Laguna, New Mexico - Schat-chen; History, Traditions and Naratives [sic] of the Queres Indi (part 2 of 4)

New Mexico, as well as all of this southwestern country, is subject to violent sand storms at certain seasons of the year. The wind blowing over the dry sand seems in some way to electrify it so that it leaves the earth and is carried on the wind, and so dense is it at times that it is hard to distinguish objects a few fert distant. It was during one of these storms that a little boy was herding a bunch of goats about two miles west of the village of Laguna. He had sought the shelter of a stunted cedar tree to obtain what protection it would offer, when, like an apparition, a painted Apache warrior on his mustang loomed up alongside of him. The Apache reached down and grabbed the boy and rode away to join his companions. They were on their homeward journey from a marauding and thieving trip and in due time they reached their country, the Mogollon mountains, two hundred miles southwest of Laguna. The boy was, of course, considered a servant and the property of the man who capturned him, but he was allowed most all the privileges of the other children and as he grew up he became an expert with the bow and arrow and a daring horseman, and could outdistance the swiftest of his captors. There was jealousy, however, among some of the younger men on account of his abilities, but especially with one whose affections were centered on a certain dusky damsel who seemed to prefer the society of the captive. She overheard a plot to assassinate the Laguna to get rid of him and lost no time in telling him what she had heard, telling him that he would have to make a break for his liberty, otherwise they would kill him. The plan was arranged that he should hide somewhere near the camp that night and the next day, and the following night she would tie a fleet horse where he could find it and then it would be up to him to make his get-away. So in the night, when all was quiet, he went to a big hollow log which lay on the bank of a little stream close to the camp and crawled into the cavity. The next day the children came to play along the stream and around the old log. Now the Apaches as well as a great many of the Indians of this section of the country, are very superstitious about a rattlesnake, so he imitated the chur-ur-urur of the reptile and they all ran away. When night came he crawled out from his retreat and went cautiously to the place designated and found the horse and a Kittle sack of food. It took but a moment to untie the animal and spring onto his back, but by some misfortune he was apprehended and then began a chase through the dark defiles and steep trails of the mountains. It was hard work to make much distance in the dark so when the day dawned he knew that his pursuers were close behind him, and as the hours passed that they were gaining. Ahead of him was a deep gorge or canyon. Now there is another peculiar feature of nature in this country and that is what is commonly called a cloudburst. It seems that the cloud vapor collects over one spot, piling up miles in height, and then as the vapor begins to condense the water falls in torrents. Such a phenomenon was just happening at the head of this gulch, but he reached the opposite bank just as the flood swept by and when he had gained the ridge beyond, looking back, he could see his pursuers baffled by the raging torrent of water. He kept on his course, eventually reaching Laguna. His parents were still living and welcomed their long lost son.

Ancient History

Thus far we have followed authentic history or traditions, which can be verified by historic records. We now take the trail of tradition pure and simple. This lays before me a task of no small magnitude, to trace this people back over the road now all but obliterated, with no familiar landmarks to guide me, nothing but the few fragments of tradition scattered here and there at long intervals, the sound of a word that has survived the changing influences of time or the echo of an ancient song that seems to float down to us from the dim past. Eollin, the great historian, says something to the effect that the principal incentive to the study of the history of a people and the value derived from it is to discover where they made mistakes and to profit by their experience. With philosophers and statesmen this is true, but with the average person the incentive is curiosity and the value derived is the satisfaction of knowing.

This peculiar condition of the mind called curiosity, a compound of reason and instinct, or in the undeveloped brain probably the first shadow of reason. We find throughout the animal kingdom, with few exceptions, a certain desire or longing, to find out, to become familiar with that which is mysterious, or that which they do not understand. It is this same mystic influence that impels the human mind to delve into the unknown and to gather fragments of truth, which, arranged in proper order, we call knowledge. Who are the Queres Idians ? Who were their ancestors, and where did they come from? The early Spanish explorers in the country classified the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona according to their languages into nine different nations, viz., Tigua, Tegua, Tano, Queres, Piros, Tompiros, Xumanos, Tusayan and Cibolan. Of these the Queres were then as now, one of

Ancient Costume

Notice the peculiar head gear, from that peculiarity originated their name for hats - O-stchut-suts - a lid or covering broken or torn apart the most enlightened, as well as one of the most numerous ; at present numbering seven different tribes - Acoma, Laguna, Zia, Santa Ana, San Felipe, tSan Domingo and Oochiti

Their traditions are faded and covered with the dust of ages and badly patched with fragments from other traditions, but enough is left revealed to show that we may be able to trace these people, if not to their origin at least to a remote antiquity. The meaning of the name Qneres is rather indefinite; it seems to be an obsolete word, but possibly may be some word changed by Spanish usage. There is a secret society or medicine order called Korina, or Que-ran-na, which may have suggested the name to the Spaniards. Han-no is their own name for their people. The word is significant ; literally translated it means "Down East/ but it may be a Phoenician word, as Hanno was a name common among the Phoenicians. In all tradition there is a thread of truth, which, if it could be untangled from the romance which ages of superstition and ignorance have surrounded it, would prove a valuable addition to history. One great trouble in deciphering these old traditions is that in many instances they have been mixed, not only with other traditions of the same people, but with traditions from other people. When a Queres Indian commences to tell a story he begins by saying Humma-ha; these words to him now have no particular signification, and are used merely as words of attention or introduction, as we would say "Once upon a time," but at one time they meant something more, as the words indicate, Humma, when, and ha, east, and were used to introduce a class of stories brought from an eastern country. Among all the tribes of the Queres nation there is a tradition, or rather two versions of the same tradition, called "Shipop, stchemo;" the exodus from Shipop.

country all the people came out of a big water into which poured all the rivers of the earth, and though these rivers flowed for ages, never was the big water augmented, but that it would rise and fall at intervals.

Another version of this same tradition says that somewhere in the north, a few days' journey from the present Pueblo village, all the first people came out of a deep hole in the earth. Into this hole poured four great rivers from the four cardinal points, and although these rivers flowed constantly, never was the pit completely filled to the brim. The water would, however, rise and fall rhythmically. The latter version of the tradition is part Queres and part borrowed. Many of the Indian tribes of the southwest have this tradition of their origin in the bottomless pit. These traditions, as the Indians tell them, are clothed with a great deal of romantic and mythical nonsense, having been handed down orally from generation to generation, each one who repeats them making slight changes. Thus one tradition becomes merged or confounded with another, until time and place become a confused mass; so when asked where his ancestors came from the Queres Indian will answer ' ' From the north, " which is correct, but only answers a part of the question, as we shall proceed to demonstrate. Many of the old folk lore tales not only describe in a way the country from which they were brought, but also give the direction. Thus some refer to the north, others to the east or southeast.

The story or tradition of Shipop says that when the first people came out of the water the land was soft, or, as they express it, the land was not ripe (Sah-kun-unt), and that, not finding firm ground on which to build habitations, they continued on to the south of the unripe land and there finding a suitable place built a village and called it the ' ' Kush-kut-ret ; ' ' kush is now an obsolete word, but in ancient times it was their word for white ; kutret is the Queres word for house, so the structure they built must have been a compact village or pueblo, with numerous rooms, resembling a large house. We will call it the " White Village. "

From here the tradition refers to a country still east of the ' * unripe land, ' ' a country of no small extent, for it was considered a remarkable feat to make a journey around it, and they say that but few men ever made the trip. They tell us that the country was surrounded by water on all sides (shra-ena-komisho-putch), literally the edge of the water all around. Their early traditions and beliefs point to this island, for such it must have been, as the cradle of the Queres nation - the island of Shipop. Now, in the water which surrounded this island lived a monstrous animal or fish, the "Wa-wa-keh," that vomited water. This fish came up and threw such quantities of water over the land that it was submerged, and all the people who had remained on the island perished. These traditions at first seem nonsensical, but when we apply reason, assisted by the recent discoveries in archaeology, we find that they are consistent. They are peculiar in one way, showing that these Indians were at one time a seafaring people.

Along with these romantic traditions there are several others for making this assertion. They speak of the land they once inhabited as being surrounded by water (shra-ena-kowisho-putch), and the end or limit of the world, or where the sky to their early belief, met the horizon. Thev call the edge of the water "kowishoputch," and they call the place where the sun rises and sets "the house of the sea or lake of flame," "kowikutch," showing that the sun must have risen and set, according to their belief in former times, in the waters. The big animal or fish, " Wa-wa-keh, " that vomited or blowed water, was the whale. Certain feature of the language also verify this statement. The name for some of the colors was suggested to them by the water; thus, striped, kow-i-shu-shuts, the trembling of the sea or lake ; spotted, ko-i-sup-pe-uts, the splashing of the sea or lake ; the name for white, know-istchum-mits, the reflection of the light on the sea or lake; the name for blue, kowwishk, though somewhat obscure, may be traced to a similar source, a word or phrase meaning "like the sea or lake.7' I have traced these Indians to their origin, or at least as far back as their traditions will take us, and witnessed the destruction of their island home.

