The Prehistoric World by E. A. AllenOr, Vanished Races (page 7)

another canal was cut to join with the Mississippi a few miles below New Madrid. The entire length of this water way was some seventy miles, but we are not told how much of it was artificial, neither are the dimensions given. Prof. Swallow speaks of a canal “fifty feet wide, and twelve feet, deep.” Whether this was one of this series or not, we do not know.<84> This is indeed a singular piece of work. It would be more satisfactory if we had more definite information in regard to the same.

With our present knowledge of the state of society among the Mound Builders, as made evident by the remains of their implements and ornaments, we are not justified in believing this part of a system of internal navigation. We have already seen that further south they sometimes surrounded their village sites with a wide and deep moat or ditch, as was observed around the inclosure containing the great mound on the Etowah. We are inclined to believe that a more careful survey would greatly modify the accounts we have of these canals, if it did not, in fact, show that they were the works of nature. According to a writer in the American Antiquarian,<85> the whole lower
part of the Mississippi Valley was abundantly supplied with canals, irrigating ditches, and evidences of a high intelligence. He speaks of observing the presence of an extensive canal a little north of the section we have described. He asserts they were dug to convey the surplus waters of the Mississippi in times of flood to the White and St. Francis Rivers, thus preventing disastrous overflows. It is needless to caution the reader against such conclusions. Our information in regard to those canals is far too limited to support the views advanced.

This finishes our examination of the works of the Mound Builders. Except in the case of the more massive works, they have become obliterated, but here and there are left traces of the former presence of these now vanished people. The antiquary muses over the remains of their inclosures, their fortified places, their effigies and mounds. By the combined efforts of scholars in many departments, we may yet hope that the darkness now enshrouding this race may be dissipated, but at present our positive knowledge is very limited indeed. It is as if we were asked to reconstruct a picture which had faded in the lapse of time so that only traces here and there are visible. Here, perhaps, a hand is seen; there a piece of foliage; in one place something we think representing water, in another a patch of sky, or a mountain peak. Until a key is found which shall show us how to connect these scattered parts, our efforts are useless, since many pictures could be formed, but we have no surety we are right. So we may form mental conceptions of the Mound Builders, but they are almost as varied as the individual explorers. Science may yet discover the key which will enable us to form a clear mental conception of the race which flourished here many years ago, and left their crumbling memorials to excite the curiosity of a later people.

We must now turn our attention to another branch of inquiry and learn what we can of the culture of the Mound Builders. This is to be determined by an investigation of the remains of their implements, weapons, and ornaments. When we know the skill with which they manufactured these articles, and gain an insight into some of their probable customs, we shall know where to place them in the scale of civilization. What we have learned of their works has already convinced us that we are dealing with a people considerably above the scale of Savagery. The nice proportion between the parts, the exact circles and coincident angles show considerable advance in mechanical skill. The character of the works indicates that the people had permanent places of abode, and were not subject to the vicissitudes of a hunter’s state of life for subsistence. This implies that we are dealing with a people living in village communities, practising agriculture and many other arts, and therefore entitled to rank in the middle status of Barbarism corresponding to the Neolithic inhabitants of Europe.<86> We will now see how far this conclusion is sustained by an examination of the remains of the handiwork of the people.

Illustration of Arrow Points.—————–

Implements of stone are of course abundant. But men, when in the culture of the Stone Age, having a common material to work upon, and under the pressure of common needs, have everywhere provided similar forms. For this reason it is hard to find distinctive points of difference between implements of stone of Mound Builders’ work and a series of similar implements the work of Indians. We are assured, however, that when examining a series of each, those of the Mound Builders display a superior finish.<87> The preceding wood-cut represents a collection of arrow-points found in the mounds, but they are not particularly so distinguishable from specimens found on the surface. Great numbers of arrow-points are occasionally found on altars. Here we have a view of one of the stone axes fashioned by the hands that heaped the mounds. It is certainly a very fine specimen.

Illustration of Ax found in a Mound.————

The Mound Builders must have had all the varieties of stone implements common to people in their stage of culture, such as axes, fleshers, and chisels. They also must have possessed mortars and pestles for grinding corn, and some implements did duty as hoes and spades. We represent in a group a collection of weapons and implements from the mounds and stone graves of Tennessee. All these articles are finely finished. One of the axes has a hole bored through it. One of them is further provided with a stone handle, and is characterized as being the “most beautiful and perfect stone implement ever exhumed from the aboriginal remains within the limits of the United States.”

Illustration of Weapons of Stone from Tennessee. (Smith Inst.)–

People in the culture of the Stone Age make but very rare use of metal, as metals are to them simply varieties of stone, much less useful for their purpose than the different kinds of flints, except for ornaments. From the altar mounds, near Cincinnati, were taken ornaments of silver, copper, iron and traces of gold, all of which had been worked into their present shape by simply hammering. The iron, it should be remarked, was meteoric iron, which can be hammered as easily as native copper. We have already remarked that about the only native iron is obtained from such sources. Copper was utilized for a great variety of purposes.

Illustration of Copper Ax.——————-

We give a cut of a copper ax found in one of the Ohio mounds. Copper axes have lately been found quite frequently in mounds near Davenport, Iowa, and in most cases before being deposited in the mounds, they had been wrapped in cloth. Copper ornaments are a more common find. Bracelets, beads, and ear ornaments are numerous. Our next cut represents some very fine bracelets found in a mound near Chillicothe, Ohio, Copper tools and weapons have been found quite frequently on the surface, but we are not sure in this case whether they are not the work of recent Indians. The early explorers noticed the presence of copper ornaments among the Indians. “When Henry Hudson discovered, in 1609, the magnificent river that bears his name, he noticed among the Indians of that region pipes and ornaments of copper.” The account says: “They had red copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper they did wear about their necks.”<88> De Soto also noticed among the Southern Indians axes of copper. Other accounts could be quoted showing that the Indians were well acquainted with copper.<89> The fact is, in this matter also, it is impossible to draw a dividing line between relics of the Mound Building tribes and the Indians. However, the Mound Builders were certainly acquainted with copper, but to their minds it was only a singular stone, one that they could hammer, into a desired shape.

Illustration of Copper Bracelets.——————-

Where did they obtain their copper? We are all aware that in this country great supplies of pure copper exist near the southern shore of Lake Superior, and there is a peculiarity about the copper found there, that is, the presence of small pieces of silver with the copper. This is a very singular mixture, and we are not aware of its occurrence elsewhere. It would trouble the best chemists to explain it. From this fact we are enabled to identify articles of copper derived from that source, and to that region we can trace the copper from which are formed most of the copper implements and ornaments found in this country. It is also noticeable that the nearer we get to this region the more numerous are the finds of articles of copper. More are reported from Wisconsin than the rest of the United States put together.

This leads us to a very interesting subject. In 1848 Mr. S. 0. Knapp, agent of the Minnesota Mining Company on the northern peninsula of Michigan, discovered that the modern miners were but following in the footsteps of some ancient people who had mined for copper there some time now far past. The general conclusion is that these old miners were Mound Builders, but here the evidence of their presence is not found in the existence of mounds and earthworks, but of pits and excavations, which, by the slow accumulation of years, had become filled to near the surface with debris of various kinds. Many had
noticed these little pits and depressions without suspecting they had aught to do with the presence of man. The hollows made by large trees, overturned by the wind, frequently left as well marked depressions as these excavations.

We have abundant proof that these old miners were practical workmen. They evidently did not neglect the most trifling indication of metals. They made thorough research and discovered the principal lodes. Our present day miners have long since learned to regard the presence of these ancient pits as excellent guides in this matter. With modern appliances they penetrate far beyond the power of the old workmen. At the Waterbury mine there is in the face of the vertical bluff an artificial opening, which is twenty-five feet wide, fifteen feet high, and twelve feet deep. The materials thrown out in digging had accumulated in front, and on this forest trees common to that region were growing of full size. Some of the blocks of stone which were removed from this recess would probably weigh two or three tons, and must have required the use of levers to move them. Beneath the surface rubbish was discovered the remains of a cedar trough, by which the water from the mines was conducted away. Wooden bowls were found, which were probably used to dip the water from the mine into this trough.

Near the bottom of the pit, shovels, made of cedar, were found, shaped much like a canoe paddle, but showing by their wear that they were used as shovels. Although they appeared solid while in water, yet, on drying, they shrunk up, and were with difficulty preserved. A birch tree, two feet in diameter, was observed growing directly over one of these shovels. No marks of metallic tools were observed anywhere about this large pit.

Illustration of Ancient Mine, Michigan.———–

In this case they constructed a sort of a cave, but in many cases they mined open to the air, that is, they simply dug trenches or pits. A row of these ancient pits, now slight depressions, indicate a vein. What they seem to have especially sought after was lumps of copper that they could easily manage and fashion by hammering. They had not discovered the art of melting. When they found an unusually large piece, they broke off what they could by vigorous hammering. In one case they found a mass weighing about six tons of pure copper. They made an attempt to master this piece. By means of wedges they had got it upon a cob-work of round logs or skids, six or eight inches in diameter, but the mass was finally abandoned for some unknown reason after breaking off such pieces as they could until the upper surface was smooth. This mass rested on the framework of logs while the years came and went, until, after the lapse of unknown time, the white men once more opened the old mine.

On the rubbish in front of this mine was standing the stump of a pine tree ten feet in circumference. These ancient mines are found not only on the main-land, but on the islands off the coast as well. The only helps they seem to have employed was fire, traces of which are found everywhere, and stone mauls and axes. The mauls consist of oblong water-worn bowlders of hard tough rock, nature having done every thing in fashioning them except to form the groove, which was chiseled out around the middle. Some copper implements were also found.

