around which the dwellings are erected close together, so as to
present outwardly an unbroken line of wall to the height of three
stories. Viewed from the inner square it presents the appearance of a
succession of terraces with doors and windows opening upon them....
This general description is applicable to all the Pueblo villages,
however they may differ in size, position, and nature of the
ground--some being on bluffs, some on mesas, and most of those in the
valley of the Rio Grande on level ground."[XI-59]
Zuñi, "like Santo Domingo, is built terrace-shaped--each story, of
which there are generally three, being smaller, laterally, so that one
story answers in part for the platform of the one above it. It,
however, is far more compact than Santo Domingo--its streets being
narrow, and in places presenting the appearance of tunnels, or covered
ways, on account of the houses extending at these places over them.
The houses are generally built of stone, plastered with mud,"--has an
adobe Catholic church.[XI-60]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE MOQUI TOWNS.]
The seven Moqui towns in Arizona, situated in an isolated mountainous
region about midway between the Colorado Chiquito and the Chelly
cañon, in latitude 35° 50´, and longitude 110° 30´, are very similar
to the Pueblo towns of the Rio Grande. They were probably visited by
the earliest Spanish explorers, and have a claim to as great an
antiquity as any in the whole region. Lieut. Ives visited the Moquis
in 1858, and his description is the best extant; from it I quote as
follows: "I discovered with a spy-glass two of the Moqui towns, eight
or ten miles distant, upon the summit of a high bluff overhanging the
opposite side of the valley. They were built close to the edge of the
precipice.... The outlines of the closely-packed structures looked in
the distance like the towers and battlements of a castle." "The face
of the bluff, upon the summit of which the town was perched, was cut
up and irregular. We were led through a passage that wound among some
low hillocks of sand and rock that extended half-way to the top.... A
small plateau, in the centre of which was a circular reservoir, fifty
feet in diameter, lined with masonry, and filled with pure cold water.
The basin was fed from a pipe connecting with some source of supply
upon the summit of the mesa.... Continuing to ascend we came to
another reservoir, smaller, but of more elaborate construction and
finish.... Between the two the face of the bluff had been ingeniously
converted into terraces. These were faced with neat masonry, and
contained gardens, each surrounded with a raised edge so as to retain
water upon the surface. Pipes from the reservoirs permitted them at
any time to be irrigated. Peach trees were growing upon the terraces
and in the hollows below. A long flight of stone steps, with sharp
turns that could easily be defended, was built into the face of the
precipice, and led from the upper reservoir to the foot of the town."
"The town is nearly square, and surrounded by a stone wall fifteen
feet high, the top of which forms a landing extending around the
whole. Flights of stone steps led from the first to a second landing,
upon which the doors of the house open." "The room was fifteen feet by
ten; the walls were made of adobes; the partitions of substantial
beams; the floor laid with clay. In one corner were a fireplace and
chimney. Everything was clean and tidy. Skins, bows and arrows,
quivers, antlers, blankets, articles of clothing and ornament, were
hanging from the walls or arranged upon shelves. Vases, flat dishes,
and gourds filled with meal or water were standing along one side of
the room. At the other end was a trough divided into compartments, in
each of which was a sloping stone slab two or three feet square for
grinding corn upon. In a recess of an inner room was piled a goodly
store of corn in the ear."
"We learned that there were seven towns; that the name of that which
we were visiting was Mooshahneh. A second smaller town was half a mile
distant; two miles westward was a third.... Five or six miles to the
north-east a bluff was pointed out as the location of three others,
and we were informed that the last of the seven, Oraybe, was still
further distant, on the trail towards the great river." "Each pueblo
is built around a rectangular court, in which we suppose are the
springs that furnish the supply to the reservoirs. The exterior walls,
which are of stone, have no openings, and would have to be scaled or
battered down before access could be gained to the interior. The
successive stories are set back, one behind the other. The lower rooms
are reached through trap-doors from the first landing. The houses are
three rooms deep, and open upon the interior court." "He led the way
to the east of the bluff on which Oraybe stands. Eight or nine miles
brought the train to an angle formed by two faces of the precipice. At
the foot was a reservoir, and a broad road winding up the steep
ascent. On either side the bluffs were cut into terraces, and laid
out into gardens similar to those seen at Mooshahneh, and, like them,
irrigated from an upper reservoir. The whole reflected great credit
upon Moquis ingenuity and skill in the department of engineering. The
walls of the terraces and reservoirs were of partially dressed stone,
well and strongly built, and the irrigating pipes conveniently
arranged. The little gardens were neatly laid out."[XI-61]
* * * * *
Thus we see that a universal peculiarity of the Pueblo towns is that
the lower stories are entered by ladders by way of the roof. Their
location varies from the low valley to the elevated mesa and
precipitous cliff; their height from one to seven stories, two stories
and one terrace being a common form. Most of them recede in successive
terraces at each story from the outside, but Tesuque, and perhaps a
few others, are terraced from the interior court. The building
material is sometimes adobe, but generally stone plastered with mud.
The exact construction of the walls is nowhere stated, but they are
presumably built of roughly squared blocks of the stone most
accessible, laid in mud. With each town is connected an estufa, or
public council-chamber and place of worship. This is in some cases
partly subterranean, and its walls are covered with rude paintings in
bright colors.[XI-62]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: PUEBLO OF PECOS.]
[Illustration: Ruins of Pecos.]
Of the ruined Pueblo towns no extended description is necessary,
since they present no contrasts with those still inhabited which have
been described. Pecos was formerly one of the most important, and was
still inhabited in the early part of the present century. The cut
copied from Emory for Mr Baldwin's work, represents a portion of the
ruins, which include Spanish and aboriginal structures, both of adobe.
Emory noticed large well-hewn timbers. Davis says the ruins of the
village cover two or three hundred yards, and include large blocks of
stone, square and oblong, weighing over a ton, with marks of having
been laid in mortar. Hughes speaks of the traces of a stone wall eight
feet high, which once surrounded this Pueblo town. Kit Carson told Mr
Meline that he found the town still inhabited in 1826. It was here
that in former times was kept burning the everlasting fire which
formed part of the religious rites in honor of their deity, or,
according to the modern account, of Montezuma. There is no evidence,
however, that the aborigines in ancient times had any deity, or
monarch of that name; it is quite certain that they did not hear of
the Aztec monarch Montezuma many centuries before he began to reign;
just possible that they did hear of his fame a few years before the
Spaniards came to New Mexico; but altogether probable that they first
heard the name of Montezuma, of the Aztec people, and of their former
migration southward, from the Spaniards themselves, or their native
companions.[XI-63]
With the Quivira located by Thomas Gage and other early writers and
map-makers, "on the most Western part of America just over against
Tartary," as with the great city of Quivira which Francisco Vasquez de
Coronado sought and has been popularly supposed to have found, I have
at present nothing to do. It should be noted, however, that the latter
Quivira was not one of the Pueblo towns of the Rio Grande, but a town
of wigwams on the plains in the far north-east. The ruined town of
Quivira or Gran Quivira, east of the Rio Grande, entirely distinct
from that of Coronado, includes, like Pecos, a Spanish church among
its ruins. The buildings are of hewn stone and of great extent. Gregg
speaks of an aqueduct leading to the mountains eight or ten miles
distant, the nearest water. This town was very likely, like many
others, ruined at the revolt of 1680. Abó, Quarra, Laguna, and the
rest, present no new features. There are, moreover, on the Puerco
River--a tributary of the Rio Grande, and not that of the Colorado
Chiquito already mentioned--many traces of Pueblo buildings which have
no definite names.[XI-64]
[Sidenote: SEVEN CITIES OF CÍBOLA.]
[Illustration: Rock-Inscriptions--Rio Grande.]
