Industries.—As they are sedentary tribes, the Pueblos are agriculturists, their principal crops being corn, squashes, beans, and onions, to which were added wheat, watermelons, can taloupes, grapes, peaches, etc., on the advent of the Spaniards. Corn is prepared in very many ways, and wild fruits form a not unimportant part of the Pueblo pabulum. Their meat sup ply was gained mainly through communal hunting, the mountains supplying bear, deer, antelope and elk, while the valleys and cafions abounded in jack-rabbits, cottontails, prairie dogs, wild turkeys, quails, and doves. The buf falo was probably hunted to some extent by the Rio Grande Pueblos, who also conducted a brisk trade with the Plains tribes up to 25 years ago. For religious reasons, fish was probably universally tabooed, water, on which everything depends, being a sacred element. The turkey was domesticated, and eagles were and still are kept in captivity for their feathers. Cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and asses, which now form such an important part in the Pueblo economy, were unknown before the Spaniards went among them. The Pueblos are a provident people, their reserve food supply usually being sufficient for a year's use, thus succoring them in event of drought. Most of their agriculture is conducted by means of irrigation, although patches of corn, melons, squashes, etc., and small peach orchards are otherwise successfully cultivated in favorable localities. The Hopi raised large quantities of cotton, which they wove into garments and traded with other tribes. Indeed they are still the leading cotton weavers among the Pueblos, the industry prob ably having been introduced by clans from the far south. The Hopi and Zufii also weave excellent blankets, sashes, dresses, garters, etc., of wool, and a few of the Zuni men are expert silversmiths. The basket trays of the Hopi are noteworthy, although the art has greatly de clined since the introduction of aniline dyes. Some of the other Pueblos make a coarse bas ket for domestic use. As potters the Pueblos are far in advance of all other Indians north of Mexico. Purely primitive methods are still employed, and the decorative motive is gener ally symbolic, intricate, and pleasing.
Social and Religious.—All the Pueblo tribes are composed of numerous clans, named after some animal, plant, or other natural ob ject or phenomenon. Maternal descent is recognized, that is, the children belong to the clan of the mother. Marriage, which is not al lowed between members of the same clan, is generally effected by mutual consent of the contracting couple and their parents, and is sealed after an exchange of gifts and a simple primitive ceremony. The vow, however, is not very binding and divorce is merely a matter of mutual agreement, the offspring, if any, invariably belonging to the mother, The status of the Pueblo woman is high. She owns the house and its furniture, while it is the husband's duty to provide for his family and he frequently makes his wife's clothes. The dead were formerly cremated or were buried in the houses or in the refuse heaps. Now, however, the dead are buried in a common cemetery in front of the Catholic Church, ex cept among the Hopi, who deposit their dead in crevices in the rocks. The social and religious organization of most of the Pueblos was con siderably affected by the Spanish missionary and civil authorities, and among all the tribes except the Hopi a civil governor and other officers are now annually elected, although their power in some instances is only nominal. Originally the religious and social organization was insepar able; each clan had its priest or priest-chief, while both the internal and the external affairs of the tribe, where they affected the compli cated and far-reaching religious organization, were controlled by a priesthood. There were
also other socio-religious societies, grouped ac cording to the several regions — north, south, east, west, upper, and lower — some of which assumed control over certain affairs in winter, others in summer. The members of these so cieties, where they still exist, are the medicine men of the tribe, some of whose functions are the prevention as well as the cure of disease, the regulation of the communal hunts, the ex termination of witchcraft, and the intermedia tion between the tribesmen and the many nature gods which form the Pueblo pantheon. Com munication with these nature powers was and is still conducted by means of secret or open ceremonies, consisting of the depositing of prayer-sticks, chants, dances, sacrifices, panto mime, masquerade, and the recital of rituals.
History.— From the Pueblo tribes which have been more intimately studied it has been learned that they consist of many small accre tions from various stocks and from many lo calities, which left their former homes on ac count of drought and the consequent failure of crops, through superstition, the depredations of enemies, or other causes. The migrations of these component clans or parts of clans were sometimes very slow, many years being con sumed in their journeyings and village after village being successively built, occupied, and abandoned before the final settlement was made. Thus are many of the ruins of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah accounted for. The nuclei of some of the Pueblo tribes, however, had their mythical origin in the north, at a place called Sipapu, where they are supposed to return after death, and which is symbolically represented by an opening in the floor of the ceremonial chambers, in front of the altars erected during religious rites. Indefinite knowledge of a populous region in the north gained by the Spaniards in Mexico early in the 16th century led first to thejourney in 1539 of Fray Marcos de Niza to the °Seven Cities of Cibola,° the present Zuffiland, followed a year later by the expedi tion under Coronado. This was the first direct contact of the Pueblo Indians with the whites. For the successive Spanish expeditions and the later history of the Pueblos, see NEW Maxim, and also the subjects mentioned below.
Population.—At the time of Coronado's visit the Pueblo tribes were said to inhabit 66 villages and to number 20,000 men, but it is doubtful if the entire population exceeded this estimate. With the exception of Acoma and Isleta none of the 28 pueblos now existing oc cupy their 16th century sites, the remainder having been forced into new locations chiefly during the reconquest of New Mexico after the Pueblo revolt of 1680. The present aggre gate population of the 27 villages is about 10,000, exclusive of several Hopi villages in Arizona and the two pueblos of Islcta and Senecu, below El Paso, which contain from 2,000 to 3,000 more. For their distribution see KERESAN ; SHOSHONEAN INDIANS; TANOAN FAMILY, and ZURIAN.
Bibliography.— Bandelier, A. F., The De light Makers ) (New York 1916) ; id., 'Con tributions to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the United States' (Boston 1890); id., Final Report (ib. 1890-92) ; Benavides, Alonso, of 1630' (Chicago 1916); Cushing, F. H., 'Zufii Folk Tales' (New York 1900) ; Goddard, P. E., 'Indians of the South west' (New York 1913) ; Hacherlin, H. K., 'Fertilization in the Culture of the Pueblo Indians' (Lancaster, Pa., 1916) ; Hough, Wal ter, The 'Hopi Indians) (Cedar Rapids 1901); Lummis, C. F., Indian Folk-Stories' (New York 1910) ; The Land of Poco Tiempo' (New York 1893) ; Saunders, C. F., The In dians of the Terraced Houses' (New York 1910) ; also many papers in the publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology at Wash ington. F. W. HODGE, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Founda tion.