Col. Whittlesey, from whose writings we have drawn the foregoing, concludes that these mines were worked by the Mound Builders. As he finds no traces of graves or houses, or other evidence of a protracted stay, he thinks they were worked only through the Summer season of the year by bands of workmen from the south.

As to what caused the abandonment of the works we do not know. It might have been an impulse of their race hurrying them on to some distant migration; or, more probably, pressed by foes from without, they were compelled to abandon their ancient homes. Whatever the cause was, nature resumed her sway. Forest trees crept up to and grew around the mouths of the deserted mines. Col. Whittlesey concludes from the group of trees growing on the top of the rubbish heap that at least five hundred years passed away before the white man came from the south to resume the work of his ancient predecessor.<90>

It is not, however, proven that the Mound Builders were the sole workers of these ancient mines. It is known that the Indians mined for flint. Some of the excavations for this purpose, in what is known as Flint Ridge, in Muskingum County, Ohio, are as marked as the traces of ancient mining in Michigan. Similar appearances are recorded in Missouri. As copper was in demand among the Indians, and as it is probable that they obtained much of it from the North, they may have continued to work the ancient copper mines until comparatively recent times. Mr. Lapham believes that the progenitors of the Indian tribes found dwelling in the regions near these mines, carried on mining operations there. Dr. Rau thinks it probable that small bands of various Northern tribes made periodical excursions to the locality, returning to their homes when they had supplied themselves with sufficient quantities of the much-desired metal. The fact that many of the modern Indian tribes knew nothing about these mines is not of much weight, when we reflect how easily a barbarian people forget events, even those of a striking nature.

We are apt to judge the culture of a people by the skill they display in works of arts. The article on which the Mound Builder lavished most of his skill was the pipe. This would show that with them, as with the modern Indians, the use of the pipe was largely interwoven with their civil and religious observances. In making war and in concluding peace, it probably played a very important part. “To know the whole history of tobacco, of the custom of smoking, and of the origin of the pipe, would be to solve many of the most interesting problems of American ethnology.”<91>

The general decoration consisted in carving the bowl of the pipe into the shape of some animal or bird. In some instances we have carved representations of the human head. Such as these are of particular interest and value, as they are probably faithful representations of the features of the Mound Builders. This is a fine specimen found in one of the altar mounds in Ohio. The method of wearing the hair is worthy of notice. The holes placed in a row encircling the forehead and coming down as low as the ears, were once filled with pearls. In some they still remained when found, though they had been burned in the fire. The lines upon the face obviously imitate the custom of tattooing the countenance.

Illustrations of Sculptured Face and Face of a Female.—–

Scholars have called attention to the fact that Humboldt discovered in Mexico a small statue which he supposed represented an Aztec priestess. This statue had sculptured upon its forehead a row of pearls, worn in the same manner as is represented in this pipe. This is another pipe of great interest, and is supposed to represent the head of a woman. The countenance is expressive, the eyes prominent, and the lips full and rounded. We must notice again the headdress. While the faces are of Indian type, the method of wearing the hair is different from that of the typical Indian of the North.

Illustration of Beaver.—————-

The animal forms into which the pipe-bowls are carved, are also full of interest. This is not so much on account of animal forms themselves as the insight we gain as to the artistic skill of the people who fashioned the pipes, and in various ways learn of bits of customs and manners peculiar to them. Here we have figured a pipe, the bowl of which is carved to represent a beaver. No one need hesitate as to the animal which the carver had in mind. It is represented in a characteristic attitude, and has the broad, flat tail of its species. It must have required no little skill and patient labor to work a rough stone into this finished pipe, especially when we remember that the maker had no edged tools with which to work.

Illustration of Otter.—————-

We can not always determine the animal which the artist had in mind. In this illustration we have figured such a pipe. Considerable discussion has arisen as to the animal represented. Some cases of this nature have been thought to show either migration from a distant country on the part of the maker or else an extended system of trade.

Squier and Davis, who first figured it, supposed it to represent a manatee, or sea-cow. This animal is essentially a tropical species, the only known place where it was found in the United States being Florida. From the presence of this carved specimen, found a thousand miles to the north, some interesting queries, as the origin of the mound-building tribes, and the state of life among them, were raised. It is almost certain, however, that the animal intended to be represented was the otter.<92>

Illustration of Birds on Pipes.—————

The most general form of sculpture was that of birds, and we find specimens of almost all the common varieties. In this group we recognize the tufted heron striking a fish; the eagle, or hawk, tearing a smaller bird; the swallow, apparently just ready to fly; and in the last figure, one that has given rise to a good deal of discussion. Some think from the circumstance of its having a very large bill, toes pointing behind as well as before, that it represents a toucan, which, if true, would make it a most interesting specimen. But cautious scholars conclude that the “figure is not of sufficient distinctness to identify the original that was before the artist’s mind.” And therefore it is not wise to make this specimen the subject of a far-reaching speculation.<93>

It may be of interest to inquire whether the Indians made pipes as tastefully ornamented as those we have described. We should notice that all the pipes here described are from one very limited locality in Ohio, and that is the valley of the Scioto, the same section of country where were found the great inclosures of a mathematical shape. We have no reason for supposing that the Mound Builders generally throughout the Mississippi Valley had this artistic skill. We have seen nowhere any thing to show a superiority for them in this respect. Whatever conclusion can be drawn from those pipes, applies only to the tribe in the Scioto Valley. It is believed they do constitute a peculiar class by themselves. As works of art, there are but few aboriginal relics of North American origin their equal.<94>

We would also refer to the fact that most of these specimens were obtained from one altar-mound.<95> We do not know what ceremonies were performed around this altar, but if it were a place of burial or cremation, they might have been the obsequies of some distinguished maker of pipes. That such a person would be the recipient of honor, is not singular, for “the manufacture of stone pipes, necessarily a painful and tedious labor, may have formed a branch of aboriginal industry, and the skillful pipe carver probably occupied among the former Indians a rank equal to that of the experienced sculptor in our times.” Among the Ojibway Indians, we are told, are persons who possess peculiar skill in the carving of pipes, and make it their profession, or at least the means of gaining, in part, their livelihood. One “inlaid his pipes very tastefully with figures of stars, and flowers of black and white stones. But his work proceeded very slowly, and he sold his pipes at high prices.”<96> So we see how cautious we must be about drawing inferences from this peculiar class of pipes found in one limited locality.

The knowledge of how to manufacture pottery is justly regarded as a turning point in the advance of primitive man along the weary road that brings him at last to civilization. At this point he ceases to be a savage, and enters the confines of Barbarism.<97> The skill shown in using this knowledge is one of the many things we have to take into consideration in determining the rank of a people in the scale of enlightenment. The Mound Builders were evidently quite well along in the potter’s art; and as they have left behind them many examples of their work, we must try and acquaint ourselves with some of the more important varieties.

Illustration of a Group of Clay Vessels.—————-

This illustration is of a group of clay vessels of the bowl pattern, found in mounds in different parts of the Mississippi Valley. In one of these we see a good example of the style of ornamentation by means of incised lines. In the duck-headed vessel we have a representation of a class of vessels common in Missouri and Tennessee. Not unfrequently one or both of the handles of vessels of this class is in the form of a human head instead of that of an animal. Our next illustrations represent a group of such specimens. Judging from the skill with which they imitated animals, it is not unreasonable to believe that in these faces we have rude likenesses of the people who made them.

Illustration of Bowls with Human Faces.————

The two bottle-shaped vessels here figured, are from mounds in Louisiana. As will be noticed, the ornamentation is quite artistic. The ware is of a good quality, and they are good examples of the Mound Builders’ art. The form with the long neck is perhaps a water-cooler. When filled with water, and allowed to stand, some of the water passes through the pores, and evaporating, keeps the surface of the vessel cool.

Illustration of Bottle-shaped Vessels. (Smith. Inst.)—-

They also made some vessels of large size to serve for cooking purposes. On some of the larger vessels the imprint of woven weeds and willows of a basket on the outer surface leads to the belief that such vessels were formed or moulded within baskets. Many large pots and urns, however, were made without this aid. Some large urns were used for burial purposes. In a Michigan mound an urn about three feet in height had been so used. It was standing upright, and into it the whole skeleton of a man had been compressed, and a closely-fitting lid covered the top.<98> Very large, shallow vessels were used to manufacture salt–that is, they were filled from some salt-spring, and then the water was evaporated, leaving the salt. In localities near salt-springs, thick fragments of rude earthenware have been found that must have come from vessels as large as barrels.

Illustration of Water Cooler.—————

In the next group we have representations of a singular class of vessels. In some cases the mouth and neck of the vessel is shaped in imitation of animals. In the smallest one we recognize the head of a man, with an opening in the back of the head. Many vessels of this form are known, and a great many different animal heads are represented. The fish-shaped vessel is a curious one. The one figured evidently represents a sun-fish. The long vase or jug is in the shape of a child’s leg, with an opening in the heel.