The cut shows some rock-inscriptions copied by Froebel in the valley
of the Rio Grande. In the Sierra de los Mimbres, towards the source of
the Gila, are some old copper mines, and connected with them an adobe
fort with round towers at the corners, but I do not know that these
works have ever been considered of aboriginal origin. In a newspaper I
find the remarkable statement that "from the volcanic cones of the
Cerrillos was furnished, a great part, if not all, the Chalchiuite, so
much worn for ornament, and so highly prized by the ancient
Mexicans.... The ancient excavations made in search of it are now
distinctly visible, and seem to have been carried to the depth of two
hundred feet or more."[XI-65]
The ruins of Old Zuñi have already been described, and there is no
reason to doubt that both these and the other remains on the Zuñi
River, represent towns that were inhabited when the Spaniards first
came northward. Indeed it is almost certain that they, together with
the Pueblo town of Zuñi, represent Coronado's famous 'seven cities' of
Cíbola. Most writers have so decided, as Gallatin, Squier, Whipple,
Turner, Kern, and Simpson.[XI-66] The course and distance of
Coronado's march from the Gila agrees more exactly with Zuñi than with
any other town; the location of the 'seven cities' within four leagues
together, in a very narrow valley between steep banks, as also their
position with respect to the Rio del Lino, Colorado Chiquito,
correspond very well with the Zuñi ruins; Coronado's Granada, on a
high bluff, with a "narrow winding way," was quite probably Old Zuñi;
Cíbola is said to have been the first town reached in coming across
the desert from the south-west, and the last left in returning; the
positions of Tusayan, a province of seven villages, five days' journey
north-west from Cíbola, and of Acuco, five days eastward, agree very
well with the location of the Moqui towns and of Acoma with respect to
Zuñi. Finally we have Espejo's statement that he visited the province
of Zuñi, twenty-five leagues west of Acoma; that it was called Zuñi by
the natives and Cíbola by the Spaniards; that Coronado had been there;
and that he found there not only crosses and other emblems of
Christianity, but three Christians even. Coronado left three men at
Cíbola, and their statements to Espejo respecting the identity of
Cíbola and Zuñi, must be regarded as conclusive.[XI-67]
[Sidenote: GENERAL RÉSUMÉ.]
New Mexican antiquities, divided as at the beginning of the chapter
into six classes, may be briefly considered, en résumé, as follows:
1st. "Remains of ancient stone and adobe buildings in all stages of
disintegration, from standing walls with roofs and floors, to
shapeless heaps of débris, or simple lines of foundation-stones." This
first class of remains has received most attention in the preceding
pages, and little need be said in addition. It has been noted that
adobe is the material used almost exclusively in the Gila and other
southern valleys, as in Chihuahua, while further north stone is
preferred. The most important fact to be noted is that all the ruins,
without exception, are precisely identical in plan, architecture, and
material with the Pueblo towns now inhabited or known to have been
inhabited since the coming of the Spaniards. Many of them,
particularly those of the Chaco cañon, may have been much grander
structures and have displayed a higher degree of art than the modern
towns, but they all belong to the same class of buildings.
2d. "Anomalous structures of stone or earth, the purpose of which,
either by reason of their advanced state of ruin, or of the
comparatively slight attention given them by travelers, is not
apparent." Such remains, which have been described as far as possible
wherever they have appeared, are: I. Fortifications, like the stone
enclosures on the Pueblo Creek and head-waters of the Rio Verde; and
the battlements guarding the path of ascent to Old Zuñi. Many of the
ruined towns were, moreover, effectually fortified by the natural
position in which they were built. II. Mound-like structures and
elevations. These include the low terraced pyramid reported on the
Gila near the Casa Grande, and another of like nature on the north
side of the river; the shapeless heaps of earth and stones in the Gila
and Salinas valleys, most of which are doubtless the remains of
fallen walls, but some of which may possibly have a different origin
and design; and some small heaps of loose stones on the Gila at the
mouth of the Santo Domingo. It is noticeable that no burial mounds, of
so common occurrence in many parts of America, have been found here;
and no pyramids or mounds presumably connected in any way with
religious rites, indeed, nothing of the nature of temples or altars,
save the estufas still in common use. III. Excavations. These are, a
reservoir with stone walls measuring forty by sixty yards, reported by
the early writers near the Casa Grande on the Gila; a circular
depression forty paces in diameter on the north bank of the Gila, and
a similar one at Navajo Spring near the Rio Puerco of the West; a
triangular depression at the mouth of the Santo Domingo; quarries of
sandstone near some of the Chaco ruins, and pits in the Salinas,
whence the earth for building is supposed to have been taken; and the
circular holes that penetrate the cañon walls of the Chaco. IV.
Enclosures for various or unknown purposes. Such is the circular
enclosure a hundred yards in circumference near the Casa Grande, and
another north of the river; the structure indefinitely reported as a
labyrinth up the Gila from the Casa Grande; a small round enclosure on
the Salado; an elliptical enclosure of stone and mortar, eight by
sixteen feet, and divided into two compartments, in the Chaco cañon;
and the large and irregular lines of foundation-stones in the Gila
Valley above the San Pedro. It will be observed that there is very
little of the mysterious connected with these remains of the second
class, and a great part of that little would probably disappear as a
result of a more careful exploration.
3d. "Traces of aboriginal agriculture, in the shape of acequias and
zanjas, or irrigating canals and ditches." Such remains have been
noticed in connection with many of the ruins, particularly in the
south, and require no further remarks. So far as described, they are
nothing but simple ditches dug in the surface of the ground, of
varying depth and length. The earlier reports of canals with walled
sides are very probably unfounded.
[Illustration: New Mexican Stone Axes.]
4th. "Implements and ornaments." These are not numerous, include no
articles of any metal whatever, and do not differ materially from
articles now in use among the Pueblo Indians. Such relics have been
found scattered among the débris of the fallen walls, and not taken
from regular excavations; consequently no absolute proof exists that
they are the work of the builders, though there can be little room for
doubt on that point. The wandering tribes that have occupied the
country in modern times are much more likely to have sought for and
carried away relics of the original inhabitants, than to have
deposited among the ruins articles made by the modern Pueblo Indians.
A detailed account of each relic would be useless, but among the
articles that have been found are included,--I. Implements of stone.
Metates, or corn-grinders, generally broken, were found at various
points on the Gila, Salado, and among the ruins near Pecos. Stone
axes, are shown in the cut from Whipple, of which No. 4 was found on
the Salado, where implements called hoes, and a stone pestle, are
also reported. A stone axe was also found on the Colorado Chiquito.
Arrow-heads of obsidian were picked up at Old Zuñi, on the Colorado
Chiquito, on the Rio Puerco of the west, and at Inscription Rock; of
carnelian on the Colorado Chiquito; of agate and jasper on the Rio
Puerco; and of quartz near Pecos and on Pueblo Creek. Ross Browne
heard of bone awls having been dug up at the Casa Grande. II.
Ornaments. Sea-shells were found at the Casa Grande, on the north bank
of the Gila, and in the Salado valley; also on the Gila, a bead of
blue marble finely turned, an inch and a quarter long; and another
bead of the size of a hen's egg; also a painted stone not described,
and a beaver's tooth. Several green stones, like amethysts, were found
on the Salado; fragments of quartz crystal at the Casa Grande; of
agate and obsidian among the Gila mines; and of obsidian on Pueblo
Creek. Clay balls from the size of bullets to grape-shot, many of them
stuck together, are reported on doubtful authority.[XI-68]
5th. Pottery, the most abundant class of relics, found strewn over the
ground in the vicinity of every ruin in this group. It is always in
fragments, no whole article of undoubted antiquity having ever been
found. This is natural enough, perhaps, since only the surface has
been examined, and the roaming tribes of Indians would not be likely
to leave anything of use or value; excavation may in the future bring
to light whole specimens. But although the absence of whole vessels is
not strange, the presence of fragments in so great abundance is very
remarkable, since no such tendency to their accumulation is noticed
about the inhabited Pueblo towns. It would seem as if the inhabitants,
forced to abandon their houses in haste, had deliberately broken all
their very large stock of earthen ware, either to prevent its falling
into the hands of enemies, or from some superstitious custom. The
fragments are very like one to another in all parts of the New Mexican
region, and in quality and ornamentation nearly identical with the
ware still manufactured and used by the Pueblos. It has been noticed,
however, that the older pottery is superior generally in material and
workmanship to the modern; and also in the southern valleys it is
found painted on the inside as well as outside, contrary as is said to
the present usage. Very few fragments show anything like glazing. The
painted ornamentation consists in most instances of stripes or
angular, more rarely of curved, lines, in black, white, and red.
