MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
About the mythology of the Pecos Indians, aside from the Montezuma story and the sacred embers, the tale of the Great[p. 126] Snake ("la vívora grande") appears to be widely circulated. It is positively asserted[181] that the Pecos adored, and the Jemez and Taos still adore, an enormous rattlesnake, which they keep alive in some inaccessible and hidden mountain recess. It is even dimly hinted at that human sacrifices might be associated with this already sufficiently hideous cult. I give these facts as they were given to me, and shall not believe them until I am compelled. It has always been the natural tendency in everything which (like the idolatrous practices still existing among the pueblos, of which there is no doubt) we do not positively know, to make bad look worse and good better than it actually is. The prospect of securing a knowledge of it is, however, not very good. The Indians themselves appear to deny it, and are generally very reticent about their aboriginal beliefs.
I have previously mentioned that Ruiz had been called upon by the Indians of Pecos to do his duty by attending to the sacred fire for one year, and that he refused. The reason for his refusal appears to have been that there was a belief to the effect that any one who had ever attended to the embers would, if he left the tribe, die without fail, and he did not wish to expose himself to such a fate.
About the social organization of the Pecos Indians, it has not been possible, of course, to ascertain anything as yet. That they lived on the communal plan is plainly shown by the construction of their houses. That they were originally, at least, organized into clans or gentes, can be inferred; but here I must remark that it may be difficult to trace those clusters among the Rio Grande pueblos, on account of their weakness in numbers, and of the intermixture of the Tehua, Tanos,[p. 127] and Queres stocks resulting from the convulsion of 1680. It may be possible, however, to find them at Jemez. They exist at Laguna and among the Moquis, according to Mr. Morgan, and I do not doubt but that Mr. Cushing, who is so thoroughly studying the Zuñi Indians, has by this time settled the question for that tribe. One fact, however, I consider to be ascertained; namely, that there were neither castes nor classes among the pueblos, therefore not at Pecos. At the head of their communal government were the usual three officers,—the gobernador, the capitan de la guerra, and the cacique. I am not quite clear yet as to the proper functions of each, except that the first two are both warriors ("ambos son guerreros," Ruiz); that the capitan has also the supervision of the lands of the tribe; and that the cacique is more or less a religious functionary. Mr. D. J. Miller states that the latter very seldom leaves the pueblo. It was therefore an unusual act when the cacique of Jemez came to Pecos in 1840, and I presume it was brought about through his connection with the holy fire. I asked Sr. Ruiz very distinctly as to whether these three officers were elective or not, and he promptly affirmed that they were ("son elegidos por el pueblo"). I then inquired if the sons succeeded to the fathers in office, and his reply was that there was no objection to their being elected thereto if they were qualified ("si son buenos"). This disposes of the question of heredity in office, rank, and title, and it is almost identical with the customs found by Alonzo de Zuevita among the Indians of Mexico in the middle of the sixteenth century. How the presumable "gentes" of the Pecos might have localized for dwelling in the great communal houses I am, of course, unable to conjecture.
In regard to their marriage customs, their mode of naming children, etc., I have not been able to gather much information as yet. The old marriage customs are supplanted by[p. 128] those of the church. Still, they may be traced up eventually. Every Pecos Indian had, besides his Spanish name, an Indian name; and there is, according to Mr. Ritch, still a Pecos Indian at Jemez whose aboriginal appellation is "Huaja-toya" (Spanish pronunciation). I heard of him this morning (Sept. 17) through an Indian of Jemez. What I know of their burials is already stated.
Of their agriculture, or rather horticulture, I have also spoken; the modes of cultivation have not been explained to me as yet. Irrigation is therefore the only part of their tillage system upon which I have been able to gather any information. In addition to what the preceding pages may contain, Sr. Vigil has assured me that they also irrigated their huerta from the arroyo. This thin fillet of clear water, now scarcely 0.50 m.—20 in.—in width, fills at times its entire gravelly bed, 100 m. to 150 m.—327 ft. to 490 ft.—from bank to bank. This does not occur annually, but at irregular intervals. Sr. Ruiz said that while the Pecos Indians were living at their pueblo the streams were filled with water ("en ese tiempo, corrieron los arroyos con agua, muy abundante"). It is further said that the tribe worked other "gardens" besides, on the banks of the river Pecos, two miles to the east.
