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
"But as the days rolled on she again felt the longings for maternity.
By this time she had wandered far to the west and had entered the
beautiful canyon of the Havasu, where deep down between the rocks
were several grand and glorious waterfalls, and one of these,
Wa-ha-hath-peek-ha-ha, she determined should be the father of her
second child.
"When it was born it was a girl, and to this day all the girls of the
Havasupai are 'daughters of the water.'
"As these two children grew up they married, and thus became the
progenitors of the human race. First the Havasupais were born, then the
Apaches, then the Wallapais, then the Hopis, then the Paiutis, then the
Navahoes.
"And Tochopa told them all where they should live. The Havasupais and
the Apaches were to dwell in Havasu Canyon, the former on one side of
the Havasu (blue water), and the latter on the other side, and occupy
the territory as far east as the Little Colorado and south to the San
Francisco Mountains. The Wallapais were to roam in the country west of
Havasu Canyon, and the Hopis and Navahoes east of the Little Colorado,
and the Paiutis north of the big Colorado.
"And there in Havasu Canyon, above their dancing-place, he carved on
the summit of the walls figures of Pu-keh-eh and A-pa-a to remind them
from whom they were descended. Here for a long time Havasupais and
Apaches lived together in peace, but one day an Apache man saw a most
beautiful Havasu woman, and he fell in love with her, and he went to
his home and prayed and longed and ate his heart out for this woman who
was the wife of another. He called upon Hokomata, the bad god, to help
him, and Hokomata, always glad to foment trouble, told him to pay no
attention to the restrictions placed upon him by Tochopa, but to cross
the Havasu, kill the woman's husband, and steal her for his own wife.
"The Apache heeded this evil counsel and did so.
"When the Havasupais discovered the wrong that had been done them,
and the great disgrace this Apache had brought upon the tribe, they
counselled together, and determined to drive out the Apaches from their
canyon home. No longer should they be brothers. They bade the Apaches
be gone, and when they refused, fell upon them and drove them out. Up
the rocks near Hue-gli-i-wa the Apaches climbed, and to this day the
marks of their footsteps may be seen. They were driven far away to the
south and commanded never to come north of the San Francisco Mountains.
Hence, though originally they were brothers, there has ever since been
war between the people of the Havasu and the Apaches.
"Then, to remind them of the sure punishment that comes to evil-doers,
Tochopa carved the great stone figures of the Apache man and the
Havasupai squaw so that they could be seen from above and below,
and there to this day the Hue-gli-i-wa remain, as a warning against
unlawful love and its dire consequences."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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