Chapter XI: The Pueblo Country.1 (2)

We are, however, warned that the artist has represented the
stonework a little too regularly. The support for the top of the
doorway is not clearly shown; a number of small beams of wood
were laid across, on these the stones. This cut gives us a view
of the front room. Looking in from the end window, we can see
where the second story commenced. The doorway we have been
describing was not a very handy mode of entrance. Its builders,
however, did the best they could in their limited space. The
house displays perseverance, ingenuity, and taste. It was
plastered, both within and without, so as to resemble the walls
of the cañon, but an ornamental border was added to the
plastering of the interior rooms.

Room of the House. This cliff house could only have been used as
a place of refuge in a time of need. We must observe the care
with which it was hidden away. The walls were plastered on the
outside, so as to resemble the cañon-walls. Then we must notice
what a secure place of retreat it afforded the people. No
invading party could hope to storm this castle as long as there
was any one to defend it. This house, with its four small rooms,
could give shelter to quite a band of Indians. Then, besides, it
was not alone. Ruins of half a dozen smaller houses were found
near by. Some had been crushed by the overhanging walls falling
upon them, and others had lost their foothold and tumbled down
the precipice.

It needs but a glance to satisfy any one that only dire necessity
would have driven a people to such resorts. When we consider how
much labor it must have required to convey the materials to the
almost inaccessible place, the many inconveniences the people
must have been put to when they were occupied, we may imagine how
the people clung to their old home. It is altogether likely that
such resorts would be only used now and then. During seasons of
war and invasion probably the women and old the men, with the
little ones, went thither for protection.

Mr. Holmes calls attention to one point bearing on the antiquity
of this ruin. The buttresses, which probably support a
balustrade, noticed in the figure on the house, were built on the
sloping surface of the rock. It would take but very little
weathering of the rocks to throw them to the bottom of the cañon;
and, furthermore, the rock is a rough sandstone, and hence easily
crumbles; and it is not well protected by the overhanging cliff;
but no perceptible change has taken place since the buttresses
were first built. The thickness of a sheet of paper has hardly
been washed from the surface, and the mortar, almost as hard as
the rock itself, lies upon it as if placed there within a dozen
years. This structure is, evidently, not as old as the low mounds
of crumbling ruins we have heretofore described. It is more than
probable that such retreats as this were not provided until near
the close of their stay in the country.

A ruin further down the cañon, described by Mr. Holmes, is of
great interest, as it shows how necessary the people considered
it to be to construct an estufa. It will be observed that there
are two houses. So nicely are these hidden away that Mr. Holmes
had almost completed a sketch of the upper house before he
noticed the lower one. They are both overhung by the rocks above
so as to be protected from the weather. The upper house can only
be approached by means of steps cut in the rock. It appears to be
in an unfinished state, and, when we consider the great labor
required for its construction, we can not wonder that they grew
tired before its completion.

The lower house is some eight hundred feet above the bottom of
the cañon, but is comparatively easy of approach. The interesting
feature about it is the estufa. It was situated near the center
of the main portion of the house. The entrance to this chamber
shows the peculiar importance attached to it by the builders. Mr.
Holmes says: “A walled and covered passage-way of solid masonry,
ten feet of which is still intact, leads from an outer chamber
through the small intervening apartments into the circular one.
It is possible that this originally extended to the outer wall,
and was entered from the outside. If so, the person desiring to
visit the estufa would have to enter the aperture about
twenty-two inches high by thirty wide, and crawl, in the the most
abject manner possible, through a tube-like passage-way nearly
twenty feet in length.”

“My first impression was that this peculiarly constructed way was
a precaution against enemies, and that it was probably the only
means of entrance to the interior of the house, but I am now
inclined to think this is hardly probable, and conclude that this
was rather designed to render a sacred chamber as free as
possible from profane intrusion.” This illustrates the peculiar
regard in which it was held. Even when sore pressed by their
enemies, and obliged to flee to inaccessible heights, they still
constructed their sacred place.

Cliff-Town, Rio Mancos.

These cliff-houses, of which we give illustrations, are quite
common in the Mancos. Our frontispiece shows an interesting
group, about ten miles from the foot of the cañon. These are
situated only about forty feet above the bed of the creek, but
still in a secure position. Here a bed of shale had been
weathered out of the sandstone, leaving a sort of horizontal
groove four feet high and from four to six feet deep. In this a
row of minute houses had been built. They had been made to occupy
the full height and depth of the crevice, so that when one
reaches it at the only accessible point he is between two houses,
and must pass through these to get at the others.

