river, and surrounded by a circular rainbow, the 'Circle of Ulloa.' They jumped, moved away, and performed a number of exercises, to be certain that the figures were their reflections, and the figures responded. There was but slight color in the rainbow. Similar reflections have no doubt caused the superstitious Indians to consider these reflections as those of their deities."--G. A. Brennan, Roseland, Cook County, Illinois, January 12, 1887.
165. Tse`-gí-hi is the name of some canyon, abounding in cliff-dwellings, north of the San Juan River, in Colorado or Utah. The author knows of it only from description. It is probably the McElmo or the Mancos Canyon. It is supposed by the Navahoes to have been a favorite home of the yéi or gods, and the ruined cliff-houses are supposed to have been inhabited by the divine ones. The cliff ruins in the Chelly Canyon, Arizona, are also supposed to have been homes of the gods; in fact, the gods are still thought to dwell there unseen. Chelly is but a Spanish orthography of the Navaho name Tsé`gi, Tséyi or Tséyi. When a Navaho would say "in the Chelly Canyon," he says Tséyigi. The resemblance of this expression to Tse`gíhi (g and y being interchangeable) led the author at first to confound the two places. Careful inquiry showed that different localities were meant. Both names have much the same meaning (Among the Cliffs, or Among the Rocks).
166. The expression used by the story-teller was, "seven times old age has killed." This would be freely translated by most Navaho-speaking whites as "seven ages of old men." The length of the age of an old man as a period of time is variously estimated by the Navahoes. Some say it is a definite cycle of 102 years,--the same number as the counters used in the game of kesitsé (note 176); others say it is "threescore years and ten;" while others, again, declare it to be an indefinite period marked by the death of some very old man in the tribe. This Indian estimate would give, for the existence of the nuclear gens of the Navaho nation, a period of from five hundred to seven hundred years. In his excellent paper on the "Early Navajo and Apache,"[301] Mr. F. W. Hodge arrives at a much later date for the creation or first mention of the Tse`dzinki'ni by computing the dates given in this legend, and collating the same with the known dates of Spanish-American history. He shows that many of the dates given in this story are approximately correct. While the Tse`dzinki'ni is, legendarily, the nuclear gens of the Navahoes, it does not follow, even from the legend, that it is the oldest gens; for the diné` digíni, or holy people (see note 92), are supposed to have existed before it was created.
167. Tse`-dzin-ki'n-i is derived from tse` (rock), dzin (black, dark), and kin (a straight-walled house, a stone or adobe house, not a Navaho hut or hogán). Tse` is here rendered "cliffs," because the house or houses in question are described as situated in dark cliffs. Like nearly all other Navaho gentile names, it seems to be of local origin.
168. The rock formations of Arizona and New Mexico are often so fantastic that such a condition as that here described might easily occur.
169. The author has expressed the opinion elsewhere[318] that we need not suppose from this passage that the story-teller wishes to commiserate the Tse`tláni on the inferiority of their diet; he may merely intend to show that his gens had not the same taboo as the elder gentes. The modern Navahoes do not eat ducks or snakes. Taboo is perhaps again alluded to in par. 394, where it is said that the Thá`paha ate ducks and fish. The Navahoes do not eat fish, and fear fish in many ways. A white woman, for mischief, emptied over a young Navaho man a pan of water in which fish had been soaked. He changed all his clothes and purified himself by bathing. Navahoes have been known to refuse candies that were shaped like fish.
170. A common method of killing deer and antelope in the old days was this: They were driven on to some high, steep-sided, jutting mesa, whose connection with the neighboring plateau was narrow and easily guarded. Here their retreat was cut off, and they were chased until constrained to jump over the precipice.
171. The name To`-do-kón-zi is derived from two words,--to` (water) and dokónz (here translated saline). The latter word is used to denote a distinct but not an unpleasant taste. It has synonyms in other Indian languages, but not in English. It is known only from explanation that the water in question had a pleasant saline taste.
172. The arrow-case of those days is a matter of tradition only. The Indians say it looked something like a modern shawl-strap.
173. In the name of this gens we have possibly another evidence of a former existence of totemism among some of the Navaho gentes. Haskánhatso may mean that many people of the Yucca gens lived in the land, and not that many yuccas grew there.
174. From the description given of this tree, which, the Indians say, still stands, it seems to be a big birch-tree.
175. Tsin-a-dzi'-ni is derived by double syncopation from tsin (wood), na (horizontal), dzin (dark or black), and the suffix ni. The word for black, dzin, in compounds is often pronounced zin. There is a place called Tsi'nadzin somewhere in Arizona, but the author has not located it.
