Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona | Page 4

south. The following
tradition, which, though not very definite, is of interest in this
connection, was obtained by the late A. M. Stephen, for many years a
resident near the Tusayan villages in Arizona, who, aside from his
competence for that work, had every facility for obtaining data of this
kind. The tradition was dictated by Anawita, chief of the Pat-ki-nyûmû
(Water house gentes) and is as follows:
We did not come direct to this region (Tusayan)--we had no fixed
intention as to where we should go.
We are the Pat-ki-nyû-mû, and we dwelt in the Pa-lát-kwa-b[(i] (Red
Land) where the kwá-ni (agave) grows high and plentiful; perhaps it
was in the region the Americans call Gila valley, but of that I am not
certain. It was far south of here, and a large river flowed past our
village, which was large, and the houses were high, and a strange thing
happened there.
Our people were not living peaceably at that time; we were quarreling
among ourselves, over huts and other things I have heard, but who can
tell what caused their quarrels? There was a famous hunter of our

people, and he cut off the tips from the antlers of the deer which he
killed and [wore them for a necklace?] he always carried them. He lay
down in a hollow in the court of the village, as if he had died, but our
people doubted this; they thought he was only shamming death, yet
they covered him up with earth. Next day his extended hand protruded,
the four fingers erect, and the first day after that one finger disappeared
[was doubled up?]; each day a finger disappeared, until on the fourth
day his hand was no longer visible.
The old people thought that he dug down to the under world with the
horn tips.
On the fifth day water spouted up from the hole where his hand had
been and it spread over everywhere. On the sixth day Pá-lü-lü-koña
(the Serpent deity) protruded from this hole and lifted his head high
above the water and looked around in every direction. All of the lower
land was covered and many were drowned, but most of our people had
fled to some knolls not far from the village and which were not yet
submerged.
When the old men saw Pá-lü-lü-koña they asked him what he wanted,
because they knew he had caused this flood; and Pá-lü-lü-koña said, "I
want you to give me a youth and a maiden."
The elders consulted, and then selected the handsomest youth and
fairest maid and arrayed them in their finest apparel, the youth with a
white kilt and paroquet plume, and the maid with a fine blue tunic and
white mantle. These children wept and besought their parents not to
send them to Pá-lü-lü-koña, but an old chief said, "You must go; do not
be afraid; I will guide you." And he led them toward the village court
and stood at the edge of the water, but sent the children wading in
toward Pá-lü-lü-koña, and when they reached the center of the court
where Pá-lü-lü-koña was the deity and the children disappeared. The
water then rushed down after them, through a great cavity, and the
earth quaked and many houses tumbled down, and from this cavity a
great mound of dark rock protruded. This rock mound was glossy and
of all colors; it was beautiful, and, as I have been told, it still remains
there.

[Illustration: Plate XII. GROUND PLAN OF RUIN NEAR MOUTH
OF LIMESTONE CREEK. RIO VERDE : ARIZONA]
The White Mountain Apache have told me that they know a place in
the south where old houses surround a great rock, and the land in the
vicinity is wet and boggy.
We traveled northward from Palat-kwabi and continued to travel just as
long as any strength was left in the people--as long as they had breath.
During these journeys we would halt only for one day at a time. Then
our chief planted corn in the morning and the pá-to-la-tei (dragon fly)
came and hovered over the stalks and by noon the corn was ripe; before
sunset it was quite dry and the stalks fell over, and whichever way they
pointed in that direction we traveled.
When anyone became ill, or when children fretted and cried, or the
young people became homesick, the Co-i-yal Katcina (a youth and a
maiden) came and danced before them; then the sick got well, children
laughed, and sad ones became cheerful.
We would continue to travel until everyone was thoroughly worn out,
then we would halt and build houses and plant, remaining perhaps
many years.
One of these places where we lived is not far from San Carlos, in a
valley, and another is on a mesa near