Some of the most important religious duties of the men are concerned with a great ceremonial building which stands on the mesa top just across the canyon from Cliff Palace. It is a massive, D-shaped building which dominates a high, narrow point between two canyons. Near it are a number of cliff dwellings and the men from all these joined in constructing the building. On days when it is used, priests and men from all the villages come trotting up the trails to join in the performance of the elaborate ceremonies. It is a superceremonial structure where only the most important rites are performed.

When the building was constructed, the priests planned it very carefully. The main building is D-shaped, with the straight wall to the south. The outside wall is double and in the space between are a number of long narrow rooms, some without doorways. In the court enclosed by the walls are two kivas. This part of the building is symmetrical, the result of the very careful planning of the priests. On the west end of the building is an addition consisting of a kiva and ten rooms, all added in such a way that the entire building is still D-shaped. The building has no roof and all of the walls are over a dozen feet high. Half of the rooms have no doors; they are deep, small rooms entered by ladders.

This building is open to the sun and the elements, in this respect being entirely different from the underground kivas. The thick, high, double walls and the location on the isolated point give the priests the secrecy they desire and in this unique building are held the greatest of all the ceremonies. Long ago the priests of the various villages decided there was a need for this community place of worship. By concerted effort they built it and through the cooperation of the many societies they have carried on the ceremonies. It is their supreme effort toward a perfect adjustment with the powers that control their destiny.

During the late fall and early winter the ceremonial season is in full swing and there is much festivity in Cliff Palace. It is a time for visiting and feasting and there is a trace of the carnival spirit in the air. The ceremonies are not entirely solemn, long-faced affairs; some have light, entertaining parts and there may even be clowns who convulse the onlookers with their antics. The underlying motive of a ceremony is serious and earnest but this does not prevent its being thoroughly enjoyable to the participants as well as the audience.

Visitors are drawn to the ceremonies from far and wide. Their strongest desire may be to see an important ceremony but even more often the strongest motive is the desire to join in the festivities that accompany it. There is always a gay crowd, much talking and visiting and an abundance of good food. When the Crier Chief announces the date for a ceremony, the news spreads rapidly and the men of other villages come flocking in. It is a grand excuse for a visit to the big city to feast, gossip, trade, and incidentally, to witness a ceremony.

Although the women play only a small part in the religious work, they are always busy during the ceremonies for they must feed the participants and the visitors. The ceremony may last for as many as nine days and large quantities of food must be prepared. The women and girls are busy over the cooking fires day after day.

The basic food article is corn in some form; it is the backbone of every meal. Corn is by far the most abundant foodstuff and through the generations the women have devised many ways of cooking it to prevent its becoming monotonous. The corn is ground by the younger women on the metates, smooth flat stones that are slanted into small bins. Under the lower end of each metate is a clean adobe basin that gathers the meal. The woman kneels at the upper end of the metate, places the corn on it, and grinds it with a smaller, flat stone, the mano, which she holds in her hands. Sliding the mano back and forth across the metate she grinds the corn until a fine meal results. This is slow back-breaking work but the women are forced to do it day after day. When a great deal of meal must be produced for a ceremonial feast, several of the women grind together. Often the young men sing for the grinders and a fast snappy tune not only cheers the women but causes the grinding stones to move much faster.

After the corn meal is prepared it can be cooked in a number of ways. The simple batter may be baked in small cakes on a hot stone. Juniper ashes may be added to make the cakes blue. The dough may be rolled in corn husks and baked in the ashes or large cakes may be baked in hot pits. If fine and coarse corn meal are mixed, rolled into little balls and boiled in a pot of stew, tasty dumplings result.

A real delicacy results when the corn bread is sweetened with saliva. In making this sweet bread a portion of the corn meal is chewed by the women until the saliva changes the starch to sugar. When this chewed meal is mixed with the rest of the meal and baked in corn husks, a sweet bread results. If the chewed batter is rolled up in fresh corn leaves and boiled, the resulting dumpling-like balls are the sweetest food known to the people. The chewed foods are real delicacies and are made especially for honored guests.

In addition to the corn dishes, there is a great variety of other foods. Meat of all kinds is roasted, boiled or stewed. Broths, soups and stews are common. Boiled beans and baked squash are always part of a feast and any of these articles may be cooked in combination. In addition there are wild plant dishes; boiled greens, boiled or baked roots, stewed fruits, roasted seeds or ground pinon nuts.

Fall is the time when there is the greatest abundance and variety of foods and the feasts that accompany the ceremonies are sumptuous affairs. The finest dishes are passed down into the kivas to the priests. Guests eat in the open courts around the cooking fires and drowsily belch their gratitude for the food and hospitality.

