The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 4: July 3, 1880--May 22, 1881

21. “So That I Could Show the White Men”

422 Chapter 21 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ “So That I Could Show the White Men” M ay 20th 1881. Breakfast over, Mr. Graham took me to one of the corrals to see the Zunis shearing their sheep. The corral was a simple affair of small poles fastened with rawhide and contained as many as 250 sheep and goats, whose bleating and baa-aaa-ing made the place a pandemonium. A man would seize a sheep by the hind leg, and as soon as the animal had become exhausted with kicking, a squaw would seize the front leg on the same side and thus easily throw the sheep down, when all four feet were promptly tied together and the shearing began; the instrument employed being butcher knives, sharpened pieces of sheet iron and, occasionally, shearing scissors. In their herds, I noticed hybrids,—half sheep—half goats: the skin of one of these serves as a rug in Mr. Graham’s. Bought a pair of Zuni ear-rings, of same style as those of the Navajoes—paid for them $1.50. I have now been enough among the Zunis to observe that not a half-breed can be seen among them; this remark does not apply to the children of men, like Jesus, adopted into the tribe. A woman passed us crying bitterly for the loss of her mother who died yesterday. The funeral came along in a few moments and we had every opportunity for observing it: The corpse wrapped in a couple “So That I Could Show the White Men” 423 of coarse black & white striped blankets, was borne along in a hurried manner, by two men, one holding the head, the other the feet. They took the nearest line to the church: no procession followed, but as they passed the house of relatives of the deceased, the women seated themselves at the door and wept aloud, keeping up their lamentations until the corpse had been placed under ground. The grave was not over 3 ft. in depth and had already served as a place of sepulture for not less than half a dozen of the tribe, that number of skulls having been thrown out during the work of excavation. It was on the Left hand side of the cemetery, facing the church: all the women are buried on this side, the males on the other. The corpse was placed on its back, feet towards the church;* the two carriers then raked in the loose earth and human bones and the ceremony was over. The Zunis have primitive agricultural implements; one of wood is shaped like a stilt and by placing the foot upon the cross piece a hole can readily be made in ground into which to drop seed. Their yellow dye is a tuber, closely resembling a rotten sweet potato; bitter to taste, disagreeable to smell and perhaps poisonous. Their red is unravelled scarlet cloth or flannel. Blue is indigo purchased from traders & set with urine. Black and white are the natural wool. Bought from Mr. Graham and the Zunis, 35 pieces of pottery, which I carefully packed in sawdust for transportation to Wingate. Palfrey and I entered an old Zuni dwelling where I purchased a boomerang for 10 c. The room was 15’ Wide 50’ Long 10’ 6” high. Floor of packed earth. On 3 sides a small banquette, in which was a break of 3 ft. on East side. 2 small windows 1’ x 2’, at height of eye as man stands on floor: here the panes were of glass, but very frequently they are pieces of selenite, held in place by a white lime cement. The windows were deep in wall, top & sides square, sole of sill [sic] sloping toward floor for 2 ft. Vigas,1 round, peeled of bark, 6”–12” in Diameter. Cross pieces 3” in Diameter 18” apart—these covered with twigs and the twigs with hays [sic], upon which came the mud & stone flooring of the upper story. In ceiling of every room is an air-hole, one ft. square, covered with a flat stone, when ventilation is not needed. Walls all whitewashed. 1. Main support beams for ceiling and roof. *Bourke’s note: the church faced east. 424 The Bureau of Ethnology House itself of adobe, with some pieces of rough rubble masonry of friable sandstone, breaking square in all thicknesses & from 2 @ 6 “ in length and width up to 2 ‘. In one corner a rack for...