In Due Time, Happy And Healthy Children Were Born To Them.
Peaceful and Religious.
They were a religious people, were these early
dwellers in the land. They built kivas and estufas, - under and above ground
ceremonial chambers, - where they regularly and decorously met to worship by
dance, recitation of ancient songs, telling of divine leadings and
interpositions on their behalf, smoking, singing, prayer, and the
observance of other ritual. Thus happy, contented and basking in the favor
of Those Above, they dwelt, until suddenly a new and unfavorable element
was injected into their hitherto peaceful life. The buffetings of nature
they had become accustomed to, and they had kept their bodies healthy so as
to resist these assaults, but now human storms were about to burst upon
them. Apaches in the south, Comanches and Navahos in the east, Utes and
Navahos in the north, Mohaves and Yumas in the west began to encroach upon
them. Envious eyes gazed upon their houses and the goods that industry and
skill had gathered within. Those who had no food stored when famine swooped
upon them, came and begged from those who had. By and by jealousy and envy
prompted theft, and then strife began. Strife spread and grew, until war in
all its horrors became the normal condition. In self preservation, these
peaceable, friendly, hospitable peoples were compelled to be warriors. But
their foes were many and crafty, skilful in war, wary in attack and
retreat. Their harassments became more than could be borne, so, in their
desperation, the peaceable people retreated to the cliffs and walls of the
Canyons, where surprise could be guarded against, where a small supply of
water could be reasonably sure, and where, not too far away, when permitted
to do so, they might cultivate a small piece of arable land.
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