634 EXPEDITION TO ARIZONA IN 1895 [ETH ANN. 17 
There is current in Walpi a romantic story connected with the over- 
throw of Sikyatki. It is said that a son of a prominent chief, disguised 
as a hatcina, offered a prayer-stick to a maiden, and as she received it 
he cut her throat with a stone knife. He is said to have escaped to the 
mesa top and to have made his way along its edge to his own town, 
taunting his pursuers. It is also related that the Walpiaus fell upon 
the village of Sikyatki to avenge this bloody deed, but it is much more 
likely that there was ill feeling between the two villages for other 
reasons, probably disputes about farm limits or the control of the 
water supply, inflamed by other difficulties. The inhabitants of the two 
pueblos came into Tusayan from different directions, and as they may 
have spoken different languages and thus have failed to understand 
each other, they may have been mutually regarded as interlopers. 
Petty quarrels no doubt ripened into altereations, which probably led 
to bloodshed. The forays of the Apache from the south and the Ute 
from the north, which began at a later period, should naturally have 
led to a defensive alliance; but in those early days confederation was 
not dreamed of and the feeling between the two pueblos culminated in 
the destruction of Sikyatki. This was apparently the result of a 
quarrel between two pueblos of Hast Mesa, or at least there is no inti- 
mation that the other pueblos took prominent part in it. It is said 
that after the destruction some of those who escaped fled to Oraibi, 
which would imply that the Walpi and Oraibi peoples, even at that early 
date, were not on yery friendly terms. If, however, the statement 
that Oraibi was then a distinct pueblo be true, it in a way affords a 
suggestion of the approximate age! of this village. 
There was apparently a more or less intimate connection between the 
inhabitants of old Sikyatki and those of Awatobi, but whether or not 
it indicates that the latter was founded by the refugees from the former 
I have not been able definitely to make out. All my informants agree 
that on the destruction of Sikyatki some of its people fled to Awatobi, 
but no one has yet stated that the Kokop people were represented in 
the latter pueblo. The distinctive clans of the pueblo of Antelope 
mnesa are not mentioned as living in Sikyatki, and yet the two pueblos 
are said to have been kindred, The indications are that the inhabitants 
of both came from the east—possibly were intruders, which may have 
been the cause of the hostility entertained by both toward the Walpians. 
The problem is too complex to be solved with our present limited 
knowledge in this direction, and archeology seems not to afford very 
Satisfactory evidence one way or the other. We may never know 
whether the Sikyatki refugees founded Awatobi or simply fled to that 
pueblo for protection. 
! The legends of the origin of Oraibi are imperfectly known, but it has been stated that the pueblo 
was founded by people from Old Shunopoyi. Itseems much more likely, however, that our knowledge 
is too incomplete tu accept this conclusion without more extended observations. The composition of 
the present inhabitants indicates amalgamation from several quarters, and neighboring ruins should 
be studied with this thought in mind. 
