Chapter IV: Part I (4)

It is the almost circular bottom on the west of the _mesilla_, encompassed by the north rock of _A_ to the north, by the whole length of the _mesilla_ to the east, by the gradual expanse below the church on the south, and by the Arroyo de Pecos on the west, that contains the aboriginal remains. Much better than a description, a diagram will illustrate their extent and shape. Pl. I., Fig. 5.

The distances are not very correctly given, and the shape of _F_ is slightly exaggerated in irregularity.

_A_ and _B_ being the respective large buildings, _C_ the church, _D_ the great gate of the circumvallation; _E_ is a stone or rubble wall of undeterminable length running along the foot of the mesilla in a slight curve till near the "wash-out" sallying from the gate, and _F_ is an irregular lozenge, or trapeze, enclosed by a heavy low stone or rubble wall which might in some places be called an embankment. The corner _l_ is 50 m.--165 ft.--from the border of the creek-bottom, which there is cut off abruptly from 1 m. to 3 m.--3 ft. 3 in. to 10 ft.,--presenting a section of red clay and gravel with pottery fragments. The line _l r m_ runs W.N.W. to E.S.E., and is 138 m.--452 ft.--long; the line _m s n_ measures 121 m.--398 ft.,--_n o p_ 146 m.--480 ft., and _p l_ 100 m.--330 ft. From _r_ to _s_ an embankment of earth and stone runs almost in a circle, and the whole triangle _r m s_ forms a slightly elevated platform, in the centre of which is a pond (_estanque_) _t_, which, even at the present time, is filled with water. Viewed through the gate from above, this pond appears, with a part of the enclosure, as seen in Pl. IX. Several gullies (_barrancas_) have cut through the western and southern parts of the enclosure.

This enclosed area, now covered with tufts of grama, occasional cactuses, knolls and scattered drift and pottery, was according to Sr. Ruiz, the former _huerto del pueblo_; that is, the fields of the inhabitants of the pueblo, where they planted and raised Indian corn, beans, calabashes, squash, and, after the advent of the Spaniards, also wheat, melons, and perhaps other fruit. Not a vestige of former cultivation is left; but the platform _r m s_, with a pond in the centre, at once explains their mode of securing the water for irrigation. Through the gateway _D_ the drainage of the _mesilla_ was conducted directly to the platform _r m s_, where the pond _t_ acted as a reservoir, out of which the fields themselves could be very easily and equitably supplied with moisture. Whether this was done by channels radiating from below the curve _r s_ over the area _F_, or by carrying the water, I cannot tell, neither my informants nor the appearance of the area giving any clew. But I could not escape being forcibly struck by this plain and still very forcible illustration of communal living. Not only did the Pecos Indians live together, and build their houses together, but they raised their crops in one common field (though divided into individual or rather family plots, according to Ruiz), irrigated from one common water source which gathered its contents of moisture from the inhabited surface of the pueblo grounds. "The lands," said Mariano Ruiz, "belong to the tribe, but each man can sell his own crops." ("Las tierras son del pueblo, pero cada uno puede vender sus cosechas.") It forcibly recalls the system of "distribution and tenure of lands" among the ancient Mexicans.

I now cross the Arroyo de Pecos, and on its western bank, in the triangle formed by the creek with the military road to Santa Fe, nearly opposite the site of the old church, I met with a ruined enclosure and with remains of structures whose purposes are yet unexplained to me.

The distance from _M_ to the arroyo is 40 m.--130 ft. Its E. line is 75 m.--246 ft.,--the S. line 70 m.--230 ft.,--the W., up to where the curve begins, 55 m.--180 ft. The distance from _M_ to _N_ is 15 m.--50 ft. At the north end of _N_ is a mound of stone and _debris_, like a conical tower, 5 m.--16 ft.--in diameter; the other lines are distinct foundations only. Both _M_ and _N_ are scattered over with broken pottery, chips of obsidian and flint, and I also found a fragment of a stone implement.

Mariano Ruiz told me that the enclosure _M_ was the corral of the pueblo; that is, the enclosure where they kept whatever herds they possessed. It was at all events but an enclosure, and no building. Still, why were their herds, their most valuable property, kept on the opposite side of the creek, so far from the dwellings themselves?

There are other ruins yet further south on the western bank of the arroyo, which, however, I shall not mention here. They are so important as to deserve special discussion in a later portion of this report. I therefore cross the creek back again to its eastern shore, and thence to the south side of the old church, proceeding thence southwards. From the church a grassy slope, very gentle and with almost imperceptible undulations, extends to the road which runs almost due W. and E. from the creek towards the Rio Pecos. The distance is about 300 m.--1,000 ft.,--of which 74 m.--240 ft.--are taken up by the embankments, walls, and foundation lines already described as pertaining to the church building. Plate I. shows the position of this section, its northern limit being about 34 m.--112 ft.--N. of the southern lines of the church annexes (or 42 m.--138 ft.--S. of the temple itself) the southern limit being the road itself, while on the west the creek-bed forms the boundary.

_H_, Corral-like structure, very plain, about 50 m. x 20 m., or 163 ft. x 65 ft. I understood Sr. Ruiz to say that it was the garden of the church ("la huerta de la iglesia"), but believe that he probably meant _G_, not having my field-notes with me at the time.

_I_, rectangle of foundation lines 30 m.--98 ft.--from _A_; 30 m. x 31 m.--98 ft. x 100 ft.--divided into 2 compartments, the western one 9 m. x 30 m.--30 ft. x 98 ft.

