It was on the return from the grand council with the Navajo, in November,
1870, that Hamblin took to Utah, Tuba, a leading man of the Oraibi Hopi
and his wife, Pulaskaninki.
In Hamblin's journal is a charming little account of how Tuba crossed the
prohibited river. Tuba told Hamblin, "I have worshipped the Father of us
all in the way you believe to be right. Now I wish you would do as the
Hopi think is right before we cross." So the two knelt, Hamblin accepting
in his right hand some of the contents of Tuba's medicine bag and Tuba
prayed "for pity upon his Mormon friends, that none might drown, and for
the preservation of all the animals we had, as all were needed, and for
the preservation of food and clothing, that hunger nor cold might be
known on the trail." They arose and scattered the ingredients from the
medicine bag into the air, upon the men and into the waters of the river.
Hamblin wrote, "To me the whole ceremony seemed humble and reverential. I
feel the Father had regard for such petitions." There was added prayer by
Tuba when the expedition safely landed on the opposite shore, at the
mouth of the Paria.
Tuba had a remarkable trip. He was especially interested in the spinning
mill at Washington, for he had made blankets, and his wife, with handmill
experience, thought of labor lost when she looked at the work of a flour
mill. At St. George they saw President Young, who gave them clothing.
Tuba was taken back home to Oraibi in safety in September, 1871, and his
return was celebrated by feasting.
Of date December 24, 1870, in the files of the Deseret News is found a
telegram from George A. Smith, who was with President Brigham Young and
party in Utah's Dixie, at St. George. He wired:
"Jacob Hamblin, accompanied by Tooby, a Moqui magistrate of Oraibi
village, and wife, who are on a visit to this place to get information in
regard to agriculture and manufactures, came here lately. Tooby, being
himself a skillful spinner, examined the factory and grist mill at
Washington. Upon seeing 360 spindles in operation, he said he had no
heart to spin with his fingers any more."
On the trip southward in 1871, on which Hamblin returned Tuba and his
wife to their home, he served as guide as far as the Ute ford for a party
that was bearing provisions for the second Powell expedition. He arrived
at the ford September 25, but remained only a day, then going on to Moen
Copie, Oraibi and Fort Defiance, where he seems to have had some business
to conclude with the chiefs. In his journal is told that he divided time
at a Sunday meeting with a Methodist preacher. Returning, with three
companions and nine Navajos, Hamblin reached the Paria October 28, taken
across by the Powell party, though Powell had gone on from Ute ford to
Salt Lake, there to get his family. The expedition had reached the ford
October 6, and had dropped down the river to the Paria, where arrival was
on the 22d. Hamblin went on to Salt Lake.