176. Ke-si-tsé, or kesitsé, from ke (moccasins), and sitsé (side by side, in a row), is a game played only during the winter months, at night and inside of a lodge. A multitude of songs, and a myth of a contest between animals who hunt by day and those who hunt by night, pertain to the game. Eight moccasins are buried in the ground (except about an inch of their tops), and they are filled with earth or sand. They are placed side by side, a few inches apart, in two rows,--one row on each side of the fire. A chip, marked black on one side (to represent night), is tossed up to see which side should begin first. The people of the lucky side hold up a screen to conceal their operations, and hide a small stone in the sand in one of the moccasins. When the screen is lowered, one of the opponents strikes the moccasins with a stick, and guesses which one contains the stone. If he guesses correctly, his side takes the stone to hide and the losers give him some counters. If he does not guess correctly, the first players retain the stone and receive a certain number of counters. (See note 88.) A better account of this game, with an epitome of the myth and several of the songs, has already been published.[316]
177. There are many allusions in the Navaho tales to the clothing of this people before the introduction of sheep (which came through the Spanish invaders), and before they cultivated the art of weaving, which they probably learned from the Pueblo tribes, although they are now better weavers than the Pueblos. The Navahoes represent themselves as miserably clad in the old days (par. 466), and they tell that many of their arts were learned from other tribes. (Par. 393.)
178. Allusion is here made to the material used by Indians on the backs of bows, for bow-strings, as sewing-thread, and for many other purposes, which is erroneously called "sinew" by ethnographers and travellers. It is not sinew in the anatomical or histological sense of the word. It is yellow fibrous tissue taken from the dorsal region, probably the aponeurosis of the trapezius.
179. The Navaho country abounds in small caves and rock-shelters, some of which have been walled up by these Indians and used as store-houses (but not as dwellings, for reasons elsewhere given, par. 26). Such store-houses are in use at this day.
180. The legends represent the Navahoes not only as poorly clad and poorly fed in the old days, but as possessing few arts. Here and elsewhere in the legends it is stated that various useful arts became known to the tribe through members of other tribes adopted by the Navahoes.
181. Another version states that when the Western immigrants were travelling along the western base of the Lukachokai Mountains, some wanted to ascend the Tse`inlín valley; but one woman said, "No; let us keep along the base of the mountain." From this they named her Base of Mountain, and her descendants bear that name now. This explanation is less likely than that in par. 393.
182. This statement should be accepted only with some allowance for the fact that it was made by one who was of the gens of Thá`paha.
183. Punishments for adultery were various and severe among many Indian tribes in former days. Early travellers mention amputation of the nose and other mutilations, and it appears that capital punishment for this crime was not uncommon. If there is any punishment for adultery among the Navahoes to-day, more severe than a light whipping, which is rarely given, the author has never heard of it. The position of the Navaho woman is such that grievous punishments would not be tolerated. In the days of Góntso even, it would seem they were scarcely less protected than now, for then the husband, although a potent chief, did not dare to punish his wives--so the legend intimates--until he had received the consent of their relatives.
184. For the performance of these nine-days' ceremonies the Navahoes now build temporary medicine-lodges, which they use, as a rule, for one occasion only. Rarely is a ceremony performed twice in the same place, and there is no set day, as indicated by any phase of any particular lunation, for the beginning of any great ceremony. Many ceremonies may be performed only during the cold months, but otherwise the time for performance is not defined. There is a tradition that their customs were different when they lived in a compact settlement on the banks of the San Juan River (before they became shepherds and scattered over the land); that they then had permanent medicine-lodges, and exact dates for the performance of some ceremonies. In paragraph 411 we hear of a ceremony which lasted all winter.
185. For a description of this ceremony see "The Mountain Chant: a Navaho Ceremony,"[314] by the author. It is an important healing ceremony of nine days' duration. The rites, until the last night, are held in the medicine-lodge and are secret. Just after sunset on the last day, a great round corral, or circle of evergreen branches, is constructed, called ilnásdzin, or the dark circle of branches. This is about forty paces in diameter, about eight feet high, with an opening in the east about ten feet wide. From about eight P.M. on the last night of the ceremony until dawn next morning, a number of dances, dramatic shows, medicine rites, and tricks of legerdemain are performed in this corral, in the presence of a large group of spectators,--several hundred men, women, and children. No one is refused admittance. Fig. 37 shows the dark circle of branches as it appears at sunrise when the rites are over, and, in addition to the original opening in the east, three other openings have been made in the circle. Fig. 30 shows the alíl (rite, show, or ceremony) of nahikáï, which takes place on this occasion, and it is designed largely for the entertainment and mystification of the spectators. The performers march around (and very close to) the great central fire, which emits an intense heat. Their skin would probably be scorched if it were not heavily daubed with white earth. Each actor carries a short wand, at the tip of which is a ball of eagle-down. This ball he must burn off in the fire, and then, by a simple sleight-of-hand trick, seem to restore the ball again to the end of his wand. When this is accomplished, he rushes out of the corral, trumpeting like a sand-hill crane. In "The Mountain Chant" this is called a dance, but the movements of the actors are not in time to music. Nahikáï signifies "it becomes white again," and refers to the reappearance of the eagle-down. The show is very picturesque, and must be mystifying to simple minds.
