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Show Early Studies and the Looting of Kolhu/walatwa After Cushing was left at the central Zuni village by a Bureau of Ethnology party, he feigned poverty, prompting the Zunis, who have ever been famed for their hospitality and generosity to those in need, to adopt and take him in. Quietly and secretly Cushing began taking notes, making drawings and collecting examples of Zuni material culture to be sent to the National Museum in Washington, D.C. Today, Cushing's works are admired as representing the products of seminal ethnological fieldwork on native culture. Shortly after his arrival at Zuni, Cushing wrote to his superior about shrines he had heard of to the south of the villaget 115 The Indians are now growing less and less reserved with me. Recently they have given me information of the sacred well and caves of Zuni which heretofore have been kept secret from both Americans and Mexicans. When I manifested innocent curiosity and interest in this relation they drew a complete map showing their whereabouts and the route leading to them. These caves have been used as the "Birth place" or starting place for certain characters which figure in their sacred dances . . . . The Zunians are now distinctly opposed to such a visit but I believe that I can either ultimately win them over or go in secret. Then in the summer of 1880 Cushing happened to observe the beginning of one of the quadrennial pilgrimages. His description of the event was eventually 115. Cushing to Baird, November 6, 1879, Hodge-Cushing Collection #44, Southwest Museum. - 77 - |