_J_, trapezium, with mound at S.W. corner 18 m. x 21 m., or 60 ft. x 70 ft.

_K_, rectangle 25 m. x 36 m.--82 ft x 118 ft.--open to the west, and only recognizable from the semicircular mound of not 0.50 m.--20 in.--elevation, dotted out as leaving a depression in the centre.

_L_, circular depression 36 m.--118 ft.--in diameter; ground always wet.

_O_, circular mound 10 m.--33 ft.--in diameter, 1.5 m.--5 ft.--high.

_k_, shapeless mound, possibly part of a hollow rectangle.

In many cases the foundations (which are the only remains visible) are themselves obliterated,--or at least overgrown. They are sometimes of 0.27 m.--10 in.--in width; again, two rows, even three rows, of stones compose them longitudinally. The mound is regular, but the soil is everywhere so hard and gravelly that I desisted from excavating. The basin _L_ looks much like an estufa: there are few scattered stones on its surface, and this surface is moist; but I did not notice any trace of stone encasement. In general, there is no rubbish at all over the area. Stones are scattered about, and evidently they were once used for building purposes; but they nowhere form heaps. Then there is not the slightest trace of pottery or obsidian. In this respect the area just described forms a remarkable exception. All around it in every direction the painted fragments cover the soil; this particular locality, as far as I could find, has none. It only reappears in _I_, opposite the church annexes, and also in the enclosure _H_, whereas the church grounds are again strewn with handsome pieces, and some of the finest obsidian flakes were found on them.

Across the road to the south, the ground becomes covered with shrubs of cedar, and the eastern slope hugs the creek-bed. Upon reaching the creek, the road divides,--one branch crossing over directly to the west, and the other proceeding along the arroyo about 200 m.--630 ft.--to the south ere it turns across. The main military line of travel intersects there-about the one to the Pecos River, and thence, striking almost due south, forms a very acute angle with the creek. In this angle ledges of rock protrude, sheltered by a fine group of cedar-shrubs; and here, in what may be termed a snug little corner, the rocks bear some Indian carvings.

Expecting daily a supply of paper for "squeezes," I have until now deferred taking any exact copies of these vestiges. Therefore this report contains but superficial notice of them. It would have been useless labor to make sketches and take measurements when I knew that, within the period of time I shall spend in New Mexico, I should certainly be able to secure fac-similes. The carvings are certainly old; they are much worn, and represent mainly so-called footprints (of adults as well as of children), turkey tracks, a human form, and a circle formed by small cup-shaped holes, of the patterns about which I hope that my friend Professor C. C. Rau, of Washington, will by this time have finished his elaborate and very interesting work. The human figure is as rude and childlike an effort as any represented on the plates accompanying the reports of General Simpson and of my friend Mr. W. H. Holmes; the footmarks are fair, and the circle is rather perfect. Something like a "diamond" appears within its periphery, but I am not yet quite certain whether it is a carving or the result of decay. Some of the tracks seem to point to the high mesa, others to the north.[126] By the side of these original efforts there are recent additions, destined, perhaps, to become at some future time as successful archaeological frauds as many of the most interesting products of excavation in the States of Ohio and Iowa. About the sculptured stones I again met with fragments of painted pottery. Still further down, on the east bank of the Arroyo de Pecos, about a mile from the church in a southerly direction, and on a low promontory of red clay jutting out into the creek-bed, there are vestiges of other ruins,--a low, flat mound covered with stones. I saw no pottery about it.

Directly opposite the sculptured rocks, on the other bank of the arroyo to the west, the cliffs of clay bordering it form a huge cauldron, out of which the contents seem to have been originally removed, leaving a semicircle of vertical bluffs of clay and drift about 3 m.--10 ft.--high. It is out of this locality that I suggested the clay for the adobe of the church might have been secured. The faces of the slope cannot have been washed out, for the creek runs straight far to the east, hugging closely that side of its banks; there is no trace of an old stream-bed winding to the westward, neither is there any sufficient drainage from the west in the shape of gulches or branches. It appears as if there had been an original start, at least, given to the present basin by a removal of earth in a curve, subsequent wearing and weakening enlarging the cauldron to its actual form and size. This size is constantly increased by decay and by the work of diggers; for this bluff has been of late a favorite resort for them, from the fact that in its face human bones--nay, complete graves--have been found.

I consequently started to examine the bluff, and finally noticed a plain wall jutting out at about one fourth of the length of the western curve from N. to S. This wall seemed at first to be a corner. It is well made, and its stone-work is much like that figured by Mr. Holmes from the cliff-dwellings on the Rio Mancos in South-western Colorado. Still the stones are not hewn, but only were carefully broken, the rock itself having a tabular cleavage. The surface is true. I am unable to say whether it was a corner or not; the thickness of the side (east) is 0.65 m.--2 ft.,--and it looks like a strong outside line running almost due N. and S., perhaps a little to the E.