Besides the cliff-houses, the explorers found that these people
had made use of little cave-like openings in the cliffs, and, by
walling up the openings, had converted them into houses. These
were very common in the Mancos, and of all sizes. Some were
evidently merely little hiding places, in which to store away
provisions or other articles. In some places the cliffs were
literally honey-combed with these little habitations. Sometimes
the walls were quite well preserved and new-looking, while all
about were others in all stages of decay.

“In one place in particular a picturesque outstanding promontory
has been full of dwellings. . . . As one from below views the
ragged, window-pierced crags, he is unconsciously led to wonder
if they are not the ruins of some ancient castle, behind whose
mouldering walls are hidden the dread secrets of a long-forgotten
people; but a nearer approach quickly dispels such fancies, for
the windows prove to be only the doorways to shallow and
irregular apartments hardly sufficiently commodious for a race of
pigmies. Neither the outer openings nor the apertures that
communicate between the caves are large enough to allow a person
of large stature to pass, and one is led to suspect that these
nests were not the dwellings proper of these people, but
occasional resorts for women and children, and that the somewhat
extensive ruins of the valley below were their ordinary dwelling
places.”20

Caves used as Houses, Rio Mancos.

On the San Juan, about ten miles above the mouth of the Mancos,
is a significant combination of cave-dwellings and towers. In
this case, about half-way up the cliff, which is not more than
forty feet high, excavations had been made in a soft bed of
shale. They are now quite shallow, but were probably once deeper
and walled up in front. Directly above these cave-openings, on
the very brink of the cliffs, were the remains of two circular
towers, in each case double-walled, and probably divided by
cross-walls into partitions. The towers were probably their
council chambers and places of worship. The caves, directly
below, down a steep bank, were their fortresses, whither in times
of danger they could flee. The little community, by means of
ladders, could freely pass from their cave resorts to the towers
and back.

Ruins in the San Juan Cañon.

The San Juan River does not seem to be as rich in ruins as some
of its tributaries. Yet near the mouth of the Montezuma we came
upon a ruin which shows considerable analogy to the pueblos. Mr.
Jackson says upon the top of the bench (fifty feet high)
overlooking the river are the ruins of a quadrangular structure
of a peculiar design. It is arranged very nearly at right angles
to the river. We see from the plan that we have the ruins of a
larger building arranged around an open court—at least, Mr.
Jackson could detect no trace of a wall in front. We must notice
the seven apartments, arranged in the form of a semicircle, back
of the court. Extreme massiveness is indicated throughout the
whole structure.

In the immediate vicinity of this ruin were found a number of
little, cave-like dwellings. They were so small that doubts were
raised as to whether they were suitable for human habitations,
but the majority of them bore ample evidence in smoke-begrimed
walls that such was their use. Twelve miles below the mouth of
the Montezuma this group of ruins was discovered. These were
situated in a cave that was almost exactly a hemisphere in shape.
Where the curve of the roof met the curve from the bottom a
little projecting bench had been utilized as a foundation for a
row of houses.

Cave-Town.

The little community that built their houses here seem to have
practised all the industries of a savage life. In one place there
was evidence that on that spot had been carried on the
manufacture of stone implements. At another place holes had been
drilled, as if for a loom. In the main building there were
fourteen rooms or apartments, ranging from sixteen to nine feet
in width. “In the central room of the main building we found a
circular, basin-like depression, that had served as a fireplace,
being still filled with the ashes and cinders of aboriginal
fires, the surrounding walls being blackened with smoke and soot.
This room was undoubtedly the kitchen of the house. Some of the
smaller rooms appear to have been used for the same purpose, the
fires having been made in the corner against the back wall, the
smoke escaping overhead. The masonry displayed in the
construction of the walls is very creditable. A symmetrical curve
is preserved throughout the whole line, and every portion
perfectly plumb. The subdivisions are at right angles to the
front. The whole appearance of the place and its surroundings
indicate that the family or little community who inhabited it
were in good circumstances, and the lords of the surrounding
country. Looking out from one of their houses, with a great dome
of solid rock overhead that echoed and re-echoed every word
uttered with marvelous distinctness, and below them a steep
descent of one hundred feet to the broad, fertile valley of the
Rio San Juan, covered with waving fields of maize and scattered
groves of majestic cotton-woods, these old people, whom even the
imagination can hardly clothe with reality, must have felt a
sense of security that even the incursions of their barbarian
foes could hardly have disturbed.”21

