you who feed her; and so you are, all of you. You live
from other people's crops!"

Tyope looked up, and his eyes flashed; but in a quiet tone he
answered,--

"Your woman is Shyuamo; you know best how it is." The other continued
with growing passion,--

"And when your wife was from Tzitz everybody knew that it was not you
who supported her, but that she maintained you!"

Loud murmurs arose, and the Shkuy Chayan called Tyame to order, so that
Tyope did not have time for a reply to this insulting insinuation.

Of all the clans represented three had yet to express their views. These
were the clans of Yakka, of the Panther, and Shyuamo. The delegate of
the Corn people was no friend of Tyame's, therefore he spoke directly
against what the Eagle had intimated. He emphasized how detrimental it
might become for a small cluster to own too much tillable land while a
large and important clan was suffering for the lack of vegetable food.
With notable shrewdness, he exposed to the meeting the danger for the
whole tribe in case one of its principal components should begin to
decrease in numbers. He wound up by saying,--

"The strong hanutsh are those who maintain the tribe, for they are those
who give us the most people that do penance for the welfare of all, be
they Koshare or Cuirana. They also have the greatest number of warriors
and hunters. If they have nothing to eat, they cannot watch, pray, and
fast in honour of Those Above! So the Shiuana and the Kopishtai become
dissatisfied with us, and withdraw their protection from their children;
and we become lost through suffering those to starve who are most
useful." But he omitted altogether the important fact that there was
still waste land in the gorge, and that it was far preferable to redeem
such tracts than to create dissension.

Still it must be acknowledged that the clearing of timbered expanses,
such as those on the eastern end of the valley mostly were, opposed
great difficulties to the Indian. At the time when the Rito was settled,
the native had only stone implements. To cut down trees, to clear brush
even, was a tedious and protracted undertaking when it had to be
performed with stone axes and hatchets. Fire was the most effective
agent, but fire in such proximity to the dwellings was a dangerous
servant. On the western end there was no tillable land beyond the
patches of the Water clan. Still, if there had been any disposition on
the part of Shyuamo to be reaso