The height of the wall is 0.94 m.--3 ft.; its depth beneath the surface, 0.52 m.--21 in. The sod (covered with grama) looks undisturbed; it is hard and coarsely sandy on the top, but beneath the clay is softer and loamy. Under the wall there is red clay to the bottom of the bluff with bands of drift. Clambering along the cliff to the northward, I soon perceived, at a depth nearly agreeing with the base of the wall, a layer of white ashes, similar to those found over the hearthstone in building _B_, mixed with charcoal and charred pottery. This layer was continuous along the exposure of the bluff; it formed a regular seam, intersected horizontally by bands of charcoal, and, at the lower end, a continuous stratum of pottery totally different from that found hitherto, except one fragment in the drift of the creek and another one among the adobe rubbish of the church. Instead of being painted, it was corrugated and indented, and identical with the corrugated and indented ware from the Rio Mancos and from South-eastern Utah, so beautifully figured by Mr. W. H. Holmes. There were also a very few pieces of painted pottery: but these, which became more numerous towards the top of the bluff, or cliff, appeared to have been washed in; whereas the corrugated fragments were a distinct, continuous band, most of the convex surfaces being downwards; and this band, except where ledges of the cliff projected far out into the bottom, or where the clay had tumbled down recently in front of the exposure, was visible from 50 m.--165 ft.--N. of the wall to 62 m.--203 ft.--S. of it on a line of 110 m.--360 ft. It was everywhere accompanied by the ashes and charcoal.

_A_, little barranca, exposing ashes, etc., which contained corncobs, and, in the upper parts of the clay, human bones.

_a_, grave found by Mr. E. K. Walters, of Pecos; obliterated now.

_B_, wall.

_b_, place where skeleton of child was partly secured, five metres S. of _B_.

_C_, southern barranca; no remains found.

_c_, last sign south of pottery, ashes, and charcoal.

_W_, rock carvings on west bank of the arroyo.

The following are sections at four different places:--

Specimens of every section have been sent with the collection. It has struck me that the stratum of ashes, charcoal, and pottery, while visible always inside,--that is, to the west of a supposed lateral extension of the wall from _B_,--still appears to run below it. The human remains, however, protrude about at heights where the wall, if in existence, might have been in front of them. There were bones lying on rubbish in front of _C_,--there were also bones within the ashes, even at _A_; but the action of wear and washing being everywhere visible and very complicated, I do not venture any surmise in these cases beyond expressing the conviction that the human remains originally rested above the layers of charcoal, ashes, corncobs, and corrugated pottery.

While at Sr. Ruiz's, I had diligently inquired of the old gentleman about the graves of the Pecos Indians. He finally replied (after he had for a time insisted upon it that they were at the church) that before they became Christians ("antes que fueron cristianos") they buried their dead on the right bank of the Arroyo de Pecos, where he had often seen the skeletons (las calaveras, the corpses) washed out of the cliffs and strewn about. At Mrs. Kozlowski's, this also appeared to be a known fact; but an examination of the creek banks showed no trace of bones, and showed no other structures except the mound already mentioned on the left shore. In the cliffs of the basin which I have now described I met with the first sign of what Sr. Ruiz called "El Campo-Santo de los Indios, antes que fueron Cristianos." Still it is not at all positive, because the surface of the level west of the bluff shows extensive but flat and low mounds, covered with stones used for building, and with painted pottery, showing that at least adjoining the human remains a very large building, if not several, had stood at some very remote time. The wall would then stand towards that ancient structure in the same relation as the mound or chamber _V_ stands towards the ruin _A_ on the _mesilla_; and it would indicate the custom on the part of their inhabitants of burying their dead around their houses, or at least in sight of the rising sun, and in little chambers of stone. This view is corroborated by the statement of Mr. E. K. Walters, of Pecos, that at a place which I have marked _a_ (therefore to the north of the wall) he dug out, very near the edge of the bluff, a stone grave, and with it a human skeleton. The grave was a rectangle, walled up on four sides, with stones on the top and no floor. The western side was rounded, so as to present the following plan:--

In it lay the skeleton, two feet below the soil, the feet pointing eastward. The length of the chamber was about one third of a large man's body; the head lay at the west end, amongst the bones of the chest. It had therefore been buried in a sitting posture facing the rising sun.[127] Along with the body arrow-heads were found, and pieces of tanned deerskin, such as are still worn by the Indians. Of course, all traces of the skull, etc., have since disappeared.

While this conversation was taking place, the partner of Mr. Walters, Sr. Juan Basa y Salazar, came in, and the question of the great bell (which I have already mentioned) came up for discussion. All the parties assured me that this bell formerly belonged to the church of Pecos, and that after the outbreak of 1680 the Indians carried it up into their winter pueblo, on the top of the high mesa, where it broke and they left it. The positive assertion that the winter pueblo of the Pecos tribe was about 2,000 feet higher than the great ruins on the _mesilla_--that these ruins themselves were but their summer houses--was very startling. It appeared incredible that the Indians should have left their comfortable quarters in the coldest season to look for shelter in the highest and coldest places of the whole region. Still, my informants being old residents and candid men, with certainly no intention to deceive me, and there being besides confused reports of the existence of ruins on the mesa current among the people of the valley, I resolved to devote my last day to a rapid reconnoissance of the elevated plateau. Therefore, after a visit to the Plaza de Pecos, on the 5th of September, where the Rev. Father Leon Mailluchet confirmed the reports about the winter houses on the mesa, I set out (always on foot) on the morning of the 6th, Mr. Thomas Munn having volunteered to be my guide.

