Two centuries ago visitors arrived at Walpi from the Rio Grande. These
were a tribe of Tewa, invited to come to Tusayan to aid in fighting
off the Apache and Ute, those wily nomad adversaries with whom the
Peaceful People for so long had to contend. Here they have lived ever
since in their village of Hano, at the head of the most readily
accessible trail up the mesa, preserving their language and customs,
and besides their own tongue, speaking well the language of their
friends and neighbors. The Tewa brought with them their potter's art
and now have the honor to be practically the only makers of
earthenware in Tusayan. Nampeo is the best potter at Hano and her work
shows her to be a worthy descendant of the ancient artists, whose
graceful vessels lie with the bones of the dead beneath the sands of
the great Southwest.
Beyond Hano, and midway between it and Walpi, is Sichomovi, which
signifies "flower mound." Sichomovi, if we may judge from the good
preservation of its houses and the regularity with which the town is
laid out, seems to be comparatively new, and indeed, there is
traditionary testimony to this effect. The dusky historians of Walpi
relate the circumstances of its foundation, when the yellow flowers
grew in the crevices of the rock at the place where several stranger
clans were allowed to settle.
Passing out of Sichomovi and crossing a narrow neck of the mesa
traversed by a well-worn trail, Walpi is reached. This village from
different points of view presents the appearance of a confused jumble
of dilapidated houses, and a walk through its alleys and passages
confirms the impression. Walpi was a town of necessity and was erected
in 1590, having been moved up from a lower point after troubles with
the Spanish conquistadores.
Looking down from the town one may trace the site of Old Walpi and
descry the pottery-strewn mounds of still older settlements, since
around this mesa the first comers to Tusayan probably located. At the
foot of the mesa are also springs and shrines, one of the latter being
the true "center of the world" to the Hopi mind, a point which gave
the ancients much trouble to determine. Along the ledges are corrals
for the motley flocks of black and white sheep and goats, adepts in
subsisting on all sorts of unpalatable brush. Farther down in the
level are the fields, at the proper season green with the prospect of
corn, melons, and beans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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