Of course, we cannot accept their romantic theory of the destruction of their land by the marine monster, the "Wa-wa-keh," but we can believe that such a catastrophe may have happened, caused by some seismic disturbance of nature, as geology cites us many such instances even in modern times. In tracing these people I have given but a hasty glance along the trail they long since traveled. Let us follow these argonauts of the western hemisphere as their boats leave the island. Their course is west ; they reach the coast of Florida at a time when that peninsula was shoals and shifting sand bars, or vast swamps and marshes. Not finding a suitable place to land they continue on to the south, skirting the coast till they reach the southwest extremity of the peninsula. Here on the islands or keys they build their first habitations or first settlement on the North American continent and called it "Kush-kut-ret," or the "White Village. ' ' Here the traditions are verified by archaeological discoveries of vast pueblo ruins on the keys and west coast of Florida, constructed of conch shells. There is a faint tradition among the Lagunas and Acomas that their ancestors built structures of some kind of shells, and the color of these shells may have suggested the name for their village. On the islands and main land of Florida are quantities of broken pottery, a silent but undisputed witness that a superior race of Indians once inhabited the peninsula. The broken pieces of pottery show that it was vastly inferior to the nicely constructed jars which the Pueblos of today make. But no doubt their crude pots answered the purpose admirably for which they were intended.

Eef erring to the origin of the Key Dwellers, Mr. Gushing says this: "As I have reason to think,, they were aliens come to these shores from some distant region over the sea. * * It seems to me highly probable that not from the main land but from the sea, not from the north but from the south, the primitive or earliest Key Dwellers whoever they were came or were wafted in the beginning. ' '

Speaking of the culture, Mr. Gushing says this : "While they may not pertain to a new or hitherto unknown people, they certainly do reveal either a new phase of human culture or else an old culture in a new light. *

These collections served of themselves to indicate that here were the remains of a people not only well advanced toward barbaric civilization but of a people with a very ancient and distinct culture. "

With regard to the pottery, Mr. Gushing says: "I found abundant specimens of shell and coarse pottery characteristic of the K^y Dwellers proper. "

It is reasonable to suppose that communication was kept up at intervals with the island until some boat returning learned of the terrible disaster, and seeing the whale spouting in the vicinity of where the island had been, adopted the theory as the most plausible that this animal was responsible for its destruction. Years pass, some climatic change is taking place, the rainfall each year becomes less and less, until everything is parched and dry. A character whom they call "Po-chai-an-ny" comes to them from the cane brakes of the north ; he professes to have control of the seasons ; he obtains a large number of followers ; the ruler, or "Ho-chin," is deposed, and Po-chi-an-ny is elected to the place. He changes their medicine from the use of simple remedies to incantations and jugglery, but he fails to produce the desired change in the seasons. The anger of the natives finally becomes aroused. Po-chi-an-ny flees from their wrath, but is pursued and captured, and tying large stones to him they cast him into the deep water, but matters become worse, and at last they are compelled to move. Their course is to the northwest.

On the banks of a large river (the tradition does not describe this stream) they construct another village, and in remembrance of the first settlement name this the "White Village." Here a plague, which they call "Kioat," something like smallpox, overtakes them. A daughter of the ruler becomes afflicted. The disease baffles the skill of the medicine men.

To the west of the village in a house thatched with big leaves lives an old woman by the name of Que-o Ka-pe, who isx celebrated for her skill in medicine. The ruler sends his war captain and brings her to the village. (She cures his daughter and many others merely by the application of water. The medicine men become jealous of the old woman on account of her skill in overcoming the disease with so simple a remedy when they were powerless with all their incantations. The medicine men hold a consultation and Que-o Ka-pe is sentenced to be killed, but before the deed i-s executed she makes a prophecy. The Queres Indians say that she pronounced a curse on them; that misfortune and misery would pursue them relentlessly for generation after generation.

Again the disease broke out more violently than before, and again they are compelled to migrate, and again their course is toward the northwest. They say the reason they had followed this course was to join a people who years before had come from the same place, " Ship-op, " and had settled in this, to them, northwestern territory. In a valley surrounded by rugged mountains and perpendicular bluffs we again hear of the "White Village ;" last of grand settlements of the Queres.

The tradition gives several significant landmarks. It might be questionable whether these were on the island which was sunk or somewhere in the vicinity of the last of the "White Villages," most probably the latter. These landmarks were four majestic mountains. On the north was the " Kow-i-stchum-ma Kote," literally the "mountain of the white lake/' but probably a snow-capped mountain. Kote is the Queres name for mountain. On the east was a tall straight mountain called "Kut-chunnah Kote." On the south was the "Tout-u-ma Kote," the "Hooded Mountain," probably a flat-topped mountain, capped with basalt. On the west was a rugged mountain covered with forests, called the ' i Spinna Kote. ' '

From the earliest times the Queres were governed from one central seat called "Kush Kut-ret," or the "White Village." The ruler or "Ho-chin" was elected for life, selected for his knowledge and executive ability. At his death another was selected in a similar way. His duties, besides governing the people, were to keep the ancient traditions and history of the people of the nation. He was also the head of the medicine orders. He had one officer, the war captain (Sah-le Ho-chin).

The last of the White Villages was built in Southern Colorado, or possibly in Utah, and the tributary settlements extended throughout that part of the country where the four states corner - Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and "Utah. The destruction of this grand settlement was caused by a tributary village declaring its independence and electing a new ruler. This led to a general war among the inhabitants, and to finish what the Que- res had themselves begun, those fierce warriors, the Apaches, appear. The destruction is complete. The nations which for thousands of years had held together, fighting their way across the North American continent, were scattered, some going to the valley of the Rio Grande, others further west.

History Of Aztez And Toll-Tecs

At some time during their sojourn in that northern country they say that one part of the nation or people went on to the Quay-eh Puh Ko-wahk Queestche-ko-eh, which means, South and beyond the outskirts of the southwest settlements. Where did they go? Can we answer this question! We have followed their wanderings before, sometimes by the faintest of clues. There is certainly something left by which to identify them, some landmarks, some word, name or customs that still survive, that will guide us. South and beyond the outskirts of the southwest settlements. From the way this statement is worded it is evident that they went a long ways. The early historians of Mexico tell us that the Aztecs, the ruling nation of Mexico at the time of the Spanish invasion, came from the north. In speaking of the emigration of the Aztecs Clavegero says: "Having passed the Rio Colorado from beyond latitude 35 degrees they proceeded towards the southeast as far as the Eio Gila, where they stopped for some time, for at present there are remains to be seen of the great edifices built by them on the borders of that river. From thence, having resumed their course towards south-southeast, they stopped in about 29 degrees of north latitude at a place which is more than 200 miles from the city of Chihuahua, towards northwest. This place is known by the name of Case Grandi, on account of an immense edifice still existing."

The names of different nations, tribes or communities are derived or acquired in various ways, generally from the country, or certain features of the country they inhabit, sometimes from some national peculiarity or racial characteristic or from some industrial occupation, sometimes in honor of some noted character, hero or clan or tribe, and the country or locality gets its name from some natural feature or characteristic or product, animal, vegetable or mineral, or may be from the name of some hero or noted character or from some incident or happening that may have taken place or some instrument or weapon or utensil used by the inhabitants.

Names are sometimes contorted or changed in different ways, by abridging or abbreviating or by a people of a different language giving the name a wrong pronunciation. And in certain instances some other word is mistaken for the name and erroneously applied. So, keeping these facts in view, we will try a little comparison. For instance, we will take the Indian names of the seven different Queres villages and figure out the meaning:

Histoky Of Aztec And Toll-Tecs 79

The historian tells us that when the Aztecs arrived in the land of Anahuac, somewhere about the year 1200 A. D., they established their settlement on the east border of the Mexican lake near a place called Tescuco. Now this may be merely a coincidence but the name sounds very much like a Queres word and it has a practical meaning. The Spanish pronunciation of Tescuco is Ta-scu-co, the Queres would be Tuh-scu-co, meaning, "Pull me out." Torquemado speaks of one tribe of the Aztecs that formerly inhabited caves in the mountain of the north.

Let us call to mind the nations of Anahuac or tribes of the Aztecs as they were classified, seven or more in number - Tepanecas, Tlascalans, Hahincas, Colhuans, Mexicans, Xochimilcas, Chichimecas. Reducing these words or names to their simplest form we have : Spanish Pronounced Queres Meaning

Now then we will apply the same line of deduction to Anahuac, their name for that region where they dwelt at the time of the Spanish invasion :

The City of Mexico, or Tenuchtitlan, as the ancient inhabitants called it, is situated in a valley completely surrounded by high mountains, and all the drainage from the valley and the mountain slopes next to the valley collects in several lakes which have no natural outlet. All these lakes are brackish but one; the largest is about thirty miles wide, and this peculiar feature of the country nq doubt gave it the name Una-wasa - Pour it in.

for a very large earthen bowl or tub. Tick-eh means to specialize or specify. This may be the meaning of the name Aztec, and they took this name from the peculiar shape of the valley or basin in which they dwelt.

