Page 260 - TheHopiIndians

252 MESA POLK OF HOPILAND

multitudinous ruins of the Pueblo region. It may
not be possible to connect all the ruinous villages with
the migrations of the present Indians, for there is
room enough in this vast country to have sunk into
oblivion other peoples and languages, as the vanished
Piro, who passed a"way since the white strangers came
to Cibola, but much may be done to gather the glit
tering threads before they slip from sight.
The journeyings and campings of the ancient people
becomes intelligible when the make-up of the present
pueblos is known. One finds that every pueblo con
sists of clans which are larger families of blood rela
tions having certain duties and responsibilities to
gether; a name, such as the bear, cloud, or century
plant; certain rites and ceremonies to the beings:
clan officers and customs amounting to laws, and a
history preserved in the minds of the members. So it
will be seen that a tribe among the house-builders is
composed of a number of smaller tribes, called clans,
each complete and able to take care of itself, forming
the present villages. Often in the early days a pow
erful clan migrated long distances and left members
in many different places, because clan law forbids
marriage within the clan, and the man must live with
the people of his wife. In these migrations portions
of a clan would break off and cast their lot with other
villages, and often several clans traveled in company,
building their pueblos near one another, and thus
came the groups of ruins so common in the Southwest.