Painted representations of any definite objects, animate or inanimate,
are of very rare occurrence. Some specimens are, however, not painted,
but decorated with considerable skill by means of raised or indented
figures. I have given cuts of many specimens, and the thirty-five
figures on the next page from different localities will suffice to
explain the nature and uniformity of New Mexican pottery.[XI-69]
[Illustration: New Mexican Pottery.]
6th. "Painted or engraved figures on cliffs, boulders, and the sides
of natural caverns." These figures have been mentioned whenever they
occurred, and some of them illustrated. There are additional paintings
in a rocky pass between Albuquerque and Laguna, mentioned and copied
by Möllhausen, and both paintings and sculptures in Texas at Sierra
Waco, thirty miles east of El Paso, and at Rocky Dell Creek, in lat.
35°, 30´, long. 102°, 30´.[XI-70] In another volume of this
work,[XI-71] something has been said of hieroglyphic development, of
the different classes of picture-records, and their respective value.
The New Mexican rock-inscriptions and paintings, such of them as are
not mere idle sketches executed without purpose by the natives to
while away the time, belong to the lower classes of representative and
symbolic picture-writing, and are utterly inadequate to preserve any
definite record far beyond the generation that executed them. Most of
them had a meaning to the artist and his tribe at the time they were
made; it is safe to suppose that no living being to-day can interpret
their meaning, and that they never will be understood. The similar
figures painted on the walls of modern estufas,[XI-72] the natives
will not, probably cannot, explain. Mr Froebel, in opposition to Mr
Bartlett's theory that the figures are meaningless, very justly says:
"Many circumstances tend to disprove that these characters were
originally nothing but the results of an early attempt at art. In the
first place, the similarity of the style, in localities a thousand
miles apart, and its extreme peculiarity, preclude every idea of an
accidental similarity. One cannot imagine how the same recurring
figures should have been used over and over again, unless they had a
conventional character, and were intended to express something."[XI-73]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CONCLUSIONS.]
I conclude this division of my work by a few general remarks,
embodying such conclusions respecting the New Mexican ruins as may be
drawn from the ruins themselves, without reference to the mass of
speculation, tradition, and so-called history, that has confused the
whole subject since first the missionary padres visited and wrote of
this region, and sought diligently, and of course successfully, for
traditions respecting the Asiatic origin of the Americans, and the
southern migration of the Aztecs from the mysterious regions of the
Californias to Anáhuac. These conclusions are not lengthy or numerous,
and apply with equal force to the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, outside
of the geographical limits of this chapter.
1. The ruined structures offer but little internal evidence of their
age. There is not even the slight aid of forest growth found in nearly
all other parts of America. The different buildings show very
different degrees of dilapidation it is true, but to what extent in
each case the ravages of time have been assisted by the roaming
Apaches and other savages, it is impossible to decide. The Casas
Grandes of Chihuahua are much more dilapidated than the similar Casa
Grande of the Gila; but, although both are built of mud, a slight
difference in the quality of the mud employed, with the more abundant
rains of Chihuahua, would account for the better condition of the Gila
remains, and prevent us from assigning necessarily a greater antiquity
to those of Chihuahua. It is known as a historical fact that the
southern buildings were not only in ruins at the coming of the
Spaniards in the middle of the sixteenth century, but had been so long
in that condition that the native knowledge respecting them had passed
into the state of a tradition and a superstition. Certainly not less
than a century would suffice for this. Of the northern ruins very many
are known to have been inhabited and flourishing towns when the
Spaniards came. That any were at that time in ruins is not proven,
though possible.
2. The material relics of the New Mexican group bear no resemblance
whatever to either Nahua or Maya relics in the south. It has been
constantly stated and repeated by most writers, that all American
aboriginal monuments, the works of the Mound-Builders of the
Mississippi, the ruins of New Mexico and Arizona, the Casas Grandes of
Chihuahua, the Edificios of Zacatecas, the pyramids of Anáhuac and the
central plateaux, Mitla, Palenque, the cities of Yucatan, and finally
Copan, all belong evidently to one class and present one type; that
all are such as might reasonably be attributed to the same people in
different periods of their civilization. It is even customary for
travelers and writers to speak without hesitation of Aztec ruins and
relics in Arizona, as if there were no longer any doubt on the
subject. So far as the New Mexican link in the chain is concerned, I
most emphatically deny the resemblance, on grounds which the reader of
the preceding pages already fully understands. I can hardly conceive
of structures reared by human hands differing more essentially than
the two classes in question. In the common use of adobes for
building-material; in the plain walls rising to a height of several
stories; in the terrace structure, absence of doors in the lower
story, and the entrance by ladders; in the absence of arched ceilings
of overlapping blocks, of all pyramidal structures, of sculptured
blocks, of all architectural decorations, of idols, temples, and every
trace of buildings evidently designed for religious rites, of burial
mounds and human remains; and in the character of the rock-inscriptions
and miscellaneous relics, not to go farther into details, the New
Mexican monuments present no analogies to any of the southern remains.
I do not mean to express a decided opinion that the Aztecs were not,
some hundreds or thousands of centuries ago, or even at a somewhat
less remote period, identical with the natives of New Mexico, for I
have great faith in the power of time and environment to work
unlimited changes in any people; I simply claim that it is a manifest
absurdity to suppose that the monuments described were the work of the
Aztecs during a migration southward, since the eleventh century, or of
any people nearly allied in blood and institutions to the Aztecs as
they were found in Anáhuac.
3. Not only do the ruins of this group bear no resemblance to those of
the south, but they represent in all respects buildings like those
still inhabited by the Pueblo tribes and the Moquis, and do not differ
more among themselves than do the dwellings of the peoples mentioned.
Every one of them may be most reasonably regarded as the work of the
direct ancestors of the present inhabitants of the Pueblo towns, who
did not differ to any great extent in civilization or institutions
from their descendants, though they may very likely have been vastly
superior to them in power and wealth. Consequently there is not a
single relic in the whole region that requires the agency of any
extinct race of people, or any other nations--using the word in a
somewhat wider signification than has sometimes been given to it in
the preceding volumes--than those now living in the country. Not only
do the remains not point in themselves to any extinct race, but if
there were any traditional or other evidence indicating the past
agency of such a race, it would be impossible to reconcile the
traditional with the monumental evidence except by the supposition
that the Pueblos are a foreign people who took possession of the
abandoned dwellings of another race, whose institutions they imitated
to the best of their ability; but I do not know that such a theory has
ever been advanced. I am aware that this conclusion is sadly at
variance with the newspaper reports in constant circulation, of
marvelous cities, the remnants of an advanced but extinct
civilization, discovered by some trapper, miner, or exploring
expedition. I am also aware of the probability that many ruins in
addition to those I have been able to describe, have been found by
military officials, government explorers, and private individuals
during the past ten years; and I hope that the appearance of this
volume may cause the publication of much additional information on the
subject,--but that any of the newly discovered monuments differ in
type from those previously known, there is much reason to doubt. Very
many of the newspaper accounts referred to relate to discoveries made
by Lieut. Wheeler's exploring party during the past two or three
years. Lieut. Wheeler informs me that the reports, so far as they
refer to the remains of an extinct people, are without foundation,
and that his observations have led him to a conclusion practically the
same as my own respecting the builders of the ruined Pueblo towns.
[Sidenote: THE ANCIENT PUEBLO TOWNS.]