Illustration of Pottery Vessels. (Smith. Inst.)——–

Some very beautiful vessels of the character of those we have figured, have been found in Missouri. One enthusiastic explorer says, “Perhaps we have very few modern artists who could equal those ancient pottery makers in taste, skill, curious design, and wonderful imitation of nature. Birds, beasts, fishes, even the shells on the river shore, have an exact counterpart in their domestic utensils.” “While digging in one of these pottery mounds in Missouri, we unearthed a large tortoise. We thought it was alive, and seizing it, to cast it into the woods for its liberty, we were suddenly surprised to find our tortoise was an earthen vessel in that shape. In the same mound we uncovered a huge shell–the single valve of a unio. Closer inspection revealed that it was a perfect earthen vessel. Following these came a perfect fish, exhibiting, to our astonishment, the scales, fins, and peculiarities of that species of fish in detail.”<99>

We must leave this interesting part of our subject. An entire volume would scarcely do justice to it, but for the sake of comparison, we must inquire as to the state of this art among the Indian tribes. It seems that before the arrival of the whites, the Indian tribes throughout North America, with few exceptions, were apt potters. The whites, however, soon supplied them with superior utensils of metal, so, that the majority of the Eastern tribes soon lost the knowledge of the art. It lingered longer among the tribes of the South, and of the interior, and even to this day the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and Arizona make an excellent article of pottery. Early travelers wrote in high terms of the skill of the Southern Indians in this matter. Du-Pratz thought so highly of the work of the Natchez Indians that he had them make him an entire dinner set.

Catlin, speaking of the Mandan Indians, says the women of that tribe made great quantities of dishes and bowls, modeled after many forms. He says they are so strong and serviceable that they cook food in them by hanging them over the fire, as we would an iron pot. “I have seen specimens,” he continues, “which have been dug up in Indian mounds and tombs in the Southern and Middle States, placed in our Eastern museums, and looked upon as a great wonder, when here this novelty is at once done away with, and the whole mystery: where women can be seen handling and using them by hundreds, and they can be seen every day in the summer, also, moulding into many fanciful forms, and passing them through the kilns, where they are hardened.”

Dr. Rau, speaking of the artistic skill of the Indian potters, as shown by numerous remains gathered in Illinois, does not hesitate to assert, after personal examination of Mound Builders’ pottery, that the Indian relics were in every respect equal to those specimens exhumed from the mounds of the Mississippi Valley.<100> Lapham, speaking of fragments of Mound Builders’ pottery in Wisconsin, says, “They agree in every respect with fragments found about the old Indian villages.”

The culture of a people is also determined by their knowledge of agriculture. The savage depends entirely upon hunting and fishing for subsistence. A knowledge of horticulture, of domestic animals, and of agriculture, even though rude, are each and all potent factors in advancing man in culture. So we must inquire as to the traces of agricultural knowledge observable among the remains of the Mound Builders. Some writers speak in quite glowing terms of the enormous crops they must have raised for their populous cities. The fact is, that while it is doubtless true that they practiced agriculture, yet we have no reason to suppose it was any thing more than a rude tillage, such as was practiced among the village Indian tribes. This is evident from the tools with which they worked.

Illustration of Agricultural Implements. (Smith. Inst.)—-

In a few cases copper tools have been recovered which may have served for digging in the ground, but in most cases their art furnished them nothing higher than spades, shovels, picks, and hoes made of stone, horn, bone, and probably wood. In this cut are specimens of such agricultural tools. These were doubtless furnished with handles of wood. The notched one was perhaps provided with a handle at right angles to it, so as to constitute a hoe. That we are right in regarding these implements as agricultural tools, is shown not only by their large size, but also by the traces of wear discovered on them. We must admit, however, that agriculture carried on with such tools as these, must have been in a comparatively rude state.

In this connection we must refer to the garden beds noticed in some places. We read that in Western Michigan the so-called garden beds are a distinguishing feature of the ancient occupation, often covering many acres in a place, in a great variety of forms, both regular and grotesque.<101> These seem from the above account to be very similar to the garden beds of Wisconsin. Dr. Lapham tells us that in the latter State they consist of low, broad, parallel ridges, as if corn had been planted in drills.

The average four feet in width, and the depth of the walk between them is six inches. Traces of this kind of cultivation are found in various parts of the State. We are also referred to the presence of garden mounds in Missouri, but in this case the low mounds are of the same mysterious class that Prof. Forshey says occur by millions in the South-west, and may not be the work of man. Just what the connection is between the garden beds and the Mound Builders is hard to determine. Mr. Lapham thinks that those in Wisconsin were certainly later in date than the mounds. He observed that they were frequently constructed right across the works of the Mound Builders. This would seem to imply that the makers were not one and the same people.

As to the government and religion of the Mound Builders, all is conjecture. On both of these points a great deal has been assumed, but when we try to find out the grounds on which these theories rest we quickly see how little real foundation there is for any knowledge on this subject. If we are right in our views as to the effigy mounds of Wisconsin, then a sort of animal worship prevailed. Whether the great inclosures in the Scioto Valley were of a religious nature or not is very doubtful. The great serpent mound was probably an object of worship. The assertion is quite frequently made that the Mound Builders were sun worshipers, which may be correct, but we must observe that we have no proofs of it in the works they have left. We judge it to be true only because sun-worship was probably a part of the religion of a large proportion of the Indian race, and because we find special proofs of its existence among some of the Southern Indians who are supposed to be closely related to the Mound Builders.

Illustration of Idols. (Smith. Inst.)————–

As we approach the South, we meet with what are supposed to be rude and uncouth idols, but they have not been found under such circumstances as to make it positive that they belonged to the Mound Builders. In this illustration we have two idols, considered to be genuine relics of the stone-grave people of Tennessee. The first one is an Aztec idol found at Cholula, and introduced here simply for comparison. What position these idols held in connection with the religion of the race, we are not prepared to say.

Similar remarks might be made as to the system of government. A number of writers, taking into account the immense labor involved in constructing some of the works, have insisted that the people must have lived under a despotic form of government, one in which the state had unlimited power over the lives and fortunes of its subjects.<102>

There is no real foundation for such views, and we think they are misleading. No one doubts but that the Mound Builders were living in a tribal state of society. If so, they doubtless had the usual subdivisions of a tribe. This point we remember afforded us some insight into the meaning of the effigy mounds of Wisconsin.

This would imply the government by the council, and while the rulers may have been hereditary, the officers of the tribe were probably elective, and could be deposed for cause. We do not mean to assert that this is an exact picture of the state of government of the Mound Builders, because our knowledge on this point is not sufficient to make such a positive statement, but it is far more likely to be true than the picture of a despotic government, ruling from some capital seat a large extent of country, holding a court with barbaric pomp and circumstances such as some writers would have us believe.

We hope our readers have not been wearied by this somewhat extended investigation of the Mound Builders. Every storm that beats upon their works tends to level them. The demands of our modern life are fast obliterating the remaining monuments and, indeed, it is now only those which are situated in favorable localities, or are massive in construction, that are left for our inspection. But these nearly obliterated records of the past are of more than passing interest to us as monuments of the prehistoric times of our own country. We wander over these ruins and find much to interest us, much to excite our curiosity. The purposes of many are utterly unknown. Some, by their great proportions, awaken in us feelings of admiration for the perseverance and energy of their builders. But when we investigate the objects of stone, of clay, and of copper this people left behind them, we notice how hard it is to draw a dividing line between them and the Indians.

In fact, there is no good reason for separating them from the Indian race as a whole. We do not mean to say that they were not, in many respects, different from the tribes found in the same section of the country by the early explorers, though, we ought, perhaps, to confine this remark to the central portion of the country occupied by these ancient remains. But the American of to-day differs from the American of early Colonial times. The miserable natives of Southern California were Indians, but very different indeed from the ambitious, warlike Iroquois, who displayed so much statesmanship in the formation of their celebrated league. In another chapter we shall discuss this part of our subject, as well as the question of the antiquity of the ruins.

