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Harold Courlander, in his book 'THE FOURTH WORLD OF THE HOPIS' described an ancient Hopi legend about an underworld. Whether or not the account is accurate, it nevertheless shows that the POSSIBILITY for the existence of such a 'world' was and is foremost in the minds and legends of many native American tribes. Courlander describes the Hopi legend which states that the Hopi ancestors before their 'emergence' to the surface world migrated through different cavern regions until they came to the 'third' cavern world or realm below the general 'Four Corners' area of the Southwest, which were very extensive and in which crops were able to grow to some extent. Life there eventually became very difficult for the majority of the Hopis when a few of their numbers turned to practicing sorcery, making it very difficult for the rest. The 'peaceful' Hopi's later left this cavern world on a journey which took several days, leaving the sorcerers below (if true, this does not necessarily mean that all those who remained below continued in their practice of black magic). The Hopis have many legends of those who have re-visited the ancient traditional site of 'emergence'. Some suggest it is covered by a mound, while others hold that a small pond seals the entryway to the cavern world. Whatever the case most Hopis agree that the ancient site is somewhere near the convergence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. As Courlander reveals on pp. 213-214 of his book:
"...The story of the journey to Grand (Salt) Canyon to transfer the salt deposits to that place conforms to an account given in the 1930s by Don Talayesva or Oraibi, as recorded in Mischa Titiev's article, 'A Hopi Salt Expedition' (AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, vol. 39, 1937). That account contains detailed reference to all the shrines and sacred spots along the salt trail, and the ritual observations at those places. The legend primarily belongs to the Third Mesa villages--Oraibi, Hotevilla and Bakavi (Bocobi)--and to Moencopi, an offspring of Oraibi. In former times these villages sent expeditions to Grand Canyon to gather their salt. According to the belief of some Third Mesa clans, Grand Canyon contains not only the sacred salt beds and shrines, but the sipapuni through which mankind emerged from the Third (Lower) World. As Titiev paraphrases the description given by Don Talayesva: "'It was not long before the expedition found itself approaching THE Kiva, the original SIPAPU through which mankind emerged from the underworld. Its outlines are indicated by soft, damp earth and an outer circle of bushes called pilakho... Pushing their way through the fringe of vegetation, the party stepped into the inner ring within which the Kiva is located. The sipapu is full to the brim with yellowish water, of about the same coloring as the surrounding earth, which serves as a 'lid' so that ordinary humans may not see the wonderful things going on beneath the surface.' "The Walpis and other First Mesa people do not agree that the sipapuni is at that place, asserting that its location is no longer known. The salt myth given here is not part of First Mesa belief. Walpi customarily sent its salt expeditions to Zuni in the southwest. In recent years, of course, virtually all Hopi salt expeditions have been to the nearest trading posts..."
It may be a coincidence, then again maybe not, but an early issue of the 'HOLLOW HASSLE' newsletter reported one woman's belief (she did not state where she got her information) that within caverns a mile-and-a-half beneath the surface of northern Arizona and New Mexico lies the remains of one of the most ancient human civilizations on earth.
It is also interesting that many of the early Asians spoke of several tribes which had disappeared or SUBMERGED below the surface of the earth into subterranean lands. It is even more interesting that hundreds or thousands of years after these subterraneous migrations were said to have occured, New World legends speak of numerous tribes which EMERGED from subterranean lands.
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