4. It follows that New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Chihuahua were
once inhabited by agricultural semi-civilized tribes, not differing
more among themselves than do the Pueblo tribes of the present time;
the most fertile valleys of the region were cultivated by them, and
were dotted by fine town-dwellings of stone and adobe, occupied in
common by many families, similar but superior to the present Pueblo
towns. At least a century, probably much longer, before the Spaniards
made their appearance, the decline of this numerous and powerful
people began, and it has continued uninterruptedly down to the present
time, until only a mere remnant in the Rio Grande and Moqui towns is
left. Before the Spaniards came all the southern towns, on the Gila
and its tributaries, had been abandoned; since that time the decline
of the northern nations, which the Spaniards found in a tolerably
flourishing condition, is a matter of history. The reason of the
decline this is hardly the place to consider, but it is doubtless to
the inroads of outside warlike and predatory tribes like the Apaches
that we must look for the chief cause. It is not impossible that
natural changes in the surface of the region, such as the drying-up of
springs, streams, or lakes, may have also contributed to the same
effect. These changes, however, if such took place, were probably
gradual in their operation; for the location of the ruins in what are
still in most cases among the most fertile valleys, either in the
vicinity of water, or at least of a dried-up stream, and their absence
in every instance in the absolutely desert tracts, show pretty
conclusively that the towns were not destroyed suddenly by any natural
convulsion which radically changed the face of the country. It is not
difficult to imagine how the agricultural Pueblo communities,
weakened perhaps at first by some international strife which forced
them to neglect the tillage of their land, and hard pressed by more
than usually persistent inroads from bands of Apaches who plundered
their crops and destroyed their irrigation-works, visited perchance by
pestilence, or by earthquakes sent by some irate deity to dry up their
springs, were forced year by year to yield their fair fields to the
drifting sands, to abandon their southern homes and unite their forces
with kindred northern tribes; till at last came the crowning blow of a
foreign invasion, which has well nigh extinguished an aboriginal
culture more interesting and admirable, if not in all respects more
advanced, than any other in North America.
FOOTNOTES:
[XI-1] _Cal., Past, Pres. and Future_, p. 145.
[XI-2] _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 195, 206; _Froebel_,
_Aus Amer._, tom. ii., p. 468; _Id._, _Cent. Amer._, pp. 519-24;
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 82, 89-91, with plate.
[XI-3] _Castañeda_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. ix.,
pp. 40-1, 161-2. Two other accounts of the trip were written--one by
Juan Jaramillo, which may be found in the same volume of
Ternaux-Compans' work; and the second by Coronado himself, an Italian
translation of which appeared in _Ramusio_, _Navigationi_, tom. iii.,
fol. 359, et seq., and an English translation in _Hakluyt's Voy._,
vol. iii., p. 373, et seq. For an abstract of the trip and discussion
about the location of the route, see _Gallatin_, in _Amer. Ethno.
Soc., Transact._, vol. ii.; _Squier_, in _American Review_ for
November, 1848; _Whipple, et al._, in _Pac. R. R. Repts_, vol. iii.;
and _Simpson_, in _Smithsonian Rept._, 1859, p. 309, et seq. The last
is the best article on the subject, and is accompanied by a map. All
the accounts mention the fact that the expedition passed through
Chichilticale, but only the one quoted describes the building.
[XI-4] "Lo apuntó en embrion por no haber ido yo á este
descubrimento." _Mange_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iv., tom. i., pp.
259, 253, 362-4.
[XI-5] In _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iv., tom. i., pp. 282-3. Mange's
description is as follows:--'One of them is a large edifice, the
principal room in the centre being four stories high, and those
adjoining it on its four sides, three stories; with walls two varas
thick, of strong _argamasa y barro_ [that is, the material of which
adobes are made] so smooth on the inside that they resemble planed
boards, and so polished that they shine like Puebla pottery. The
corners of the windows, which are square, are very straight and
without supports or crosspieces of wood, as if made with a mold; the
doors are the same, though, narrow, and by this it is known to be the
work of Indians; it is 36 paces long by 21 wide, and is well built. At
the distance of an arquebuse-shot are seen twelve other buildings half
fallen, also with thick walls; and all the roofs burned out except one
low room, which has round beams apparently of cedar, or sabino, small
and smooth, and over them _otates_ (reeds) of equal size, and a layer
of hard mud and mortar, forming a very curious roof or floor. In the
vicinity are seen many other ruins and stories, and heaps of rubbish
which cover the ground for two leagues; with much broken pottery,
plates, and _ollas_ of fine clay painted in various colors and
resembling the Guadalajara pottery of New Spain; hence it is inferred
that the city was very large and the work of a civilized people under
a government. This is verified by a canal which runs from the river
over the plain, encircling the settlement, which is in the centre,
three leagues in circumference, ten varas wide and four deep, carrying
perhaps half the river, and thus serving as a defensive ditch as well
as to supply water for the houses and to irrigate the surrounding
fields.'
[XI-6] _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii., tom.
iv., p. 847. Orozco y Berra, _Geografía_, pp. 108-10, takes this
description from Sedelmair's MS. in the Mexican archives, as being
written by one who was 'almost the discoverer,' but it is a literal
copy of Mange's diary. Mange's diary, so far as it relates to the Casa
Grande, is translated in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iii., p. 301; and
_Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 281-2.
[XI-7] 'Y vimos toda la vivienda del edificio que es muy grande de
quatro altos, cuadradas las paredes y muy gruesas como de dos varas de
ancho del dicho barro blanco, y aunque estos jentiles lo han quemado
distintas veces, se ven los quatro altos, con buenas salas, aposentos
y ventanas curiosamente embarradas por dentro y fuera de manera que
están las paredes encaladas y lisas con un barro algo colorado, las
puertas muy parejas. Tambien hay inmediatas por fuera once casas algo
menores fabricadas con la propia curiosidad de la grande y altas ... y
en largo distrito se ve mucha losa quebrada y pintada; tambien se vé
una sequia maestra de diez varas de ancho y quatro de alto, y un bordo
muy grueso hecho de la misma tierra que va á la casa por un llano.'
_Bernal_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii., tom. iv., p. 804.
[XI-8] Padre Garcés says, 'on this river is situated the house which
they call Moctezuma's, and many other ruins of other edifices with
very many fragments of pottery both painted and plain. From what I
afterwards saw of the Moqui, I have formed a very different idea from
that which I before entertained respecting these buildings,' referring
to Padre Font for more details. _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série ii., tom. i.,
p. 242. Font's account is substantially as follows:--'We carefully
examined this edifice and its ruins; the echnographical plan of which
I here lay down [The plan does not accompany the translation, but I
have the same plan in another MS. which I shall presently mention] and
the better to understand it I give the following description and
explanation. [Here follows an account of the building of the Casa by
the Aztecs when the Devil led them through these regions on their way
to Anáhuac]. The site on which this house is built is flat on all
sides and at the distance of about one league from the river Gila, and
the ruins of the houses which composed the town extend more than a
league towards the East and the Cardinal points; and all this land is
partially covered with pieces of pots, jugs, plates, &c., some common
and others painted of different colours, white, blue, red,' &c., very
different from the work of the Pimas. A careful measurement made with
a lance showed that 'the house forms an oblong square, facing exactly
the four Cardinal points ... and round about it there are ruins
indicating a fence or wall which surrounded the house and other
buildings, particularly in the corners, where it appears that there
has been some edifice like an interior castle or watch-tower, for in
the angle which faces towards the S.W. there stands a ruin with its
divisions and an upper story. The exterior place [plaza] extends from
N. to S. 420 feet and from E. to W. 260 feet. The interior of the
house consists of five halls, the three middle ones being of one size
and the two extreme ones longer.' The three middle ones are 26 by 10
feet, and the others 38 by 12 feet, and all 11 feet high. The inner
doors are of equal size, two by five feet, the outer ones being of
double width. The inner walls are four feet thick and well plastered,
and the outer walls six feet thick. The house is 70 by 50 feet, the
walls sloping somewhat on the outside. 'Before the Eastern doorway,
separate from the house there is another building,' 26 by 18 feet,
'without counting the thickness of the walls. The timber, it appears,
was of pine, and the nearest mountain bearing pine is at the distance
of 25 leagues; it likewise bears some mezquite. All the building is of
earth, and according to appearances the walls are built in boxes
[moldes] of different sizes. A trench leads from the river at a great
distance, by which the town was supplied with water; it is now nearly
buried up. Finally, it is perceptible that the Edifice had three
stories, and if it be true what the Indians say it had 4, the last
being a kind of subterranean vault. For the purpose of giving light to
the rooms, nothing is seen but the doors and some round holes in the
middle of the walls which face to the East and West, and the Indians
said that the Prince whom they call the "bitter man" used to salute
the sun through these holes (which are pretty large) at its rising and
setting. No signs of stairs remain, and we therefore suppose that they
must have been of wood, and that they were destroyed when the building
was burnt by the Apaches.' _Font's Journal_, MS., pp. 8-10; also
quoted in _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 278-80; also French
translation in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. ix., pp.