To describe the defensive ruins on Epsom Creek, Montezuma Creek,
and the McElmo is simply to repeat descriptions already given. We
meet with cave-houses, cliff-houses, and sentinel-towers in
abundance. The whole section appears to have been thickly
settled. Further explorations will doubtless make known many more
ruins, but probably nothing differing in kind from what is
already known. We think the defensive ruins belong to a later
period of their existence than do the old and time-worn
structures we have hitherto described along the river valleys and
open plains, as at Aztec Springs. These structures plainly show
that at the time they were built the people were subject to an
invasion from a stronger foe, one before whose approach they had
to fly for protection to the almost inaccessible cliffs.

They would obviously never have settled there had they always had
to contend with these savage tribes. It needs no great skill to
read the story of the dispersion of these old people from the
ruins we have described; the many watch-towers, which were also
used as fortresses or citadels in which to find protection,
testifying to the need of increased watchfulness. The cave-houses
and cliff-fortresses, cunningly hidden away to escape detection,
or so placed as to defy the assault of their enemies, show to
what desperate straits they were driven; and imagination only can
picture the despair that must have filled their hearts when the
hour of final defeat came, and they must have realized that even
these shifts would not allow them to stay in the lands of their
fathers.

That this is the explanation of these ruins, we will cite the
legendary stories given by an old man among the Moquis concerning
some ruins in the cañon of the McElmo, just over the line in
Utah. At this point the cañon widens out considerably, and in the
center of the valley is still standing a portion of the old mesa,
once filling the entire valley. It is now a mass of dark red
sandstone, about one hundred feet high, and three hundred feet
around, seamed and cracked, and gradually disappearing, as the
rock has gone all around it. The top of this rock is covered with
the ruins of some building; there are also ruins at the base and
all around the immediate vicinity. There were watch towers and
estufas, showing that this was a place of great interest.

Battle Rock, McElmo Cañon.

The story is as follows: “Formerly the aborigines inhabited all
this country as far east as the headwaters of the San Juan, as
far north as the Rio Dolores, west some distance into Utah, and
south and south-west throughout Arizona, and on down into Mexico.
They had lived there from time immemorial, since the earth was a
small island, which augmented as its inhabitants multiplied. They
cultivated the valley, fashioned whatever utensils and tools they
needed very neatly and handsomely out of clay, and wood, and
stone, not knowing any of the useful metals; built their homes
and kept their flocks and herds in the fertile river bottoms, and
worshiped the sun. They were an eminently peaceful and prosperous
people, living by agriculture rather than by the chase. About a
thousand years ago, however, they were visited by savage
strangers from the north, whom they treated hospitably. Soon
these visits became more frequent and annoying. Then their
troublesome neighbors, ancestors of the present Utes, began to
forage upon them, and at last to massacre them and devastate
their farms. So, to save their lives at least, they built houses
high up on the cliffs, where they could store food and hide away
until the raiders left.

“But one Summer the invaders did not go back to their mountains,
as the people expected, but brought their families with them and
settled down. So, driven from their homes and lands, starving in
their little niches on the high cites they could only steal away
during the night and wander across the cheerless uplands. To one
who has traveled these steppes such a flight seems terrible, and
the mind hesitates to picture the sufferings of the sad
fugitives. At the ‘Creston’ (name of the ruin) they halted, and
probably found friends, for the rocks and caves are full of the
nests of these human wrens and swallows. Here they collected,
erected stone fortifications and watch-towers, dug reservoirs in
the rocks to hold a supply of water, which in all cases is
precarious in this latitude, and once more stood at bay. Their
foes came, and for one long month fought, and were beaten back,
and returned day after day to the attack as merciless and
inevitable as the tide. Meanwhile the families of the defenders
were evacuating and moving south, and bravely did their defenders
shield them till they were all safely a hundred miles away.

