Page 177 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND 169
It transpired that the Xavaho had not bodily and
by force seized an eagle which the Hopi had captured
by his craft, though one not knowing the relations be
tween those desert neighbors might have so thought.
On the contrary, the Navaho had taken the eagle from
an eyrie on a mountain many miles away from the
Hopi villages, not dreaming of poaching on anyone's
preserves.
He would probably care as little to know that the
Snake clan claims the eagle nests near their old village
of Tokonabi to the north of Walpi; the Horn clan
those to the northeast; the Firewood clan those at the
upper end of Keam 's Canyon ; the Bear clan those at
the mouth of the same canyon ; the Tobacco clan those
on the crags of Awatobi ; the Rain Cloud clan the nests
in the Moki Buttes; the Reed clan those in the region
of their old town forty miles north of Navajo Springs
on the Santa Fe railroad ; the Lizard clan the nests on
Bitahuchi or Red Rocks, about forty miles south of
Walpi; or that the eagle nests west of the pueblos
along the Little Colorado and Great Colorado belong
to the Oraibi and Middle Mesa villagers. He would
disdain the fact that one cannot meddle with eagles
within forty or fifty miles of the Hopi towns without
trespassing on property rights.
The curious fact comes out that these eagle preserves
are near the place of ancient occupancy of the clans,
and show in a most interesting way the lines of migra
tion bv which the several clans traveled to the vil