We have followed the trail of this branch of the Queres people to their destination, the City of Mexico. Why did they go? Their traditions say that they were following on the same course that others of the same nation had traveled centuries before. They sent scouts to locate this people but they returned unsuccessful, and were sent again. This time they found them, but had to make a subterranean journey to reach their country.

The Tolltecs Or Nah-Wish

This people were called the Nah-wish or Ka-tsi-na or as historians call them Tolltecs. They must have been of small stature, as their old ruined dwellings show, and as they are represented in the Queres dances by small boys. In their migrations south from the San Juan country these two tribes followed along the continental divide or as near as practical, as shown by two distinct classes of ruins. In the Queres dialect the H sound is used where L is used in some of the other dialects. The name Toll-tecs or To-eh-tick-eh. as the Queres would pronounce it, means simply those who are here. Their home in the north as the Spanish historian writes it they called Hua-hua-tlapallan. "Wah-wah" means there, "t" north, "ha-pallan" oaks, so their country must have been somewhere to the north in the oaks. They left that country somewhere about the year 600 A. D., according to Clavigaro. In making this calculation he speaks of the first Tacpatl ; that they used that as a starting point to reckon dates from, something after the plan of the Greeks reckoning their dates from the first Olympiad. Tac-path means to wash the head. It probably refers to some custom that was adopted; there is some religious ceremony connected with it'. They settled about fifty miles east of the principal lake at a place called, or, as the historian spells it, Tollantzinco, probably meaning "To-eh-una-seek" - where it sleeps. This tribe united with another people called the Chi-chi-macas, or "Bird People. " They seem to have been of the same nationality and came from a place called Amaquemecan. This word probably is Ma-eh-mah-can, meaning a place where the stocks or stems of a certain kind of cactus of the yucca variety are very plentiful. For instance, the plains adjacent to the Florida mountains, New Mexico. The leader of this band was Xolotl, which means Hohoth, "the howler." There is another tribe spoken of by the Spanish historians, the Chalchese. In Queres dialect there is a word, Cah-shash, meaning white. Kush is the old name for white ; the word they use now is Stchumuts. This latter name is taken from their word for shine.

According to the early traditions of Yucatan the original civilizers and the ones who constructed those great buildings were bearded white men, who came from the east in ships, from a place called Xibalba (pronounced Habalba), an island that was afterward overwhelmed by some terrific inundation. Now in this name Xibalba let us substitute the letter h in place of the 1 as we have before explained. We have Hib-ahba. You see the similarity. The island of iShipop.

We have completed the circle. The road has led us back to where we started from, but there are other trails leading away from this mysterious island. Chal-chase sounds something like Chaldea. If they are' the same, then the Queres and the ancient Cushite are in some way related. The earliest enlightened nation of antiquity. Let us compare a few words from each of the two languages :

Kahtan represents a great enlightened epoch in Arabia about 4500 B. C. The country was divided into a northern and southern province, the north under Phoe- necian rule and the southern under the rulership of Cahtan. These Chal-chase may have come from Arabia at that time with all the acquired knowledge of the age and located in the country which they named Yucatan (meaning west or Pu Kahtan), and built those cities and monuments, which although now in ruin are marvelous. The names of these places show that they spoke the same language as the Queres.

Chi chan or Che Shan, a shrine. This probably explains the secret of the She-ken that came to the Queres from the south pass, who had the wonderful flowers that would wither up and then come to life again and bloom, which I shall speak of in another place.

Chi-asps or Chi-apas, the three stars forming the belt in the constellation of Orion. Mitla, a measure or span with the thumb and forefinger, pronounced Mat-ha or Mat-ya by the Queres.

These Chal-chase are probably the Colhuas, the bearded white men who came from the south and who did the first remarkable building in the valley of Anahuac or Mexico. The Cushite or Phoenician seem to have had colonies in almost all corners of the world, and their language was most widely spoken, but their traditions, myths and legends tell us that the Cushite people appeared in Arabia in nine or more tribes, supposed to have been not less than 8,000 years B. C. Where did they come from? The island of Ship-op.

The Arabian tradition says that these tribes or communities were separately organized and governed by chiefs whose names are given. At the head of these chiefs was Ad, he seems to have been the first ruler of the nation. Isn't it reasonable to suppose that they named the land to which they migrated in honor of their ruler, Ar-abia or Ad-ah-pea, meaning where Ad stopped or stayed, and also the land from which they came, calling it Ad-lantis or Ad-hantis or Ad-hatse, meaning the land of Ad.

Queres Settlement In Flordia And West Indies

Let us explore the coast of Florida and the adjacent islands, and if our supposition is correct we should be able to verify it by some token, some landmark left still standing, that will identify the Kush-Kutret (Queeshtie- Ha or Shell Ruins) as a Queres settlement.

The first land discovered by Christopher Columbus on Friday, October 12, 1492, was an island called by the natives Gua-an-han-ne. This name is a Queres word meaning "It comes from the east." The small barques made from hollowed out tree trunks which they called "canoe7' is a Queres word, "ca-no," to travel. Tobacco comes from "To-pat-to, meaning, drousy.

Potato comes from "po-ta-ta," to select one. Hayti, pronounced Hy-te or Hot-te, is the Queres name for obsideon, or mountain glass. The natives no doubt went there to get the stone to make arrow points. Jamacia from "Hamaica," meaning eastern. The Caribe were a people who wore their hair roached in the middle like a crest. The Queres name for roach or crest is "Caripet."

When inviting their friends or visitors into the house the Queres Indians generally designate the direction from which they are to enter, as : Ha-oop, meaning come in from the east ; Tit-oop, come in from the north ; Pu-oop, come in from the west ; Co-oop, come in from the south. And this is how Cuba got its name - Co-oop or Co-oop-ah, as they would say it. Enter from the south.

The only obstacle offered the Spanish in the conquest of Cuba was by a casique or chief by the name of Hatuey, but he and his band were overpowered and Hatuay was condemned to be burned at the stake, the fate of a slave who rebels against his master. Hatuey is a Queres word

Las Casas says : * i The Indians in admiring any article of European manufacture continually repeat the word Tu-rey, which in their language signifies Heaven. ' ' The Queres use this word a good deal. It is Tu-ey, simply an exclamation of agreeable surprise or admiration.

The Aztec tribes had historical records, rude drawings and designs painted on bark or skin or cotton cloth. Some were on a kind of thick paper like cardboard. The early missionaries in Mexico imagined that these figures were symbols of idol worship and conceived the idea that if they were destroyed the conversion of the natives to Christianity would be easier and in obedience to an edict issued by Juan de Zummaraga, a Franciscan monk, the first bishop of Mexico, as many of these annals as could be collected were piled in a heap and burned.

The invasion of the Apaches is supposed to have been between 800 and 1,000 years ago. The Navajo Indians who inhabit the country where the Queres had their last settlements show a mixture of the Pueblo and Apache. Many words in the Queres and Navajo are alike and some of their religious customs are similar; for instance, the sand paintings. The Queres call the Navajos ' ' Moa-shrum. " The name means, "those who came out of the hills, or rough country. ' '

There are several incidents related in these traditions which I have necessarily omitted, not being able to definitely locate the places where they happened. The Queres tell that at one time, on account of famine, their ancestors were reduced to cannibalism. The tradition seems to point to Florida as the place where this happened, which does not seem possible, with the sea so near, teeming with its myriad forms of animal and vegetable life.

Queres Settlement In Florida And West Indies 87

obvious that the place had been a true bone heap established on a slight artificial elevation in the midst of an ancient inclosed pond or water court, and it was also evident that the human remains therein deposited had been dismembered before burial.

"I discovered that the whole heap was permeated, so to say, with broken human remains, large bones and small, many of which had been split or shattered. "

Another incident they speak of was a people called the She-ken, who came to them from the south pass, wherever that may have been. These people were under the leadership of a man by the name of Korina; that when they arrived each one of the party carried in his hand a peculiar flower or plant, and that these flowers were continually changing, withering and then resuming their former shape; and the party continued on to the northeast into the forest, where they built houses of boards.

I hare attempted to untangle these old traditions in a truthful and logical manner, but have necessarily been compelled at times to assume certain premises and deduce the conclusions. There is still room for a good deal of speculation. Was the island of Shipop Plato's Atlantis, which Ignacio Donnelly attempted to prove existed at one time in the Atlantic ocean? If such an island existed there must be certain indelible signs left ; for instance, a body of land, such as it seems to have been, would have diverted or split the Gulf Stream, and the changing of this current could be noticed in the fossil remains on the coast of Europe. If these Queres Indians are descendants of the Atlanteans it gives them an unbroken national record of at least 10,000 years.