For their arts and industry I must refer to the collections, however meagre and unsatisfactory they are; a condition for which I have already apologized. Nowhere did I find a trace of iron nor of copper, although they used the latter for ornaments (bracelets, etc.), and there can be no doubt that they had the former metal also,—after the Spanish conquest, of course. The squaring of timbers, the scroll-work and friezes in the church, could only be done with instruments of iron. But all traces of these implements have disappeared from the ruins, as far as the surface is concerned. I can[p. 129]not refrain, however, from dwelling at greater length upon two products of industry, so common among the ruins as hardly to attract the attention of curiosity-hunters any more. These are the flakes of obsidian and lava and the painted pottery.
I have called these flakes a product of industry; while the material itself is of course a mineral, the fragments scattered about are undoubted products of skill. They are chips and splinters. There is neither lava nor obsidian cropping out in or about the valley,[182] but highly volcanic formations are abundantly found to the north, within fifty miles from Pecos, in the high Sierra de Mora; perhaps, also, nearer yet. At all events, the mineral has been brought to the pueblo and chipped there. The same is the case with the flint flakes, agates, jaspers, and moss-agates, with the difference, however, that, in the case of these, water has done a great part of the carrying, if not all; whereas the drift of the arroyo contains no obsidian nor lava, except such as has clearly been washed into it from the ruins. Among the flakes there will be noticed several which may have been used for knives, whereas still others approximate to the arrow-head. A small perfect arrow-head was found and transmitted by me to the Institute,—the only one I met with on the premises.[183]
The fact that several localities at Pecos are completely devoid of obsidian has already been mentioned. These are[p. 130] the oldest ruins. In the case of the ruins along the mesa and those south of the church, I can only speak of the surface; but where the corrugated pottery was found the whole section of the bluff was exposed for more than 100 m.—327 ft.,—and still not a trace of the mineral appeared, while flint, agate, and jasper were rather conspicuous.[184] This may be accidental, but it is certainly suspicious and suggestive.
The painted pottery is scattered in wagon-loads of fragments over the ruins. There are two places, however, where, as already stated, the surface is utterly devoid of them. Whether or not this deficiency extends to the soil, I cannot tell. I doubt it, however. These localities are, again, the apron along the mesa and the ruins south of the church. For the rest, it is very equally distributed everywhere. Still there are two distinct kinds at least. One is exactly similar to the kind now made and sold: it is coarse, soft; the ground is painted gray or yellow; the ornaments show, in few instances, traces of animal shapes (they are either black or brown); and the vessels must have been thick, and with a thicker coarse rim. Out of the grave in the mound V, the pottery was more perfect. There are pieces of a tinaja (bowl) with a vertical rim, yellow outside, white inside, with black geometrical ornamentation, not vitrified. This kind of pottery is still made by the Indians of Nambé, of Tezuque, and of Cochiti. (The former two are Tehuas, the latter is Queres.) But there I also found fragments of a plain black pottery, of dark red, and of dark red with black ornaments, which are thinner and much superior in "ring," and therefore in quality, to any now made. This pottery is older in date, and appears to be almost a lost art. There was, however, no distinction in distribution. Both kinds have one point in common, namely, the varnishing of the[p. 131] ornamental surfaces. I say varnishing,[185] and not "glazing;" for, although I believe the glassy appearance of the painted lines to be due to some admixture of the coloring material, and not to a separate glossy exterior coating, I do not as yet find a reason for admitting that the Indians knew the process of vitrification.
Of the military manufactures of the Pecos, a small arrow-head of obsidian found near the church is the only trace. It is even too small for a war-arrow. They had stone hatchets, and may have had the dart, and, later on, the spear. Pebbles convenient for hurling are promiscuously observed on the mesilla, but they are not numerous; and nowhere along the circumvallation did I notice any trace of heaps.[186] The military constructions, however, become very interesting through their connection with the system of drainage and a comparison with the ancient Mexicans. Around the ancient pueblo of Mexico ("Tenuchtitlan") the water formed the protective circumvallation; at Pecos, the defensive wall collected the water and conducted it where it was needed for subsistence for the irrigation of crops.