“The besiegers were beaten back and went away. But the narrative
tells us that the hollows of the rocks were filled to the brim
with the mingled blood of conquerors and, conquered, and red
veins of it ran down the cañon. It was such a victory as they
could not afford to gain again, and they were glad, when the long
flight was over, to follow their wives and little ones to the
south. There, in the deserts of Arizona, on well-nigh
unapproachable, isolated bluffs, they built new towns, and their
few descendants, the Moquis, live in them to this day, preserving
more carefully and purely the history and veneration of their
forefathers than their skill or wisdom.”22

Mr. Jackson thinks this legend arises from the appearance of the
rocks. The bare floor of nearly white sandstone, upon which the
butte stands, is stained in gory streaks and blotches by the
action of an iron constituent in the rocks of another portion of
the adjoining bluffs. That may well be true, but we believe that
there are germs of truth in the story. Driven from their homes,
where did the fugitives go? Some of them may have gone east, but
probably the body of the migration was to the south. It has been
the tendency of all tribes, but especially of the sedentary
tribes, to pass to the south and east, and this is also the
traditions among the inhabitants of still existing pueblos.23 We
find that every available portion of New Mexico and Arizona bears
evidence of having been once populated by tribes of Indians, who
built houses in all respects like those already described. In
northern New Mexico, Prof. Cope has described a whole section of
country as being at one time more densely populated than the
thickly inhabited portions of the Eastern States. He says: “The
number of buildings in a square mile of that region is equal to,
if not greater than the number now existing in the more densely
populated rural districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”24

In one location he found a village of thirty houses, built of
stone, and all in ruins. He found, over a large extent of
country, that every little conical hill and eminence was crowned
with ruins of old houses. We, of course, can not say that these
ruins are necessarily younger than those to the north of the San
Juan, and yet we think from Prof. Cope’s description that they do
not present such evidence of antiquity as do the crumbling ruins
previously described. And then, besides, they were always located
in easily defended positions.

The village spoken of was really a Cliff Village, being arranged
along the very edge of a precipitous mesa, the only access to it
being along a narrow causeway. Then again, although we have
described many ruins near which no water is to be had, at least,
in dry seasons, yet we have every reason to suppose water was
formerly more plentiful and easily attained. But in this section
it must always have been a serious question with them to obtain
enough water for necessary purposes. They must have had to store
away water in vessels of pottery, whose ruins are now so
abundant. It is not such a country as we would suppose a people
to choose for a place to settle in, only that they knew not where
else to go.

It is also considered settled that all the inhabited pueblos, as
well as those in ruins near the inhabited ones, were built by the
descendants of these people whose houses we have described. This
is proven by the similarity of pottery. Though some styles of
ancient corrugated ware are found in the San Juan section not
found near the inhabited pueblos, yet vast quantities of ware,
similar to that now found in the inhabited pueblos, can be picked
up all over the ruins to the north. Again, their religion must
have been the same, as ruined estufas are common, in all respects
similar to those now in use. In the modern pueblos we are struck
with the small cell-like rooms, yet they are but little smaller
than the ordinary single houses plentifully found over the entire
field of ruins. All the Pueblo tribes are agricultural, so were
these old people. In fact, all evidence confirms the conclusion
that the remnants of the Pueblo people that we have already
described, are also the descendants of the people driven by
hostile bands from north of the San Juan.

This statement may give false impressions, however. The
traditions of the Pueblo Indians, of New Mexico, are to the
effect that they came from the north, and also that their
ancestors formerly lived in the small houses we have described.
But we do not mean to say that all the small houses and pueblos
in Arizona and New Mexico are later in date than the
cliff-houses. The pressure has always been from the north to the
south. Neither would we be understood as saying that all the
sedentary tribes, both ancient and modern, belong to the same
stock of people. There are several different stocks of people
even among the present Pueblos.25

In the valley of the Rio Chaco, about midway between the Rio
Grande and the San Juan, we meet a group of ruined pueblos whose
style of masonry is thought to indicate a greater antiquity than
the inhabited pueblo towns; these probably indicate another
settlement of these people. As these are really remarkable ruins,
we must briefly describe them. In the Chaco cañon, as indicated
on the map, within the space of ten miles are the ruins of eight
larger pueblos. Another is located at the very beginning of the
cañon, and two more on the edge of the mesas just outside of the
cañon. These are large communal houses of regular pueblo type,
and, theoretically at least, they should be later in date than
the majority of ruins throughout the area represented on the map.
We think the development has been from small, separate houses, to
a closely connected cluster, with a central citadel, which
finally drew to itself all the other buildings, and became the
communal building we call a pueblo.26

We give a restoration of, one—the Pueble Bonito—one of the
largest and most important of the ruins. We can not doubt but
what the restoration is substantially correct. It shows the open
court, the terraced structure, and the system of defense. The
circle itself is not as near a half-circle as we would imagine.
The ground plan shows that it was really a many-sided building.
This pueblo must have presented a striking appearance when it was
in a complete state.

Restoration of Pueblo Bonito.