REFERENCES

(1) The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. F. W. Putnam, curator of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, for criticism. (2) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 122. (3) Force: “Some Considerations on the Mound Builders,” p. 64; “Am. Antiquarian,” March, 1884, pp. 93-4; “10th Annual Report, Peabody Museum,” p. 11.
(4) Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity”, p. 28. (5) Squier and Davis’s “Ancient Monuments,” p. 105. (6) Foster’s “Prehistoric Paces,” p. 148. (7) Squier’s “Aboriginal Monuments of New York,” Smithsonia Contribution No. 11, p. 83.
(8) Squier’s “Aboriginal Monuments of New York,” Smithsonia Contribution No. 11, p. 87.
(9) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 121. (10) “They are numbered by millions.” Ibid. (11) Prof. Forshey could frame no satisfactory hypothesis of their origin. Ibid, p. 122.
(12) “Native Races,” Vol. IV, pp. 739 and 740. (13) Smithsonian Rep., 1870, p. 406.
(14) Narrative of U.S. exploring expedition during the years 1838-42, Vol. IV, p. 334.
(15) Prof. Gibbs in Frank Leslie’s Monthly, August, 1883. (16) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 139.
(17) Jones’s “Explorations in Tennessee,” p. 15. (18) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 143. Explorers for Bureau of Ethnology so report it in the South. Prof. Putnam, who has certainly had great experience, says he has always found the layers to be horizontal.
(19) “Sixteenth Annual Report Peabody Museum,” p, 171. An ornament shaped to resemble the head of a wood-pecker, made of gold, derived from some Spanish source, was found in a mound in Florida. This particular mound must have been erected after the discovery of America. (“Smithsonian Report,” 1877, p. 298, et seq.)
(20) “Sixteenth and Seventeenth Report Peabody Museum.” These ornaments were made of hammered iron. This is the first time that native iron has been found in the mounds. (Putnam.) (21) “Prehistoric Races,” p. 178.
(22) J. E. Stevens’s Paper, read before the Muscatine Academy of Science, Dec., 1878.
(23) That this was at any rate sometimes the case See “Ancient Monuments,” p. 159.
(24) “Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 58. (25) Jones’s “Explorations in Tennessee,” p. 15. See also “First An. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,” p. 198.
(26) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 169. See also note on same page for another account of a larger number of skeletons. (27) Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” App. A. (28) James’s “Popular Science,” File 1883, p. 445. (29) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 173.
(30) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 74.
(31) “Views of Louisiana.”
(32) This cut represents the mound as it probably was before the outlines were destroyed by cultivation. It is based on a model prepared by Dr. Patrick for the Peabody Museum. (33) “Peabody Museum Report,” Vol. II, p.473. As this may include some of the wash from the mound, perhaps it would be better to give the real area of the base as over twelve acres. (34) That is, if we follow the plan.
(35) “Prehistoric Races,” p. 107.
(36) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 174.
(37) Pickett’s “History of Alabama,” Vol. I., p. 301. (38) Carr’s “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” pp. 91, 92; note, 103.
(39) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 117. Note.–For the statement made in this text we are under obligation to Prof. Thomas, of the Bureau of Ethnology, who, in answer to a letter of inquiry, kindly furnished the information.
(40) “Am. Antiquarian,” March, 1884, p. 99.
(41) It may be that no mounds were built for signaling purposes alone. The work of erecting mounds was so great that it is quite likely they were always erected for some other purpose, and used only secondarily for signal purposes. Such is shown to be the case with many of the signal mounds in Ohio. Such is the opinion of Mr. MacLean, who has made extensive researches. (42) Force’s “Some Consideration of the Mound Builders,” p. 65. (43) Similar effigy mounds have been recently observed in Minnesota, but they have not yet been described. (Putnam.) (44) Peet’s American Antiquarian, May, 1884, p. 184.
(45) Peet’s American Antiquarian, January, 1884. We are
indebted to the writings of Mr. Peet in this periodical for the months of January, May, and July, 1884, for many interesting facts in reference to the effigy mounds. He has studied them more than any other person, and his conclusions are consequently of great value.
(46) Peet’s “Emblematic Mounds and Totem System of the Indian Tribes.”
(47) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 40.
(48) American Antiquarian, January, 1883.
(49) Putnam, in “Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society,” 1884.
(50) Peet’s “Emblematic Mounds and Totem System of the Indian Tribes.”
(51) Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 383. (52) Peet’s “Military Architecture of the Emblematic Mound Builders.”
(53) “Smithsonian Report,” 1877, p. 278, et seq.
(54) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 97; American Antiquarian,
January, 1883, p. 77.
(55) This information is communicated by Mr. L. N. Tower, a gentleman in the employ of C. & N. W. E. R., at Tracy, Minn., who, at the request of the writer visited this locality, made measurements, etc.
(56) American Antiquarian, November, 1884, p. 403.
(57) The dimensions of this figure vary. Mr. MacLean’s survey makes the entire length of the serpent part eleven hundred and sixteen feet; the distance between the extended jaws, one hundred feet. The oval figure is one hundred and thirteen feet long by fifty feet wide. The frog or head portion is fifty-five feet. Mr. Squier says, “The entire length, if extended, would be not less than one thousand feet.” Mr. Putnam’s measurements make it fourteen hundred and fifteen feet. The writer would state that he visited this effigy in the summer of 1884. Though there but a very short time, and not prepared to make careful measurements, he did notice some points in which the illustrations, previously given, are certainly wrong. The oval is not at the very extremity of the cliff. The little projections generally called ears of the serpent are not at right angles to the body, but incline backwards. The convolutions of the serpent’s body bend back and forth quite across the surface of the ridge.
(58) Schmuckers.
(59) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 47.
(60) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 175. (61) “Contributions North American Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 210. A cut of this “restored” pueblo is there given. (62) See discussion of this subject in “Proceedings of Am. Antiq. Society,” Oct., 1883.
(63) “Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 205. (64) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 47.
(65) Peet: “The Mound Builders.”
(66) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 53.
(67) Force: “Some Considerations on the Mound Builders,” p. 64. (68) “Archaeologia Americana,” Vol. I, p. 129. (69) For words at Newark, consult “Ancient Monuments,” p. 67, et seq. “American Antiquarian,” July, 1882.
(70) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 74.
(71) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 88.
(72) Mr. Putnam visited the work a few years since, and came to the conclusion that the larger and old openings were part of the original design, and that they were places where it was easier to put up log structures than earthen walls. Just such openings occur in the massive stone wall around Fort Hill, in Highland County. A few of the openings at Fort Ancient he thinks are unquestionably of recent origin, in order to drain the holes inside the embankments.
(73) Cincinnati Quart. Journal Science, 1874, p. 294.
(74) Peet: “The Mound Builders.”
(75) Peet’s “Mound Builders:” “If the reader will compare some of these last cuts with that of the fortified camp at Cissbury, Eng., p. 183, he will see how similar this last work is to those just mentioned. Perhaps the real lesson to be learned is that rude people, whether Indians, Mound Builders, or Celts, resorted to about the same method of defense.”
(76) “Antiquarian Research,” p. 89. (77) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 15, et
seq. Mr. Conant refers to Mr. Pidgeon’s work in such a way as to give the impression that he was convinced of the genuineness of his account.
(78) “Traditions of Decodah,” p. 89, et seq.
(79) “Antiquarian Research,” p. 190. (80) “The American Indian, so far as known, without the exception of a single tribe, worshiped the sun.” Carr’s “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 56.
(81) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 60. (82) Ibid., p. 32. If the explorers are really satisfied this was a walled town, it ought to throw some light on the inclosures in the Ohio Valley.
(83) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 35. (84) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 77. (85) Vol. III, p. 290, et seq.
(86) Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 11. (87) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 210; also Peet: “The Mound Builders.” “Their relics are marked by a peculiar finish.” (88) Rau’s “Anthropological Research.”
(89) “Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society,” April, 1877, p. 61. (90) “Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge,” Vol. XIII. (91) Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 315. (92) “Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” 1880-1, p. 123, et seq.
(93) In the “Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” for 1880-1, Mr. Henshaw has very fully discussed these mound-pipes, and shown that Messrs. Squier and Davis wore mistaken in a number of their identifications of the animal forms. He concludes there “are no representations of birds or animals not indigenous to the Mississippi Valley.”
(94) The recent discoveries by Putnam and Metz, in the Altar-mounds in the Little Miami Valley, have brought to light many interesting and important sculptures in stone and terra-cotta, which, as works of art, are in some respects superior to those from the Scioto Valley, but as they have not yet been figured, we can only refer to them here in this brief note.
(95) “Number Eight,” Mound City, near Chillicothe, Ohio. “Ancient Monuments,” p. 152.
(96) Rau: “Anthropological Subjects,” p. 130. (97) Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 12.
(98) American Antiquarian, 1879, p. 64.
(99) McAdams: American Antiquarian, 1880, p. 140.
(100) “Smithsonian Report,” 1866. We have gathered these points for comparison from Dr. Rau’s article in that report. (101) Bella Hubbard, American Antiquarian, 1876, p. 219.
(102) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 346.

END OF CHAPTER X.**************************

The Prehistoric World:
or, Vanished Races by E. A. Allen

Processed by D.R. Thompson
drthom@ihug.co.nz

Chapter XI

THE PUEBLO COUNTRY.<1>

Description of the Pueblo Country–Historical outline– Description of Zuni–Definition of a Pueblo–Old Zuni– Inscription Rock–Pueblo of Jemez–Historical notice of Pecos –Description of the Moqui tribes–The Estufa–Description of the San Juan country–Aztec Springs–In the Canyon of the McElmo–The Ruins of the Rio Mancos–On Hovenweep Creek–Description of a Cliff-house–Cliff Town–Cave houses–Ruins on the San Juan– Cave Town–The Significance of Cliff-houses–Moqui traditions– Ruins in Northern New Mexico–Ruins in the Chaco Canyon–Pueblo Bonito–Ruins in South-western Arizona–The Rio Verde Valley– Casa Grande–Ruins on the Gila–Culture of the Pueblo Tribes– Their Pottery–Superiority of the Ancient pottery–Conclusion.

We have hitherto been describing people and tribes that have completely vanished. We have peered into the mysterious past and sought as best we could to conjure back the scenes of many years ago. The line between the known and the unknown, between the historic and prehistoric, is not far removed from us in the new world. Not yet four centuries have passed since the veil was lifted, and America, with her savage tribes of the North, and her rude civilization of the South, was revealed to the wondering eyes of Europe. But with a knowledge of this new land came also wondrous stories of wealth, and in consequence an army of adventurers were soon on her shores. Then follows a short period of war and conquest. The Indian race could not withstand the whites. European civilization, transplanted to America, has thriven. But whatever advance the native tribes have made since the discovery, has been by reason of contact with the whites.

Map of Pueblo Country.———–

There was no single birthplace of American culture. Advance took place wherever the climate was mild and the soil fertile, and thus an abundant supply of food could be obtained. One such locality was the valley of the San Juan, in what is now the southwestern part of the United States. It is quite allowable to suppose that here the mild climate and bountiful soil suggested agriculture, and with a knowledge of this, rude though it was, a beginning was made in a culture which subsequently excited the admiration of the Spaniards. However that may be, we know this section contains abundant ruins of former inhabitants. And yet again we find in this same country the remnants of this former people, doubtless living much the same sort of life as did their forefathers. American scholars, with the best of reason, think this section affords the best vantage ground from which to study the question of native American culture. It presents us not only with ruins of past greatness, but in the inhabited pueblos, gives us a picture of primitive times, and invites us, by a careful study of their institutions, to become acquainted with primitive society.