383-6.
[XI-9] _Beaumont_, _Crón. Mechoacan_, MS., pp. 504-8. See an abridged
account from the same source in _Padilla_, _Conq. N. Galicia_, MS., p.
125; _Arricivita_, _Crónica Seráfica_, pp. 462-3.
[XI-10] _Sonora_, _Rudo Ensayo_, pp. 18-9; same also in _Doc. Hist.
Mex._, série iii., tom. iv., pp. 503-4; _Velarde_, _Descrip. de la
Pimería_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iv., tom. i., pp. 362-3. This
author speaks of 'algunas paredes de un gran estanque, hecho á mano de
cal y canto.' Similar account in _Alegre_, _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_,
tom. ii., pp. 211-12.
[XI-11] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 81-3; _Johnston's Journal_, in
_Id._, pp. 567-600; _Browne's Apache Country_, pp. 114-24; _Bartlett's
Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 271-84. Other authorities, containing, I
believe, no original information, are as follows: _Humboldt_, _Essai
Pol._, pp. 297-8; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 82; _Mofras_, _Explor._,
tom. ii., p. 361; _Gondra_, in _Prescott_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom.
iii., p. 19; _Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc._, vol. ii., p. 396, with cut;
_Id._, _Observations_, p. 15; _Id._, _Mex. as it Was_, p. 239;
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 197;
_Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. ii., pp. 68-9; _Buschmann_, _Spuren der
Aztek. Spr._, p. 297; _Cutts' Conq. of Cal._, pp. 186-8; _Domenech's
Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 381-4; _Möllhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp. 309-14;
_Lafond_, _Voyages_, tom. i., p. 135; _Larenaudière_, _Mex. et Guat._,
p. 12; _Long's Amer. and W. I._, pp. 180-1; _Malte-Brun_, _Précis de
la Géog._, tom. vi., pp. 453; _Mill's Hist. Mex._, pp. 192-3;
_Monglave_, _Résumé_, p. 176; _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt.
ii., pp. 435-6; _Müller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 532;
_Gallatin_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp.
284-6, 261; _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._, tom. ii., pp. 451-2; _Gordon's
Hist. and Geog. Mem._, pp. 86-7; _Id._, _Ancient Mex._, vol. i., p.
104; _Shuck's Cal. Scrap-Book_, p. 669; _Robinson's Cal._, pp. 93-4;
_Velasco_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. xi., p. 96; _Thümmel_,
_Mexiko_, p. 347; _DeBercy_, _L'Europe et L'Amér._, pp. 238-9;
_Ruxton_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 40,
46, 52; _San Francisco Chronicle_, Jan. 15, 1875; _Schoolcraft's
Arch._, vol. iii., pp. 299-300; _Hughes' Doniphan's Ex._, p. 219.
[XI-12] Adobes are properly sun-dried bricks without any particular
reference to the exact quality or proportions of the ingredients, many
varieties of earth or clay being employed, according to the locality
and the nature of the structure, with or without a mixture of straw or
pebbles. But adobe is a very convenient word to indicate the material
itself without reference to the form and size of its blocks or the
exact nature of its ingredients; and such a use of the word seems
allowable.
[XI-13] _Smithsonian Rept._, 1869, p. 326; _Castañeda_, in
_Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. ix., pp. 41, 161-2.
[XI-14] 36 by 21 paces, _Mange_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iv., tom.
i., p. 283; 70 by 50 feet, outer walls 6 feet thick, inner 4 feet,
_Font's Journal_, MS., pp. 8-9; walls between 4 and 5 feet thick,
_Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., p. 272; 60 feet square, _Emory's
Reconnoissance_, p. 81.
[XI-15] Central rooms, 26 by 10 feet; the others 38 by 12 feet.
_Font's Journal_, MS., p. 9.
[XI-16] It will be noticed that although Mr Bartlett speaks of an
entrance in the centre of each side, his plan shows none in the south.
'Il n'existe point de portes au rez-de-chaussée.' _Mofras_, _Explor._,
tom. ii., p. 361.
[XI-17] _Mange_, _Itinerario_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iv., tom.
i., pp. 282-3.
[XI-18] _Browne's Apache Country_, p. 118.
[XI-19] _Johnston_, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 598.
[XI-20] _Arricivita_, _Crónica Seráfica_, pp. 462-3; _Humboldt_,
_Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 297.
[XI-21] _Johnston_, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 598.
[XI-22] 'Habia tambien seis leguas distante del rio hácia el Sur, un
algive de agua hecho á mano mas que cuadrado ó paralelo, grande de
sesenta varas de largo y cuarenta de ancho; sus bordos parecian
paredes ó pretil de argamasa ó cal y canto, segun lo fuerte y duro del
material, y por sus cuatro ángulos tiene sus puertas por donde se
conduce y se recoge el agua llovediza.' _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in
_Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii., tom. iv., p. 848. 'Se ven algunas
paredes de un gran estanque, hecho á mano de cal y canto, y una
acequia de los mismos materiales.' _Velarde_, in _Id._, série iv.,
tom. i., p. 362.
[XI-23] 'Paredes muy altas y anchas de mas de una vara, de un género
de barro blanco muy fuerte, cuadrada, y muy grande.' _Bernal_, in
_Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii., tom. iv., p. 801. 'Paredes de dos varas
de grueso, como un castillo y otras á sus contornos, pero todo de
fábrica antigua.' _Mange_, _Itinerario_, in _Id._, série iv., tom. i.,
p. 282; _Sonora_, _Rudo Ensayo_, p. 19; _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p.
83. Whipple, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 73, speaks of a
circular depression in the earth at this point.
[XI-24] _Johnston_, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 600.
[XI-25] _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii.,
tom. iv., p. 847. There is no foundation whatever for the statement of
Mofras that in this region 'en faisant des fouilles on trouve encore
des idoles, des poteries, des armes, et des miroirs en pierre poli
nommées itzli.' _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 361.
[XI-26] _Velarde_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iv., tom. i., p. 363.
[XI-27] _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii.,
tom. iv. p. 847.
[XI-28] _Velarde_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iv., tom. i., pp. 348,
363. 'De otros edificios de mas extencion, arte y simetria, he oido
referir al Padre Ygnacio Xavier Keller, aunque no tengo presente en
que paraje de sus Apostolicas carreras.' _Sonora_, _Rudo Ensayo_, pp.
19-20.
[XI-29] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 87-8, 134; _Johnston_, in _Id._,
p. 600; _Cincinnatus' Travels_, p. 356.
[XI-30] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 45, 47.
[XI-31] _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 242-8, with a cut of
one of the heaps of ruins. _Möllhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp. 308-9. Cuts
of many specimens of pottery from the Gila Valley, in _Johnston_, in
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 596, 600.
[XI-32] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 14-15.