In the evening the people gather around the many small fires that send dancing shadows across the roof of the great cave. From some of the kivas comes the chanting of the priests; from others come the more uncertain voices of the boys as they learn the endless songs. Some of the groups around the fires are also singing but most of them are quietly talking, gambling and sleeping.

The canyon is lighted by the bright rays of a golden harvest moon and the cliffs echo the voices of the singers, not only from Cliff Palace but from all the other cliff dwellings up and down the canyons. The great green mesa is filled with happy, thankful people and troubles seem far away. The gods are pleased with the efforts of the industrious Indians.

As autumn fades into winter the people of Cliff Palace face it with confidence. Winter is always an ordeal but they are well-prepared. There is an abundance of food and there is ample clothing. Great piles of wood have been gathered and the houses have carefully been rechinked. There will be suffering and many deaths during the cold months that are ahead but spring is just beyond.

7
WINTER

Winter is the least enjoyable of all seasons for the people of Cliff Palace. It is a long, quiet, cold season, when the witches plague the people with their evil deeds. There is much sickness and suffering and often the sadness of death hangs over the town. Those who are active and healthy do not mind it so much, but it is an uncomfortable season for the children and an agonizing time for older men and women who suffer from rheumatism and arthritis.

During the late fall the weather has grown colder and colder and now in December comes true winter. Cold winds sweep down from the mountains to the north, bringing the snow: soon the mesa tops are white. In the vicinity of Cliff Palace it seldom gets deep. When it reaches a depth of a foot, it is considered heavy, but if it reaches a depth of two feet or more the people talk excitedly about it and the old men begin to recall the heavy snows of by-gone days. The snow will not remain on the ground all winter for the mesa slopes to the south and the rays of the sun beat directly down upon it. The first December snow will soon melt and the mesa tops will be dry for a time. Then another snow storm will turn it white again but that, too, will melt away and so it will continue through the winter. Occasionally, there will be warm days when the mesa tops will be muddy and small streams of water will come trickling down the cliffs.

As the cold increases the people gradually become accustomed to it. Their houses are never perfectly warm and comfortable so their strong, healthy bodies become hardened to the chill of the shadowy cave. Sometimes the night temperatures drop close to, or even below, zero. Since the cave faces west the sun does not come in until the middle of the afternoon and during the morning the temperature rises very little. When the sun finally comes into the cave in the afternoon it brings a sudden warmth and for a couple of hours the people are almost comfortable.

There are old men in the town who can remember when all of the people lived in pueblos on the mesa top and they never stop telling about those better days. The moment the sun came up in the morning the temperature began to rise and all through the day it warmed the open pueblos. The old men insist the people were happier then, the witches were less troublesome and there was less sickness. Remembering those sunny days the old men mutter about the depressing shadows that chill Cliff Palace during the winter.

Dozens of small fires burn constantly in the cave and those fires, in addition to the natural warmth of hundreds of closely crowded people, dull the sharpest edge of the cold. Clothing is the final defense and as the severity of winter increases, more and more is worn.

Cotton cloth, feather blankets and buckskin robes are worn in every conceivable manner except as actual tailored garments. The nearest approach to tailored clothing is an occasional slip-over buckskin jacket without sleeves. Sometimes a robe is slit in the center and slipped, poncho-like, over the head. Pieces of feather cloth, cotton cloth or buckskin are tied about the body as close-fitting jackets or draped, skirt-like, from the waist. Large, soft feather blankets and buckskin robes are draped over the shoulders and drawn in about the body. Short leggins are made of buckskin, or woven of human hair, to add to the comfort of the lower legs.

Taken as a whole, they are a raggedy-looking crowd but the clothing does give protection against the cold. The people have tanned buckskin in abundance, there is considerable cotton cloth and each person has at least one feather robe. By utilizing these in every possible way the desired effect is achieved, even though neat tailoring is unknown.

Shadowy though the cave may be, it is free of wind and snow and while complete comfort may seldom be attained, except in the kivas, most of the people become accustomed to the chill. But those who are naturally weak and those who are weakened by illness or age suffer greatly from the cold of winter.

There is less activity than during any other season. When the mesas are fairly clear of snow the men often go after firewood and they always keep enough on hand to last through a long period of deep snow. When the people first moved into the cave, firewood was close at hand. The slope in front of the cave was covered with pinon and juniper trees and the mesa top above the cave was heavily forested. But now, after generations of use, there are no trees left near the town and the men must go far across the mesa top for firewood. This is a problem that always faces the people for during the winter vast amounts of wood are used. Sometimes villages must be deserted because of the failure of the supply of firewood.