By comparing this structure with the views of some of the present
pueblo towns, we will understand the remarks made earlier, as to
the different styles of pueblo structures. This building must
have had not far from six hundred and fifty rooms. “No single
edifice of equal accommodations has ever been found in any part
of North America. It would shelter three thousand Indians.”27
This pueblo will compare favorably with some of the structures of
Yucatan; though not so ornamental, yet for practical convenience
it must have met the wants of the builders fully as well. This
may be given as a fair example of the entire class.

The evident plan on which they started to build their structures,
is shown in the following plan of the pueblo. But some of them
were not fully completed. Two of them had but one wing. In the
restoration the court is seen to be closed by a straight row of
small buildings, but in most cases the wall inclosing the court
was more or less circular. In one case the court was left open.
We will only give general descriptions. It is now believed that
these great structures were built only a part at a time; perhaps
the main body, or a part of it, first. Afterwards, as the number
of inhabitants increased, a wing would be added, and then the
other; and so, many years would elapse before the pueblo would
assume its completed form.

Plan of Pueblo Bonito.

These structures ranged in extent from about four hundred to
twelve hundred feet in external measurement and could furnish a
home to from two hundred to eight hundred or a thousand Indians,
and, in one case at least, many more.

In the next cut we have represented the different styles of
masonry employed in the pueblos of this valley. It varied all the
way from careful piling of big and little stones, and of
alternate layers of such materials, to very good masonry indeed.
Speaking of it, Mr. Jackson says, “It is the most wonderful
feature in these ancient habitations, and is in striking contrast
to the careless and rude methods shown in the dwellings of the
present pueblos. The material, a grayish-yellow sandstone,
breaking readily into thin laminae, and was quarried from the
adjacent exposures of that rock. The stones employed average
about the size of an ordinary brick, but as the larger pieces
were irregular in size, the interstices were filled in with very
thin plates of sandstone, or rather built in during its
construction; for by no other means could they be placed with
such regularity and compactness. So closely are the individual
pieces fitted to each other that at a little distance no jointage
appears, and the wall bears every indication of being a plain,
solid surface.”

Different Styles of Masonry.

Besides these important ruins, there are a great many others not
especially different from those previously described. We can not
state positively that these ruins are of a later date than those
of the North; we think they are. From the character of the
structures, we are more inclined to class them with the great
pueblos of the Rio Grande, Puerco, and Zuñi. By examining the map
we see that the Rio Chaco would afford a convenient route for
them in their migration from the San Juan Valley.

Room in Pueblo Bonito.

It may be of some interest to notice one of the rooms in this
pueblo. Simpson says it is walled up with alternate layers of
large and small stones, the regularity of the combination
producing a very pleasant effect. Mr. Morgan thinks this room
will compare not unfavorably with any of equal size to be found
in the more imposing ruins of the South. We must notice the
ceiling. The probabilities are that the Rio Chelly, further to
the west, afforded another line of retreat. Some ruins are found
scattered up and down the river or cañon, which we will not stop
to describe. Off to the south-west are the inhabited towns or
pueblos of the Moquis, who, as we have seen, have a tradition
that they came from the north.

There are some ruins found in the south-western part of Arizona
which must be described in a general survey of the ruins of the
Pueblo country. The river Gila, with numerous tributaries, is the
most important stream in that portion of the State. It is in just
such a section as we would expect to find ruins, if anywhere.
Coronado, as we have seen, invaded the country about three
hundred and fifty years ago. At the time of his visit this was
then a ruin, for his historian describes one ruin as “a single
ruined and roofless house . . . the work of civilized people who
had come from afar.”28 This gives us a point as to the antiquity
of some of the ruins in the Gila Valley. As we shall see, there
is every reason to suppose that this section was at one time a
thickly inhabited one.

From the similar character of the remains, we conclude the
original inhabitants to be of the same race of people as those we
have already described, but what was the exact relation between
them we can not tell, but we think a study of the ruins will only
confirm the general truth of the traditions of the Pueblo tribes.
In any one tradition there is doubtless much that is distorted.
One form in which the traditions find expression is: “That they
proceeded from the north-west to the upper waters of the Rio
Colorado. There they divided, portions ascended by the San Juan,
cañon De Chelly, or the more easterly branches of that stream
towards the center of New Mexico. Others, passing over the waters
of the Rio Verde (see map), descended its valley to the Rio
Gila.”29

One hundred and fifty miles southwest of Zuñi we notice the Verde
River flowing into the Rio Salado, and the latter into the Gila.
Besides those streams, there are other smaller ones, not marked
on the map.30 Mr. Bandelier found near the cañon del Tule an
improvement on the irrigating ditches, that was a lining of
concrete; and in this section also was noticed the ruins of both
pueblos and the small houses. Near Ft. Apache he found the ruins
of the largest villages discovered in Arizona, but we have no
details of it. The valley of the Rio Verde and Salado seems to
have been a favorite resort.

