ETHNOBOTANY OF THE ZUNI INDIANS 



Bv Matilda Coxe Stevenson 



INTRODUCTION 



THERE is perhaps no trilx' of North American Indians which 

 has interested the intelligent world more than the Zuni, who 

 live in an arid country m the extreme western part of New 

 Mexico. Thcii- great community pueblo (pis. 1 , 3) occupies the site 

 of one of the seven villages inhabited by the tribe at the time of the 

 invasion of the Spanish conqueroi's, before the middle of the sixteenth 

 century. 



Although the Zuni form a distmct linguistic stock, according to 

 Powell's classification, it is known from a study of their i)rayers and 

 rituals tliat they are a composite peoi)le, some having come from 

 the north, while others came from the south. According to their 

 traditions they journeyed from the far northwest m (|uest of the 

 " nuddle place of the world, " and on reaching their goal were contented 

 to remam. The migration legend of the Zuni relates that they were 

 driven from their homes at this "'middle place" by a great flood 

 that covered the earth, to To'wa yal'lanne ('corn mountain'), a beau- 

 tiful mesa of red and white sandstone, about three and a half miles 

 to the eastward. The j)ueblo ruins on the summit of this mesa 

 would seem to indicate that the height was occupied for a considerable 

 time. There are also on the mesa many interesting shrines to the 

 Sun Father, Moon Mother, and Gods of War. 



The Zuiii agam took refuge on To'wa yal'lannfi when the Spaniards 

 first invaded their country, and again at the time of the Pueblo 

 revolt against Spanish authority in lOSO. These sojourns on the 

 mesa, however, were mere episodes in tlie life of the Zuni people, 

 for they returned each time to theu- valley homes where they con- 

 tinued to elaborate their philosophy and system of rituals. They 

 held so tenaciously to theu- autochthonous institutions, resisting 

 all external interference, that the}* lived, as it were, a life unto them- 

 selves. 



Such was the condition of the Zuni in 1879, when the late Mr. 

 James Stevenson, of the Bureau of Ethnology, accompanied by the 

 writer and others, made his first visit among these people, who at 

 once took the visitors into their confidence, mviting them to be present 

 at all social and ceremonial functions. 



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