When the men bring the wood in from the mesa, they carry it to the top of the cliff at either end of the cave. After shouting to make sure no one is below, they hurl the logs over the cliff to crash on the rocks below. The shattering crash saves much chopping with stone axes and the women gather the splintered pieces and store them in the cave.

Winter is a good season for hunting and when the snows are not too deep the young men often go out in search of deer and mountain sheep. Deep snows on the high northern rim of the mesa have forced the animals down to the lower parts and the men do not have far to go for their game.

When they are not busy gathering wood and hunting, the men spend most of their time in the kivas. They have a decided advantage over the women and children in this one respect for the kivas are completely comfortable. Being entirely underground, and with only the one small door in the roof, a kiva is kept perfectly warm by a small fire in the central firepit. Fresh-air comes down the ventilator shaft to drive the smoke out through the door and the lower part of the room is never smoky. The floor is covered with mats and skins and the men loaf, sleep and work in perfect comfort. Unmarried boys who have been initiated into the religious societies live in the kivas most of the time during the winter and the married men often sleep in them. They are far more comfortable than the houses.

Women and children, having few kiva privileges, are forced to spend their time in the courts, where they huddle around the fires, and in the houses. Few of the houses have fires inside for in the small, unventilated rooms the smoke is almost unbearable. Sometimes an older person prefers the discomfort of smoke to the misery of the cold and a fire is built in a house. A smoky, soot-blackened room results.

At night the women and children snuggle close together for warmth. The floor of the house is covered with skins, blankets and heavy mats woven of reeds, juniper bark or yucca fibers. Sometimes deep, soft layers of corn shucks and tassels are spread on the floor and the blankets are spread on them. The last person into the room reaches back out through the door, picks up the thin sandstone door slab that is leaning against the wall, and fits it carefully into the opening. With the soft floor coverings and plenty of warm blankets and skins the closely-snuggled women and children spend the cold nights in comparative comfort.

During the warmer seasons the people arose at dawn but now they stay in bed until a much later hour. Actually they are more comfortable in their beds and since there is no important work to be done, there is no need for early rising.

As soon as the women stir out of their blankets, they start the fires and when there is sufficient warmth the children crawl out to huddle about the flames. On each fire a large jar of water is heating and when it finally boils a special corn meal, which was made from fresh corn at harvest time, is stirred in. This makes a thin corn gruel and mugs of the nourishing hot drink are passed to the waiting children. By mid-morning the breakfast of corn bread and meat is ready and the men, most of whom have spent the night in the kiva, join their families around the fires. Late in the afternoon the second meal of the day is served and it is always more elaborate; meat, corn bread, beans, and squash in various combinations, seasoned with dried fruits, roots and berries which were gathered in abundance during the fall. Food is a most important factor in the fight against the rigors of winter and the women spend long hours around the cooking fires.

There is no water problem during the winter. Ice and snow are brought in and melted and springs which have a southern exposure continue to flow. Less water is needed than at any other season so the women spend very little time obtaining the necessary supplies. Most of their time is occupied with corn grinding, cooking, and the care of the smaller children. Occasionally a woman weaves a basket but pottery is seldom made during the cold season. Principally, the women are occupied with keeping their families warm and well fed.

For the men, winter is an easy time. Once in a while they leave the cave to go hunting and wood gathering or to trot off to another village to gamble or witness a ceremony but for the most part they seldom stray far from their warm, comfortable kivas. There they work leisurely at their various crafts, producing the many things they need. Winter is a fine time for weaving since it can be done in the kiva. Many ceremonies are performed during the winter months, not only the regular ceremonies which are performed at exactly the same time each year, but countless healing ceremonies which are conducted whenever there is sickness in the town. Winter is also a fine time for training the boys in ceremonial ways and there is much story-telling, singing and chanting as the boys broaden their religious background.

In the early winter one important ceremony is held when the priests “turn back the sun.” Every day since early summer the sun has moved farther and farther south along the western horizon. At last, in late December, he has reached the point beyond which he must not be allowed to go. The priests know the spot well: it is on the horizon directly over a certain mark on the opposite canyon wall. When the sun reaches this spot each year the priests perform the ceremony that causes him to cease his southern journey and start back to the north again. If the priests fail to please the Sun Father, or if he is angry with the people, he will continue his journey to the south and perpetual cold and darkness will envelope the earth. Never yet have the priests failed; always the sun has been pleased and after reaching that certain spot he has reversed and started back to the north to bring the long days and the warmth of summer.

When the Sun Watcher finds that the setting sun has reached the proper spot, the Crier Chief makes the announcement and the priests begin their ceremony. Day after day it continues until they see that the sun has started back to the north. There is great rejoicing in Cliff Palace: the sun has heeded the prayers and is coming back. The happy people marvel at the power of their priests who have never failed in this important duty.