As early as 1854 attention was called to ruins in the Rio Verde.
Mr. Leroux reported to Mr. Whipple that the “river banks were
covered with ruins of stone houses and regular fortifications,
which appeared to have been the work of civilized men, but had
not been occupied for centuries. They were built upon the most
fertile tracts of the valley, where were signs of acequias
(irrigating ditches) and of cultivation. The walls were of solid
masonry, of rectangular form, some twenty or thirty paces in
length, were of solid masonry, and yet remaining ten or fifteen
feet in height. The buildings were of two stories, with small
apertures or loop-holes for defence, when besieged.”31

Mr. Bandelier confirms this account as to the number of ruins.
The entire valley of the Verde is filled with ruins of every
description. From the account of the valley itself, we can see
how well suited it was to the needs of village Indians. Mr.
Leroux speaks in high praise of its fertility. Wood, water, and
grass were abundant. In the neighborhood of Fort Reno Mr.
Bandelier discovered a new architectural feature of great
interest to us. This is a raised platform, on which the buildings
were supported. This raised platform is a very important feature,
as we shall learn in the ruins of Mexico and Central America. We
have already seen how it was employed by the Mound Builders.

In other words, the detached houses are seen to form villages,
with a central stronghold, and the tendency is observed to raise
an artificial foundation for this central house, which draws into
itself the surrounding houses. This is but another modification
of the same idea which, in other sections of this area developed
into the communal pueblo. Near Tempe a still more significant
arrangement was noticed. Here was a four-sided platform, three
hundred and forty feet long by two hundred and eighty feet wide,
and five feet high, supported a second platform measuring two
hundred and forty by two hundred feet, and six feet high.
Elevated platforms, as a general rule, were not very distinct.
Mr. Bandelier thinks that, owing to the peculiar drainage of the
country, these artificial foundations were required to preserve
the buildings from being swept away by a sudden torrent. The
settlement of the sedentary tribes in this region cluster on the
triangle formed by the Rio Verde, Salado, and Gila Rivers. “This
is a warm region, with a scanty rainfall, and but little timber,
and the soil is very fertile when irrigated, and two crops a year
can be readily raised. Mr. Bandelier regards it as exceedingly
well adapted to the wants of a horticultural people, and even
traces in it some resemblance to Lower Egypt.”

A very celebrated ruin on the Gila River gives us a fair idea of
what this central stronghold of the village cluster, sometimes
supported on a raised foundation, was like. This cut is a view of
the principal ruin in this section, which, however, is only a
portion of an extensive settlement, covering some five acres in
all. The building is not very large, only fifty by forty feet,
and four stories, of ten feet each, in height, with a possibility
that the central portion of the building rose ten feet higher.
The walls are built of adobe, five feet thick at the base, but
tapering slightly at the top.

Casa Grandes, on the Gila.

This house was surrounded by a court-yard which inclosed about
two acres. Shapeless mounds, presumably the ruins of houses, are
to be seen in various parts of this inclosure. “If the ground
plan of this great house,” says Mr. Bandelier, “with its
surroundings of minor edifices, courts and inclosures is placed
by the side of the ground plan of other typical ruins, the
resemblance is almost perfect except in materials used.” This
settlement was separated into two divisions. In one place was
noticed a large elliptical tank with heavy embankments, nearly
eight feet deep.