[XI-33] Mr Leroux also reported to Bartlett the existence in the Verde
valley of heaps of débris like those on the Salado. _Bartlett's Pers.
Nar._, vol. ii., p. 247. Mention of Verde remains. _Warden_,
_Recherches_, p. 79; _Möllhausen_, _Reisen in die Felsengeb._, tom.
ii., pp. 140-2; _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 538.
Pike, _Explor. Trav._, p. 336, says very absurdly, "Those walls are of
a black cement which encreases in stability with age, and bids
defiance to the war of time; the secret of its composition is now
entirely lost."
[XI-34] _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 91-4;
_Möllhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp. 348-9. Möllhausen was the artist
connected with Whipple's expedition.
[XI-35] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 63-9, 80, 133-4, with cuts and
plates; _Johnston_, in _Id._, pp. 581-96; _Whipple, Ewbank, and
Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 23, with cut
illustrating the lines of foundation-stones. _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._,
tom. ii., p. 421; _Id._, _Cent. Amer._, p. 488, with cut of
hieroglyphics. Two plates of colored fragments of pottery, in
_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iii., pp. 82-5, vol. vi., p. 68.
Respecting the builders of the ruined structures, see _Garcés_,
_Diario_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série ii., tom. i., pp. 320, 329;
_Castañeda_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom. ix., pp.
161-2; _Sedelmair_, _Relacion_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii., tom.
iv., p. 847. Other references on Gila remains are: _Sonora_, _Rudo
Ensayo_, p. 19, with cut of labyrinth; _Villa-Señor y Sanchez_,
_Theatro_, tom. ii., pp. 375-6; _Fremont_, in _Cal., Past, Pres. and
Future_, p. 144; _Fremont and Emory's Notes of Trav._, p. 46;
_Prichard's Researches_, vol. v., pp. 422-3; _Id._, _Nat. Hist. Man_,
vol. ii., pp. 514-15, 568; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 382-3;
_Cal. Farmer_, Feb. 28, 1862; _Cincinnatus' Travels_, pp. 355-7;
_Gallatin_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp.
293-4. I find an account going the rounds of the newspapers of a
wonderful group of ruins 'on the Gila some miles east of Florence,'
discovered by Lieut. Ward. They consist of very extensive
fortifications, and other structures built of hewn stone, the walls
being yet twelve feet high, and two towers standing 26 and 31 feet
respectively. Copper and stone implements, golden ornaments and stone
vases were found here. Finally, the whole account is doubtless a hoax.
[XI-36] A writer in the _N. Y. Tribune_,--see _Hist. Mag._, vol. x.,
suppl., p. 95--describes a pyramid on the Colorado River, without
giving the locality. It is 104 feet square, 20 feet high, and has at
present a summit platform. It seems, however, to have been originally
pointed, judging from the débris. The material is hewn stone in blocks
from 18 to 36 inches thick, those of the outer facing being out at an
angle. This report is perhaps founded on some of the ruins on the
Colorado Chiquito yet to be mentioned, or quite as probably it has no
foundation whatever. 'Upon the lower part of the Rio Colorado no
traces of permanent dwellings have been discovered.' _Whipple, Ewbank,
and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 15. Arizona miners
occasionally refer to the ruins of old Indian buildings on the
Colorado, 40 miles above La Paz, on the eastern side, similar in
character to those of the Gila. On Ehrenberg's _Map of Arizona_, 1858,
they are so located, and that is all that is known of them. _San
Francisco Evening Bulletin_, July 14, 1864.
[XI-37] _Cal. Farmer_, March 27, 1863.
[XI-38] _Möllhausen_, _Tagebuch_, p. 376; _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R.
Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 106-7.
[XI-39] _Sitgreaves' Report, Zuñi and Colorado Rivers_, 1853, pp. 8-9;
_Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 81, 46-50; _Ives'
Colorado Riv._, p. 117, no details; _Möllhausen_, _Tagebuch_, pp.
306-8; _Id._, _Reisen in die Felsengeb._, tom. ii., pp. 148-50, 164-5,
399-401; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iv., pp. 253, vol. vi., p. 68,
plates of inscriptions; _Hay_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, 2da
época, tom. i., p. 29; _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp. 146-7. A writer
in the _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, July 3, 1868, says that the
most extensive ruins in Arizona or New Mexico are situated above the
high falls of the Little Colorado, 20 miles north of the San Francisco
Mountains. They extend for miles along the river, and include
well-made walls of hewn stone now standing to the height of six or
eight feet. Both streets and irrigating canals may be traced for
miles. This writer speaks of the Jesuit inscriptions. According to an
article in the _San Francisco Herald_ of 1853, quoted in the _Cal.
Farmer_ of June 22, 1860, Capt. Joseph Walker found some remarkable
ruins on the Colorado Chiquito in 1850. He speaks of 'a kind of a
citadel, around which lay the ruins of a city more than a mile in
length.' The streets were still traceable, running at right angles.
The buildings were all of stone 'reduced to ruins by the action of
some great heat which had evidently passed over the whole country....
All the stones were burnt, some of them almost cindered, others glazed
as if melted. This appearance was visible in every ruin he met with. A
storm of fire seemed to have swept over the whole country and the
inhabitants must have fallen before it.' The central building with
walls 15 or 18 feet long and 10 feet high, of hewn stone, stood on a
rock 20 or 30 feet high, itself fused by the heat. The ruins seen by
Walker were in all probability similar to those described by
Sitgreaves, and the Captain, or the writer of this article, drew
heavily on his imagination for many of his facts.
[XI-40] _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 76.
[XI-41] _Möllhausen's Journey_, vol. ii., p. 121.
[XI-42] _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., pp. 73-4;
_Möllhausen_, _Tagebuch_, p. 255.
[XI-43] _Sitgreaves' Zuñi Ex._, p. 6; _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_,
in _Pac. R. R. Repts_, vol. pp. 71, 39.
[XI-44] _Whipple, et al._, in _Pac. R. R. Repts_, vol. iii., pp. 69,
39-41, 45-6, with view of ruins; _Möllhausen's Journey_, vol. ii., p.
96, cut of altar; _Id._, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp. 196, 402; _Id._,
_Tagebuch_, pp. 283-4, 278, with cut of altar; _Simpson_, in
_Smithsonian Rept._, 1869, pp. 329-32; _Davis' El Gringo_, p. 128;
_Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 211-13; _Barber and Howe's Western
States_, p. 553; _Shuck's Cal. Scrap-Book_, pp. 310-12.
[XI-45] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 45-6.
[XI-46] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 95-7; _Möllhausen's
Journey_, vol. ii., p. 82; _Id._, _Tagebuch_, pp. 275-7; _Whipple,
Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 39. Col.
Doniphan found in 1846 on the head-waters of the Piscao (Pescado,
Zuñi?) the ruins of an ancient city, which formed a square surrounded
by double walls of stone 14 feet apart. The space between the walls
was divided into compartments 14 feet square, opening into the
interior. The houses were three stories high, the lower story being
partially subterranean. Large quantities of red cedar, apparently cut
for firewood, were found in connection with the buildings. _Hughes'
Doniphan's Ex._, pp. 197-8. Simpson explored the stream to its source,
and found no ruins except three at Ojo del Pescado, which were
probably the same on which Doniphan's report was founded, although
there is no resemblance in the descriptions.
[XI-47] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 93-109, pl. 60-1, views of
cliff; pl. 65-74, inscriptions; pl. 63, ground plan of building; pl.
64, pottery; cut p. 100, plan of rock. _Whipple, et al._, in _Pac. R.
R. Repts_, vol. iii., pp. 22, 52, 63-4, with plates; _Möllhausen_,
_Tagebuch_, pp. 266-72, pl. of plan and pottery; _Id._, _Journey_,
vol. ii., pp. 68-79, 52, pl.; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp.
208-9, 415-18; _Davis' El Gringo_, pp. 422-3; _Foster's Pre-Hist.
Races_, p. 147; _Barber and Howe's Western States_, p. 561.