Ancient Religion And Beliefs Of The Queres

The religious belief of the ancient Queres Indians is as strange as their ancient history. It is philosophical and reveals a depth of thought far ahead of their descendants of the present day. The belief in a supreme being or beings is as old as reason in the human brain. The first theory of a deity evolved by mental reasoning was necessarily crude, but as the mind expanded old theories were dropped and new ones adopted, and so it has been going on since the dawn of reason. Everything in creation, nature in all its varied forms, shows itself to be the product of profound reason, and whence this reason? Who will be the Copernicus or the Newton to discover the true theory? Is there a personal God, or is all matter imbued more or less with intelligence1? The religion of the Queres is not exactly a polytheism, neither is it a pantheism, but seems to be a compound of the two, with a slight strain of totemism. Their theory is that reason (personified) is the supreme power, a master mind that has always existed, which they call Sitch-tche-na-ko. This is the feminine form for thought or reason. She had one sister, Shro-tu-me-na-ko, memory or instinct. Their belief is that Sitch-tche-na-ko is the creator of all, and to her they offer their most devout prayers, but never to Shro-tu-me-na-ko. They say it is bad to do so. This shows that they know of the two divisions of the mind, reason and instinct, and also that they were aware of the apparent uselessness and possible evil consequences of cultivating the subjective mind. E-yet-e-co is the most beloved of all the deities; to her they can all pray; she is the mother who brought them forth and receives them when they die. E-yet-e-co means the earth, but they speak of her in much the same manner as we speak of nature. She-wo-na, the spirit of force, who reveals himself in the fog, the rain, the dew, and the mists, who manifests his power in the roll and surge of the waters, the storm, and the rending stroke of the lightning, and whose voice is the deep roar of the thunder; Sitch-tche- na-ko created him out of a dew drop. Shru-wat-tu-ma, the evil spirit. Here is something singular; literally the name means the one from a short way up. Spiritualists claim that the evil spirits inhabit the lower plane, jus* above the earth. Thus we have mind (reason and instinct), matter and force woven into a religion. Without mind there could be no conception of anything. Without matter there could be no force that we know of and vice versa. The evil spirits in all religions are a logical creation. There seems to be an opposition pervading all nature, a part of nature's laws, thus force and resistance, attraction and repulsion, positive and negative, action and rer action, construction and destruction, good and bad. Here the religion takes more the form of polytheism : Wa-ahme-na-ko, the guardian spirit; Ka-tu-te-a, the giver or spirit of charity ; Kap-poon-na-ko, the spirit of sleep ; she seems to have been a demigoddess, because she is said to have been the wife of Hutch-a-mun Ki-uk, the ruler of the first Kush-kut-ret ; Moe-a-na-ko, the spirit of the yellow earth; Mots-sin-ne-na-ko, spirit of the hills and mountains.

There are several more, but their identity is lost. Merely the name remains, and many appear to be borrowed from some other religion or else the product of ignorant jugglery. The only thing in their religion which indicates totemism was the worship of the Siti Shri Wa. This was a monstrous green serpent, with horns, that they say inhabited the big water. The Queres knew something of astronomy; they knew the difference between the fixed stars and the planets, and had names for some of the constellations. They say the sun had eight children. Is this only a coincidence in their mythological tales, or had they by some means discovered the eight major planets.

And Acoma

Resuming the history of Laguna and Acoma where we left it, just before the Mexican war, the first and most notable event was the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, by which New Mexico and Arizona became the property of the United States. The invasion of .the Americans produced a change in these old pueblos, slow at first, but like the sleeper at the sound of an awakening call, these people of a forgotten past rouse to action. The causes which had so long kept them in a state of idleness and bondage have ceased to exist. Advancement is the countersign, and as time passes we recognize no longer the old customs and Indian traits ; all have changed with the advance of education and modern civilization.

In 1851 Samuel C. Gorman, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, came to Laguna as a missionary sent by the Baptist Mission Society. In 1856 the Indian Department of the Government authorized Mr. Gorman to have a building erected for school purposes and as a chapel. This building is still used as a government assembly place and Protestant church. Mr. Gorman was recalled shortly after the breaking out of the Civil War.

Sometime during the decade, 1850-60, the United States government purchased a drove of camels to be used in exploring the deserts of the Southwest. An expedition with some of these animals equipped for the purpose passed through Laguna in 1857. The direct object of the expedition was to explore the country to the West and locate a military road to the coast.

In the latter fifties Gen. McCook established a Military camp at Laguna, which was continued about a year ; the foundations of the old barracks are still visible north of the town. Gen. McCook recruited a company of Laguna Indians to act as scouts in the campaign after these bloodthirsty followers of Nane and Mangus Colorado, and it is needless to say that they settled many a longstanding account with their old-time foes, the Apaches.

In the early sixties President Lincodn sent to each of the Pueblo villages a silver-headed cane, to be held by the governor of the Pueblo as a badge of office.

In 1866 the Navajo Indians became a dangerous factor in the Southwest. Early in the sixties, or to be more exact, in 1862, the Government established an agency and military post in the Navajo country, known as Fort Defiance, to keep these savage bandits in some kind of subjection, and to quell their lawless maraudings, which had long held the country in a state of terror. While the exact cause may have been various imaginary wrongs on the part of the red men, we will accept the following, which, like most happenings of that kind, come unexpectedly and all at once:

Early one morning a powerful Navajo came to a kitchen door at Fort Defiance and asked for a drink of water. The. cook, having just finished washing tlie dishes, as the Indian stepped to the door, accidentally or intentionally threw the pan of dirty water in the Indian's face. Enraged beyond the boundary of reason, the Navajo drew an arrow and laid his insultor lifeless on the floor. The guard seeing what had happened, but not knowing the cause, thinking it to be assassination, fired on the Navajo, killing him instantly.

The Navajos in the vicinity of the post rushed to their arms. The news of the killing flashed over the Navajo country with almost the speed of thought, and it quickly became evident to the soldiers at the post that the Indians were on the war path. The Navajos at once began a raid of destruction and devastation. Gen. Canby, assisted by such experienced Indian fighters as Gen. Carleton and Kit Carson, took the field, and commenced a vigorous campaign against them, pursuing them relentlessly. Their sheep and horses were confiscated or driven into corrals and killed ; peach orchards were cut down ; the cavalry horses turned loose in their fields of grain, and what the horses could not destroy was burned by the soldiers. Two years of war was enough for the Navajos; the lean, starved warriors began coming in singly and in bands to surrender and accept what terms of peace or punishment might await them ; the first time ,in history probably that these fierce descendants, perhaps, of those same people who gave to the world that noted warrior, Genghis Kahn, ever bowed to a conqueror. As soon as they were gathered in they were taken to the Bosque Eedondo on the Pecos river, where a reservation had been set aside for them and a military post established. Owing to certain features of the climate1 it proved very unhealthy for the Navajos, and the death rate soon became fearful. Gen. William T. iSherman was on a tour of inspection at that time, and it occurred to the captives that he might do something for them, but Sherman refused to listen to the petition of the warriors to be again returned to their old reservation. Then it was that all the young women of the 'tribe, dressed in their best attire, besieged the old commander. They promised that if allowed to return to their old reservation the women of the tribe would so train their children that never again would the Navajos go on the war path against the American government. They told in their way of all the sorrows and griefs that the war and their captivity had caused. The gallant old general was conquered ; the hero of many a hard-fought battle, who led the famous march from Atlanta to the sea, had "surrendered, and on his recommendation the Navajos were returned to their old reservation in northwestern New Mexico. The Lagunas and Acomas assisted the government in this war from start to finish, and won great praise from their officers. As I have once before said, the Navajos are largely mixed with the Queres Pueblos, and ethnologists will some time confirm this statement.

In 1868 W. F. M. Arny was appointed agent to look after the affairs of the Pueblo Indians and give them a helping hand. Arny was a man who was not afraid to act on his own convictions of what was right; not like too many before and since, who, from fear of doing something wrong, do nothing or as little as possible to hold their positions arid draw their salaries. The Pueblos now had some show of redress by law. Years of subjection and seclusion have, produced a state of timidity among these people which only time and proper education will ever eradicate.

In the year 1871 Walter G. Marmon was appointed government teacher at Laguna, the first teacher ever appointed by the government to teach among the Pueblos. Some time previous to this date some of the more progressive Indians, seeing the advantages of an education, had instituted a select or subscription school and hired a Mexican by the name of Manuel Cassuas, who was fairly well educated in Spanish, to teach their children. However, when Mr. Marmon came to Laguna as teacher, not one in the tribe could speak the English language, and only one could read and write the Spanish. He was Luis Sarracino, and was educated in Durango, Mexico, by the Eoman Catholic church, but joined the Protestant church while Mr. Gorman was here. Arriving at Laguna, Mr. Marmon at once became teacher, doctor, counsellor and minister. On taking charge of the school house he discovered that there were no seats in the building. In an ante-room of the Roman church were two sets of stocks, relics of the past ; these Mr. Marmon had sawed into blocks for seats. One day the parish priest visited the school, and in the course of the conversation Mr. Marmon remarked that he was again using the stocks; that he had resorted to them to help teach the youthful Lagunas. The priest replied that he was putting them to better use than they had ever been put to before.

