AMONG THE COHONINO < S 13 



about 120 miles west of the Hopi, with whom they have a considerable 

 trade in buckskins and inesquite bread. They probably obtained the 

 doctrine and the dance directly from the Paiute to the northward. 

 Our only knowledge of the Cohonino dance is derived through Bopi 



informants, and as the two tribes speak languages radically different 

 the ideas conveyed were neither complete nor definite, but it is e\ ident 

 that the general doctrine was the same, although the dance differed in 

 some respects from that of the other tribes. 



We quote again from Stephen's letter of November 22, 1891: 

 Durin« :, quiet interval, in on, of the kivas I found the Hopi who brought the 

 tiding of the resurrection to his people. His name is PUtci and his story is very 

 ,„„;,..;., and confused. He went on a customary trading visit to the Cojon.no m 

 their home at Cataract creek, and I could not determine just when The chief ot 

 tl „. cojonino is named Navajo, and when Putci got there. Navajo had hut latelj 

 retumedfrom a visit to the westward, lie had been with the Ys alapa,, tin. Mohave, 

 and perhaps still farther west, and had been gone nearly three months He to Id us 

 people a vague mystic story that he had heard dur.ng h,s travels, to the effect that 

 P P . tlll „. ,,,,„, people of the Antelope, Deer, ami Rabbit [Antelope Deer, etc, 

 are probably Cohonino gentes-J. M.] were to come back and live in their former 

 haunts; that they had reached to a place where were the people of the I ama the 

 \\ olf and the Bear; that this meeting delayed the coming, but eventually all these 

 people would appear, and in the sequence here related. Putci was accompanied by 

 three other Hopi, and they said they did not very well understand this strange 

 story While they were stopping in Cataract canon a one-night dance was held by 

 tl „.V„ jimlll( ,. ; , t Uich these Hopi were present. During the night a ong pole 

 having the tail of an eagle fastened to the end, was brought on, and securely planted 

 in the ground, and the dancers were told by their shamans that anyone who + could 

 climb this pole ami put his month on the tail would see Ins dead mother (maternal 

 : „„„„. "one man succeeded in climbing it and hud his mouth on the fea titers 

 then „,, ,„ thl . bottom i„ , state of collapse. They deemed htm dead, but 

 before dawn herecovered ami .hen .aid that he had seen his dead mother and several 

 other dead ancestors, who told him they were all on their way hack. I he Hop. on 

 their return hone related these marvels, but apparently it made little .mpression, 

 and it was only with difficulty I could gather the above meager deta.ls. 



Through the kindness of Mr Thomas V. Keam, trader for the Hopi 

 ami Favako, we get a revision of Ptitei's story. Putci states that in 

 July 1891, lu- with three other Hopi went on a visit to the Cohonino 

 to trade for buckskins. When they arrived in the vicinity of the Coho- 

 nino camp, they were met by one of the, tribe, who informed the visitors 

 that all the Indians were engaged in a very important ceremony, and 

 that before they could enter the camp they must wash their bodies and 

 paint them with white clay. Accordingly, when this had been done 

 they were escorted to the camp and introduced to the principal chief 

 and headmen, all of whom they found engaged in washing their heads, 

 decorating themselves, and preparing for the ceremony, which took 

 place on a clear space near the camp late in the afternoon. Here a very 

 tall straight pole had been securely fastened upright in the ground 

 At the. top were tied two eagle tail feathers. A circle was formed 

 around this pole by the Indians, and, after dancing around it until 

 almost dark, one of the men climbed the pole to the top, and remained 



