CoEPAG ESTE uma la. 
TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF TUSAYAN. 
EXPLANATORY. 
In this chapter! is presented a summary of the traditions of the 
Tusayan, a number of which were collected from old men, from Walpi 
on the east to Moen-kopi on the west. A tradition varies much with the 
tribe and the individual; an authoritative statement of the current 
tradition on any point could be made only with a complete knowledge 
of all traditions extant. Such knowledge is not possessed by any one 
man, and the material included in this chapter is presented simply as a 
summary of the traditions secured. 
The material was collected by Mr. A. M. Stephen, of Keam’s Canyon, 
Arizona, who has enjoyed unusual facilities for the work, having lived 
for a number of years past in Tusayan and possessed the confidence of 
the principal priests—a very necessary condition in work of this char- 
acter. Though far from complete, this summary is a more comprehen- 
sive presentation of the traditionary history of these people than has 
heretofore been published. 
SUMMARY OF TRADITIONS. 
The creation myths of the Tusayan differ widely, but none of them 
designate the region now occupied as the place of their genesis. These 
people are socially divided into family groups called wi/ngwu, the de- 
scendants of sisters, and groups of wi/ngwu tracing descent from the 
same female ancestor, and having a common totem called my/umu. 
Each of these totemic groups preserves a creation myth, carrying in its 
details special reference to themselves; but all of them claim a common 
origin in the interior of the earth, although the place of emergence to 
the surface is set in widely separated localities. They all agree in main- 
taining this to be the fourth plane on which mankind has existed. In 
the beginning all men lived together in the lowest depths, in a region of 
darkness and moisture; their bodies were misshaped and horrible, and 
they suffered great misery, moaning and bewailing continually. 
Through the intervention of Mytingwa (a vague conception known as 
the god of the interior) and of Baholikonga (a crested serpent of enor- 
mous size, the genius of water), the “old men” obtained a seed from 
which sprang a magic growth of cane. It penetrated through a crevice 
!'This chapter is compiled by Cosmos Mindeleff from material collected by A. M. Stephen. 
16 