We followed the railroad track downwards, and about a mile and a half south of Baughl's, east of the track, met a tolerably large mound. At the station of Kingman, four miles from Baughl's, there is also a ruined stone house, rectangular, but smaller than any one of those on the _mesilla_.[128] I had no time to make any survey. We went along the railroad for one mile farther, then struck to the S. W. across a recently cultivated but abandoned field, and finally reached the apron of gravelly clay and locas skirting the high mesa. Here Mr. Munn assured me were the remains of stone structures all along for miles, and especially stone graves. Of the latter he had seen "hundreds." He described them exactly as Mr. Walters had, and as I had found the pit in mound V, and described the position of the skeleton also as if sitting with the face to the east. We soon came to a walled ruin 6 m. x 6 m. or 20 ft. x 20 ft., the walls composed of sandstone,--a range of rubble blocks very much ruined,--a _pinon_ having a diameter of 0.45 m.--18 in.--shooting up from the interior. 50 m.--165 ft.--further north a clearly defined estufa is seen, 4 m.--13 ft.--across, with stone walls 1 m.--3 ft. 3 in.--in width. The apron of the mesa is overgrown with fine pines. Thence, following a tie-shoot, we ascended very nearly vertically, about 1,000 feet at least, to the top. Here already the view to the E. and S. was magnificent; but the air was light and chilly. Thunder-clouds were hovering N. and E., rain-streaks pouring down on the Sierra de Tecolote, and soon a heavy cloud formed south of us, while others were slowly nearing from the N.E. The mesa dips or slants decidedly to the W. and S.W.; the strata on its surface are tilted up to a high pitch, and appear to be almost vertical. The ground is very rocky, covered with high _pinon_.

Notwithstanding the steadily nearing thunder, we plunged to the S.W., past the tie-camp of Mr. Keno, and soon struck the source of an arroyo in a rocky, desolate hollow, pines shooting up in and around it. There, on its left bank, were the foundations of a stone structure 11 m. x 3 m.--36 ft. x 10 ft. About three miles from the edge of the mesa, in a still wilder _canada_, where there is no space nor site for any abode around, the bell was found. There is no trace of any "winter house" here,--not even on the entire mesa; and the bell was left there, not because its carriers there remained, but because it dropped there and broke. Who these carriers were I shall discuss further on; at all events, they were not the Indians of Pecos. This _canada_ is the entrance to a gorge descending directly towards the pueblo of Galisteo.[129] Meanwhile the clouds had accumulated over our heads, sharp thunder-claps and icy blasts preceding the storm. It was of short duration, but as the hail fell thickly we were thoroughly pelted and wet before again reaching the camp, glad to enjoy the hospitality and hot coffee of its inmates. At one P.M. the sun shone again, and we started (this time to the north) along the border of the mesa. Vegetation is here more exuberant than in the valley of Pecos. Not only do tall pines grow everywhere, but there is a thick undergrowth of _encina_; the Yucca is large and green, mountain sage covers the soil, and grassy levels are dotted with flowers. Animal life, also, is more vigorous and more varied. Whereas in the valley crows and turkey-buzzards alone enliven the air, and there are scarcely any beetles; up here there is deer and turkey, and the gray wolf; jays and magpies flutter through the thickets, and the horned lizard is met with occasionally. The pith of the pine-trees attracts a large species of buprestis, and lepidopterae are quite common. But there is not the least vestige of former human dwellings, so far as I could see: the top of the mesa of Pecos is, and was, a wilderness. It may have been the hunting-grounds of the tribe even in winter, but as for their exchanging their large pueblo at the bottom for a residence on the top it is very much as if the good people of New York City should spend Christmas week on the Catskill Range, or the Bostonians take winter quarters on Mount Monadnock. We followed the crest of the mesa for nearly four miles, ascending two of its highest tops. They are steep, denuded, and craggy. Beneath them vertical ledges descend in amphitheatres. From the highest point the horizon to the south appears unbounded. Like a small cone, the peak of Bernal seems to guard the lowest end of the Valley of Pecos. Over this vale rain-clouds still cast their shadows, and distant thunder muttered behind the Owl Mountains and the high Sierras in the north. To the west and south-west are almost unlimited expanses of slope, dark green pineries, and grassy spots. The bold outline of the Sandia Mountains looms up stately beyond it. Even the distant Sierra de Jemez protrudes. Between it and the northern limits of the mesa lies, far off yet, the city of Santa Fe.

The mesa is mostly yellow sandstone, but its highest points are capped with red; therefore the name of "Cerro amarillo" often applied to it. Through a gorge worn in the rock, and on an almost perpendicular "burro-trail," we finally descended to the apron of the plateau, surrounded during our descent by scenery as weird and wild as any of the lower Alps of Switzerland. On the lower edge of the apron, a mile and a half north of Kingman, and half a mile from the railroad track, we struck again several ruins. They were partitioned rectangles, very similar in size and in condition to the foundations seen south of the old church of Pecos, and, like those, utterly devoid of fragments of pottery. Along their eastern line, and inside of the walls, there appeared little square heaps of stones. These were the graves of which my guide had spoken, and their position is exactly similar to that of those near and at the pueblo itself.[130]

My time was up, however, and I could not stop to explore them. I therefore returned to Baughl's, and thence to Santa Fe, with the firm determination to revisit Pecos at a future day, and then do what I was compelled reluctantly to leave undone this time. Should, in the mean time, some archaeologist explore the same locality, correct my errors, and unravel the mysteries hovering about the place, I heartily wish him as much pleasure and quiet enjoyment as I have had during my ten days' work, in which the dream of a life has at last begun its realization. Before, however, turning to the close of my report, which will embody scraps of history gathered about the place, remarks on the customs and arts of its former inhabitants, and general reflections, I must express my thanks here to a few gentlemen not yet named in this "personal narrative." Besides Mr. J. D. C. Thurston, who kindly assisted me for the first two days, Mr. G. C. Bennet, the skilful photographer, of whose ability his work is telling, has been for two days a pleasant and welcome companion. Last, but certainly not least, I thank Mr. John D. McRae, not only for his assistance free of expense to the Institute in many important mechanical matters, but especially for the solicitude with which he has watched my work and looked to my comforts, and for the great store of information I have gathered from his conversation.