Travelers and explorers describe the scenery of the Pueblo country as a very peculiar one. It is bleak without being absolutely barren. The great mountain chains form picturesque profiles, which in a measure compensate for the lack of vegetation. No country on the face of the globe bears such testimony to the power of running water to wear away the surface. The rivers commenced by wearing down great canyons. They occur here on a grand scale. The canyon of the Colorado River, having a length of two hundred miles, and through the whole, nearly vertical walls of rock, three to six thousand feet in height. Nearly all the tributary streams of the Colorado empty into it by means of gorges nearly as profound. What is true of the Colorado is true, though in a lesser degree of the Rio Grande and of the Pecos, as only portions of these streams are canyon-born. But, besides digging out these canyons, the entire surface of the country has in places been removed to the depth of several hundred feet, leaving large extent of table-lands, called mesas, with generally steep, or even precipitous, sides, standing isolated here and there.

Though thus bearing evidence of more extended rainfall, and of the action of water in the past, it is essentially an arid country now. Most of the minor water-courses laid down on the map are dry half of the year, or have but scattered pools of water; so a description of the surface of the country would tell us of deep river valleys, in many cases narrow and running through rocky beds, in which case we call them canyons; in other cases very wide, but having generally precipitous sides; the country often mountainous and great stretches of table-land, but generally dry and desolate, except in the immediate vicinity of rivers. The river valleys themselves are generally very fertile.

Such is the country where we are to investigate native American culture. The history of the country since its first occupation by the Spaniards is not devoid of interest. It did not take the Indians of Mexico long to learn that what the Spaniards most prized was gold, and that the surest way to curry favor with them was to relate to them exaggerated stories of wonderful wealth to be gained in distant provinces. About 1530 the viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) learned from an Indian slave of seven great cities somewhere to the north; and of their wealth it was said they had streets exclusively occupied by workers in gold and silver.

Though expeditions to the northern provinces of Mexico speedily dispelled the illusions in regard to them, the wonderful story of the Seven Cities flitted further north. Six years later these stories were invested with new life by the arrival in Mexico of Cabeza De Vaca and three companions. The story of their remarkable wanderings reads like an extract from a work of fiction. They were members of the unfortunate Spanish expeditions to the coast of Florida in 1528. After the shipwreck and final overthrow of the expedition, these four men had wandered from somewhere on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, first north, and then west, passing through, probably, portions of Texas and New Mexico, until finally they were so fortunate as to meet with their own countrymen near Culiacan, in Mexico. The story they had to tell fell on willing ears. They stated to the viceroy that they had carefully observed the country through which they had passed, and had been told of great and powerful cities containing houses of four and five stories, with the usual accompaniments of great wealth.

The next incident was the journey of three Franciscan friars and a negro (who, by the way, had been with De Vaca in his wanderings), sent out by the Governor Coronado, with orders to return and report to him all they could learn by personal observation of the Seven Cities. This expedition did not accomplish much. Arriving near Cibola (the Spanish name for the country of the Seven Cities), they sent the negro on ahead to gain the good will of the Indians. Instead of this, he was killed by them. On hearing which, the monks contented themselves with gazing on the pueblo (which they describe as “more considerable than Mexico”) from a safe distance, and then hurriedly returned to Culiacan. They gave Coronado a most glowing account of all they had discovered.

Coronado now thought the time had come for decisive action. Accordingly, with the viceroy’s permission, he organized his forces, and in 1540 set out on his memorable march in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola. We do not propose to give in detail the series of conquests beginning with this expedition and finally ending with the subjection of New Mexico in 1598. It is needless to say that the Spanish forces found no cities teeming with wealth. What they did find was a country much the same as at present. The cities were the communal houses, or combination of houses, known as pueblos. The pueblo of Zuni is the remaining one of the mystical seven. The ruins of at least six other pueblos are known to be in the immediate vicinity.<2>

This historical account, short and imperfect as it is, introduces us to a most interesting people. If we would know more of them we can not do better than to adopt the advice of Hosta, ex governor of Jemez, to Dr. Loew: “If you wish to see what a great people we once were you must go upon the mesas and into the canyons of the vicinity, where ruins of our forefathers are numerous.”

One of the most important pueblos yet remaining inhabited, and one of the first that Coronado encountered in his expedition, is Zuni. The present pueblo is considered as the remaining one of the Seven Cities–at least, by the majority of Americanists. Whipple describes Zuni as follows: “Treading an opening between rocky bluffs, … we entered the valley, several miles in width, which leads to Zuni. The soil seemed light, but where cultivated it produced fine crops without the aid of irrigation. … Within the valley appeared occasional towers, where herders and, laborers watch to prevent a surprise from Apaches. Near the center of this apparent plain stood, upon an eminence, the compact city of Zuni.<3> By its side flowed the river which bears the same name. It is now but a rivulet of humble dimensions, though sometimes said to be a large stream. … Passing beneath an arch, we entered a court, … entirely surrounded by houses of several receding stories, which were attained by means of ladders loading from one to another. … From the top the pueblo reminds one of an immense ant-hill, from its similar form and dense population. … Going down from its outer side into the street, we encounter five stories of descent.”<4>

In order to prevent confusion, we will state that a pueblo, which is the Spanish name for these old Indian towns, may be one of several different types. A common form of village consists of but one or two, seldom three, large buildings, so arranged as to surround an interior court. Sometimes there is but one large building, which is nearly in the shape of a half circle; instead of being really circular, it has a number of different sides. In some cases a village consists of a number of these large houses irregularly arranged. But the tendency is always to inclose a square.<5>

In the modern villages the buildings forming the square do not meet, but in some cases are connected by bridges or covered gangways, and in some instances the houses project over the streets below, which, being narrow, are thus given an underground appearance.<6>

Illustration of Ground Plan and End View.————

The buildings, or communal houses, for one house contained sometimes five hundred rooms, are generally from three to four hundred feet long and about one hundred and fifty feet in width at the base. The lower story is divided by cross-walls into a mass of cell-like rooms, as shown in the illustrations which represents the ground plan of a pueblo having four ranges of rooms. Each story in height has one less range of rooms, so that, looking directly at the end of this building, it would present the appearance shown by this cut: The only means of getting from one terrace to the other is by the aid of ladders. In some cases these terraces run from both sides of the building; in others they face the inclosed space; and in others still they face outside. Most of the inhabited pueblos are built of adobe–that is, sun-dried bricks. The majority of the ancient ruins were built of stone set in adobe mortar. With this digression, we will now return to Zuni.

Illustration of Old Zuni.————

Ruins testifying to the former greatness of these people are scattered around them. Three miles to the east of the present pueblo of Zuni, on the bluff seen in the cut, are the ruins of a larger pueblo, which is called Old Zuni. Mr. Whipple, who explored this field of ruins, thus describes his visit: “The projecting summit of the cliffs seemed inaccessible. … We followed a trail which, with great labor, had been hammered out from seam to seam of the rocks along the side of the precipice. At various points of the ascent, where a projecting rock permitted, were barricades of stone walls, from which the old man<7> told us they had hurled rocks upon the invading Spaniards. Having ascended one thousand feet, we found ourselves upon a level surface, covered with thick cedars. … The top of the mesa was of an irregular figure, a mile in width, bounded upon all sides by perpendicular bluffs. … The guide hurried us on half a mile further, where appeared the ruins of a city, indeed. Crumbling walls, from two to twelve feet in height, were crowded together in confused heaps, over several acres of ground. … Upon examining the pueblo, we found the standing walls rested upon ruins of greater antiquity.<8> The primitive masonry, as well as we could judge, must have been about six feet thick. The more recent was not more than a foot or a foot and a half, but the small sandstone blocks had been laid in mud mortar with considerable care.”<9>

The descriptions of ruins have so much that is similar that repetitions become tiresome. We will not, therefore, delay much longer with Zuni. A few miles east of Old Zuni we come to Pescado Springs, near which are the ruins of several pueblos. “This spring bursts from a broken point of the lava bed, and at once becomes a pretty stream, glittering with great numbers of the finny tribe, which gives name to it. The circular wall which once inclosed the fountainhead is now partly broken down. Upon each side, and almost tangent, are ruins of pueblos so ancient that the traditions of present races do not reach them. They are nearly circular in form, and of equal dimension. One measured three hundred and fifteen short paces, about eight hundred feet, in circumference. They were of stone; but the walls have crumbled, leaving only a heap of rubbish.”<10>

Following up this stream, other ruins were found. It seems, then, that in the pueblo of Zuni we have left a pitiful remnant of a numerous people. When the Spaniards first appeared on the scene they were apparently prosperous. The rapid decrease of the Pueblo tribes was owing to several causes. In 1680 they made an attempt to throw off the Spanish yoke. At first this was successful. But inter-tribal warfare at once set in. At this time also the inroads of the Apaches and Navajos became so troublesome that the Pueblo tribes could not successfully cultivate their land. At this time also a succession of dry years set in, and famine was the result. Their customs and manners we will describe in another place. There are many reasons for supposing that the country had been inhabited for a very long period, even before the Spaniards invaded it. Some places must have been even then in ruins, or, if inhabited, it is very strange that the Spanish records do not mention them. Such, for instance, is Inscription Rock, about fifteen miles east of Old Zuni, which the Spaniards must have passed when on their way back and forth to Zuni.

