Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, ArizonaFewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, Arizona
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Arizona -- Antiquities; Cliff-dwellings -- Arizona; Navajo National Monument (Ariz.)
The pueblo settlement of Moenkopi (“place of the running water”), which
lies not far from Tuba, will give the visitor a fair idea of a small
Hopi pueblo. This settlement is said to be comparatively modern and
to have been made by colonists from Oraibi, but there are reasons to
believe that it dates back to the middle of the eighteenth century.
The pueblo is inhabited mainly by Pakab (Reed) clans, a people of late
advent in the Hopi country, whose arrival therein was subsequent,
at all events, to that of the Snake clans. The houses of Moenkopi
are arranged in rows, and it has one ceremonial room, or kiva, not
unlike the kivas of Walpi. None of the great nine-days ceremonies
of the Hopi is performed at Moenkopi; such dances as exist, called
_katcinas_, are conducted by masked participants. Possibly the presence
of Pakab clans in this pueblo is accounted for by need of warriors in
its exposed position, for the chief of the Hopi Warrior society (at
Walpi) belongs to the Pakab clan. The ruins about Moenkopi are small
and inconspicuous, but those between this pueblo and Oraibi are of
considerable size.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 50 PLATE 6
VIEW INTO LAGUNA CANYON FROM MARSH PASS]
Beyond Tuba the road is rough, running over upturned strata of rocks
and extending along sandy stretches of plain and hills to Red Lake,
where there is an Indian trading store owned by well-known merchants
of Flagstaff.[19] Here also provisions may be obtained for the trip
and abundant water for stock. The road now becomes more difficult.
Just after leaving Red Lake there may be noticed to the left two great
pinnacles of rock called Elephant Legs, not unlike those in Monument
canyon, Utah, and far to the north the cliffs are fantastically eroded.
The White Mesa natural bridge, visible from Red Lake, is one of the
scenic features of this locality. There are prehistoric burials in the
sands near Red Lake, from which have been obtained several beautiful
specimens of pottery resembling in the main those from the Navaho
National Monument and from the Black Falls ruins.
The road continues from Red Lake to Bekishibito (Cow Spring),[20] where
the water issues from under a low cliff, spreading in the wet season
over the adjacent plain and forming a shallow lake several miles long,
whose bottom is somewhat dangerous on account of quicksands. When there
is water a rich mantle of grass—a boon to travelers in this dusty
land—covers the plain, making an attractive camping place. This stretch
of the road, not more than 20 miles in length, is fairly good and
easily traversed by wagons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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