The Indians of the Painted Desert Region: Hopis, Navahoes, Wallapais, HavasupaisJames, George Wharton
Religion
The Indians of the Painted Desert Region: Hopis, Navahoes, Wallapais, Havasupais
James, George Wharton
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New
Puchilowa sang for me the Wallapai song on the death of their chiefs.
It is a weird, mournful melody, which, however, I have not yet had
time and opportunity to transcribe from the graphophone. It says: "Our
chief, our father, our friend, is dead. His voice is silent, his tread
is silent. Come together, ye his friends, and cry about with sorrow.
Burn up his body that his spirit may go to the world of spirits. Burn
up his house that his spirit may not long to stay around. Burn up all
his possessions that they may be with him in the spirit world. Then
let no one to whom he belonged stay near the place where he died. Move
away, that his spirit may feel nothing to keep him to the earth."
Hence it will be seen that the Wallapai is naturally a believer in
cremation. Indeed he still practises the burning of his dead, except
where white influences are brought to bear. These influences are not
altogether a perfect good. There is no harm in burning the dead, but,
unfortunately, the general Indian belief is that the goods of the
deceased, his horses, his guns, his clothes,--indeed, all his personal
possessions, and the gifts of his friends,--should also be burned to
accompany him to the spirit world. If this destruction of valuable
property could be arrested without interfering with the corporeal
cremation, it would be a good thing.
The thanksgiving song for harvest, though purely Indian, is a much more
cheerful melody. Puchilowa gave me the words, as well as sang the song
in the graphophone, but he was unable to tell what the words meant.
"The old Indians gave me this song long time ago. I sing it all 'a time
at harvest. I no sapogi (understand) what it means."
"Ho si a ya ma,
In ya a sonk a kīt a,
In ya va va vam
Ho si a ya ma
In ya ha sak a kīt a,"
etc., _ad infinitum_.
There are three native policemen, engaged by the Indian department,
among the Wallapais,--Puchilowa, (Jim Fielding), at Truxton;
Su-jin´-i-mi (Indian Jack), at Kingman; and Wa-wa-ti´-chi-mi, at
Chloride. Each receives ten dollars per month for his services. It was
the former who acted as interpreter during my last visit.
I had just finished making the photographs of Quasula and one or two
others, when an old woman and her husband came in from the desert. As
he sat waiting for me to photograph him, he took some prickly pears
from his bundle and began to eat them. I had often seen tourists from
the East fill their fingers with the almost invisible and countless
spines of the prickly pear, so I asked At-e-e how he gathered them.
Picking up a stick, he sharpened one end, thrust it into his fruit,
and, as if it were still on the tree, chopped it off with his knife.
Now, still holding it on the stick, he peeled it and then handed it
to me to eat. It is a slightly sweet and acid fruit, dainty enough in
flavor, but so crowded with annoying small seeds as not to pay for the
trouble of separating them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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