After the Hano
were quietly established in their present position the Asa returned, and
the Walpi allotted them a place to build in their own village. As before
mentioned, the house mass on the southeast side of Walpi, at the head of
the trail leading up to the village at that point, is still occupied by
Asa families, and their tenure of possession was on the condition that
they should always defend that point of access and guard the south end
of the village. Their kiva is named after this circumstance as that of
"the Watchers of the High Place."
Some of the Bear and Lizard families being crowded for building space,
moved from Walpi and built the first houses on the site of the present
village of Sichumovi, which is named from the Sivwapsi, a shrub which
formerly grew there on some mounds (chumo).
This was after the Asa had been in Walpi for some time; probably about
125 years ago. Some of the Asa, and the Badger, the latter descendants
of women saved from the Awatubi catastrophe, also moved to Sichumovi,
but a plague of smallpox caused the village to be abandoned shortly
afterward. This pestilence is said to have greatly reduced the number of
the Tusayan, and after it disappeared there were many vacant houses in
every village. Sichumovi was again occupied by a few Asa families, but
the first houses were torn down and new ones constructed from them.
LIST OF TRADITIONARY GENTES.
In the following table the early phratries (nyu-mu) are arranged in the
order of their arrival, and the direction from which each came is given,
except in the case of the Bear people.
Pages:
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78