FEWEES] CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION 605 
The remainder of the prisoners, men and women, were again tortured 
and dismembered and left to die on the sand hills, and there their 
bones are, and that is the reason the place is called Maschomo (Death- 
mound). This is the story of Awatobi told by my old people.” 
All variants of the legend are in harmony in this particular, that Awa- 
tobi was destroyed by the other Tusayan pueblos, and that Mishoninovi, 
Walpi, and probably Oraibi and Shunopovi participated in the deed. 
A grievance that would unite the other villagers against Awatobi must 
have been a great one, indeed, and not a mere dispute about water or 
lands. The more I study the real cause, hidden in the term powako, 
“wizard” or “sorcerer,” the more I am convinced that the progress 
Christianity was making in A watobi, after the reconquest of the Pueblos 
in 1692, explains the hostility of the other villagers. The party favor- 
ing the Catholic fathers in Awatobi was increasing, and the other 
Tusayan pueblos watched its growth with alarm. They foresaw that 
it heralded the return of the hated domination of the priests, associ- 
ated in their minds with practical slavery, and they decided on the 
tragedy, which was carried out with all the savagery of which their 
natures were capable. 
They greatly feared the return of the Spanish soldiers, as the epoch 
of Spanish rule, mild though it may have been, was held in universal 
detestation. Moreover, after the reconquest of the Rio Grande pueblos, 
many apostates fled to Tusayan and fained the fires of hatred against 
the priests. Walpi received these malcontents, who came in numbers 
a few years later. Among these arrivals were Tanoan warriors and 
their families, part of whom were ancestors of the present inhabitants 
of Hano. 
It was no doubt hoped that the destruction of Awatobi would effect- 
ually root out the growing Christian influence, which it in fact did; 
and for fifty years afterward Tusayan successfully resisted all efforts 
to convert it. Franciscans from the east and Jesuits from the Gila in 
the south strove to get a new hold, but they never succeeded in rebuild- 
ing the missions in this isolated province, which was generally regarded 
as independent. 
From the scanty data I have been able to collect from historical and 
legendary sources, it seems probable that Awatobi was always more 
affected by the padres than were the other Tusayan pueblos. This was 
the village which was said to have been “converted” by Padre Porras, 
whose work, after his death by poison in 1633, was no doubt continued by 
his associates and successors. About 1680, as we learn from document- 
ary accounts, the population of Awatobi was 800,! and it was probably 
not much smaller in 1700, the time of its destruetion. 
'Vetancurt, Chronica, says that Aguatobi (Awatobi) had 800 inhabitants and was converted by 
Padre Francisco de Porras. In 1630 Benavides speaks of the Mokis as being rapidly converted. It 
would appear, if we rely on Vetancurt's figures, that Awatobi was not one of the largest villages of 
Tusayan in early times, for he ascribes 1,200 to Walpi and 14,000 to Oraibi. The estimate of the popu- 
lation of Awatobi was doubtless nearer the truth than that of the other pueblos, and I greatly doubt 
if Oraibi ever had 14,000 people. Probably 1,400 would be more nearly correct. 