186. Tse`-zin-di-aí signifies Black Rock Standing (like a wall). It might mean an artificial wall of black rock; but as the result of careful inquiry it has been learned that the name refers to a locality where exists the formation known to geologists as trap-dyke. It cannot be averred that it is applied to all trap-dyke.
187. Slaves were numerous among the Navahoes, and slavery was openly recognized by them until 1883, when the just and energetic agent, Mr. D. M. Riordan, did much to abolish it. Yet as late as 1893, when the writer was last in the Navaho country, he found evidence that the institution still existed, though very occultly, and to a more limited extent than formerly.
188. Some translate Háltso as Yellow Valley, and give a different myth to account for the name. As most Navaho gentile names are undoubtedly of local origin, there may be a tendency to make all gentile names accord with the general rule.
189. The word here translated pet (lin) means also a domestic animal and a personal fetish. (See par. 63.)
190. Although this name, Bi-tá`-ni, seems so much like that of Bitáni that one might think they were but variants of the same word, they are undoubtedly distinct names and must not be confounded.
191. This is believed to be the notable landmark called by the whites Sunset Peak, which is about ten miles east of San Francisco Peak, in Yavapai County, Arizona. Sunset Peak is covered with dark forests nearly to its summit. The top is of brilliant red rock capped by a paler stratum, and it has the appearance, at all hours of the day, of being lighted by the setting sun.
192. This locality is in Apache County, Arizona, about sixty miles from the eastern boundary and twelve miles from the northern boundary of the Territory. A sharp volcanic peak, 6,825 feet high above sea-level, which marks the place from afar, is called "Agathla Needle" on the maps of the United States Geological Survey, and on the accompanying map, which was compiled from the government maps by Mr. Frank Tweedy of the Geological Survey.
193. The Navahoes are aware that in lands far to the north there are kindred tribes which speak languages much like their own. They have traditions that long ago some of their number travelled in search of these tribes and found them. These distant kinsmen are called by the Navaho Diné` Nahotlóni, or Navahoes in Another Place.
194. A version has been recorded which says that, on the march, one woman loitered behind at Deer Spring for a while, as if loath to leave; that for this reason they called her Deer Spring, and that her descendants became the gens of that name. The same version accounts in a similar manner for the names given at the magic fountains. The women did not call out the names of the springs, but they loitered at them.
195. The story of the Deer Spring People affords, perhaps, the best evidence in favor of the former existence of totemism to be found in the legend. Assuming that the immigrants from the west had once totemic names, we may explain this story by saying that it was people of the Deer gens who stayed behind and gave their name to the spring where they remained; that in the course of time they became known as People of the Deer Spring; and that, as they still retain their old name in a changed form, the story-teller is constrained to say that the fate of the deer is not known. Perhaps the name of the Maitó`dine` (par. 428) may be explained in somewhat the same way. (See "The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians," p. 107.[318])
196. The more proper interpretation of Ho-na-gá`-ni seems to be People of the Walking Place, from ho (locative), nága (to walk), and ni (people). It is not unreasonable to suppose that, like nearly all other Navaho gentile names, this name has a local meaning, and that the story here told to account for its origin is altogether mythical.
197. This episode indicates that kindness and pity are sentiments not unknown to the Navahoes, and that (though there are many thieves) there are honest men and women among them.
198. Na-nas-te'-zin, the Navaho name for the Zuñi Indians, is said to be derived from aná (an alien or an enemy), naste (a horizontal stripe), and zin (black). Some say it refers to the way the Zuñians cut their hair,--"bang" it,--straight across the forehead; others say it is the name of a locality.