As winter progresses and the cold increases, witches become more and more active and there is much sickness in the town. Throughout the winter the medicine men and the medicine societies are busy in their efforts to counteract the evil powers of the witches who cause all serious diseases. Minor ailments, which the people can understand, are not considered to result from witchcraft. If a person gets a grain of sand in his eye, if a child gets a bone caught in its throat, or if a child has a sudden stomach-ache from overeating, it is considered to be the natural result of something the people can see and understand. But the serious illnesses, which strike so mysteriously, are not natural and are considered to result from the evil practices of witches. Only the medicine men, with their supernatural powers, can combat the witch-caused diseases and the medicine men and the medicine societies are busy with their healing ceremonies. During the winter witches always seem to be more active and as a result there is more sickness and death than at other times. The people are often uneasy and there is not the happiness which was so prevalent during the other seasons. It is not simply because there is sickness and suffering—it is more because of the fear which is in the hearts of the people. Any person may be a witch and usually it is impossible to tell who is causing the trouble.

Children suffer a great deal and all through the winter they sniffle and cough with colds. Sometimes the colds settle in the sinuses, in the ears or even in the lungs, bringing complications against which the priests are powerless. Often the end is slow in coming. When a cold settles in the middle ear and an abscessed mastoid results, the terrible agony may last for weeks before the inevitable result brings an end to the suffering. Sometimes the end comes quickly and a mother hardly realizes that her baby is sick before it is gone.

Many of the older people are suffering from the agony of decayed and abscessed teeth. All their lives they have been eating the gritty corn bread that has come from the soft grinding stones. As a result, their teeth are badly ground away; sometimes they are ground down to the gums. With the loss of the tooth enamel, decay has come and now aching and abscessed teeth are the result. Here is an old fellow with a great cavity in each molar; half of them are throbbing with pain as the cold air hits the exposed nerves. Here is an old man suffering the agony of three abscessed upper teeth; at night he walks the floor moaning with pain. This old fellow’s lower right canine tooth developed a cystoid abscess; it has eaten through his cheek causing an ugly running sore on his face. In one house is an old woman who long ago lost all her teeth; years of chewing on her gums have caused them to recede until now her nose and chin almost touch. Yonder is an old man who for months has had an aching molar. In order to ease the pain he has been chewing on the other side and now those teeth are so badly ground away that they too are aching. So it is throughout the city. Decayed, abscessed and impacted teeth, pyorrhea and other dental ailments are common.

The medicine men have little success in their efforts to combat the agony of an aching or abscessed tooth. Finally, if the patient can no longer bear the pain, the tooth is extracted and in this the suffering person has two choices. One method is to knock the tooth out. One end of a piece of bone or hard wood is placed against the base of the tooth and an obliging neighbor taps the other end sharply with a stone axe. Instantly the tooth is gone! The other method of extraction is equally simple. A long, strong piece of sinew is obtained and one end is tied securely around the aching tooth. The other end of the sinew is tied to a large rock. Then the rock is thrown away. And with it goes the tooth!

If the patient is unable to face the drastic extraction, the tooth is simply allowed to abscess and slough away. Sometimes an aged person loses every tooth in this manner. One after another they abscess and slough out until at last the helpless victim is able to relax in the blessed state of painless toothlessness.

Many of the people, especially the older ones, are suffering from rheumatism and arthritis. There are many specific causes but often it is merely the breakdown that comes from a life of exposure and hard work. The people age early and although there are a few very old men and women in the town the average life expectancy is low. Before middle age is reached many are unable to bear their share of the work. Limbs are swollen and stiffened with arthritis and rheumatism, and spines are stiffened or even partially or completely solidified with arthritis. When these conditions come, the bent and crippled oldsters seldom venture far from the cave. They are cared for and honored by their children and their clan relatives.

In addition to the many diseases that afflict the people, there are often injuries. During the winter, snow and ice gather in the toe-holds on the cliffs and climbers, becoming momentarily careless, sometimes crash on the rocks below. Fractured skulls, arms and legs result and their treatment gives the priests some of their most serious problems. Compound fractures result in fatal infections and the medicine men can do little in the case of a serious fracture of the skull. Simple fractures of the lower arm or leg are often treated successfully. Thin splints of wood are bound to the limb to hold the bones in position and after the break has healed, full use of the member is often regained. A fracture of the upper arm or leg is seldom treated with success for the powerful muscles pull the bones out of the position and, if the victim survives, a crippled limb results. Over in the north end of the town lives a young lady of nineteen who suffered an accident of this type. Returning from the spring one day with a heavy jar of water on her head, she missed her step and fell over a low cliff. Her left femur was broken just below the hip. Instead of knitting properly, the broken ends of the bone slipped past each other and grew together side by side, with a two inch overlap. The young lady is able to hobble about with the aid of a crutch but her left leg is two inches shorter than the right.