HISTORY.

My survey of the grounds occupied by the aboriginal ruins in the valley of the Pecos indicates, as I have already stated, three epochs, successive probably in time, in which they have been occupied by man; that is, I have noticed these, and beyond these I have not been able to go as yet. Subsequent explorers may be more fortunate. This distinction, or rather classification, is very imperfect in the two earlier stages, and even arbitrary; but between the second and the last there is a marked break,--not in time, but in ethnological development. I shall term the three epochs as follows:--

1. Pre-traditional. (Indicated by the presence of the corrugated and indented pottery as its most conspicuous "land-mark.")

2. Traditional and documentary. (Documents in the sense of written records.)

3. Documentary period.

THE PRE-TRADITIONAL PERIOD.

I have not been able to detect as yet among the confused traditions current about the pueblo of Pecos any tale concerning occupation of their grounds by human beings prior to the settlement of which the ruins now bear testimony. It is true that the proper traditions of the tribe of Pecos are now preserved only at the pueblo of Jemez, about eighty miles N.W. of Pecos and fifty miles W. of Santa Fe, and that I have not as yet visited that place.[131] But it must be remembered that I now report "up to date," and that subsequent information will, or at least should, come in time.

My reason for admitting a pre-traditional period is, then, simply that I have found human remains at Pecos older than those of the present ruins and different in kind. These remains, as it may already have been inferred from the "personal narrative," are those found on the west side of the arroyo, in the basin (or rather the bank encircling it) opposite the rock carvings.

One fact is certain, the human bones, the walls protruding from the banks, and the grave found by Mr. E. K. Walters, are all above the layer of white ashes, charcoal, corncobs, and corrugated pottery found as a continuous seam along an extent of over 100 m.--327 ft.--from N. to S. Consequently, the walls and graves must have been built over these remains of a people which appears to have made indented and corrugated pottery alone, and consequently also the latter must be older in time than the former. It does not appear that the sedentary Indians of New Mexico ever made, within traditional and documentary times, any other than the painted pottery in greater or less degree of perfection. Even Gaspar Castano de la Sosa, when he made his inroad into New Mexico in 1590, mentions at the first pueblo which he conquered: "They have much pottery,--red, figured, and black,--platters, caskets, salters, bowls.... Some of the pottery was glazed."[132] The corrugated and indented pottery, as I am assured by Sr. Vigil, is rarely met with over New Mexico, except at old ruined pueblos, and only when digging (en cavando).[133] I feel, therefore, justified in assuming it to have been the manufactured ware of a people distinct from the Pecos tribe or the pueblo Indians of New Mexico in general, and their predecessors in point of time. This pottery, however, is frequently met with among the cliff dwellings of the Rio Mancos and in Utah.[134] Its relation, then, to the painted pottery has, as far as I know, not yet been investigated.

But what could have been the purpose in covering originally a space of over 100 m.--327 ft.--in length with the products of combustion and fragments of one and the same industry in such a manner as to form an uninterrupted layer of 0.45 m.--18 in.--at least in thickness? Those who subsequently buried their dead over the seam certainly did not collect these ashes and spread them there as a floor on which they rested their structures afterwards. The combustion of a large wooden building would not have given the same uniformity on such a large scale. Sr. Vigil has suggested to me the following very plausible explanation: In order to burn or bake their pottery, the present pueblo Indians of New Mexico build large but low hearths on the ground of small wood, sticks, and other inflammable rubbish and refuse, on which they place the newly formed articles, and then set the floor on fire, until the whole is thoroughly burnt. Fragments of broken objects, etc., are not removed. The combustible material is thus reduced to ashes, and the broken pieces remain within them; their convex surfaces, of course, falling outwards, and thus resting on the floor. In this manner a thick layer of ashes and charcoal, with pottery, is easily formed. These "hogueras" are still from 20 to 40 feet in diameter; but, as they accommodate themselves to the size of the pueblo, it is certain that they were formerly much larger. The analogy between such a "potters'-field" and the layer in question is very striking, and the inference appears likely that the people who made this corrugated and indented pottery made it in the same manner as the pueblo Indians now make their painted ware, and as they made it at the time of the conquest.

These very old manufacturers of indented ceramics were also a horticultural people, for they raised Indian corn. The cob found in the ashes, or rather cut out with the knife at some distance inside the bluff, is charred and small. To what variety of Zea it belongs the specialist must decide.

I hold it to be utterly useless, and even improper, on my part to speculate any further on these "pre-traditional" people. Perhaps I have already said too much. Excavations alone can throw further light on the subject.

THE TRADITIONAL AND DOCUMENTARY PERIOD.