Illustration of Inscription Rock.———-

The small mesa here ends with a bold front of white sandstone rock, rising almost vertically two hundred and fifty feet high. This cut gives us a view on the top of the table-rock. We see here the foundations of two old buildings. A deep ravine nearly divides this little plateau into two portions. As we have said, this rises with a bold, precipitous front from the plain. At one place this front is completely covered with inscriptions. Here the Indians, unknown years ago, made their strange hieroglyphics which, presenting to our eyes only a senseless combination of forms of animals and men and meaningless figures, may have conveyed to them knowledge of important events. A great many Spanish inscriptions have also been carved on the rock. Whipple calls attention to the fact that though Spanish inscriptions placed there nearly two hundred years ago, seem but slightly affected by atmospheric action, still some of the Indian hieroglyphics are “almost wiped out by the fingers of time.” A number of centuries have probably rolled away since they were inscribed.

It may be interesting to know the reading of some of these old inscriptions. A translation of one of the earliest and longest is here given, with the exception of a few words which could not be made out: “Bartolome Narrso, Governor and Captain-general of the province of New Mexico, for our lord, the king, passed by this place on his return from the pueblo of Zuni, on the 29th of July, of the year 1620, and put them in peace, at their petition, asking the favor to become subjects of his majesty, and anew they gave obedience; all of which they did with free consent, knowing it prudent as well as very Christian, … to so distinguished and gallant a soldier, indomitable and famed; we love …”<11>

It is somewhat strange to meet thus in the interior of the United States with the record of a military expedition some months before the Puritans landed at Plymouth. There seems to be nothing especial to describe about the ruins. Both Simpson and Whipple notice that the masonry seems to be unusually good. As it must have been very difficult to procure water, the location must have been chosen solely for the protection it afforded. The early Spanish accounts contain the names of one hundred and twenty-six pueblos. Some are, however, mentioned two or three times. Mr. Bandelier has succeeded in identifying every one. The Rio Puerco Valley was never a very prosperous one, and the river is scarcely a permanent one. At present a few ruins at Poblazon, for instance, are to be seen, and the valley looks poor and barren.

The valley of the Rio Grande River was occupied by a number of Pueblo tribes, and there are at present eight inhabited pueblos along this river, in New Mexico, and one in Texas. The region around Bernalillo was a prosperous section. At intervals, up and down the river, and along its tributaries, we can still trace low crumbling ruins, evidence of an old pueblo. If the statements of the Spanish writers are to be believed, the number of inhabited towns, at the time of the conquest, was at least ten times that now existing. The population could never have exceeded forty thousand. At present it contains about nine thousand. Still making all allowance for Spanish exaggeration, we are convinced that it was a thickly populated country at the time of the conquest.

One of the most interesting pueblos in New Mexico is Jemez, on a river of that name, sixty miles west of Santa Fe. We speak of it here because it is the center of a most interesting group of ruins. Like the pueblo of Zuni, it is a remnant only of a prosperous people. The reports of Coronado’s expedition frequently mention Jemez, though it may he doubtful whether they refer to the pueblo of that name now, or to one of the numerous ruined ones in the immediate vicinity. Jemez is a prosperous pueblo, having fine fields, large irrigating ditches, and extensive flocks of sheep.

Simpson describes it in 1849 as follows: “The pueblo of Jemez is an Indian town of between four and five hundred inhabitants, … and is built upon two or three parallel streets, the houses being of adobe construction, and having second stories disposed retreatingly upon the first, to which access is had by means of ladders. … About the premises are probably a dozen acres covered with apricot and peach trees. … The Rio de Jemez, upon which the pave lies, is an affluent of the Rio Grande, varies from thirty to fifty feet in breadth, is of a rapid current. … Patches of good corn and wheat skirt it here and there along its banks, and the extent of cultivable land bordering it may be estimated at about a mile in breadth.”

We are more interested, however, in ruins testifying to past greatness. “Six miles up the river you come to the union of two canyons–the Guadalupe and San Diego. Where the mesa between these canyons narrows itself to a point, are the ruins of two pueblos, one upon the lower prominence of the mesa, the other upon the mesa proper, and only approachable by two narrow, steep trails, the mesa everywhere else being nearly perpendicular, and seven hundred and fifty feet high. The view from the mesa is picturesque and imposing in the extreme. Far beneath, to the right and left, a stream makes its way between the colossal walls of the sandstone upon the narrow width of the mesa; near frightful precipices are the ruins of a town of eighty houses, partly in parallel rows, partly in squares, and partly perched between overhanging rocks, the rim and surfaces of which formed the walls of rooms, the gaps and interstices being filled in artificially.”

“Nearly every house had one story and two rooms. The building material was trachytic rock as found upon the mesa. Broken pottery, charred corn, and millstones for grinding corn, were found in some of the rooms. The roofs had all fallen in, and so also had many of the side walls, in the construction of which wood was but little used. Pinon trees have taken root within many of the former rooms. Upon asking my Indian guide whether the former inhabitants of this town were obliged to descend the steep and dangerous pathway every day to the creek to procure water, he replied there were cisterns upon the mesa, in which rain, formerly plentiful, was caught. He then called my attention to some conical heaps of stones along the rim of the precipice which was the material for defense.”<12>

This description introduces us to another class of ruins–that is, detached separate houses, different from the great communal structures we have already described. What connection exists between these two forms of houses will be studied in another place. As a rule, the rooms in the detached houses are larger than in the communal houses. Exceptions occur in some of the inhabited pueblos.<13> This is only one of many towns in ruins thereabouts. According to Dr. Loew there are no less than twenty-five or thirty.

It is not our purpose to describe any more of the pueblos of this section of New Mexico than is required to enable us to understand the customs, manners, and habits of the Pueblo tribes. We learn that in New Mexico we are brought face to face with feeble remnants of former tribes, and that these were probably in their most flourishing condition when the Spaniards first invaded the country, and though in a few instances the ruins imply a great antiquity, as at Inscription Rock, still we may be reasonably sure that the majority of them date but a few centuries back. The ruins of Catholic churches established by the Franciscan monks in the sixteenth century occur in several places, five being found around Jemez.

The story of the decline of the Pueblo tribes may be illustrated by the history of Pecos. This pueblo was situated on the Rio Pecos, about twenty-five miles south-east of Santa Fe. With the exception of the present inhabited town of Taos, it was the most eastern point reached by the pueblo building tribes. This, though a very large pueblo, has nothing especial to attract attention, except that the entire mesa was inclosed by a stone wall about six feet and a half high, and twenty inches thick, having a total length of three thousand, two hundred and twenty feet.<14> Its history is, however, interesting and instructive. Coronado, with his army, visited Pecos before he abandoned the country in 1543. His reports mention it as a prosperous pueblo. Several raids were made into New Mexico by Spanish parties, but the conquest proper occurred in 1598, when the Pecos pledged fidelity to the crown of Spain.

The Catholic Church at once set about establishing missions at various pueblos. The Pecos Church was established in 1629, though missionary work had been done here before that time. One of the priests who accompanied Coronado remained behind at Pecos. He was never afterwards heard from. This church became one of the most renowned in New Mexico. The inhabitants became herders as well as agriculturists. It was prosperous. In 1680 the Pueblo of Pecos sheltered two thousand Indians. “But a storm was brewing from whose effects the Pueblo tribes never recovered.” In 1680 the Indians rose against the Spanish and drove them from New Mexico. The priests were murdered, the churches were sacked. From this time doubtless date the ruins of the churches seen around Jemez. At Pecos and many other places intertribal warfare set in. Bloody battles were fought.

Neither were the Spaniards idle. In 1682 one expedition was made, and at least two pueblo towns were destroyed by them. In 1689 the entire country was reconquered. Some tribes were nearly exterminated, and all more or less weakened and a great many ruins date from that time. It was the beginning of a decline for the Pueblo tribes, and this decline was hastened by intertribal warfare, by drought, and by ravages from wild Indians. As to the drought, it is sufficient to state that some ruins are now fifteen, and even twenty, miles from permanent water. The Comanches were the scourge of the Pecos. On one occasion they slaughtered all the young men but one. This was a blow from which they never recovered. Finally reduced by sickness to but five adults, the Pecos sold their lands and, at the invitation of their brethren at Jemez, went to live with them, and the pueblo of Pecos speedily became the ruins we now find it.<15>

No doubt a similar history could be written of many other ruins. “Our people,” said Hosta, “were a warlike race, and had many fights, not only with the Spaniards, but also with other Indian tribes the Navajos and Taos, for instance and were thus reduced to this pueblo of Jemez, which now forms the last remnant.” New Mexico is now becoming rapidly “Americanized,” and it will soon be brought to a test whether the Pueblo tribes can withstand this new influence and retain their peculiar civilization, or whether, like many other races, their life force is nearly spent, in which case they will live only in history.

We must not overlook the Moki Pueblos in Arizona. They are situated one hundred miles northwest of Zuni. The Spaniards discovered them, and called their province Tusayan. They are much like the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, only they have been much less disturbed by outside influence. There are a number of ruined towns in this vicinity. We wish to refer to them because of their intimate connection with the ruins to the North. Their houses are built of stone on precipitous mesas.

Illustration of Wolpi. (Maj Powell)————

Lieut. Ives, who visited them in 1858, has left quite a full description of them. He states that “each pueblo is built around a rectangular court, in which, we suppose, are the springs that furnished the supply to the reservoirs. The exterior walls, which are of stone, have no openings, and would have to be scaled or battered down before access could be gained to the interior. The successive stories are set back, one behind the other. The lower rooms are reached through trap-doors from the first landing. The houses are three rooms deep, and open upon the interior court.”<16> He was much pleased with the manner in which they had terraced off the bluff of the mesas into little garden patches, irrigating them from the large reservoirs from the top.