It had been the custom for a number of years, or at least since the new Eoman church had been built (in the latter part of 1799 or the fore part of 1800) to bury the dead either in the church or in the yard in front. The church is about sixty feet long and 25 feet wide, the yard probably 100 by 50 feet, and at this time the inhabitants of the village of Laguna numbered about 1,000. It can readily be seen that in a few years all the space would be occupied ; and such was the case. The remains of one would be exhumed and another deposited, the bones of the exhumed being carelessly thrown over into an out-corral adjoining the churchyard. Mr. Marmon made a report to the agent regarding this inhuman custom, and asked that he come to Laguna. When the agent arrived he found things as stated, and called a meeting, forbidding them from burying any more of the dead in or around the church, both on account of sanitary principles and for humanity's sake; so by common consent they abandoned the practice and seected two new sites for graveyards, Protestant and Eoman Catholic, respectively. In 1875 Dr. John Menaul was sent to Laguna as missionary by the Presbyterian board of missions. He was also appointed government teacher, Mr. Marmon having resigned.

Dr. Menaul established a printing press at -Laguna, devoted to missionary work, principally. He translated and published in the Queres language McGuffey's first reader. In 1884 a bell was placed on the school building by Pueblo subscription. Dr. John Menaul spent ten years of earnest work among the Lagunas. He left in 1887, loved and respected by all. The old mission built by Mr.

Gorman in the early fifties stands about one-half mile northeast of the village, and is still used as a dwelling, and though constructed of adobe and having received but slight repairs since it was built, is apparently as substantial as ever. A good deal of history is connected with the old building; it,s walls have echoed to the tread of Sherman, Logan, Carleton, Canby, Kit Carson and many others, whose names adorn the history of the United States. Part of Gen. Lew Wallace's famous story, "Ben Hur," was composed beneath its rustic roof. "Bitty the Kid," the hero of the Lincoln county war, spent two weeks in one of the rooms of this old house, a fugitive from justice.

A notable event, and one worthy of record, occurred in the year 1876. The Acoma grant was to be surveyed. To the northwest of the village about 25 miles is a big spring, called El Gallo, known to the Indians as the warm spring. This was one of the landmarks in the boundary calls of the grant papers issued to Acoma by iSpain in 1689. In 1862 the government established a military post at this place and set aside the land around the Spring for a military reservation. The post was abandoned in 1868. This was the same year that the Navajos were brought back from the Bosque Eedondo, but the land was still held as a military reservation. When the post was abandoned a number of camp followers and exsoldiers, whose time had expired, remained. The spring flows a large volume of water and the soldiers had constructed an irrigation ditch and had several fields under cultivation. These improvements the squatters wished to retain, but the land being a military reservation they were notified to move, but they refused to go, and a detachment of soldiers was sent to remove them. They obstinately resisted, until one of them, a Mexican, attempting to decapitate the officer in charge, was killed. The others then left without further trouble. In 1870 the place was opened for settlement, and all those who had been expelled returned, and with them came others. In the meantime it became known that the spring was the property of the Acoma Indians; a council was held and the squatters were advised to bribe the officers and principal men of the tribe to change the boundary calls by representing to the surveyor that another spring, about ten miles further east, was the "Ojo del Gallos," or Warm spring. Besides the considerations in money, these settlers proposed to give to the Acomas part of the Laguna grant, which as yet had not been surveyed. The Acomas gave their testimony to the surveyor, as agreed upon, and by so doing the Acoma tribe lost about one-third of their original grant, which was surveyed and later patented to them, according to the survey.

It now remained to put the Acomas in possession of the Laguna land. The Indians of Acoma were notified to be upon the ground on a certain day, and a Mexican justice of the peace would give them legal possession and title to the same. The Mexicans and Americans in the scheme knew it was a farce, but the unfortunate Indians were sincere, and considered the Alcalde's court as supreme. The Laguna Indians, becoming aware of what was going on, came to Mr. Marmon, who was at that time conducting a trading post at Laguna. Considering that the only way to stop the trouble was by a display of force, he hastily armed two companies (one of infantry and one of cavalry) with Springfield muskets, which had been placed in the town for the protection of the Lagunas from the Apaches. He took command of one company in person and the other he placed under the command of George H. Pratt, a government surveyor, and, like himself, a veteran of the Civil war, and together they marched to the scene of trouble.

two Laguna companies and the alcalde (justice of the peace) and posse arrived on the ground at about the same time, and without further ceremony the alcalde began to read the decree which would put the Acomas in possession. The charge was sounded, the alcalde and his posse fled, but the Acomas held their ground, and a pitched battle ensued, in which quite a number were seriously hurt, but no one fatally. The Acomas were finally forced from the land. The agent was notified of the trouble, and came at once to the village. He called a joint meeting of the officers and principal men of each pueblo. This land in question, was a purchase by the Laguna pueblo from a Spaniard by the name of Garviso, about the year 1825, and the Mexican government issued them a title for the same. It is called the Santa Ana Purchase.

When the Acoma grant was surveyed a part of the purchase fell inside the Acoma lines. After a good deal of debate a compromise line was agreed on. The Lagunas were to relinquish about one-half of what they claimed inside of the Acoma grant and the Acoma pueblo gave to Laguna a quit-claim for the balance of the disputed lands, inside the Acoma lines, and so it was settled. The first irrigating ditch was taken out of the San Jose river by the Laguna Indians about nine and a half miles west of the village of Laguna, in 1840. The next ditch was taken out about three miles west of where Acomita now stands, in 1860, or ten years before the Acomas had any settlements in the valley of the San Jose. Acomita was built in 1870.

Prophecy Of She-Ake

Away back in the Queres tradition they tell of a certain medicine man and seer of the nation who made a number of prophecies, which have practically all been fulfilled. Coronado refers to this prophecy in his letter to Mendoza, viceroy of Mexico. He says : i i They declare that it was foretold among them more than fifty years ago that a people such as we are should come, and the direction they should come from, and that the whole country would be conquered. " The story says that this old magician would lay himself flat and, striking the ground with his clenched fist, commanded his audience to listen. Then he would tell what he saw and heard. He told of the coming of the Spaniards, the bearded warriors with shirts of metal, and how that they would conquer and enslave the Indians. Then he told of the people of the light-colored hair, who would come from the east, would conquer the country and would be the friends and champions of the Pueblo Indians ; that these people from the East would build metal roads (sow-a-ka-he-an-ne), and the prophecy or curse pronounced by Queo-Kape would be lifted and the rains would return, and then the Queres Indians would again be a prosperous, contented and happy people. In 1880 the iron bands of the great Santa Fe railroad stretched slowly from the East into the lands of the Pueblos. The prophecy was being fulfilled. Eobert G. Marmon, a. brother of W. G. Marmon, was elected governor of Laguna, probably the first white man that ever held the ancient office of ruler of the Queres Indians. Many of the old customs were abandoned and their further practice prohibited by a vote of the people. Certain ones of the conservative class on this account left Laguna and moved to Isleta, on the Eio Grande.

With regard to the government of these Pueblos, they are both democratic and republican, or representative. All business of minor importance is regulated by the governor and a staff of officers. In Laguna the executive body consists of a governor, two lieutenant-governors, a war captain, seven fiscals, or supervisors, one for each of the villages; seven major domos, or overseers of ditches, one for each village. When there is business of such a nature that the officers do not feel competent to decide, it is then laid before the whole people in council for their vote. These officers meet once a month, or oftener if necessary. Their pay is 50 cents a day while in council. Eegarding their land tenure, the grant is held in common, but each individual or family have their own private fields or parcels of land, and any man or family can hold as much land as they can cultivate. Failure to cultivate any land for a period of three years works a forfeiture, and the land reverts to the pueblo. They can buy and sell lands among themselves, but not to an outsider or one who does not belong to the tribe.

The Laguna Indians claim to have had three books of records of the past. These were in existence until within recent years, but on account of religious disputes they were either hidden away or destroyed. The oldest of these was the book of " Water People;" the next was the book of the "Eagle People;" the third and most recent was the book of the "Corn People." What these books were like is only conjecture. The Indians say they were painted on some kind of skin. The writing was no doubt symbolic, as there is no evidence of phonetic writing having been understood among them. Laguna was constructed by refugees from the river pueblos after the Spanish invasion, of the Queres stock principally. They brought their books with them, along with their household goods. Could these old records be brought to light they might prove of historic value.

Prophecy Of She-Ake 103

What a pity that all the history of this great Cushite people has perished - disappeared completely! It seems mysterious, but yet there might not have been very much written. They seem to have been of a very secretive disposition. We know from the Eomans that time and again the Phoenicians risked shipwreck rather than to reveal some seceret, and on one occasion actually destroyed their own ships, burned them up on the coast of France (Gaul), rather than reveal to the Eomans the location of the tin mines in England (Britain). They knew all about the magnetic needle thousands of years before the time of Borne. They knew the composition and secret of making gunpowder. They had evolved or invented the phonetic alphabet and signs which nearly every nation of the civilized world today uses. They were the ones who introduced the Age of Bronze and later Age of Iron. And where did this civilization originate? Had we the complete account of this island, Atlantus, which Solon obtained from the Egyptian priest of Sais, we might form some idea. Plato 's account is too meager, but from what he tells us and what has been found out, that island must have been the seat of the Cushite empire, possibly the cradle of the human family. Suppose that island should again rise to the surface, after all these years. What a revelation! Such occurrences have happened and such may happen again. It must have been a volcanic island which was thrown up in the ocean at a time when the human animal was in the early stage of development and by some peculiar good fortune he was transported there, which being free from all other aminals left him master of the situation, where he developed and became the ruling power of the world.