[XI-48] _Dominguez and Escalante_, _Diario_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._,
série ii., tom. i., pp. 400-2. A correspondent of the _San Francisco
Evening Bulletin_, July 8, 1864, says that the San Juan valley is
strewn with ruins for hundreds of miles, some buildings three stories
high of solid masonry still standing. Davis, _El Gringo_, p. 417, had
heard of some ruins on the northern bank of the San Juan, but none
further north. 'The valleys of the Rio de las Animas and San Juan are
strewn with the ruins of cities, many of them of solid masonry. Stone
buildings, three stories high, are yet standing, of Aztec
architecture.' _Baker_, in _Cal. Farmer_, June 19, 1863.
[XI-49] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 74-5, pl. 53-4. Other
slight accounts made up from Simpson: _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i.,
p. 201; _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1850, p. 362; _Barber and Howe's
Western States_, pp. 559-60, with cut.
[XI-50] Dr Hammond, a companion of Simpson, describes this room as
follows: 'It was in the second of three ranges of rooms, on the north
side of the ruins. The door opened at the base of the wall, towards
the interior of the building; it had never been more than two feet and
a half high, and was filled two-thirds with rubbish. The lintels were
of natural sticks of wood, one and a half to two and a half inches in
diameter, deprived of the bark, and placed at distances of two or
three inches apart; yet their ends were attached to each other by
withes of oak with its bark well preserved. The room was in the form
of a parallelogram, about twelve feet in length, eight feet high, and
the walls, as they stood at the time of observation, seven feet high.
The floor was of earth, and the surface irregular. The walls were
about two feet thick, and plastered within with a layer of red mud one
fourth of an inch thick. The latter, having fallen off in places,
showed the material of the wall to be sandstone. The stone was ground
into pieces the size of our ordinary bricks, the angles not as
perfectly formed, though nearly so, and put up in break-joints, having
intervals between them, on every side, of about two inches. The
intervals were filled with laminæ of a dense sandstone, about three
lines in thickness, driven firmly in, and broken off even with the
general plane of the wall--the whole resembling mosaic work. Niches,
varying in size from two inches to two feet and a half square, and two
inches to one and a half feet in horizontal depth, were scattered
irregularly over the walls, at various heights above the floor. Near
the place of the ceiling, the walls were penetrated, and the surfaces
of them perpendicular to the length of the beam. They had the
appearance of having been sawed off originally, except that there were
no marks of the saw left on them; time had slightly disintegrated the
surfaces, rounding the edges somewhat here and there. Supporting the
floor above were six cylindrical beams, about seven inches in
diameter, passing transversely of the room, and at distances of less
than two feet apart--the branches of the trees having been hewn off by
means of a blunt-edged instrument. Above, and resting on these,
running longitudinally with the room, were poles of various lengths,
about two inches in diameter, irregularly straight, placed in contact
with each other, covering all the top of the room, bound together at
irregular and various distances, generally at their ends, by slips
apparently of palm-leaf or marquez, and the same material converted
into cords about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, formed of two
strands, hung from the poles at several points. Above, and resting
upon the poles, closing all above, passing transversely of the room,
were planks of about seven inches wide, and three-fourths of an inch
in thickness. The width of the plank was uniform, and so was the
thickness. They were in contact, or nearly so, admitting but little
more than the passage of a knife blade between them, by the edges,
through the whole of their lengths. They were not jointed; all their
surfaces were level, and as smooth as if planed, excepting the ends;
the angles as regular and perfect as could be retained by such
vegetable matter--they are probably of pine or cedar--exposed to the
atmosphere for as long a time as it is probable these have been. The
ends of the plank, several of which were in view, terminated in lines
perpendicular to the length of the plank, and the plank appears to
have been severed by a blunt instrument. The planks--I examined them
minutely by the eye and the touch, for the marks of the saw and other
instruments--were smooth, and colored brown by time or by smoke.
Beyond the plank nothing was distinguishable from within. The room was
redolent with the perfume of cedar. Externally, upon the top, was a
heap of stone and mud, ruins that have fallen from above, immovable by
the instruments that we had along. The beams were probably severed by
contusions from a dull instrument, and their surfaces ground plain and
smooth by a slab of rock; and the planks, split or hewn from the
trees, were, no doubt, rendered smooth by the same means.' _Hammond_,
in _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 131-3.
[XI-51] Chaco ruins as discovered by Simpson: Pueblo Pintado, 403 feet
circumference, 3 stories, 54 rooms on ground floor, pp. 34-6, pl. 20,
22, 41; view, specimens of masonry, and of pottery. Rock-inscriptions
at Camp 9, p. 36, pl. 23-5. Pueblo Weje-gi, 13 miles from Pueblo
Pintado, 700 feet in circumference, 99 rooms, walls 25 feet high, pp.
36-7, pl. 26-7; view and ground plan. Pueblo Una Vida, 15½ miles from
Pueblo Pintado, circumference 994 feet, height 15 feet, 2 stories, 4
estufas, pp. 37-8, pl. 28-9; view and ground plan. Pueblo Hungo Pavie,
872 feet circumference, 30 feet high, 4 stories, 72 rooms, 1 estufa,
p. 38, pl. 30-2; plan, pottery, and restoration (all copied above).
Pueblo Chettro Kettle, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 124 rooms,
6 estufas, pp. 38-40, pl. 33-5; plan, interior, hieroglyphics. Pueblo
Bonito, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 139 rooms traceable, 4
estufas, pp. 40-2, 131-3, pl. 36-38, 40-41; view, plan, interior,
pottery, specimen of masonry. Pueblo Arroyo, 100 feet circumference, 2
undescribed ruins near it, p. 42. Pueblo Peñasco Blanco, on south side
of river, 1700 feet circumference, 112 rooms, 3 stories, 7 estufas,
pp. 42-3, pl. 41, fig. 2; specimen of masonry. _Simpson's Jour. Mil.
Recon._, pp. 34-43, 131-3. Slight account from Simpson, in _Domenech's
Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 199-200, 379-81, 385; _Annual Scien. Discov._,
1850, pp. 362-3; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, pp. 86-9, cut; _Barber and
Howe's Western States_, pp. 556-9, cuts; _Thümmel_, _Mexiko_, pp.
347-8. A newspaper report of a ruin discovered by one Roberts may be
as well mentioned here as elsewhere, although the locality given is 90
miles within the Arizona line, while the Chaco remains are in New
Mexico. This city was built on a mesa with precipitous sides, and
covered an area of 3 square miles, being enclosed by a wall of hewn
sandstone, still standing in places 6 or 8 feet high. No remains of
timber were found in the city, which must have contained originally
20,000 inhabitants. It was laid out in plazas and streets, and the
walls bore sculptured hieroglyphics. _San Francisco Chronicle_, Dec.
12, 1872. See also _Alta California_, June 26, 1874. I give but few of
these newspaper reports as specimens; a volume might be filled with
them, without much profit.
[XI-52] Davis' list of Pueblo towns is as follows:--Taos, Picoris,
Nambé, Tezuque, Pojuaque, San Juan, San Yldefonso, Santo Domingo, San
Felipe, Santa Ana, Cochiti, Isleta, Silla, Laguna, Acoma, Jemez, Zuñi,
Sandia, Santa Clara. _El Gringo_, p. 115. Barreiro, _Ojeada_, p. 15,
adds Pecos, and omits San Juan. Simpson, _Jour. Mil. Recon._, p. 114,
says that Cebolleta, Covero, and Moquino, are not properly Indian
pueblos, but ordinary Mexican towns.
[XI-53] See vol. i., pp. 533-8.
[XI-54] _Abert's New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 457;
_Davis' El Gringo_, pp. 141-2. See also _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol.
i., pp. 276-7. This author says there is a similar edifice in the
pueblo of Picuris. _Edwards' Campaign_, pp. 43-4; _Domenech's
Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 191-2. On the Arroyo Hondo 10 miles north of
Taos, Mr Peters, _Life of Carson_, p. 437, speaks of the remains of
the largest Aztec settlement in New Mexico, consisting of small
cobble-stones in mud, pottery, arrow-heads, stone pipes, and rude
tools.