The term "traditional" is applied to this period, because the people occupying the site of Old Pecos have left some traditions behind them, and not because we know when it commenced. In fact, I am much inclined to divide it, for the sake of convenience, into two periods again, one of which includes the occupation of the area within the circumvallation and its necessary annexes (field, etc.), whereas the other includes the area without. Of the former, we have definite knowledge in regard to its inhabitants; of the latter, we have none whatever. It is therefore also pre-traditional as yet. Nevertheless, I have included it in the second epoch, as its ruins indicate that its people possessed arts identical with those of the present pueblo Indians. Their pottery, wherever exposed, was painted, figured, and vitrified in places; its ornamentation is exactly similar to that of the pottery of the interior area, and different from that of Zuni. They used flint, but no trace of obsidian is found. This may be purely accidental; still, why should it occur at three places so totally different in regard to erosion and abrasion as the slope south of the church, the west bank of the creek directly opposite, and, if thorough examination should confirm the results of my cursory observations, the apron of the high mesa? The graves, wherever found, are identical with those of the _mesilla_; the plan of building, and consequently of living,[135] appears similar to that exhibited in houses _A_ and _B_; the material used is the same, but the walls are more ruinous, and apparently of a much older date. The inference is therefore not unreasonable, that the inhabitants of the three areas named, as outside of the great circumvallation, were of the kind now called "pueblo Indians," who preceded the tribe of Pecos proper in point of time. It is not improbable that one or the other of these ruins may have been erected by the Pecos themselves before they settled on the mesilla. Still, there is neither proof nor disproval of this surmise extant.

There appears to be also a slight difference between the different ruins of this period themselves. The ruins south of the church and those along the mesa are similar, in that they are more ruined, and not covered with _debris_, and in that their surfaces are also devoid of pottery. The space west of the creek has pottery and also heaps of rubbish, and I therefore conclude that it was the most recent of the three locations,--or at least the one last abandoned. To it must be added the small mound or promontory found further south on the east bank of the arroyo. One fact is certain: all these places were deserted, and perhaps as badly ruined as now, at the time when Coronado first visited Pecos.[136] (The partial removal of the surface material may have been effected by the Pecos Indians themselves in order to build their own houses.)

Referring now to the inhabitants of the two houses, whose ruins are situated on the mesilla, north of the church, it is a thoroughly well-authenticated fact that they spoke the same language as the Indians of the pueblo of Jemez. Jemez lies 80 miles N.W. of Pecos, beyond the Rio Grande. It is possible that the Pecos Indians came to the valley from that direction. But it is singular that, while there are no other settlements speaking this same idiom but Jemez and Pecos, these two pueblos should be separated, as early as at Coronado's time (1540), by three distinct linguistical stocks, different from theirs and lying across, intervening between them. Directly W. of Pecos the Queres, S.W. the Tanos, N.W. the Tehuas--all at war with the Jemez and the Pecos, and often with each other--lay like a barrier between the latter two. The point is an interesting one, as the pueblo of Pecos defines (together with Taos at the north) the utmost easterly limit to which the pueblo Indians seem to have penetrated.

Who were first in the valley of the Rio Grande? Did the Queres, Tanos, Tehuas, etc., drive out the Pecos, then already settled to the S.W., into the Sierra, or did the Pecos, migrating from Jemez, force their passage through the other tribes? I conjecture that the Jemez, etc., were the first; that they migrated down the Rio Grande, and on the same area, between Sandia to the S. and Santa Fe, were gradually displaced by the others successively coming in,--one branch, the Jemez, recoiling into the mountains towards San Diego;[137] the other, the Pecos, driven up the canon of San Cristobal,[138] and finally, when the Tanos moved up into that valley, crossing over to the valley of Pecos.

This is to a great extent conjecture; still there are other singular indications. I give them with due reserve, however, formally protesting against any imputation that they are intended for anything else than to suggest problems for future study.

According to my friend Mr. A. S. Gatchet, of Washington, D. C., an excellent linguist, the Tanos and the inhabitants of Isleta, the most southerly pueblo on the Rio Grande still occupied, speak the same language.[139] The same is asserted here, as a known fact, to be the case with the Taos and the Picuries in the north, and the Isletas at the south. If this be true, then the supposition that the Queres and Tehuas are the latest intrusive stock would become a certainty. More than that: the Tanos prior to 1680, had their chief pueblo at San Cristobal, N. E. of Galisteo, on the slope of the mesa of Pecos. They also had become dispossessed of the Rio Grande valley, and divided into (originally) two branches,--the Picuries and Taos north, and the Tanos, of Galisteo, east. Isleta itself is a later agglomeration.[140] There being no pueblo E. and S. E. of Pecos, then it appears that the Jemez, or rather Emmes, were the first migration, the Tanos the second, and the Queres and Tehuas the last.

The earliest traditions of the Pecos are preserved to us by Pedro de Castaneda, one of the eye-witnesses and chroniclers of Coronado's "march" in 1540. They told him that, five or six years (?) before the arrival of the Spaniards, a roaming tribe called the "Teyas" (Yutas) had ravaged the surroundings of their pueblo, and even, though fruitlessly, attempted to capture it.[141] This tribe was afterwards met by Coronado in the plains to the N.E. and E.[142]

Another tradition, very well known,--so well, indeed, that it has given to the name of the unlucky "capitan de la guerra" of the ancient Mexicans the honorific title of an aboriginal "cultus-hero,"--is that of Montezuma.

I hope, at some future time, to be able to give some further information on this Spanish-Mexican importation. Suffice it to say for the present, that not a single one of the numerous chronicles and reports about New Mexico, up to the year 1680, mentions the Montezuma story! The word itself, Mon-te-zuma, is a corruption of the Mexican word "Mo-tecu-zoma,"--literally, "my wrathy chief,"--which corruption that eminently "reliable gentleman," Bernal Diez de Castillo, is to be thanked for. He wrote in 1568.[143]

What the Indians themselves say of this tale I have not as yet ascertained; but the people of the valley all assert that the people of the pueblo believe in it,--that they even affirmed that Montezuma was born at Pecos; that he wore golden shoes, and left for Mexico, where, for the sake of these valuable brogans, he was ruthlessly slaughtered. They further say that, when he left Pecos, he commanded that the holy fire should be kept burning till his return, in testimony whereof the sacred embers were kept aglow till 1840, and then transferred to Jemez.