Introduction

There is nothing particularly interesting about a big rough block of wood or stone until it is shaped down, smoothed and polished. We hear a few discordant notes, we think of it only as sound but when these notes are properly arranged and rightly combined we have music. A few rambling ideas properly arranged and clothed we call poetry. The plain facts of history are not very interesting to the average person. So by embellishment, to conform to the requirements of a story these old traditions of the Queres Indians have lost a great deal of their meaning. There may be various reasons, but we naturally suppose that the fondness for listening to a story to be a hereditary trait. Whatever the cause or causes, the fact remains that nearly every rational human being is fond of a story, and none more so than the uneducated Indian. To him, the many deities, the faries, the giants, are real and personal. Let us listen to some of these old yarns that have gladdened and delighted the hearts of the dusky urchin for many a generation.

Let us recall those characters that have figured in a forgotten past. Let us gaze on the mighty Wah-wahkeh. Let us visit the Daunts of the iSits-hriwa, the great green serpent of the waters. Let us see the fairies and ask them why they were changed to insects and compelled to live in such inhospitable places as the edges of swamps and ponds.

Let us trail Masts-truoy, the cliff-dweller, to his perilous abode on the rugged precipice. Let us bring all of them that we can recall, and learn from them what we can of the ancient history of the Pueblo Indians of Laguna and Acoma.

This figure represents the Ope or Grand Master in the society or order of the Chaquin or Black Mask. Ope may mean Ethiopian. An ax in the Queres language is Ope-caw-ah-ne, meaning an instrument the Ope (Ethiopian) use to hunt with

The Tradition Of Ship-Op

Descendants of people who have emigrated to other countries have only a vague idea of what the land of their forefathers looked like, and as generation after generation passes away these ideas become dimmer, especially with people who have relied wholly on oral description and tradition; each repetition imparts a certain change until finally it becomes apparently only myth.

In the following tradition the deep pit was the ocean, which with their limited means was unfathomable. The rhymatic rising and lowering of the water was the tides and what seemed to them a mystery was that all the rivers flowing ceaselessly never augmented this water - the ocean.

This is the genesis of the Queres Indians. They have no miraculous account of their beginning. Mau-say and O-yo-ya-ye, the heroes spoken of, were probably leaders in some migration.

Somewhere in the north, a few days ' travel from the present Pueblo villages, is a deep hole or pit in the earth. Into this pit flowed four mighty rivers from the four cardinal points, and although these rivers flowed ceaselessly, never was the pit filled completely to the brim, but would rise and lower rhythmatically.

In this deep, dark abyss dwelt all the people, for as yet there was no sun or moon. Long had they dwelt here, but at last they became discontented and clamorous to get out and roam the world. Now among these people were two brothers, Mausay and 0-yo-yave. Inspired by the daring of youth they descended to the uttermost depth of this chasm, through the yellow, the blue, the red, and finally, in the furthest, the white earth, they stood in the presence of E-yet-e-co, the mother of life, and spoke the wish of the people and asked her consent to leave the pit and tred the earth outside. It was reluctantly given, but telling the heroes that the time was not ripe for them to leave their abode and to go back and tell the people that she would place a sign in the sky when everything was ready and that she would come and call them forth. Then the sun shone forth in the north and a great many people came out, but E-yet-e-co was not with the sun. Then the sun rose in the west and again numbers of the people came forth, but E-yet-e-co did not appear. Then the sun rose in the south and again a number of people ushered forth to yanish like those who preceded them, as E-yete-co still delayed. Then the sun rose majestically in the east, and with it came E-yet-e-co, the mother of all life. She called them from their abode and bade them go forth in the world, but foretelling that they would visit strange lands and have many adventures and would forget her and their early teaching.

When the people came out, the earth or land was soft, not ripe (sah-kun-nut). So they traveled on to the south, and there, finding a place suitable, built their habitations or village and called it Kush-kut-ret (the White Village) . Years pass away ; things are as they should be ; plenty of game and plenty of rain for planting, until one day a character came to their village or settlement from the Esto-eh Tick-eh (cane brakes) of the north. This man they called Po-shi-ah-ne. He was never born as other people, but came from a parasite. He was a great wizard and juggler and soon obtained a large following. He introduced a new form of medicine and worship. About this time the rains ceased to fall or not in sufficient quantities to support vegetation. Po-shi-ah-ne tried very hard with incantations and magic to make the rain fall, but failed. Then the people became angry and Po-shi-ahne fled in the dark, but he was pursued, captured and put to death. Still the drouth continued. A great famine was in the land and the people were reduced to such an extremity that they killed and ate their children or weaker members of the tribe. During all this time there was one man called Meech-hutch-tse (the humming bird man) who remained sleek and fat. When asked where he got his food he said he went back to Ship-op for it.

One evening there came to the settlement a people from the south pass, called the She-kun, each one carrying in his hand a peculiar flower, or plant, in full bloom; at times the plant would seem to wither and die and then of a sudden it would revive and bloom forth again. This people went on to the northeast and built habitations out of boards.

Ko-Pot Ka-Nat

This is probably a report, or what remains of it after being worked over for generations, of an expedition that went back to their island home from the settlement on the mainland. ' The terms of the race were to be once around the world where the land and water meet (Kowi-sho Putch), the edge or coast line of the sea showing that this land (Ship-op) was an island. Another thing you will observe: It speaks of the Kush-Kutret (White Village) of the southeast,; showing that the migration was to the northwest. It also speaks of the Ko-wi-stchu-ma Kote, showing that this mountain must have been on the island, a volcano no doubt that erupted and destroyed the island.

I-ye-ti-ko and her sister, I-sto-a-ko-ya, lived in the Kush Kut-ret of the southwest. I-sto-a-ko-ya was in the habit of bathing in the big water. This she did almost continually, and it sorely tried the patience of her sister, so that one day I-ye-ti-ko scolded her because of it. This angered I-sto-a-ko-ya and she went back to Ship-op.

Now it was because of the fact that I-sto-a-ko-ya was almost constantly in the water that the rain fell at Kush Kut-ret. When she had gone the rains stopped, everything became parched and dry and Kush Kut-ret was threatened with famine. I-ye-ti-ko, who divined the cause of the drouth, repenting of her harshness to her sister and fearful I-sto-a-ko-ya had been overcome by hunger and had died, sent a blue-bottle fly to find her.

The fly flew to the east, the west, the north and the south, but could not find I-sto-a-ko-ya. So it returned to I-ye-ti-ko and reported that it was able to find only the footprints of I-sto-a-ko-ya, that the footprints led toward Ship-op, and that everywhere that she had trodden the , grass grew luxuriantly, while everywhere else it was dry I and parched.

I-ye-ti-ko next sent for Stchi-mu-ne-moot, a great runner and trailer, and told him to follow the trail of I-sto-a-ko-ya and bring her back to her home.

trail, marked by green grass and flowering plants, was easily followed. It was not until he had drawn near to Ship-op that he paused. Here he met the Kopot brothers, who lived in the vicinity of Ship-op. The Kopot brothers had heard of the fame of Stchi-mu-ni-moot as a runner, and so they halted him and asked him if he did not want to run a race with them.

"I am going to Ship-op, " answered Stchi-mu-nimoot, "to bring back our mother to Kush Kut-ret. When I have done this errand I will come back and run a race with you. ' '

Stchi-mu-ne-moot continued to Ship-op, where he found I-sto-a-ko-ya. He explained to her his mission and asked her if she would go back with him. She replied tbat she would if I-ye-ti-ko would send her what she was in need of.

>So Stchi-mu-ni-moot returned to I-ye-ti-ko with this answer. I-ye-ti-ko prepared a bundle of clothing for I-sto-a-ko-ya and with this Stchi-mu-ne-moot again went to Ship-op. When I-sto-a-ko-ya undid the bundle she found that her sister had forgotten to send a band for her hair. So Stchi-mu-ne-moot was forced to return again to Kush Kut-ret. He brought to I-sto-a-ko-ya the missing^ band, and she re tuned with him to Kush Kut-ret. Upon her return the rains came back, giving new life to the dry earth and saving the people from famine.

Stchi-mu-ne-moot, having accomplished all that I-yeti-ko had required of him, told her that he desired to go and run a race with the Kopot brothers. She gave him her permission, and gave him also a to-wa-ka (a stick or bone about two inches long and an inch and a half in diameter,, that the runner, according to the rules of the game, is compelled to kick ahead of him). She told him to exchange the to-wa-ka for the one used by the Kopot brothers. He took the to-wa-ka given him by I-ye-ti-ko and went to the Kopot brothers ' house. The door of the house was in the roof and the Kopot brothers had placed a big turkey with outspread wings over the opening to cover it. After gaining admittance to the house, Stchimu-ne-moot succeeded in exchanging his to-wa-ka for the one used by the brothers.

They arranged the terms of the race. It was to be once around the world, where the water and the land meet, along the Ko-wai-sh Putch. The forfeit was, on the part of iStchi-mu-ne-moot, one eye; on the part of the Kopot brothers, one eye from each.