The medicine men wage a constant battle against the diseases and injuries which afflict the people. Against some of the diseases they have little success: it simply means that the witches who are to blame are too strong. In other cases the medicine man wins and the patient recovers. Ailments which originate in the mind are common and are easily cured. Since the people live in constant fear of witches, they often feel they have been bewitched by some evil person. This causes them to imagine strange ailments and the medicine men are called upon to counteract the evil spell. Such ailments are easily treated for the patient’s faith in the medicine man and the constant promise of a cure soon drive away the imagined troubles.

When a person becomes ill, a family council is held and it is decided that a medicine man, or doctor, must be called. The father, or some male relative, mixes a small amount of corn meal with powdered turquoise and wraps it in a corn husk. This he takes to the medicine man and, placing it in his hand, tells him what is wanted. The medicine man agrees to come in the evening. During the day the family prepares food, while the doctor prays and prepares his medicines. In the evening the doctor comes to the patient’s home and prepares for the examination. Smearing ashes on his hands, as protection against witches, he removes the patient’s clothing and feels over his body, searching for the cause of the illness. Upon completing his diagnosis, the doctor mixes a medicine of powdered herbs and water and gives it to the patient to drink. Then, after assuring the patient that he will recover, the doctor leaves.

If, however, the patient fails to recover and grows worse, the entire medicine society is called in. Again, the father takes corn meal and powdered turquoise to the medicine man and requests that the society perform a healing ceremony. If the patient’s condition is critical, the doctor agrees to bring the members of the society in the evening. If there seems to be no immediate emergency, he agrees to bring them after four days have passed.

During the four-day period, preparations are made. The priests pray and get their ceremonial equipment ready and each morning, in order to cleanse themselves, drink emetics that cause them to vomit. The family of the sick person prepares great quantities of food so the priests may be fed and all members of the family cleanse themselves by vomiting each morning. If the emetic does not cause vomiting, a long feather is thrust down the person’s throat until the desired result is obtained.

On the evening of the fourth day the patient is taken into the kiva of the medicine society. Two men, armed with bows and arrows, are stationed outside the kiva to keep witches away. On the kiva floor the priests have made a small painting by using corn meal of different colors and around the painting are prayersticks, fetishes of the curing animals, rattles, eagle feathers, bags of herb medicines and other ceremonial equipment. Upon entering the kiva, the patient sits down or, if he is very ill, lies down in front of the meal-painting.

The doctors, faces painted and wearing only their loincloths, are seated behind the painting. They are singing and the songs, which continue for some time, are an effort to induce the spirits of the curing animals, the mountain lion, bear, badger, wolf, eagle and shrew to enter the kiva. These animals have great supernatural healing powers and their spirits must be present in the kiva. As the singing continues, two doctors step out and do a short dance, then another doctor comes forward to prepare the medicine. Stirring some of the powdered herbs into a bowl of water, he ladles it out to the patient and all other persons in the kiva.

Now it is time for the most important part of the ceremony: they must find the object which is causing the disease. One of the doctors rubs ashes on his hands and begins to search the patient’s body for the object which a witch has shot into it. After careful search, he locates the object and sucks it out of the patient’s body. Spitting the object into his hand, he shows it to everyone. It is a centipede!

The doctors have also found that the patient’s heart has been stolen by witches and now they must get it back. Two of the doctors smear themselves with ashes and, with stone knives in their hands, climb out of the kiva. Soon the people hear sounds of fighting down on the trash pile in front of the cave. There are loud cries and the sounds of struggling, and blows being struck. Then all is quiet and other doctors go out to bring the two back. One of the doctors is unconscious and must be carried into the kiva and both show the marks of a furious struggle. But they have recovered the patient’s heart—it is a little ball of rags. When the ball is cut open, a grain of corn is found in the center and this is given to the patient to swallow. Now that he has recovered his heart he will soon be well.

The ceremony is over and as the patient returns to his home the doctors put away their ceremonial equipment. Soon the women of the patient’s family bring food which they have prepared and the medicine men have a fine feast. Baskets of corn meal are also brought to the medicine men in payment for the cure which they have effected.

At any time of the year there may be sickness in Cliff Palace but there is always the greatest amount in the winter. Seldom during the cold season are the people entirely free from it. The medicine men carry out the prescribed ceremonies, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. When they effect a cure there is rejoicing but when they fail there is sadness in the city and the relatives of the unfortunate person are plunged into mourning.

