Ethnozoology of the Tewa Indians / by Junius Henderson and John Peabody Harrington.

  • Henderson, Junius, 1865-1937.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Ethnozoology of the Tewa Indians / by Junius Henderson and John Peabody Harrington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/98 (page 2)
    (bi i.f,. 50 Spoaldng of the region south of vSuiita Ke, Moj-rison '■ says: Black, cinnamon, and occasionally griz/dy bear, black and white-tailed deer, and turkeys, furnish abundant game to the Indian. The elk, once very plentiful in these mountains, is now very rarely seen. Other statements of like nature may be found. It is certain that since the advent of tlie wliite man with liis deatli-deahng rifle large game animtils have greatly decreased in numbers nearly everywhere. Ajiy reduction in the abundance of game in the area under discussittn is probably due to jiromiscuous hunting at all seasons by both whites and IncUans supphed with rifles, rather than to the communal hunts of the Pueblo IntUans or to the raids of roving Apache. Careful consideration of all the facts beaiing on the question leads to the conclusion that game never was very abundant about the Rito de los Frijoles. However tliis may be, it seems certain that it could not have remained abundant when the vicinity was occupied by the ancient inhabitants and stiU have furnished them with a large part of their food supply. In his excellent paper on Pueblo environment. Hough ^ sa}'s: It is difficult to realize the immense modification of animal and vegetable life which the white man has wrought in this region during the 30 years of his active occupancy. At the beginning of this period the region was well grassed and supplied with other vegetation adequate to the needs of vast herds of antelope, elk, and deer; rodent ani- mals and bii-ds were plentiful, and carnivores had abundance of prey. As a result of vegetation a humus had formed on all protected situations, rainfall was absorbed and equalized in distribution, and the terrific denudation which gashes the land at pres- ent was not begun. The country was adapted to grazing and especially favorable on account of tempera- ture and latitude, and at once great herds of cattle, horses and sheep were introduced from Texas where the range had failed. The result was that the range became over- stocked, the grass disappeai-ed under the tongues and hoofs of mjTiads of domestic animals, shrubs and trees were browsed and destroyed or swept away by fires, from certain regions species of plants vanished, and the land lay bare to the augmented winds and torrential rains. Trails became profound arroyos and the humus van- ished in the streams and the surface of the country was stone, sand and gravel. Not the least of this baneful influence was the drying up of springs and other sources of water, and more than one observer collected data going to prove, the progressiA e desicca- tion of the pueblo region. These facts must be borne in mind in di^ussion of the environment of the Southwest. As an example, it may' be stated that in the explora- tion of one ancient pueblo at Winslow, Arizona, the bones of 37 species of animals were taken from the house refuse; it is not probable at present that a natiualist could collect 5 of these species from the environment. Wherever the explorer’s spade has been put in the ancient ruins, facts of this character come to his notice, even if he has not heard the story from the early settlers or Indian traditionists. While the baneful influence of overstockhig the range iuul other follies of white settlers in parts of the West and the Southwest FExocutlve and Descriptive Report of Lieutenant Charles C. Morrison, Sixth Ca\Tdry, on the O^rn- tions of Party No. 2, Coiorado SecHon, Field Season of 1877, in Ann. Rep. V. S. Oeog. Ezpl. and Sun-.