When all was ready the race began. At the first kick Stchi-mu-ne-moot sent his to-wa-ka nearly out of sight. When the Kopots kicked their to-wa-ka, it fell down into the house through the hole in the roof. They had to go down after it ; and while they were looking for it the turkey spread out its wings over the hole and made it so dark within that it took the brothers a long time to find the to-wa-ka. When they came. out they were so angry that they killed the turkey. By this time Stchi-mu-nemoot was half way round the world. He won the race easily and claimed the forfeit. Taking an eye from each of the brothers, he threw them into the sky, where they remain to this day, in the tail of the constellation of the Scorpion.

Then the Kopot brothers were very angry. They threw the to-wa-ka that had been the cause of their defeat at Ko-wi-stchu-ma Kote and made a great hole in the side of the mountain. Out of the hole came the big water animal, Wa-waka, that vomited streams of water until all the surrounding country was flooded. Kush Kut-ret, the white city, was inundated. The people who were able to escape climbed to the top of a high tableland called Mawha-rah. These people kindled a fire and heated stones and threw them into the mouth of the Wa-wa-ka, finally

Ko-Pot Ka-Nat 119

Now the crows at that time were white and possessed the power of speech. I-ye-ti-ko warned these crows not to pick out the eyes of the dead people, saying that if they did not heed her warning, a great punishment would overtake them. The crows flew over the city, where all the dead people lay in the streets. One crow said to another : "Let us take just one eye and see what it tastes like/'

The Sits-Shrai-Wa

This story refers to the Kush-kut-ret Queestohe-ha. That means the White Village furthest southeast. It must have been near the sea coast. The Sits-Shriwa was some reptile which was considered sacred.

In the Kush-kut-ret Qis-chi-ha lived a little orphan girl with her grandmother. The little girl loved to go to the water's edge and play in the sand. One day when she was wandering along the shore and playing in the sand, she found a worm on the edge of the water. She made a basin in the sand and filled it with water, put the worm in it and each day would go and feed it. It grew rapidly and she would increase the size of the basin by digging out the sand and thus making it wider. Each day it grew larger and soon became a big snake, for it was the Sits-shrai-wa, the big water snake, with horns.

One day the girl left her grandmother, saying that she was going down to the water to bathe. After the bathing she went to see the snake, that had by this time grown to be a huge reptile. It spoke to her, calling her mother, and asked her to get on its head and to hold tight to its horns. She did so and the big water snake dived off into the water and went down, deep, deep, with her holding onto its horns. At last it came to the house of its parents. Here everything was beautiful and she was. kindly treated, and, after staying awhile with them, she said that she must go back to her grandmother, who would be anxious about her. The big snake then took her on its head and carried her to the surface and placed her on the sand close to her grandmother's house. She went in and asked her grandmother to spread a cloth down on 'the floor. Then she knelt down and, shaking her hair over the cloth, beautiful stones and metal fell from her hair onto the cloth.

The Sits-Shrai-Wa 121

Then she told her grandmother about finding the worm and feeding it and of its growing to be the Sitsshari-wa, and of its taking her down to the house of its parents in the water, and that while she was there, the Sits-shrai-wa had put that magic power into her hair, and ever afterwards, whenever she washed her hair, the power would be exercised. As time went on, she grew to be a woman ; her grandmother died and she was married.

One day her husband went with the other men to war with another people, and while he was gone another woman who resembled his wife exactly, wishing to become his wife, contrived to throw the real wife into the deep water and drowned her, as she supposed. At last the husband returned. He looked and looked at the woman and said : 1 1 You look like my wife, but I do not believe that you are. ' ' Then he asked her to wash her hair and shake it on a cloth, but when she shook her hair, no beautiful stones or metal fell from it. The woman said that her hair had lost that power. Still he was not happy and would walk along the shore and look off into the deep water. One day when he was out on the water where it was very deep, he was looking down into the depths when he saw a woman rise out of the water. He was terribly frightened, but she told him that she was his wife. Then he wanted to take her home with him, but she refused, saying that when he put the other woman away she would come back.

The husband went home and, striking the other woman in the breast with a spear, killed her ; then he carried the body away from the settlements and laid it down and went down to the water's edge. Presently his wife appeared and they went home, and from her hair still would fall the beautiful stones and metal, when it was washed and shaken ; the magic gift of the Sits-shari-wa.

I-Sto-A-Moot And Hi-Stchi-An Ko-A-Suts

A long time ago there lived, somewhere on the south side of the Ko-wais-chu-mu Kot a character named Histchi-an Ko-a-suts. He was widely known as a wizard and a very bad man, and, in consequence, he was greatly feared by the people throughout the country. Now and then he would pay a secret visit to Kush Kut-ret and would carry away with him to his home in the mountains some man's wife or daughter. These women, as he tired of their company, he locked up in the caves, then sallied forth in search of others.

One day Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts stole the wife of I-stea-moot and carried her away. I-sto-a-moot was a man of considerable note at Kush Kut-ret. He was brave as a lion* He did not share the awe in which the other people held Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts. Moreover he was skillful in the use of the bow and versed in all the cunning of his race. As soon as he discovered that his wife had been carried away by the wizard he started in pursuit. He traveled on and on for a long time without discovering any clue to aid him to find his wife or her abductor. One day, when he was almost despairing of success, he came upon a little boy who was engaged in catching snow birds with snares made of hair. This sport amused I-sto-amoot. He pulled out some of his own long hair, constructed snares from it and went to work catching birds. iSoon he and the boy were on very good terms. When they had caught a great many birds, the boy gathered up his snares and said that he would have to go home, as it was getting late. He asked I-sto-a-moot to accompany him, and I-sto-a-moot readily consented. When they reached the boy's home the boy threw the birds in at the

I-Sto-A-Moot And Hi-Stchi-An Ko-A-Suts 123

The mother invited I-sto-a-moot in and welcomed him warmly. He soon discovered that she was a fairy. He related his story and told her that it was his search for his wife that had brought him into that part of the country. The fairy entreated him to remain at her house over night, saying that- in the morning she would lend him her aid to find his wife.

The next morning she told him that his wife had been stolen away by Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts, a great magician, who lived in the Ko-wai s-chum-mu Kot; but that, if he would follow her instructions, he need have no fear In encountering the wizard. She gave him a large knife, seemingly of flint, a suit of clothes and a chair, and told him to exchange these things for the ones owned by Histchi-an Ko-a-suts. She advised him that he would come to a deep river, and she gave him a little, bag of medicine to chew and blow upon the water which would then become still so that he would be able to cross over it.

I-sto-a-moot left the house of the fairy and set out for the house of Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts, which he reached after many trials and hardships. He found that Hi-stchian Ko-a-suts was not at home, so he entered the dwelling and was surprised to find himself welcomed by his own wife. She told him that the wizard was out at the end of the world, Ko-wai-sho Putch, running races with Shiwu-na. His wife wanted to go back to Kush Kut-ret at once, but I-sto-a-moot was desirous of seeing Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts, and of fighting him. Before the wizard's return I-sto-a-moot succeeded in obtaining his knife, his

When Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts returned to his home that evening and found I-sto-a-moot, he was in a towering rage. He threatened and stormed and was going to make an end to I-sto-a-moot at once but I-sto-a-moot put on such a bold front that he altered his intention, but declared he must fight with him on the day following. The next morning the two put on their fighting dress and, arming themselves, went forth to battle.

"Now," said Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts, when they met, "I am going to show you how powerful I am. With a single blow of my flint knife I will knock off the top of the Ko-wais-chum-mu Kot. Can you do such a wonder?"

"Cast your knife first," said I-sto-a-moot. "If you cut off the top of the mountain I will acknowledge you the victor and will go' back to Kush Kut-ret defeated. ' '

So Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts threw his knife. But, instead of cutting off the top of the mountain, it only pasted itself against its side, for this was the knife which the fairy had given to I-sto-a-moot, and it was made of wax.

Accordingly, the next morning, they made preparations. Each one built up a large heap of wood. Upon these heaps they placed their chairs and, after setting fire to the piles of wood, they climbed into their respective seats and awaited the issue.

I-Sto-A-Moot And Hi-Stchi-An Ko-A-Suts 125

The chair used by Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts was the one made for I-sto-a-moot by the fairy. It was made of wax, as was the coat that he wore. These quickly melted in the flames, so that the wizard was soon burned to a cinder.

The chair of I-sto-a-moot and the coat which he wore were the ones taken from Hi-stchi-an Ko-a-suts. They were made of ice ; and they melted and extinguished the fire.

When the wizard had been thus disposed of, I-sto-amoot took his wife and all the other women that Hi-stchian Ko-a-suts had imprisoned in a cave, back to Kush Kutret, and the people were never again in fear of the wizard.

Sutsu-Nuts, The Ruler Of The Ka-Tsi-Na

This tradition is badly mixed up, but it shows that these Queres people must have had at some time communication with people who were cannibals, probably the Caribes. According to some early accounts of these islanders they were canibals. These bags containing the stars were apertures in the wall from which this old astronomer watched the movements of the heavenly bodies, no doubt.