There is one feature common to all the Pueblo tribes which is necessary to refer to here, from its connection with the ruined structures further north. In all of the inhabited pueblos there is a structure known as an Estafa, some pueblos having several. They are usually circular, but occasionally (as at Jemez) rectangular. They are generally subterranean, or mostly so. They are great institutions among the Pueblos. “In these subterranean temples the old men met in secret council, or assembled in worship of their gods. Here are held dances, festivities, and social intercourse.”

Another common feature, represented in this cut, is the watch-tower. It is either round, as in this case, or rectangular. It may be interesting to recall in this connection the signal mounds of the Mound Builders. They were not always in the immediate vicinity of other ruins. Neither can we state that there was a system in their arrangement, one answering to another at a distance, and yet it was noticed where the rains were numerous that several were in view from one point.<17> In dimensions these towers range from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and from five to fifteen feet in height, while the walls are from one to two feet thick. They are in many cases connected with structures rectangular in form.

Illustration of Watch Tower.———–

We will now leave the inhabited pueblos and the ruins in their immediate vicinity and, going to the north, explore a section of country that shows every evidence of having sustained a considerable population some time in the past. To understand this fact clearly, it will be necessary to fix the location of the places named by means of the map. From time to time confused reports of the wonders to be seen in the San Juan section of Colorado had appeared in the East, but the first clear and satisfactory account is contained in the reports of Messrs. Jackson and Holmes, members of the U.S. Geographical and Geological survey of the territories under Dr. Hayden for 1874 and 1876.

In the south-western portion of Colorado is a range of mountains known as the San Juan. Stretching from their base west to the Sierras is a great plateau region, drained by the numerous tributaries of the San Juan River. It would, perhaps, be more in keeping with the facts of the case to say “had been drained some time in the past,” for this is now such an arid, semi-desert country that the majority of the streams are dry, or have but scattered pools of water in them, during a large portion of the year; and yet, at times, great volumes of water go sweeping through them. This whole plateau is cut up with long, canyoned valleys, presenting, in effect, the same surface features that we have already described in New Mexico. Yet this precipitous, canyon-marked section of country is literally filled with the crumbling ruins of a former people. The situation in which they occur is in many cases very singular, and the whole subject is invested with great interest to us, because we see in them the remains of a people evidently the same as the Pueblo people to-day.

One of the most extensive ruins in this section is situated at Aztec Springs. This, it will be seen, is about midway between the Rio Mancos and the McElmo. Mr. Holmes found the site of the spring, but it contained no water. He was told, however, by those familiar with the locality that there had been a living spring there up to within a few years. It was evidently a place of considerable importance once. Mr. Holmes describes the ruins as forming the most imposing pile of masonry found in Colorado. They cover an area of over ten acres. This includes only the ruins around the springs. But all about this central portion are scattered and grouped the remnants of smaller structures. So that nearly a square mile is covered with the ruins of this ancient pueblo. Most of the stone used was brought from the Mesa Verde (Green Plateau), a mile away, and must have been a great work for a people so totally without facilities.

Illustration of Ruins at Aztec Springs.———-

It will be seen that immediately to the right of the Springs is a large rectangular ruin in better preservation than the rest. This now “forms a great mound of crumbling rock from twelve to twenty feet in height, overgrown with artemisia, but showing clearly, however, its rectangular structure, adjusted approximately to the four points of the compass.” This house, from its massive walls, must have had an original height of at least forty feet. “The walls seem to have been doubled, with a space of seven feet between; a number of cross-walls at regular intervals indicate that this space has been divided into apartments, as seen in the plan.” Two low lines of rubbish cross the square, probably partition walls.

Surrounding this house is a net-work of fallen walls, so completely reduced that none of the stones seem to remain in place. Mr. Holmes was at a loss to know whether to call them a cluster of irregular apartments, having low, loosely built walls, or whether they are the remains of imposing pueblos. In the group of ruins to the left of the spring are two well-defined circular estufas. Below the main mass of ruins, connected by low walls of ruins, is another great square, nearly two hundred feet in dimensions. One wall seems to have consisted of a row of apartments; the other walls served to simply inclose the square, near the center of which was another large estufa.

Several important conclusions can be drawn from a study of this locality. The spring, now dry, was once evidently the source of a considerable stream. Whether the group of low ruins were collections of small houses, or remains of imposing pueblos, we need not doubt that the walls of the square inclosures were composed of pueblo houses. The estufas were probably in all respects similar to those of the present inhabited pueblos. The country around, now so dry and barren, must once have supported considerable population. As to the period of abandonment, we have nothing to guide us. Being an agricultural settlement, it was probably abandoned at an earlier date than the cave-dwellings and cliff-houses of the canyons of the vicinity. The reason for this will appear subsequently. The site of this ruin, as well as for a long distance around, is covered with pieces of broken pottery. We notice that the spring has only lately gone dry. This illustrates the changes now taking place all through the country. It is drying up, and this process has been in operation for a long while.

Illustration of Ruins in the McElmo Canyon.——-

Many groups of ruins are now in localities where the people could not hope for subsistence. About six miles to the north of these ruins, about a mile from the McElmo, is the group of ruins here represented, which may throw some light on the remains at Aztec Springs. The principal feature is the triple walled tower, of which a plan is given. The tower has a diameter of about forty-three feet, and a circumference of about one hundred and thirty-five feet. The walls are traceable nearly all the way around, and the space between the two outer ones, which is about five feet, contains fourteen apartments or cells. The walls about one of these cells were still standing at the time of Mr. Holmes’s visit, but the cell was filled with rubbish from the fallen walls. A door-way, opening into this apartment, could still be seen. The inner wall was probably never very high. It simply inclosed the estufa.

The ruins surrounding this tower consist of low, fallen walls, scarcely traceable. The apartments number nearly one hundred, and were generally rectangular. They are not of a uniform size, and were certainly not arranged in regular order. Now, as Mr. Holmes observes, it would certainly seem that, if they are the ruins of such structures as the pueblos of the south, there would be some regularity of size, and some systematic arrangement. He says that, in reality, they are more like a cluster of pens, such as are used by the Moqui tribes for keeping sheep and goats.

Since these surveys were made, Mr. Bandelier, as agent for the Archaeological Institute, has made important researches. He finds that the small, detached houses, such as we described in the ruined village near Jemez, are found in Arizona, with a small court-yard or inclosure attached to them. If we understand the description of the ruins just mentioned, and those at Apache Springs, they are villages of these small houses and their inclosures. In such villages the inclosures meet each other, so as to form a checker-board of irregularly alternating houses and courts. The houses are easily discernible from the fact of little rubbish mounds having accumulated where they stood. Around these parts of the wall can still be traced. This combination makes a strong, easily defended position. Each of such villages contains one or more open spaces of large size, but they are irregularly located.

We must notice one point more: Each village of this nature, that was of any size, contained a larger ruin in the center. This was noticed in the ruins at Aztec Springs. This larger building was in the nature of a citadel, and there the inhabitants could retire when the approaches were carried by the enemy. This central building ultimately swallowed up all the others, and so developed into the pueblo structures we have noticed. The little walled inclosures surrounding the houses were largely in the nature of defenses. Tradition asserts that in many cases they were garden plats, and appearances sometimes confirm this. “They may also have been the yard proper for each family, in which the latter slept, cooked–in fact, lived–during the heat of the Summer months.”<18>

Referring once more to the ruins near the McElmo, we are told that every isolated rock and bit of mesa within a circle of miles of this place is strewn with remnants of ancient dwellings. We presume these were small, separate houses. They may have been outlying settlements of the tribe whose main village was at Aztec Springs. We must also notice the small tower in the corner. This was a watch tower. It was fifteen feet in diameter, walls three and a half feet thick, and in 1876 was still five feet high, It overlooked the surrounding country. The rainfall in the past must have been more abundant, to support the population we are justified in thinking once lived there. The nearest water is now a mile away, and during the dry season some fifteen miles to the north, in the Rio Dolores, and yet we have every reason to believe these old inhabitants were very saving of water. They built cisterns and reservoirs to store it up against the time of need.

Illustration of Tower on the Rio Mancos.———–

We give a cut of the tower of the ruins of a similar village, or settlement, to the one just described, which occurs twenty miles to the southeast in the canyon of the Rio Mancos. Being so similar, we will mention it here. In this case the tower had only two walls. Mr. Holmes says the diameter of the outer wall is forty-three feet, that of the inner twenty-five feet. The space between the two circles is divided by cross-walls into ten apartments. This tower is placed also in the midst of a group of more dimly marked ruins or foundations, extending some distance in each direction from it. Mr. Holmes, however, states that there are no ruins of importance in connection with this tower, but that there are a number of ruins in the immediate vicinity. In this case, then, the citadel (if such it was) was not directly connected with other ruins.

The Rio Mancos, that we have just mentioned, was a favorite place of resort for these old people. This stream, rising in the La Platte Mountains, flows through beautiful valleys to a great table-land known as the Mesa Verde. Mr. Jackson explored this valley in 1874, and he reports as follows: “Commencing our observation in the park-like valley of the Mancos, between the mesa and the mountains, we find that the low benches which border the stream upon either side bear faint vestiges of having at some far away time been covered with dwellings, grouped in communities apparently, but so indistinct as to present to the eye little more than unintelligible mounds. By a little careful investigation, however, the foundation of great square blocks of single buildings and of circular inclosures can be made out, the latter generally of a depressed center, showing an excavation for some purpose.”

