Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891
History
Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891
Navajo Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities; Pueblo architecture
The introduction of domestic sheep among the pueblos has added a new and
important element to their mode of living, but they seem never to have
reached a clear understanding as to how these animals should be cared
for. No forethought is exercised to separate the rams so that the lambs
will be born at a favorable season. The flocks consist of sheep and
goats which are allowed to run together at all tunes. Black sheep and
some with a grayish color of wool are often seen among them. No attempt
is made to eliminate these dark-fleeced members of the flock, since the
black and gray wool is utilized in its natural color in producing many
of the designs and patterns of the blankets woven by these people. The
flocks are usually driven up into the corrals or inclosures every
evening, and are taken out again in the morning, frequently at quite a
late hour. This, together with the time consumed in driving them to and
from pasture, gives them much less chance to thrive than those of the
nomadic Navajo. In Tusayan the corrals are usually of small size and
inclosed by thin walls of rude stone work. This may be seen in the
foreground of Pl. XXI. Pl. CIX illustrates several corrals just outside
the village of Mashongnavi similarly constructed, but of somewhat larger
size. Some of the corrals of Oraibi are of still larger size,
approaching in this respect the corrals of Cibola. The Oraibi pens are
rudely rectangular in form, with more or less rounded angles, and are
also built of rude masonry.
[Illustration: Plate CV. Small square openings in Pueblo Bonito.]
In the less important villages of Cibola stone is occasionally used for
inclosing the corrals, as in Tusayan, as may be seen in Pl. LXX,
illustrating an inclosure of this character in the court of the farming
pueblo of Pescado. Pl. CX illustrates in detail the manner in which
stone work is combined with the use of rude stakes in the construction
of this inclosure. On the rugged sites of the Tusayan villages corrals
are placed wherever favorable nooks happen to be found in the rocks, but
at Zuñi, built in the comparatively open plain, they form a nearly
continuous belt around the pueblo. Here they are made of stakes and
brush held in place by horizontal poles tied on with strips of rawhide.
The rudely contrived gateways are supported in natural forks at the top
and sides of posts. Often one or two small inclosures used for burros or
horses occur near these sheep corrals. The construction is identical
with those above described and is very rude. It is illustrated in Fig.
109, which shows the manner in which the stakes are arranged, and also
the method of attaching the horizontal tie-pieces. The construction of
these inclosures is frail, and the danger of pushing the stakes over by
pressure from within is guarded against by employing forked braces that
abut against horizontal pieces tied on 4 or 5 feet from the ground.
Reference to Pl. LXXIV will illustrate this construction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account