There is one serious point in the whole story, and that is the illustration how an evident mixture of a name with the Christian faith in a personal redeemer, and dim recollections of Coronado's presence and promise to return,[144] could finally take the form of a mythological personage. In this respect, for the study of mythology in general, it is of great importance. That the sacred fire had, originally, nothing at all to do with the Montezuma legend is amply proven by the earliest reports.

It will also become interesting to ascertain in the future how many pueblos, and which, concede to Pecos the honor of being the birthplace of that famed individual, and how many, as is the case with other great folks in more civilized communities, claim the same honor for themselves.

I cannot, therefore, attach to the Montezuma tale any historical importance whatever,--not even a traditional value.

Of course, Castaneda reports the story which every Indian tribe tells of themselves; namely, that the Pecos Indians were the bravest and the most warlike of the pueblos, and that in every encounter they were always victorious.[145]

Historical data, founded upon positive written records, begin for Pecos towards the fall of the year 1540, when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, then at Zuni or Cibola, sent the Captain Hernando de Alvarado with twenty men to visit a village called "Cicuye."[146] Indians from that village, "situated seventy leagues towards the east"[147] from Zuni, had visited the latter town, and offered to the Spanish leader "tanned hides, shields, and helmets." The hides were buffalo-robes, for the woolly hair was still on them.[148] Alvarado reached Cicuye, passing, as I have elsewhere stated, through Acoma and Bernalillo. I have already identified Cicuye with Pecos. Besides the proofs already given, a few descriptive abstracts from the report of Castaneda will add to the strength of the evidence:--

(p. 71.) "Five days' journeys further, Alvarado reached Cicuye, a well-fortified village, whose houses are four stories high."

(p. 176.) "It is built on the summit of a rock. It forms a great square, in the centre of which are the _estufas_." (Compare general description and diagrams.)

(p. 177) "The village is surrounded besides by a stone wall of rather low height. There is a spring which might be cut off."

In regard to the wall, I refer to the plans and descriptions; as for the spring, it trickles out beneath a massive ledge of rocks on the west side of the arroyo, nearly opposite to the field. Its water, slightly alkaline, is still limpid and cool, and a great source of comfort. The sketch upon the next page will give an idea of its appearance.

There is no trace of work about it. At sunset of the 3d of September, Mr. Bennet and I saw a herd of many hundred sheep and goats driven to this spring by Mexicans for water, although the creek still had a fillet of clear water running, and the pond in the old field was filled nearly to its brim; they still preferred the old source.

Finally, it must be borne in mind, that the name of Pecos, in the language of its former inhabitants and of those of Jemez, is "Aqiu," and that, in an anonymous report of the expedition of Coronado from the year 1541, Cicuye is spelt Acuique.[149]

Castaneda gives some few details concerning the mode of life and the customs of the inhabitants. Aside from those which I have already mentioned, he notices the ladders (p. 176); that at night the inhabitants kept watch on the walls, the guard calling each other by means of "trumpets" (p. 179); that the unmarried females went naked until their marriage (p. 177); that the pueblo could muster 500 warriors (p. 176); and finally, that it was situated in a narrow valley in the midst of mountains covered with pines, and traversed by a small river where excellent trout is caught; very large otters, bears, and good hawks are found there (p. 179). The inhabitants received Alvarado with the sound of "drums and flutes, similar to fifes, which they use often." They presented to him a great quantity of cloth and turquoises, which are common in this province (p. 72). I must here add that the turquoise mines of "Serrillos" are, in a direct line, only about twenty miles nearly west of Pecos, in a country between the former pueblos of the Tanos and those of the Tehuas. I have seen splendid specimens of the mineral from that locality, and Mr. Thurston found and I have sent on a perforated bead of bluish color which he picked up among the rubbish of the house _B_.

When, in 1543, Coronado left Nuevo Mexico with his whole army to return to Mexico, two ecclesiastics remained there,--Fray Juan de Padilla, who was subsequently killed by the Indians near Gran Quivira,[150] and a lay brother called Luis, who took up his abode at Pecos. Before Coronado left Bernalillo ("Tiguex"), he sent to brother Luis the remainder of the sheep. He was then of good cheer, but still expected to be killed some day by the old men of the tribe, who hated him, although the people were friendly to him in general.[151] Nothing was afterward heard of him. Thus Pecos was the first "mission" in New Mexico; perhaps, also, the first place where domestic quadrupeds became introduced.

Forty years elapse before we again hear of Pecos. The unfortunate father, Augustin Ruiz, who, in 1581, attempted to convert the pueblos, did not reach further north than Puaray, where the Tiguas killed him, with his two companions.[152] But Antonio de Espejo, who, with fourteen soldiers, explored New Mexico in 1582 and 1583, visited Pecos. There can be no doubt but that the pueblos of the "Hubates"--two journeyings of six leagues to the east of the "Quires"--are the Pecos and the "Tamos," the Tanos.[153] Espejo is very liberal in his estimates: he gives to the "Hubates" five towns with 25,000 inhabitants, and to the "Tamos" even 40,000 souls. He says they had cotton cloth; he also says there was much good pine and cedar in their country, and that their houses were four and five stories high. His visit to the pueblo was of very short duration.

