And
hindquarters with galloping feet presented, and then, in the twinkle of an
eye it almost seemed, to have the same party dashing towards you, was a
feat in horsemanship which impressed me most profoundly.
Horsemen almost from Birth. It is not to be wondered at that the Navaho is
an expert horseman. He is as nearly born on horseback, literally, as he can
be, for on several occasions I have ridden with Navaho friends, among whom
was an expectant mother, have stopped half an hour for the birth, and then,
with the new-born babe strapped on the mother's back, have resumed the
trip, completing, perhaps, forty or fifty miles in a day. Children born
under such conditions could not fail to be skilful horsemen.
CHAPTER XXII. From El Tovar To The Havasupai Indians And Their Wonderful
Cataract Canyon Homes
Havasu Canyon. The Grand Canyon has two important tributary canyons. The
most important of these is the Havasu Chic-i-mi-mi (canyon of the blue
water). This is where the Havasupai Indians live.
First White Visitor. The first white man to visit the Havasu, as far as we
know, was Padre Francisco Garces, of whom I have written in another
chapter. Four times he made long journeys into the interior, visiting a
large number of Indian tribes. Among these were the Wallapais and the
Havasupais.
Garces' Diary. Dr. Elliott Coues, who visited the Havasupais in 1881 with a
governmental party, has translated Garces' diary, and it was published a
short time ago by Francis P. Harper, of New York. In this translation, he
describes the descent of his (Coues's) party into the Canyon, and his
description is so vivid that it is well worth repetition here.
Dr. Coues' Description of Trail to Havasu Canyon. "On the 10th, a march of
ten miles in the same direction brought us abruptly to the brink of the
precipice - a sharp-edged jump-off of perhaps a thousand feet. There was no
side canyon here for gradual descent; the firm level ground gave no hint of
the break before us until we were actually upon the verge, and when the
soldiers lined up to look down an involuntary murmur of astonishment ran
through the ranks. Dismounting and going in single file, each man leading
his horse, we took the dizzy trail - a narrow footpath, in many parts of
which a misstep would have been destruction to man or beast. The way
zigzagged at first for some distance, on the 'switchback' principle by
which railroads sometimes make grades otherwise impracticable; the face of
the precipice was so steep that, as we filed along, those of us at the head
of the procession looked up to see the other sections of the train almost
overhead; certainly a fall of any man there would have been right on top
of us. Then the trail took a long lurch to the left with little descent,
hugging the face of the cliff, and we looked like a row of ants on a wall.
This brought us at length to the head of a great talus, down which the
trail zigzagged - the incline was too steep for straight descent, probably
at an angle of forty-five degrees.