Very soon after death comes preparations are made for the burial. The body is bathed and the hair is washed. The arms are folded across the chest and tied together to hold them in position. The legs are folded up against the body. Around the tightly-flexed body is wrapped a cotton blanket, then a large feather blanket. Finally the bundle is wrapped in a piece of matting and is ready for burial.

There is no cemetery and the burial may be made anywhere. When the weather is good the bodies may be buried out on the mesa top or anywhere in the canyon. Sometimes they are placed in crevices in the cliffs or in holes under large boulders. During the winter, when the ground is frozen and covered with snow, graves are often dug in the great trash pile in front of the cave. For generations the people have dumped their ashes and refuse there and it is not difficult to dig a grave in the soft, ashy material.

Occasionally death comes when a severe storm is raging outside the cave. Rather than face the storm the men of a burial party sometimes seal a body in an empty house or bury it in the trash room in the rear of the cave. The cave roof is too low for houses in that space so the long, low room is used as a trash room and turkey roost. When a body is buried there it is surrounded by perfectly dry materials such as ashes, dust, corn cobs, corn tassels and turkey droppings. The chill of winter prevents decay and the body begins to dry out. Soon all moisture is gone and only the bones and dried tissues remain. If no moisture reaches it, the dry, mummy-like body will remain unchanged for centuries.

After the grave is dug the tightly-wrapped body is placed in it. Food and water are placed in the grave, along with the personal possessions of the deceased; weapons, tools, jewelry and other articles which the spirit of the dead person will need in the afterworld. After the grave is filled with earth and rocks the members of the burial party return to their homes and purify themselves by washing their hair, vomiting and fumigating their clothing in smoke.

The spirit of the deceased does not leave the body for four days so each morning relatives place food and water on the grave. At sunrise on the fourth morning the spirit leaves the body and journeys back through Sipapu, into the Mother Earth, where the dead live in another world much like this one. As soon as the spirit is gone the relatives purify themselves and from this time on try not to speak of, or think of the dead person again. Grieving may cause sickness so the dead are best forgotten.

The winter passes slowly. For those who are strong and active it has no terrors although it may cause a certain amount of discomfort. For those who are weak and sick it becomes an ordeal. At no time during the winter is Cliff Palace free from sickness and suffering and the spirits of the people are often low. In January the cold becomes more intense. Scores of fires burn brightly in the great cave as the people attempt to drive out the cold. Some nights the temperature falls very close to zero. High overhead hangs a brilliant white moon and the snowy canyon is almost as light as day. From the cliff near the great ceremonial building comes the wail of a coyote: from the mesa top comes the mournful hoot of an owl. The cave is quiet except for low chanting in some of the kivas and the snoring of old men. Sometimes a baby whimpers or a sick person groans. Now and then a muffled scream echoes through the cave as an aged sufferer cries out from the agony of arthritis or an abscessed tooth.

There is little travel during the coldest periods. The men forego their hunting and visiting and everyone stays close to the sheltering cave with the single idea of keeping warm and well. The city is quieter now: there is none of the boisterous gaiety that was so pronounced during the other seasons.

The men spend most of their time in the kivas while the women and children gather around the fires in the courtyards. The turkeys roost in the back of the cave at night and come out in the daytime to wander about the courts and roof-tops and fight with the dogs for scraps of food that are thrown to them. During periods when there is deep snow in the canyon, the turkeys are fed small amounts of the precious corn but in late winter they grow thin and bedraggled. When they are not roaming about the city searching for food they sit in quiet rows on the housetops, feathers fluffed against the cold. The turkeys are highly prized, both for their meat and for their feathers, but they lead a miserable existence. They do not thrive in the cold shadowy cave and the flocks usually are not large. Not only are they tormented by children and dogs but regularly they suffer the indignity of having their feathers plucked for use in ceremonies and in the manufacture of feather blankets.

As the end of winter draws near the food becomes more monotonous. Many of the tastier foods are gone: the supplies of pinon nuts, dried fruits, roots, squash and dried berries are completely exhausted. Now each meal consists of meat, corn bread and beans. Sometimes the meat is fresh but usually it is meat that was dried last fall. This meat is as hard as rawhide and must be pounded with stones and thoroughly cooked before it can be eaten. In order to gain variety the women bake the corn bread in every possible way and corn meal, meat and beans are combined in numerous forms. Still the food is monotonous and everyone longs for something green.

In February the snows become heavy and wet and in the latter part of the month there is rain. Even though the rain does not come into the cave everything becomes damp. The days are getting warmer now and as a result a foul odor hangs over the city.

