We were told by the Moquis that when the Navajos were at war with
the United States, they were taken advantage of in their scattered
condition by the Moquis, who hunted out the worst of the thieves among
them, and killed them off. For this purpose the Moquis were furnished
with guns and ammunition.
One man told me that he had hunted up and killed eight Navajos single
handed.
I was also informed that the Moquis decoyed thirty--five of them into
one of their villages, by promising them protection, and then disarmed
them, and threw them off a high rock between two of their towns. I went
to the place indicated and found a number of skeletons and some remains
of blankets. This was done during the winter previous to our visit.
The Navajos have evidently been the plunderers of the Moquis for
generations, and the latter have retaliated whenever they have had an
opportunity. Peace between these tribes would be a great blessing to
both.
This trip and its influences appears to have been a turning-point--the
commencement of a great practical change for the better in the lives of
these tribes. The Lord's time for a change had evidently come.
Wishing to do all I could to give strength to a peaceful policy, I
invited Tuba, a man of good report among his people, to take with him
his wife, Pulaskanimki, to go home with me; get acquainted with the
spirit and policy of our people, and become a truthful representative
of them among his people.
I promised to pay him for what labor he might perform, and bring him
home the next autumn.
After counseling with their friends, he and his wife accepted my
invitation.
When we arrived on the cliffs before crossing the Colorado, the Piutes
living in the Navajo country, came to me and said as they had taken a
part with the Navajos in raiding on our people, they desired to have a
good peace talk. They were about thirty in number.
After an interesting council, we commenced to descend the difficult
cliff to the crossing of the river. While doing so, Brother Nathan
Terry said he had a dream the night before, and that it had been on his
mind all day, and he believed it meant something. In the dream he saw
the company riding along the trail, when he heard the report of a gun.
He looked around and saw one of the company fall to the ground, and he
thought he went and put the person on his horse, and they continued
their journey.
After descending the cliff, I was some distance in the rear of the
company, when suddenly, what appeared like a flash of lightning came
over me. It was with great difficulty that I could breathe. Not being
able to help myself, I partly fell to the ground.
I lay there some time, when one of the Kanab Indians who was with us
came along, saw my situation, and hurried on to camp.
Brother Terry came back to me after dark. He administered to me in the
name of the Lord, when the death-like grip that seemed to have fastened
on my lungs let go its hold, and I could again breathe naturally.
On coming to the bank of the river the following day, Tuba, the Oriba,
looked rather sorrowful, and told me that his people once lived on the
other side of this river, and their fathers had told them they never
would go west of the river again to live. Said he, "I am now going on
a visit to see my friends. I have worshiped the Father of us all in
the way you believe to be right; now I wish you would do as the Hopees
[their name for themselves] think is right before we cross."
I assented. He then took his medicine bag from under his shirt, and
offered me a little of its contents. I offered my left hand to take it;
he requested me to take it in my right. He then knelt with his face to
the east, and asked the Great Father of all to preserve us in crossing
the river. He said that he and his wife had left many friends at home,
and if they never lived to return, their friends would weep much. He
prayed for pity upon his friends, the "Mormons," that none of them
might drown in crossing; and that all the animals we had with us might
be spared, for we needed them all, and to preserve unto us all our food
and clothing, that we need not suffer hunger nor cold on our journey.
He then arose to his feet. We scattered the ingredients from the
medicine bag into the air, on to the land and into the water of the
river.
To me, the whole ceremony seemed humble and reverential. I felt
that the Father has regard to such petitions. The scattering of the
ingredients from the medicine bag I understood to be intended as a
propitiary sacrifice.
After this ceremony we drove our animals into the river, and they
all swam safely to the opposite shore. In a short time ourselves and
effects were safely over. Tuba then thanked the Great Father that He
had heard and answered our prayer.
Arriving at Kanab, we found all well. Everybody appeared to feel
thankful for the success of our mission and the prospects of peace. The
Kanab Indians also congratulated us on our success.
Some of the Piutes from the east side of the river accompanied us home.
They spent much of the night in talking over events that had taken
place during the previous three years. They said they had not visited
each other much during that time.
Choog, the Kibab chief of the Piutes, after learning all the
particulars from the Indians who went with us, came to me and said:
"Now the Indians east of the river have all made peace, the evil
spirits will have no place to stop over there. They have followed you
here. The destroyer will enter into the wind, fire and water, and do
you all the mischief he can. Wherever he can get a chance to work he
will go."
At the close of his remarks I smiled. Noticing it, he said with
considerable warmth, "You are a wise, good man, and know more than I
do; but I know that what I have told you will come to pass."
The third night after this conversation with the Kibab chief, the night
of the 14th of December, a house in Kanab, in which resided the family
of Brother Levi Stewart, took fire, from some unknown cause. The room
in which the fire originated had but one entrance, and in it were
stored some combustible materials. The houses were of logs, built in
fort form, and the people and their effects were much crowded together.
At the time the fire broke out, people were generally asleep, and six
of the family of Brother Stewart were asleep in the room where the fire
originated.
Before they could be rescued, a can of oil took fire, and the room was
in a moment enveloped in an intense flame, which burst out from the
only entrance. The shrieks of those in the fire, and the odor of their
roasting bodies; the lurid glare of the fire in the darkness of night;
the intense anxiety and sorrow depicted on the countenances of the
father and husband, brothers, sisters and neighbors, made up a scene
that can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it.
There were several other fires and accidents in the settlements of
Southern Utah, soon after the fire in Kanab, which indicated that the
Indian chief was prompted by the spirit of prophecy.
Some people call the Indians superstitious. I admit the fact, but
do not think that they are more so than many who call themselves
civilized. There are few people who have not received superstitious
traditions from their fathers. The more intelligent part of the Indians
believe in one Great Father of all; also in evil influences, and in
revelation and prophecy; and in many of their religious rites and
ideas, I think they are quite as consistent as the Christian sects of
the day.