It was an ancient custom at Kush Kut-ret for all the people to go, upon a certain day, to gather wood for the uses of the households. On one of these occasions one of the daughters of the ruler of the city encountered iSutsunuts, the ruler of the Ka-tsi-na. They had met before under like conditions, so iSutsu-nuts addressed the maiden and offered to help her break the wood and tie it into a bundle so that it might be more easily carried.

As they worked along together, Sutsu-nuts proved so helpful and agreeable to Ko-chin-ni-na-ko that, when on parting, he asked her to accompany him as his wife to his home in the far west, she consented to go with him, provided her parents raised no objection. Sutsu-nuts agreed to wait four days for her, in which time she was to consult with her people and, if no obstacle was interposed, was to join him again, prepared for the journey.

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko returned to Kush Kut-ret with a light heart and a hope that her parents would find no objection to a man so powerful and renowned as Sutsunuts. Her hope did not prove groundless, for her father, her mother and her three sisters readily assented to her alliance with the ruler of the Ka-tsi-na. Her sisters lent their assistance in her preparations for the journey. They washed and combed her long, black hair and braided it in two braids. Inside each braid they put a package containing pollen from the corn tassel. When her prepar- ations had been completed, she took leave of her people and set out for the place where she had left Sutsu-nuts. She found him awaiting her coming.

Together they proceeded westward until they came to a big water that was wide and deep. Soon after crossing this, they arrived at the home of Sutsu-nuts. The mother of the ruler of the Ka-tsi-na welcomed Ko-chinni-na-ko to her new home, and everything went smoothly for a time, until Ko-chin-ni-na-ko discovered that the bread set before her was made from dough mixed with human blood. She refused to eat the bread. When she next went to carry water, she extracted some pollen from one of the packages in her hair and ate it. Then she threw some of the pollen into the big water. Thus she lived for several days, but finally she ate all the pollen, and was in despair as to how she would be able to live, for she had resolved that she would never eat the bread of Sutsu-nuts. While she was in the midst of the dilemma, an old spider woman came to her and whispered in her ear :

1 i Now that your heavenly food is all gone, iSutsu-nuts will compel you to eat the bread made from dead people's blood. You must not remain here, but must return to your father at Kush Kut-ret. ' '

So Ko-chin-ni-na-ko took a jar and went to the big water. As she stood upon the brink, one of the beings that lived in the water spoke to her, saying :

"When I was hungry, you fed me with corn pollen. For having thrown the pollen into the water, I love you. If you wish to return to Kush Kut-ret, I will take you across the big water. " to the margin of the water, where she had left the jar, and called aloud four times, asking the beings that lived in the water if they knew where Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had gone. At the fourth call the beings answered that she had gone to Kush Kut-ret, because she did not like the food he had given her. Then Sutsu-nuts went and called all of his followers, the Ka-tsi-na, and started in pursuit. They crossed the big water and, after traveling a night and a day, they scattered out over the country. In this manner they soon found Ko-chin-ni-na-ko 's trail. They ran with incredible swiftness, so that they soon overtook her ; and they struck her with a heavy club upon the calf of the leg, felling her to the ground. Then they returned to their own country, leaving Ko-chin-ni-na-ko for dead.

All night long Ko-chin-ni-na-ko lay unconscious. In the morning when the sun came up and warmed her, she recovered her senses. Still she did not move. She was unable to continue her way. At noon two sons were born to her. These were strong and rugged infants; and they rolled upon the sand and kicked up their heels in the air and crowed to see the trees and rocks around them and the bright sun looking at them.

In a crevice of the high cliff not far from where Kochin-ni-na-ko and her two sons were lying, there was a nest of Chit-ta Ma-ka-na, or white crows. The young ones said to their parents: "We see something yonder upon the sands. It looks like a doe with two fawns. Allow us to go and bring^ the little ones up to our nest so that they may play with us."

The old crows consented, and away the little crows went to make the acquaintance of their new playfellows. However, they soon returned to the nest and told their parents that what they had seen was not a deer but Kochin-ni-na-ko, the daughter of Hutch-a-mun Kai-ok. Upon hearing this, the old crows went down and conduct-

The sons of Ko-chin-ni-na-ko grew very fast and soon began to run about and climb upon the rocks. One day, seeing some rabbits, they said to their mother: "What are those little white animals that are running about? May we not catch them ? ' ' Their mother told them to go to Father Chit-ta Ma-ka-na and get him to help them.

Father Chit-ta Ma-ka-na made for each of them a bow and arrows and instructed them how to use them. So the boys soon became hunters. After they had been at the home of the Chit-ta Ma-ka-na for a long time, the boys said to their mother:

She told them that their grandfather was Hutch-amun Kai-ok, the ruler of Kush-kut-ret, and that she intended, in four days, to send them to his city to see him.

After that the boys were all impatience to set out for the city of their grandfather. The four days' preparation for the journey seemed endless. But they passed, and, early one morning, the sons stood before their mother to receive her final instructions and to take leave of her. Their mother directed them to enter the city from the south; to approach their grandfather's house, which they would ksow by its three ladders standing side by side, with parrots perched upon the tops, from the south ; and to enter the dwelling from the south entrance. She told them that their grandfather had a room where he played with the stars ; that he would require them to guess what stars were contained in the bags hanging upon the walls of the room. She enjoined them to remember that on the north wall hung a bag containing the Mai-chin, the seven stars in the Big Dipper; on the west wall hung iSu-qi-she, the Pleiades; on the east wall, Si-usphs or Chi-asps, Orion's Belt; on the south wall, Kai-ti-tu-wi, the Scorpion. Finally she told them that they must procure for her from her father some wearing apparel, for Sutsu-nuts, before leaving her for dead upon the sand, had stripped her of her clothing.

So the boys set out for Kush Kut-ret and the home of their grandfather. After long wanderings and many hardships and strange adventures, they arrived at the city. The old ruler came out to receive them. They were naked and their hair had never known a comb, so he supposed them to be from a strange people.

After the boys had been fed, the ruler asked them to enter the room where he kept the stars. Then he told them that, unless they were able to guess what the bags hanging against the wail contained, he would take their hearts out ; but that,, if they made correct guesses, they should have his heart. : He pointed his finger at the bags, one by one, and told the boys to guess. Each time they made the correct answers. When the contents of all the bags had been named by them, Hutch-a-mun Kai-ok laid himself down and told them they had won and it was their right to take his heart. But the boys protested that they did not want his heart. He arose, very much surprised, and asked:

Then they told him their story. They related Kochin-ni-na-ko 's persecution by Sutsu-nuts, her escape, her flight, her capture and subsequent punishment, their own strange birth and stranger adoption by the white crows. They told him that Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had sent them to him to request that he send her suitable apparel in which to appear before her people.

When they had finished, the old man took them on his knee and told them that he recognized them as his grandchildren. Then he had them washed and dressed and combed, and sent them back with clothes and presents and a welcome home for Ko-chin-ni-na-ko. The boys hastened their return to the home of the White Crows, where they had left their mother. They delivered the clothing to her, and the presents and message sent by her father.

When Ko-chin-ni-na-ko had donned the new clothes, she and her two sons set out for Kush Kut-ret ; and, after long journeying, arrived at the foot of the ladder that led up to the ruler's house.

Hutch-a-mun Kai-ok had placed all his household gods in ceremonial order; had gathered all of his family around him and had instructed its members not to cry or to make any demonstration when they welcomed Ko-chinni-na-ko back, until the earth trembled. "For, if you do cry," he said, "something terrible will happen. " When he had given these directions, he sang this song:

Translation: My dear daughter, come in; for your sake, come in. Here is I-ye-ti-ko in front. Sit here. For your sake, I go. That is why - for your sake. I will go in first to I-ye-ti-ko. I go in, my love. Look! I go. I will place I-ye-ti-ko in front, for her sake. Now I place I-ye-ti-ko. Now I go for your sake. I-ye-ti-ko first in front place.

Sutsu-Nuts, The Rulek Of The Ka-Tsi Na 133

Ko-chin-ni-na-ko and her two sons ascended the ladder to the top of the house, for the entrance was by means of a hole in the roof. Here they pasued, and Ko-chin-nina-ko called again, as she had before, and received the same answer. They went down to the floor of the second story of the house. Again she called, and again the answer was repeated. Then they began to descend the ladder into the room where the family" was assembled, aiwaiting them. When Ko-chin-ni-na-ko reached the last rung of the ladder, she stopped and called again to her father, mother and sisters. As she did so, Ka-sha-na-ko, her sister, began to cry.

At that moment Sutsu-nuts, who had discovered that Ko-chin-ni-na-ko was not dead, and who had followed her, rushed down the ladder, caught her and her two boys in his arms and carried them away. And they never came back, nor were they ever seen again by any that knew them.

This village was located probably on the Mississipi river. Natchez sounds like a Queres name. Some of their names for places are very peculiar. This name may have been Nah-stchis, meaning six directions of view, literally it means six eyes.

From the fact of the house spoken of in this story, being thatched with big leaves, it is evident that it must have been in a tropical or semi-tropical climate. And the village of Kush-Kutret being in the same latitude must have been in a similar climate.