At any time of the year a strong odor of decaying animal and vegetable matter and human offal fills the cave. Out in front is the great trash pile and in the rear is the trash room where the turkeys roost and where some of the dead are buried. In addition to this, the people have no idea of personal sanitation. In the warmer seasons they usually step outside the cave but in the winter they merely step back into the turkey roost or out on the front terraces.

Because of this there is always a heavy odor about the city. In the summer it is not so bad for the women often sweep out the houses and courts and throw the trash out in front of the cave where the hot sun drys out the waste materials. In the winter there is less of this cleaning and the trash and filth accumulate. The dampness in the air causes mould and mustiness and when the warm wet days of late winter come the air is foul with the odor of decaying matter.

The people do not notice this odor. Their first breath of life was like that and they merely think it is the way air smells.

As the end of winter draws near the cold grows less intense. There are still occasional snowstorms but they are warm and wet and melt rapidly. The mesas are soggy with mud and small streams of water trickle over the cliffs as the snow disappears. The air is warm and balmy: during the middle of the day it is often hot. Grass turns green in the sheltered spots and the buds on the shrubs begin to swell. Chipmunks and squirrels come out of hibernation to greet the spring.

The people of Cliff Palace have been noting all of these signs and there is a stir of activity in the city as they throw off the cloak of winter. It was this promise of spring that helped them through. Sometimes they have been cold and there has been sickness and death. At times there has been a heavy pall of sadness over the city. Now all that is over for spring is in the air.

The people are happy and smiling as they bustle about preparing for the work that is ahead. The men think of their farms, the women think of making pottery, repairing and building houses, and arranging marriages. The children, turkeys and dogs think of nothing: they merely dash out of the shadowy cave into the warm spring sunshine.

Our year with the people of Cliff Palace has ended. Spring, summer, autumn and winter have passed. Now spring has arrived to start the eternal cycle all over again.

8
THE END OF THE STORY

The year we have just spent with the people of Cliff Palace was a normal year for all of the people of the Mesa Verde. We have seen the daily events in one cliff dwelling and we may feel sure that similar events were taking place in each of the many hundreds of cliff dwellings on the great mesa.

There was not a single occurrence that made it any different from the countless other normal years they experienced. It did not remain long in their memories for it was just one more year when all of the forces of nature worked in perfect harmony. There was an abundance of snow and rain, and food was plentiful. There were no catastrophes or memorable events.

Good years, such as that one, were soon forgotten. The years they remembered were those that brought sadness or disaster. Talkative old men long remembered the years of terrific drouth or the year the crops were destroyed by forest fires. They did not soon forget the evil summer when almost all of the babies died of a strange malady, and for centuries the storytellers recalled the year when a monster swallowed the sun completely for a few minutes. Those were the unusual years and they served as mile posts. Time was measured from them.

The years of catastrophe did not come often. It was only occasionally that the crops failed and when they did the people were prepared for it. A thousand years of farming in the Mesa Verde had taught them that every few years they must expect a dry year without a harvest. Often they were able to predict such a season in advance. If the heavy snows of December and January and February failed to come, the men began to worry. Then if the spring rains failed to come, the farmers became quite sure that the harvests would be poor. Months in advance they began to prepare for the lean year that faced them.

Food was measured out sparingly: not a grain of corn or a pinch of meal was wasted. The women searched endlessly for wild plant foods and the men went hunting day after day. By living more on meat and wild plants they were able to conserve the stores of corn and beans. Water supplies were built up and they tried to enter the summer season with every available drop stored in their jars and in the pools in the canyon. New springs were developed and in extreme cases the women even walked four miles down the canyon to the Mancos River for water.

By skillfully adjusting themselves to conditions the people were able to survive a year of drouth with little difficulty. A second year of crop failure was very serious but still it could be managed and occasionally during their occupancy of the Mesa Verde they had even survived periods of drouth that lasted several years. Such an ordeal brought suffering and hardship: it meant death for many of the weaker people. But still it could be endured.

So it was that when drouth settled down upon the Mesa Verde in the year 1276 A.D., the people thought nothing of it. They had just enjoyed several good years and they worried little when the crops failed. They took the usual precautions and the priests assured them that the next year would be normal again. But the drouth did not break. Year after year it continued. A generation passed and still the drouth did not end.

The rings of trees which grew at that time show that the drouth continued for twenty-four years. From 1276, through 1299, rainfall was below normal in the Mesa Verde and surrounding regions. Many of the years were unbelievably dry. Some were only moderately dry and a few were almost normal. But throughout the long period, rainfall was far below average. Winter snows were light and failed to restore the soil moisture. Summer rains were often completely lacking. Each year the soil lost more of its moisture and only the hardiest plants were able to survive. During the entire period there probably was not a harvest worthy of the name.