From this description we can not quite make out whether these ruins are great communal buildings, like the modern pueblo, or clusters of separate houses. We incline to the latter opinion, however. The circular depressed area was doubtless used as an Estufa, the place of religious meetings for men alone. “The greater portion of these mounds are now overgrown with artemisia, pinion-pine, and cedar, concealing them almost entirely from casual observation.” “We found the surest indication of their proximity in the great quantity of broken pottery which covered the ground in their neighborhood. The same curiously indented, painted, and glazed ware, was found throughout New Mexico and Arizona. It was all broken into very small pieces, none that we could find being larger than a silver dollar.” Specimens of this pottery will be figured in its appropriate place.

“Nowhere among these open plane habitations could we discover any vestige of stone-work, either in building material or implements. It is very evident that the houses were all of adobe, the mound-like character of the remains justifying that belief.” In this last respect we note a difference between these remains and those already described. The mesa verde is one of those elevated plateaus we have so often described. Through this the Mancos has cut a canyon nearly thirty miles in length, and from one to two thousand feet deep. The description we have already given is of the valley of the river before coming to the canyon.

Entering the canyon, Mr. Jackson continues: “Grouped along in clusters, and singly, were indications of former habitations, very nearly obliterated, and consisting mostly, in the first four or five miles, of the same mound-like forms noticed above, and accompanied always by the scattered, broken pottery. Among them we find one building of squared and carefully laid sandstone, one face only exposed of three or four courses, above the mass of debris which covered every thing.
This building lay within a few yards of the banks of the stream, was apparently about ten feet by eight, the usual size, as near as we could determine, of nearly all the separate rooms or houses in the larger blocks, none larger, and many not more than five feet square. The stones exposed are each about seven by twelve inches square, and four inches thick, those in their original position retaining correct angles, but, when thrown down, worn away by attrition to shapeless bowlders.”

“As we progressed down the canyon the same general characteristics held good. The great majority of the ruins consisting of heaps of debris a central mass considerably
higher and more massive than the surrounding lines of sub-divided squares. Small buildings, not more than eight feet square, were often found standing alone apparently, no trace of any other being detected in their immediate neighborhood.” We would call especial attention in this description to the character of the ruins, the central, higher mass surrounded by other ruins; also to the houses found occasionally standing alone. We notice they are of the same general character as the ruins at Aztec Springs.

We are finding abundant evidence that this section was once thickly settled. Going back to the triple-walled tower on the McElmo, Mr. Jackson says of the immediate vicinity: “On the mesa is group after group upon the same general plan, a great central tower and smaller surrounding buildings. They cover the whole breadth and length of the land, and, turn which way we would, we stumbled over the old mound and into the cellars, as we might call them, of these truly aborigines.” We believe, however, that no excavation for cellar purposes are found in the entire region covered by these ancient ruins.

“Starting down the canyon (the McElmo), which gradually deepened as the table-land rose above us, we found upon either hand very old and faint vestiges of the homes of a forgotten people, but could give them no more attention than merely noting their existence.”

Mr. Morgan has shown the existence of regular large houses in the valley of Aminas River, east of the Mancos;<19> and he also speaks of the ruins at the commencement of McElmo Canyon as being large communal buildings. We should judge from Mr. Jackson’s report just given that these ruins were rather small clusters of houses of the same design as the ruins at Apache Springs.

Near the Utah boundary line we notice the Hovenweep Creek joining the McElmo from the north. The mesa, narrowing to a point where the two canyons meet, is covered with ruins much like what we have described already. The Hovenweep is appropriately named, meaning “deserted valley.”

Illustration of Ruins in the Hovenweep Canyon.——–

Further west still is the Montezuma Valley. Mr. Jackson’s party found the ruins so numerous as to excite surprise at the numbers this narrow valley must have supported. He says, “We camped at the intersection of a large canyon coming in from the west. … At this point the bottoms widen out to from two to three hundred yards in width, and are literally covered with ruins, evidently those of an extensive settlement or community, although at the present time water was so scarce (there not being a drop within a radius of six miles) that we were compelled to make a dry camp. The ruins consist evidently of great solid mounds of rock debris, piled up in
rectangular masses, covered with earth and a brush growth, bearing every indication of extreme age–just how old is about as impossible to tell as to say how old the rocks of this canyon are. This group is a mile in length, in the middle of the valley space, and upon both sides of the wash. Each separate building would cover a space, generally, of one hundred feet square; they are seldom subdivided into more than two or four apartments. Relics were abundant, broken pottery and arrow-points being especially plenty. At one place, where the wash held partially undermined the foundation of ore of the large buildings, it exposed a wall of regularly laid masonry, extending down six feet beneath the superincumbent rubbish to the old floor-level, covered with ashes and the remains of half-charred sticks of juniper.”

Lower down, the valley was noted for little projecting tongues of rock extending out into the canyon, sometimes connected with the main walls of the canyon by narrow ledges of rock, and in cases even this had disappeared, leaving detached masses of rock standing quite alone. “Within a distance of fifteen miles there are some sixteen or eighteen of these promontories and isolated mesas of different height, every one of them covered with ruins of old and massive stone-built structures.”

We have been somewhat full in our description of these ruins, yet their importance justifies this course. So far we see but very little to remind us of the pueblo towns. On the other hand, the buildings seem to be often single houses, or a few houses grouped together. In some locations they were built of stone, in others of adobe. It is to be observed, however, that the houses are very small–not larger than the rooms in the modern pueblos. We evidently have here quiet scenes of agricultural life. They of course had enemies, and guarded against their attacks by the watch-towers, of which an example is given in the McElmo ruins. The country must have been better watered than now, the soil productive the seasons kind; and who can tell how long these agricultural tribes held the land? Under these conditions, time must have been rapidly bringing them civilization. But we must now turn to a sorrowful chapter in their history, and trace the dispersion of these tribes, their unavailing attempts to hold their own against a savage foe, and the desperate chances they took before leaving the land of their fathers.

This brings us to a consideration of cliff-houses–that is, houses so placed that manifestly the only reason the people would have for putting them where found would be of a defensive nature; and, for a similar reason, we may be very sure they are of a later date than the majority of the ruins in the valley or in the canyons. People would never have settled in the valley in the first place if they had felt the necessity of seeking inaccessible places in which to build shelters as a resort in time of need. We can not do better than to refer once more to Mr. Jackson’s exploration in the valley of the Rio Mancos. We have already referred to it in reference to the larger ruins.

Illustration of Two-storied House in the Mancos Canyon.—-

This cut gives us a general view of the first cliff-house discovered in this valley. This was far up on the cliff. Mr. Jackson says, “We had no field-glass with the party, and to this fact is probably due the reason we had not seen others during the day in this same line, for there is no doubt that ruins exist throughout the entire length of the canyon, far above and out of the way of ordinary observation.” Subsequently Mr. Holmes proved this supposition to be true. The sides of this canyon have nearly all their ledges occupied by these houses.

Every advantage was taken, both natural and artificial, to conceal them from view. “Cedars and pines grew thickly along the ledges upon which they are built, hiding completely any thing behind them. All that we did find were built of the same materials as the cliffs themselves with but few, and then only the smallest, appertures toward the canyon, the surface being dressed very smooth, and showing no lines of masonry. It was only on the very closest inspection that the houses could be separated from the cliff.”

Illustration of View of Cliff in which the House is Situated.–

To illustrate the singular position in which this house was located, we introduce this cut. It is seven hundred feet above the valley. “Whether viewed from below or from the heights above, the effect is almost startling, and one can not but feel that no ordinary circumstances could have driven a people to such places of resort.” As showing the difficulty an enemy would have to approach such a house, we give Mr. Jackson’s account of his climb to it:

“The first five hundred feet of ascent were over a long, steep slope of debris, overgrown with cedar, then came
alternately perpendiculars and slopes. Immediately below the house was a nearly perpendicular ascent of one hundred feet, that puzzled us for a while, and which we were only able to surmount by finding cracks and crevices into which fingers and toes could be inserted. From the little ledges occasionally found, and by stepping upon each other’s shoulders, and grasping tufts of yucca, one would draw himself up to another shelf, and then, by letting down a stick of cedar or a hand, would assist the others.”

“Soon we reached a slope, smooth and steep, in which there had been cut a series of steps, now weathered away into a series of undulating hummocks, by which it was easy to ascend, and without them almost an impossibility. Another short, steep slope, and we were under the ledge on which stood our house.” By referring to the first cut, we see that the house stands on a very narrow ledge, and that the rocks overhang it so as to furnish a roof. It will also be noticed that the ledge is rounding, so that the outer walls of the house rise from an incline. Piers, or abutments, had also been built along the ledge, so as to form an esplanade.

Illustration of Plan of the House.————-

The house itself was only about twelve feet high, but this had been divided into two stories. Whether it ever had any other roof than the overhanging walls of rock is doubtful. The plan is shown in the preceding cut. The curved apartment at the right is a reservoir, capable of holding about five barrels. A series of pegs were inserted in the wall, so as to form a means of descent from a window to the bottom. A number of doorways are seen in the plan; a cut of one is presented in this figure.

Illustration of Doorway of the House.—————-

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 canyon, but an ornamental border was added to the plastering of the interior rooms.

Illustration of 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 canyon-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 canyon; 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 canyon, 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 he 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 canyon, 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.

Illustration of Cliff-town, Rio Mancos.————

These cliff-houses, of which we give illustrations, are quite common in the Mancos. Our frontispiece shows an interesting