As to other ruins on the Gila, Mr. Bartlett tells us: “One thing
is evident, that at some former period the valley of the Gila was
densely populated. The ruined buildings, the irrigating canals,
and the vast quantities of pottery of a superior quality, show,
that while they were an agricultural people, they were much in
advance of the present semi-civilized tribes of the Gila.”
Speaking of the ruins of the Gila east of the San Pedro River,
Emory says: “Whenever the mountains did not infringe too closely
on the river and shut out the valley, they were seen in great
abundance, enough, I should think, to indicate a former
population of at least one hundred thousand; and in one place
there is a long wide valley, twenty miles in length, much of
which is covered with the ruins of buildings and broken pottery.
Most of these outlines are rectangular, and vary from forty to
fifty feet to two hundred by four hundred feet.”32

It is, however, necessary to be very cautious in judging
population by the number of ancient ruins. Prehistoric people
were naturally of a roving disposition. The multitude of ruins in
Western New York is not regarded as evidence of dense population,
but they were occasioned by the known customs of the Indians in
changing the sites of their villages “every ten, fifteen, or
thirty years; or, in fact, whenever the scarcity of firewood, the
exhaustion of their fields, or the prevalence of an epidemic made
such a step desirable.”33 Doubtless a similar remark may explain
the difference of opinion as to the numbers of the Mound
Builders.34 And, finally, Mr. Bandelier concludes that the great
number of ruins scattered through New Mexico and its neighboring
territories is by no means evidence of a large population. The
evidence of tradition is to the effect that a large number of
villages were successively, and not simultaneously, occupied by
the same people.35

We have about completed our survey of the Pueblo country. We
might state that the large communal houses, known as pueblos, are
found as far south on the Rio Grande as Valverde. Clusters of
separate houses occur as far south as Dona Ana. A range of low
mountains lies to the west of the Rio Grande; between it and the
headwaters of the Gila evidences of ancient habitations were
observed on the small streams. Though these occur sometimes in
little groups, the court-yards are not connected so as to form a
defensive village. Small inclosed surfaces, with no evidence that
a house ever was connected with them, were also observed. Mr.
Bandelier could only surmise that these were garden-plots,
something like the ancient terrace garden-plots in Peru.

Take it all in all, this is, indeed, a singular region, and the
Pueblo tribes were a singular people. Their architecture shows us
a people in the Middle Status of Barbarism. That they practised
agriculture is shown by the presence of old irrigating ditches.
Corn and corn-cobs are found in the rubbish-heaps of old
settlements. Mr. Morgan thinks that the valley of the San Juan
and its numerous tributaries was the place where the Indian race
first rose to the dignity of cultivators of the soil.36 Cotton
cloth has been found in the ruins on the Salado River. “At the
time of the Spanish conquests the Pueblo Indians along the Rio
Grande used cotton mantles.”37

As we have devoted considerable time to the pottery of the Mound
Builders, we must see how it compares with the pottery of this
region. Fragments of pottery are very numerous all over the field
of ruins. All explorers mention their abundance. Mr. Holmes on
one occasion counted the pieces of pottery that by their shape
evidently belonged to different vessels that he found in an area
ten feet square. They numbered fifty-five, and we are led to
believe they were not more numerous here than in other
localities.

We recall that the ornamentations on the vessels of clay made by
Mound Builders were either incised lines or indentations on the
surface of the vessels. And, still further, the clay vessels
themselves were frequently molded in the shape of animals or
heads of animals. In this plate we have fragments of indented and
corrugated ware, from the San Juan valley. This ware is only
found under such circumstances indented and that we are justified
in considering it very ancient. The ware made at the time of the
conquest was always painted.

Indented and Corrugated Ware.

At Zuñi and some of the other pueblos, at the present day, they
make vessels in the form of various animals and other natural
objects. This is, however, a recent thing. Only one vessel is
known that was found under such circumstances that we are
justified in thinking it very old. That was molded into a shape
resembling some kind of an animal. This was found on the Rio
Gila, in New Mexico; and even that has some peculiarities about
it that renders its age uncertain. Mr. Bandelier says: “No vessel
of ancient date, of human or animal shape, has ever been found.”
This is a most important point for us to consider, when we recall
how numerous were animal-shaped vessels among the Mound Builders.

Painted Pueblo Pottery.

In this plate we have specimens of the ordinary painted ware from
the ancient ruins. The most of these are restorations, but so
many fragments have been obtained of each vessel that we have no
doubt of the accuracy of the drawings. They decorated their
pottery by painting. Even in many cases where they were further
ornamented by indentations they still painted it, showing that
painting was regarded as of the most importance. We notice that
the ornamentation consists almost entirely of geometrical
figures, parallel lines, and scrolls. Over the entire field of
ruins the body of the vessels is of one of two colors; it is
either white or red. The color employed to produce the
ornamentation is black. There is almost no exception to this
rule, though sometimes the ornamentation is of a brownish color
with a metallic luster. Along the Rio Grande and the Gila some
changes are noticed. The ornamentation is not strictly confined
to two colors. Symbolical representations of clouds, whirlwind,
and lightning are noticed. The red ware has disappeared, and a
chocolate-colored ground takes its place.