[XI-55] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, p. 114.
[XI-56] _Abert's New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 470-1,
with 3 views. The most ancient and extraordinary of all the Pueblos,
on a table of 60 acres, 360 feet above the plain. Identical with
Coronado's Acuco. _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 202-3; _Gregg's
Com. Prairies_, vol. i., pp. 277-8.
[XI-57] _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. i., p. 277; _Simpson's Jour.
Mil. Recon._, p. 121; view of San Felipe, in _Abert's New Mex._, in
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 461.
[XI-58] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 13-4. 'The houses of this
town are built in blocks.' 'To enter, you ascend to this platform by
the means of ladders;' windows in the upper part of the lower story.
_Abert's New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 462, with view;
_Möllhausen's Journey_, p. 231, with view; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol.
i., p. 197.
[XI-59] _Meline's Two Thousand Miles_, pp. 206-7.
[XI-60] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 90-3. 'It is divided into
four solid squares, having but two streets, crossing its centre at
right angles. All the buildings are two stories high, composed of
sun-dried brick. The first story presents a solid wall to the street,
and is so constructed, that each house joins, until one fourth of the
city may be said to be one building. The second stories rise from this
vast, solid structure, so as to designate each house, leaving room to
walk upon the roof of the first story between each building.' _Hughes'
Doniphan's Ex._, p. 195; see also _Whipple_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._,
vol. iii., pp. 67-8, with view; _Möllhausen's Journey_, p. 97.
[XI-61] _Ives' Colorado Riv._, pp. 119-24, with plates.
[XI-62] 'Each pueblo contains an _estufa_, which is used both as a
council-chamber and a place of worship, where they practice such of
their heathen rites as still exist among them. It is built partly
under ground, and is considered a consecrated and holy place. Here
they hold all their deliberations upon public affairs, and transact
the necessary business of the village.' _Davis' El Gringo_, p. 142.
'In the west end of the town [S. Domingo] is an _estuffa_, or public
building, in which the people hold their religious and political
meetings. The structure, which is built of _adobes_, is circular in
plan, about nine feet in elevation, and thirty-five feet in diameter,
and, with no doors or windows laterally, has a small trap-door in the
terrace or flat roof by which admission is gained.' _Simpson's Jour.
Mil. Recon._, p. 62. Estufa at Jemez, with plates of paintings. _Id._,
pp. 21-2, pl. 7-11.
[XI-63] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, p. 30, with plate; _Abert's New
Mex._, in _Id._, pp. 446-7, 483, with plate; _Davis' El Gringo_, p.
55; _Hughes' Doniphan's Ex._, pp. 74-5; _Meline's Two Thousand Miles_,
pp. 255-8; _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. i., pp. 270-3; _Möllhausen_,
_Reisen in die Felsengeb._, tom. ii., pp. 293-8; _Cutt's Conq. of
Cal._, p. 79; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 164-5, _Baldwin's
Anc. Amer._, p. 79, with cut.
[XI-64] _Gage's New Survey_, p. 162; _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. i.,
pp. 164-5; _Davis' El Gringo_, pp. 70, 123-7; _Abert's New Mex._, in
_Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 488-9; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i.,
pp. 182-3; _Wizlizenus' Tour_, p. 25; _Carleton's Ruins of Abó_, in
_Smithsonian Rept._, 1854, pp. 300-15; _Möllhausen_, _Flüchtling_,
tom. i., pp. 718-25, 229, 239, 267-72; _Id._, _Reisen_, tom. ii., pp.
296, 405-6; _Froebel's Cent. Amer._, p. 301; _Id._, _Aus Amer._, tom.
ii., pp. 150-2; _Gallatin_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1851,
tom. cxxxi., pp. 298-9. Abert, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 466-7,
484, tells us that at Tezique the ruins of the ancient Indian town are
partially covered with the buildings of the modern; also that at
Poblazon, on the Puerco River, the principal ruins of stone are
arranged in a square with sides of 200 yards, but other remains are
scattered in the vicinity, including a circular and one elliptical
enclosure. According to Gregg, _Com. Prairies_, vol. ii., p. 71, the
inhabitants were driven from Valverde, on the Rio Grande, by the
Navajos. Möllhausen, _Journey_, vol. ii., p. 55, speaks of ruins on
rocky heights two miles from Laguna. 'The ruins of what is usually
called _Old San Felipe_ are plainly visible, perched on the edge of
the mésa, about a mile above the present town, on the west side of the
river.' _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, p. 121.
[XI-65] _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._, tom. ii., pp. 166, 469; _Johnston_, in
_Cutts' Conq. of Cal._, p. 183; _Newberry_, in _Cal. Farmer_, April
10, 1863.
[XI-66] Abert, _New Mex._, in _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 489-92,
identifies Cíbola with Acoma and the six adjoining Pueblo towns; and
Morgan, in _N. Amer. Review_, April, 1869, with the Chaco ruins.
[XI-67] See _Castañeda_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i., tom.
ix., pp. 42, 69-71. 'Veynte y quatro leguas de aqui, hazia el
Poniente, dieron con vna Prouincia, que se nombra en lengua de los
naturales Zuny, y la llaman los Espannoles Cibola, ay en ella gran
cantidad de Indios, en la qual estuuo Francisco Vasquez Coronado, y
dexo muchas Cruzes puestas, y otras sennales de Christianidad que
siempre se estauan en pie. Hallaron ansi mesmo tres Indios Christianos
que se auian quedado de aquella jornada, cuyos nombres eran Andres de
Cuyoacan, Gaspar de Mexico, y Antonio de Guadalajara, los quales
tenian casi oluidada su mesma lengua, y sabian muy bien la delos
naturales, aunque a pocas bueltas que les hablaron se entendieron
facilmente.' _Espejo_, _Viaje_, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii., p.
387. Hakluyt says the narrative is from _Mendoza_, _Hist. China_,
Madrid, 1586; but nothing of the kind appears in the Spanish edition
of that work, 1596, or in the Italian edition of 1586.
[XI-68] _Emory's Reconnoissance_, pp. 82, 133; _Abert's New Mex._, in
_Id._, p. 484; _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._,
vol. iii., pp. 45, 47; _Whipple_, in _Id._, pp. 64, 69, 73, 76, 91;
_Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., pp. 245-7; _Browne's Apache
Country_, p. 118; _Cal. Farmer_, June 22, 1860.
[XI-69] _Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol.
iii., pp. 48-9; also _Whipple_, in _Id._, pp. 64-5, 69, 73, 76, 81. Of
the cut given above, fig. 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13-4, 17, 21, 24, 28, 31-2,
are from the Colorado Chiquito; fig. 22, 27, are from Zuñi, and
modern; fig. 34, from the Cosnino caves, the ornaments having been put
on after the vessel had hardened; fig. 25, 29, 30, 35, are not
painted, but incrusted or indented. 'It is a singular fact, that,
although some of the most time-worn carvings upon rocks are of animals
and men, ancient pottery contains no such representations. Upon one
fragment, indeed, found upon Rio Gila, was pictured a turtle and a
piece of pottery picked up near the same place was moulded into the
form of a monkey's head. These appeared to be ancient, and afforded
exceptions to the rule.' _Id._, p. 65. Cut of a fragment and
comparison with one found in Indiana. _Foster's Pre-Hist. Races_, pp.
249-50.
[XI-70] _Möllhausen's Journey_, vol. i., p. 264, vol. ii., p. 52, with
pl.; _Id._, _Tagebuch_, pp. 168-70; _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. i.,
pp. 170-6; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 161-2, 419-20.
[XI-71] See vol. ii., p. 533, et seq.
[XI-72] See _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 20-2, pl. 7-11.
[XI-73] _Froebel's Cent. Amer._, p. 521.