In 1590, Gaspar Castano de la Sosa, "being then Lieutenant-Governor and Captain-General of the kingdom of New Leon," made a raid into New Mexico. It is possible that the pueblo which he came to on the 11th January, 1591, may have been Pecos.[154]

The "Spanish conquest of New Mexico" proper took place in the years 1597 and 1598, under Don Juan de Onate. He met with little opposition, and his conquest amounted to little else than a military occupation, followed by the foundation of Santa Fe. On the 25th of July, 1598, he went to "the great pueblo of Pecos,"[155] and on the 9th of September, 1598, in the "principal _estufa_" of the pueblo of San Juan, the Pecos pledged fidelity to the crown of Spain. On the same occasion, Fray Francisco de San Miguel became the first regular priest of the pueblo.[156] Here terminates the second period of the second epoch; and the last one begins where the history of the Pecos tribe, whatever is left of it, becomes almost exclusively documentary.[157]

Before, however, leaving this period, I must recall here two facts elicited by the reports of the forays and travels above mentioned. One is, that the Pecos Indians, however warlike they may have been towards outsiders, still were of an orderly, gentle disposition in every-day intercourse. This is a natural consequence of their organization and degree of development. The other and more important one is, that Pecos was the most easterly pueblo in existence in 1540, and that even at that time it was quite alone.

Castaneda says (p. 188): "In order to understand how the country is inhabited in the centre of the mountains, we must remember that from Chichilticah, where they begin, there are eighty leagues; thence to Cicuye, which is the last village, they reckon seventy leagues, and thirty from Cicuye to the beginning of the plains."

Juan Jaramillo, another eye-witness of "Coronado's march," intimates a similar fact.[158]

In regard to Pecos being "quite alone," Castaneda is positive; so is Juan de Onate, who received and registered its submission. It is true, however, that Castaneda mentions a small pueblo as subject to Cicuye, which pueblo, however, he says was half destroyed at his time. He locates it "between the road and the Sierra Nevada."[159] This may have been the small ruin noticed near Kingman.

These facts are very interesting in their bearings upon the older ruins of Pecos. It goes far towards furnishing additional proof that they were indeed abandoned and decayed already in 1540. In regard to building _B_, it is ignored in the reports, _A_, with its vast court and its _estufas_, claiming exclusive attention. Still there is no room left for doubt that _B_ was occupied during this period. But it is evident, from the statements of the eye-witnesses, that _A_ was the principal abode of the Pecos tribe in 1540 and afterwards.

THE DOCUMENTARY PERIOD,

commencing in 1598, and running up to the present time. Here we should be entitled to find, of course, ample and detailed documentary evidence. Two unfortunate occurrences, however, have contributed to destroy the records of the territory of New Mexico.

In the month of August, 1680, when the pueblo Indians rose in successful revolt against the Spanish rule, and captured the "villa" of Santa Fe, they brought the archives, ecclesiastical and civil, into the plaza, and made a bonfire of the entire pile. This was an act of barbarous warfare. But few papers escaped the general destruction; these were saved by Governor Don Antonio de Otermin, and sent to El Paso del Norte, where they are still supposed to remain. We are, therefore, as far as the period of 1598-1680 is concerned, almost exclusively reduced to general works like the "Teatro Mexicano" of Fray Augustin de Vetancurt, and to the collections of documents published at Mexico and at Madrid. That, nevertheless, some documents were saved, and subsequently carried back to Santa Fe, is proved by the fact that Mr. Louis Felsenthal, of this city, has recovered one, a copy of which it is hoped will appear in the Journal of the Institute in time.

Subsequent to the return of the Spaniards, the archives of Santa Fe were kept in good order by its administrators, the last revision thereof being made by Governor Donaciano Vigil. In 1870, however, the man who then acted as Governor of the Territory, although otherwise of irreproachable character, permitted an act of vandalism almost without its parallel. The archives had accumulated in the palace to a vast extent: the original good order in which they were kept had been totally neglected during and since the war of secession; there was not even a custodian for them. So the head of the executive of this territory suffered its archives to be sold as waste paper, even sometimes used as kindling in the offices. Of the entire carefully nursed documentary treasures, the accumulation of 190 years, the Hon. Samuel Ellison, of this city (notwithstanding his feeble health), has been able to register about fifty bundles (_legajos_), whereas wagon-loads were scattered or sold for wrapping.

Many of the intelligent inhabitants attempted to save what they could, and there are some who succeeded to a limited extent; but of what yet remained in the palace, reduced to a sufficiently small bulk as not to be "in the way" any longer, even the valuable journals of Otermin and Vargas were considerably reduced through further decay.

This has been, in times of profound peace and in the nineteenth century, the fate of the archives of New Mexico.

Ever since, the legislature of the territory has been, in fact, utterly neglectful of its public documents. Each and every reminder in the shape of a petition has been disregarded, and only Governor L. Wallace has at last succeeded in having them overhauled. Hon. W. G. Ritch effected their removal to a suitable place, and it is to the acts of these gentlemen, and to the labor of love of Mr. Ellison, that we owe the preservation of what now remains.

What little documentary evidence has, therefore, been left at my disposal, contains, as might be supposed, meagre information concerning the pueblo of Pecos. The older church annals I have not been able to find, for those at the Plaza de Pecos date back only to 1862. Whither they have gone I am unable to tell, except that they are not at Santa Fe.