The drouth was the worst ever known in the Southwest and its effect on the people of the Mesa Verde was tragic. Year after year the crops withered in the fields. Wild food plants also died or failed to reproduce. The larger game animals drifted off to the mountains and the smaller animals diminished in numbers. In their search for food the women scoured the mesas until there was not an edible plant left. The men hunted far and wide with less and less luck. Still the drouth continued. Water supplies dwindled. During the winter the pools in the canyon failed to fill and the lack of moisture caused the springs to become mere trickles. It was impossible to wring water from the earth when no water was there.

The people were faced with three terrors; the lack of food, the lack of water, and the wrath of the gods. The first two actually existed; the last existed only in their minds. Consequently, it was the worst of all. Added to their tragic need of food and water was the horrible fear that their gods had deserted them.

How the priests must have labored. Every ceremony, every trick they knew was repeated time after time as the drouth progressed. The cliff dwellings echoed with the chants and Sun Temple, the great ceremonial building, must have been the scene of countless super-ceremonials as the priests of the various villages threw their combined strength into the fight.

Still the drouth continued!

Throughout the Mesa Verde there was much death from starvation and disease. Food and water were practically exhausted. The tragic moment came when they were forced to eat the seed corn. This was the last resort: it could be fatal to farmers. Only when death faced them did they sacrifice the precious seed for there could never be another crop unless they were fortunate enough to find other people with surplus supplies. The result was inevitable. Since the drouth would not end the people could only drift away, hoping to find better conditions elsewhere. It was their only chance of survival.

The migration from the Mesa Verde must have taken place gradually. As a matter of fact, there are indications that the migrations began even before the drouth came. At an earlier date vast areas around the Mesa Verde were occupied by members of the same tribe. Some time before 1200 A.D., however, the population began to dwindle and by the time the drouth came almost all of the area, except the Mesa Verde, was deserted.

In all probability, these early migrations were caused by pressure from an enemy tribe for there is much to indicate that the people were in trouble. Certainly the population was dwindling long before the great drouth began. The identity of the enemy is not definitely known. It has been suggested that the Apaches may have entered the region at that time, or possibly the early Utes. No definite evidence of the enemy people has been found but their pressure is indicated by their effect upon the peaceful farming Indians.

The migration from the Mesa Verde probably took place gradually; certainly there was no mass movement. As the drouth continued small groups drifted off in search of better conditions. All of the people of a small village may have moved together but the larger towns must have broken up gradually. Cliff Palace and other large cliff dwellings probably were deserted a clan at a time. As conditions became more desperate the people quarreled over the dwindling supplies. There must have been many cases of actual violence as frenzied men sought to obtain food and water for their starving families. Dissatisfaction and discontent mounted rapidly and the once happy towns were abandoned by their people as clan after clan took to the trail in search of new homes.

Before the twenty-four year drouth was over, the Mesa Verde was entirely deserted and there is no evidence that any of the people ever returned. Since that tragic time the cliff dwellings have been empty and silent as they have fought against the heavy, leveling hand of time.

When the people left the Mesa Verde their troubles were not over. The drouth was felt all over the Southwest and life was possible only in the most favorable spots. Added to the misfortunes of the drifting people was the increased activity of the nomadic Indians for they, too, suffered from the drouth. It is possible that their increased activities hastened the flight from the Mesa Verde for they must have preyed upon the farming peoples during the troubled times.

Although large numbers perished before and during the migration, many of the Mesa Verde Indians did survive. The major migration seems to have been to the southeast and finally the people settled in the Rio Grande Valley. One group crossed the river and for a time lived in the Gallisteo Basin, a short distance southeast of the present city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After a time this area was deserted and the people mingled with other Pueblo Indians along the Rio Grande. As they merged with the others they gradually lost their identity as Mesa Verde people.

During the great drouth the population of the Southwest was diminished and many regions were abandoned forever by the Pueblo Indians. When the drouth finally ended the survivors were concentrated in the most favorable spots where there were the best supplies of water, the finest farming lands or good natural defenses against the nomadic Indians.

In some regions they prospered for a time but never again did they reach the high level they had attained before the great drouth. Perhaps the drouth caused a dry rot to set in and the fortunes of the Pueblo people waned. When Coronado came there were less than eighty pueblos: today there are less than thirty.

The people of these present-day pueblos are the descendants of scores of thousands of Pueblo Indians who once lived in the Southwest. In their veins, greatly thinned by the centuries, flows the blood of the ancient people of the Mesa Verde.