until they reached the vicinity of Chukubi, near which two smaller
clusters of ruins, on knolls, mark the sites of dwellings which they
claim to have been theirs. Three groups (nyumu) traveling together were
the next to follow them; these were the Bear, the Bear-skin-rope, and
the Blue Jay. They are said to have been very numerous, and to have come
from the vicinity of San Francisco Mountain. They did not move up to
Chukubi, but built a large village on the summit, at the south end of
the mesa, close to the site of the present Mashongnavi. Soon afterward
came the Burrowing Owl, and the Coyote, from the vicinity of Navajo
Mountains in the north, but they were not very numerous. They also built
upon the Mashongnavi summit.
After this the Squash people found that the water from their springs was
decreasing, and began moving toward the end of the mesa, where the other
people were. But as there was then no suitable place left on the summit,
they built a village on the sandy terrace close below it, on the west
side; and as the springs at Chukubi ultimately ceased entirely, the rest
of the Squash people came to the terrace and were again united in one
village. Straggling bands of several other groups, both wingwu and
nyumu, are mentioned as coming from various directions. Some built on
the terrace and some found house room in Mashongnavi. This name is
derived as follows: On the south side of the terrace on which the Squash
village was built is a high column of sandstone which is vertically
split in two, and formerly there was a third pillar in line, which has
long since fallen. These three columns were called Tutuwalha, the
guardians, and both the Squash village and the one on the summit were so
named. On the north side of the terrace, close to the present village,
is another irregular massy pillar of sandstone called Mashoniniptu,
meaning "the other which remains erect," having reference to the one on
the south side, which had fallen. When the Squash withdrew to the summit
the village was then called Mashoniniptuovi, "at the place of the other
which remains erect;" now that term is never used, but always its
syncopated form, Mashongnavi.
[Illustration: Plate VIII. Bat House.]
The Squash village, on the south end of the Middle Mesa, was attacked by
a fierce band that came from the north, some say the Ute, others say the
Apache; but whoever the invaders were, they completely overpowered the
people, and carried off grea
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