All have noticed the superiority of the ancient pottery over that
of the present tribes. Says Prof. Putnam. “A comparison of this
ancient pottery with that made by the present inhabitants of the
pueblos shows that a great deterioration has taken place in
native American art, a rule which I think can be applied to all
the more advanced tribes of America. The remarkable hardness of
all the fragments of colored pottery which have been obtained
from the vicinity of the old ruins in New Mexico, Colorado,
Arizona, and Utah, and also of the pottery of the same character
found in the ruins of adobe houses, and in caves in Utah, shows
that the ancient people understood the art of baking earthenware
far better than their probable descendants now living in the
pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona.”38

We have learned that the remnant of an aboriginal people, now
living in the inhabited pueblos of the West, present us, in their
primitive usage, with the fading outlines of a culture once
widespread in the section of country we have examined. Many of
the early sedentary tribes have vanished completely. Traditions
state that other tribes have moved southward into regions
unknown. “The picture which can be dimly traced to-day of this
past is a very modest and unpretending one. No great cataclysms
of nature, no wave of destruction on a large scale, either
natural or human, appear to have interrupted the slow and tedious
development of the people before the Spaniards came. One portion
rose while another fell, sedentary tribes disappeared or moved
off, and wild tribes roamed over the ruins of their former
abode.” At present but a few pueblos are left to show us what the
people once were. But the fate of the Pueblo of Pecos hangs over
them all. The rising tide of American civilization is rapidly
surrounding them. Before many decades, possibly centuries, the
present Pueblo tribes will yield to their fate. They, too, will
be numbered among the vanished races of men.

REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Mr. Ad. F.
Bandelier, of Highland, Illinois. As agent for the
Archæological Institute of America, he spent three years in
explorations in the Pueblo country.

See an excellent historical account by Bandeliers: “Papers of
the Archæological Institute of America.” American series No. 1.

The term “City of Zuñi” is scarcely correct; it should be
Pueblo of Zuñi.

Pacific Railroad Report; Whipple, Vol. III., pp. 67 and 68.

“Archæological Institute of America,” Fifth An. Rep., pp. 55
and 56.

Bancroft’s “Native Races,” Vol. I., p. 534.

His guide.

The ruins on the top were, however, built after 1680, when the
inhabitants of Flavona, the Spanish “Alvona,” fled to the top
of the mesa to escape the forays of the Navajos. The ruins were
abandoned before 1705. Zuñi is partly built on the ruins of
Flavona, which is still its aboriginal name. (Bandelier.)

Pacific Railroad Reports, Whipple, Vol. III., p. 69.

Pacific Railroad Reports, Whipple, Vol. III., p. 65.

“Simpson’s Report,” p. 124.

Dr. Loew, in “U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th
Meridian,” Vol. VII, p. 343.

“Fifth An. Rep. Archæological Inst. of America,” p. 61.

Bandelier’s “Papers of the Archæological Inst.” p. 46.

These facts are drawn from Mr. Bandelier’s article already
referred to.

“Colorado River of the West,” p. 119, _et seq._

U.S. Survey, Hayden, 1876, p. 390.

Bandelier, “Fifth Annual Report Archæological Inst. of
America,” pp. 62, 68, and 65.

“Contributions to North American Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 172,
_et seq._

Holmes.

U.S. Survey, Hayden, 1876, p. 419.

Rendered by Ingersoll, in _N.Y. Tribune,_ Nov. 3, 1874.

Bandelier, in Fifth Ann. Rep., Arch. Inst., p 79.

U.S. Survey West of 100th M., Vol. VII, p. 358.

“First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” p. 74.

“Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.,” pp. 42, 78.

Morgan: “Contribution to N. A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 163.

“Smithsonian Report,” 1863, p. 313.

Whipple, Pacific R. R. Report, Vol. III.

Wherever reference is made to Mr. Bandelier’s discoveries, it
is taken from the oft-quoted Fifth Annual Report, Archæological
Institute.

Whipple, Pacific R. R. Reports, Vol. III., p. 14.

Bartlett’s “Personal Narrative.”

Carr’s “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley.”

Morgan’s “House and House Life,” p. 218.

Fifth Annual Report, p. 84.

“Contributions to N. A. Ethnology,” Vol. IV., p. 192.

Bandelier’s “Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.,” p. 76.

U.S. Survey West of 100th Meridian, Vol. VII., p. 381.