Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho National Monument, Arizona — John Shaqi
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.)
[3] See A Study of Pueblo Architecture, Tusayan and Cibola, in _Eighth
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_. The legend was obtained by
Mr. A. M. Stephen.
[4] Evidently a mistake in identification of localities. Although
the Navaho name _Tségi_ has persisted as the designation of Canyon
de Chelly, Arizona, there is little doubt that when the Hopi gave to
Stephen the tradition of their former life in “Tségi,” they did not
refer, as he interpreted the narration, to what is now called Canyon de
Chelly, but to Laguna canyon, likewise bordered by high cliffs, which
the Navaho also designate _Tségi_. The designation Canyon de Chelly was
used by Simpson in 1850 (Sen. Ex. Doc. no. 64, 31st Cong., 1st sess.),
who wrote (p. 69, footnote): “The orthography of this word I got from
Señor Donaciano Vigil, secretary of the province, who informs me that
it is of Indian origin. Its pronunciation is chay-e.”—J. W. F.
[5] The circular type disappeared before they arrived in the valley
below Walpi. Legends declare that the original Snake kivas were
circular, and there are references, in legends of clans other than
those that formerly lived in the north, to circular kivas formerly used
by the Hopi.
[6] Probably Lieut. William Hemphill Bell, of the Third Infantry,
United States Army.
[7] Since the writer’s return to Washington this party has spent
several months at Betatakin.
[8] Mr. Douglass has furnished the writer the following data from his
report regarding the positions of the most important ruins in the
Navaho National Monument:
LATITUDE LONGITUDE
Kitsiel, 36° 45’ 33” north. 110° 31’ 40” west.
Betatakin, 36° 40’ 57” north. 110° 34’ 01” west.
Inscription House, 36° 40’ 14” north. 110° 51’ 32” west.
[9] One of these is designated Inscription House on Mr. Douglass’s map
(pl. 22).
[10] According to one Navaho the meaning of this word is “antelope
drive,” referring to the resemblance of the canyon to such a structure.
[11] For photographs of Kitsiel (pl. 1) and of Inscription House (here
pl. 2), published by courtesy in advance of Mr. Douglass’s report, the
writer is indebted to the General Land Office. Acknowledgment is made
to the same office for ground plans of Kitsiel and Betatakin, which
were taken from Mr. Douglass’s report.
[12] Hopi legends ascribe the former home of the Snake clan to the
vicinity of this mountain.
[13] The Mexican Spanish name for the ground-owl, from Nahuatl
_tecolotl_.
[14] In _American Anthropologist_, N. S., V, no. 2, 1903.
[15] The word _bokho_ (“canyon”) is applied by the Navaho to this
canyon; _tségi_ (“high rocks”) is used to designate the cliffs that hem
it in.
ROUTES TO THE NAVAHO NATIONAL MONUMENT
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