Kumeyaay - Huts-tah' Tah-mil' tah (Hanging head)
On the west side of the south peak of the Cuyamacas, far up the old High Trail, is a place called by the Indians, Huts-tah' Tah-mil'tah, (Hanging head). The following legend, which has been handed down from time immemorial, explains the naming of the place.
It was the moon of the lilac blossoms in the days long since flown, and all the earth was rousing from the drowsy sleep in which it had laid during the time of the chilling blast. No more did the biting lash of the En-yah' Kwik (East wind) sting the cheeks or numb the fingers of the hunter who braved the mountains in search of game. Now, the soft, warm Ka-wak' Kwik (South wind) was blowing, bringing life-giving showers that filled every little canyon with talking water. Birds were singing their love songs; plants bursting their flower buds; and all nature was teeming with the vigor of Che-pum' (Spring time).
The Indians had returned from their winter sojourn in the balmy air of the coast, and were busily engaged in establishing themselves once again in their village Helsh-ow' Na-wa' (Rabbit house) at the base of the towering peak Poo-Kwoo-sqwee' (Crooked neck); when a Yuma brave, having found his way across the sands of the desert, came to visit him.
Tall and slender was this brave from a strange tribe, and as straight as an alder. His sinewy body glistened like a red rattler, and his long mane floated out from his head as does that of a racing pony. Above his brow he wore high plumes of gay-colored feathers, red, yellow, and green, and quite rare also were the wings which completed his head-dress. Over his shoulders hung a quiver made of wildcat skin, and it was filled with arrows whose heads were carved from the hyacinth and other precious stones found on the edge of the desert.
So superior was his magnificence that, notwithstanding he came with a friendly intent, he was the cause of much envy.
One clear day, a party of the young warriors escorted him to the top of the high peak to show him the place from whence looking toward En-yak' (East) he could gaze upon his own, Big Water of the desert, or turning to Ah-wik' (West) behold the great Sea Water merged in the western skyline.
Glad to find something in which they excelled, they boasted of the greatness of their body of war, decrying the inferiority of his smaller one.
A quarrel ensued in which the Yuma Brave was killed. Far up on the mountain side they left his scalp lock with its long streaming hair and gorgeous feathers hanging on the brush. There it fluttered for many a day, the iridescent colors gleaming afar in the sunlight. And, as time passed on, the great spirit of In 'ya (Sun) in compassion, transformed it into bright colored flowers and trailing vines, growing among the rocks and bushes.
Now, in that self-same spot, after the blue clouds of lilac bloom have vanished from the hills below, one may see patches of color, like a field of tiger lilies and other brilliant hued flowers nodding and swaying in the breeze.
Were one strong-armed as the Indians of yore, one could throw a stone from Oon '-ya Kwolt' (High Trail) straight into that place, and hear mysterious sounds, as did they, when if fell midst the vines and the flowers. Sounds, soft and low, as of weird wailing o'er the body of the slain, for the flowers are plaintively chanting the requiem of Huts-tah' Tha-mil'-tah, (hanging head.)