Then for the first
time did men enter houses; those houses were _caverns_, and thick
shrubs, and twigs fastened together with bark."[3]
But it is in the legends of the Navajo Indians of North America that
we find the most complete account of the cave-life.
It is as follows:
"The Navajos, living north of the Pueblos, say that at one time all
the nations, Navajos, Pueblos, Coyoteros, and white people, lived
together tinder ground, in the heart of a mountain, near the river
San Juan. _Their food was meat, which they had in abundance, for all
kinds of game were closed up with them in their cave;_ but their
light was dim, and only endured for a few hours each day. There were,
happily, two dumb men among the Navajos, flute-players,
[1. "North Americans of Antiquity," p. 239.
2. Bancroft's "Native Races," vol. iii, p. 105.
3. "The Metamorphoses," Fable IV.]
{p. 197}
who enlivened the darkness with music. One of these, striking by
chance on the roof of the limbo with his flute, brought out a hollow
sound, upon which the elders of the tribe determined to bore in the
direction whence the sound came.
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