Spanish influence was never strong enough at Zuni to convert the natives to Christianity: they tolerated the presence of a church outside the walls of the pueblo (now a ruin); but they still cling devotedly to their old traditions, and attribute their temporal prosperity, and the comparative immunity of their country from drought, to the steadfast observance of their ancient ceremonies. They believe in the one great Spirit, and in Montezuma his son, who will some day come again to them from the east, and unite all the nations once more under his banner.
Our party found the people of Zuni to be very honest, but uncommonly sharp traders -- so much so that they had the greatest difficulty in buying any sheep from them, although they had flocks in abundance; they parted with their maize and farm produce much more readily, but they understood the value of everything so thoroughly that they always insisted on receiving quid pro quo. They seemed to take great pleasure in keeping tame eagles and turkeys. Albinos are unusually common amongst them, whose complexions are as fair as those of Europeans. Like the other branches of the Pueblo Indians, the women of Zuni are very chaste, and plurality of wives is not allowed,
Situated to the north-east of the San Francisco Peaks, about twenty miles from the Colorado Chiquito, on the opposite side to the mountains, are grouped, within a radius of ten miles, the seven villages of Moqui. The country is arid and uninviting, much broken, and partly formed of steep mesas, partly of volcanic peaks. Upon the very edge of some of these mesas the villages are planted. They are mostly of three stories, built in the form of a square, with a court, common to the whole community, forming the centre. The first story, or basement, consists of a stone wall 15 feet high, the top of which forms a landing extending round the whole. A. flight of stone steps leads from the first to the second landing, and thence up to the roof. The doors open upon the landing. The houses are three rooms deep, the first being used for eating, cooking, &c, the others as sleeping-apartments. Great neatness is observable both in the household arrangements and personal habits of the people. They sit upon skins on the floor, clothe themselves with linen trousers, shirts, and a Navajo blanket thrown across their shoulders. Upon the walls hang bows, arrows, quivers, antlers, blankets, articles of clothing, &c.; vases, flat dishes, and gourds, filled with meal or water, stand usually along one side of the room. In complexion they are rather fair for Indians; although quiet in their manners they are very light-hearted: honesty, frankness, and hospitality are amongst their good qualities ; but they want the manly bearing of the Zuni Indians, and have, until lately, lived in great fear of their warlike neighbours, the Navajos.
The most interesting features about their villages are the reservoirs which they build to retain the rain-water. At the back of each building, upon the mesa itself, a good-sized reservoir, some 5 feet or upwards in depth and lined throughout with masonry, is usually to be found; a little lower down is a second one, with a pipe leading to it from the former. This lower reservoir is for the animals, the upper one for the people, and for household use. On each side of the tanks, the sloping sides of the mesa are formed into terraces neatly paved with masonry, and surrounded by a raised edge, so as to retain the water brought to them through pipes from the reservoirs. Peach-trees grow upon the terraces; and most of their crops are raised in this way by carefully husbanding the rainfall and using it for irrigation. Many flocks are owned by them; and most of the sheep are black.
Mr. Leroux, who was the first American to visit them (1850), estimated the united population of the- seven villages at 6700, the largest containing 2400 inhabitants. Since then, however, small-pox has committed terrible ravages amongst them; and they have also suffered for several seasons from great deficiency of rainfall, so much so that they have been strongly advised to migrate to some more hospitable region. Within the last six years, however, the rains have been more abundant, and, by the latest reports from that out-of-the-way region, they seem to be in a very nourishing condition. Mr. Ward, however, after a careful inspection of the different communities, places the present population at only 2500 souls.
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adapted from A. W. Bell
"On the Native Races of New Mexico"
1869 (Journal of the Ethnological Society of London)