199. Kin-a-á`-ni, or Kin-ya-á`-ni, means People of the High Pueblo House,--the high wall of stone or adobe. The name kinaá` might with propriety be applied to any one of hundreds of ruins in the Navaho country, but the only one to which the name is known to be given is a massive ruin six or seven stories high in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, about seventeen miles in a northerly direction from Chaves Station, on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. This ruin consists of unusually large fragments of stone, and looks more like a ruined European castle than other old Indian dwellings. It seems too far east and south, and too far away from the settlements on the San Juan, where the western immigrants finished their journey, to be the place, as some say it is, from which the gens of Kinaá`ni derived its name. The high stone wall which the immigrants passed en route, mentioned in par. 435 in connection with the gens of Kinaá`ni, may be the place to which the legend originally ascribed the origin of the name. There are many pueblo remains around San Francisco Mountain. The name is written "Kin-ya-a-ni" on the accompanying map.
200. Plate I., fig. 1, shows a yébaad, or female yéi or goddess, as she is usually represented in the dry-paintings. The following objects are here indicated: (1) A square mask or domino, which covers the face only (see fig. 28), is painted blue, margined below with yellow (to represent the yellow evening light), and elsewhere with lines of red and black (for hair above, for ears at the sides), and has downy eagle-feathers on top, tied on with white strings; (2) a robe of white, extending from the armpits to near the knees, adorned with red and blue to represent sunbeams, and fringed beautifully at the bottom; (3) white leggings secured with colored garters (such as Indians weave); (4) embroidered moccasins; (5) an ornamental sash; (6) a wand of spruce-twigs in each hand (sometimes she is shown with spruce in one hand and a seed-basket in the other); (7) jewels--ear-pendants, bracelets, and necklaces--of turquoise and coral; (8) long strips of fox-skin ornamented at the ends, which hang from wrists and elbows. (For explanation of blue neck, see note 74.) In the dance of the nahikáï, there are properly six yébaad in masquerade; but sometimes they have to get along with a less number, owing to the difficulty in finding suitable persons enough to fill the part. The actors are usually low-sized men and boys, who must contrast in appearance with those who enact the part of males. Each yébaad actor wears no clothing except moccasins and a skirt, which is held on with a silver-studded belt; his body and limbs are painted white; his hair is unbound and hangs over his shoulders; he wears the square female mask and he carries in each hand a bundle of spruce twigs, which is so secured, by means of strings, that he cannot carelessly let it fall. Occasionally females are found to dance in this character: these have their bodies fully clothed in ordinary woman's attire; but they wear the masks and carry the wands just as the young men do. While the male gods, in plate I., except Dsahadoldzá, are represented with white arms, the female is depicted with yellow arms. This symbolism is explained in note 27.
201. The exact etymology of the word Na-ti'n-es-tha-ni has not been determined. The idea it conveys is: He who teaches himself, he who discovers for himself, or he who thinks out a problem for himself. We find the verb in the expression nasinítin, which means, "Teach me how to do it." Here the second and third syllables are pronouns. Although the hero has his name changed after a while, the story-teller usually continues to call him Nati'nesthani to the end of the story. Often he speaks of him as the man or the Navaho.
202. The eighteen articles here referred to are as follows: 1, white shell; 2, turquoise; 3, haliotis shell; 4, pászini or cannel coal; 5, red stone; 6, feathers of the yellow warbler; 7, feathers of the bluebird; 8, feathers of the eagle; 9, feathers of the turkey; 10, beard of the turkey; 11, cotton string; 12, i`yidezná;[11] 13, white shell basket; 14, turquoise basket; 15, haliotis basket; 16, pászini basket; 17, rock crystal basket; 18, sacred buckskin. (See note 13.) These were the sacred articles which the gods were said to require in the myths of klédzi hatál and atsósidze hatál. In the myths of the former rite they are mentioned over and over again, to the weariness of the hearer. They are all used to-day in the rites mentioned, except the five baskets. Now ordinary sacred baskets (note 5, par. 28) are used; the jeweled baskets are legendary only.
203. The knowledge of domestic or pet turkeys is not new to the Navahoes. The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest have kept them for centuries. The Navahoes declare that in former years they kept pet turkeys themselves; but this seems doubtful, considering their mode of life. A conservative Navaho will not now eat turkey flesh, although he will not hesitate to shoot a wild turkey to sell it to a white man.
204. In the Navaho dry-paintings the rainbow is usually depicted with a head at one end and legs and feet at the other. The head is represented with a square mask to show that it is a goddess. It is apotheosized. (See fig. 29.) In one of the dry-paintings of the mountain chant the rainbow is depicted without limbs or head, but terminating at one end with five eagle-plumes, at the other end with five magpie-plumes, and decorated near its middle with plumes of the bluebird and the red-shafted woodpecker. (See "The Mountain Chant," p. 450.[314])
205. This magic cup figures in many other Navaho myths. (See paragraph 572.)