That this great circumvallation, 983 m.—3,225 ft.—in circuit, was a wall for protection also there is no doubt, although the main strength of the pueblo lay in the construction of its houses, where the inhabitants could simply shut themselves in and await quietly until the enemy was tired of prowling around it. By Indians it could only be carried by surprise or treachery.[187] Hence it was customary for the young men to leave the[p. 132] pueblo at times in a body, abandoning it to the old men and women, etc., without concern.[188] As long as these kept good watch they were safe, even if the Comanches should appear. Roaming Indians cannot break open a pueblo house if well guarded. For that purpose alone the mounds near the great gate, and the mound H, [Pl. IV.], were erected. They were watch-towers for special purposes, for particular sections, where the lookouts from the wall-tops were not sufficient.[189] These two mounds—one on each side of the gateway—overlooked the fields and the creek-bank: in the morning, when the people went out to work, or to carry drinking water from the spring opposite; during the day, while they attended to their simple labor of tillage.
The mound and tower H performed a similar office towards the steep ledge of rocks there descending, among whose fragments Indians could hide for hours from the scouts on the house tops. Thus the great enclosure with its details served a triple purpose. It was the reservoir which held and conducted the waters precipitated on the mesilla to the useful purpose of irrigation. It was a preliminary defensive line,—a first obstruction to a storming foe, and a shelter for its defenders. But it was also in places an admirable post of observation. It formed the necessary complement to the houses themselves,[190] and both together composed a system of defences which, inadequate against the military science of civilization,[p. 133] was still wonderfully adapted for protection against the stealthy, lurking approach, the impetuous but "short-winded" dash, of Indian warfare.
In conclusion of this lengthy report, I may be permitted to add a few lines concerning the great houses themselves. Their mode and manner of construction and occupation I have already discussed; it is their abandonment and decay to which I wish to refer. This decay is the same in both houses; the path of ruin from S.S.E. to N.N.W. indicates its progress. It shows clearly that, as section after section had been originally added as the tribe increased in number, so cell after cell (or section after section) was successively vacated and left to ruin as their numbers waned, till at last the northern end of the building alone sheltered the poor survivors. They receded from south to north; for the church, despoiled and partly destroyed in 1680, was no protection to them. Its own ruin kept pace with that of the tribe.[191] The northern extremity of the pueblo was their best stronghold, and thither they retired step by step in the face of inevitable doom.
A. F. Bandelier.
Santa Fé, Sept. 17, 1880.
To Professor C. E. Norton, President of the Archæological Institute of America, Cambridge, Mass.
GRANT OF 1689 TO THE PUEBLO OF PECOS.
The following is a literal copy of the original grant, now (Sept. 25, 1880) on file at the United States Surveyor-General's office at Santa Fé, made to the inhabitants of the Indian pueblo of Pecos in New Mexico. The language of the document is not altogether clear, but the essential terms are distinct:—
Año de 1689
| En el Pueblo de nu. S.a de Guadalupe del Paso del Riodel Norte en veinte y cinco dias del mes de Sep.te de mil seiscientosy ochenta y nueve años el Señor Gov.or y Cap.n Gen.lD.a Domingo Jironza Petroz de Cruzate dijo que por quantoen el alcanze que se dio en los de la Nueva Mex.co de losYndios Queres y los Apostatas y los Teguas y de la nacionThanos y despues de haber peleado con todos los demasYndios de todos Pueblos un Yndio del Pueblo de Zia llamadoBartolomé de Ojeda que fue el que mas se señaló en la vatallaacudiendo á todas partes se rindio viendose herido deun balazo y un flechaso lo cual como dicho es mando quedebajo de juram.to declare como se halla el Pu.o de Pecosaunque queda muy metido á donde el sol sale y fueron unosYndios Apostatas de aquel Reyno de la Nueva Mexico. |
Preguntado que si este Pu.o volverá en algun tiempo comoha sido constumbre en ellos y dice el confesante que no queya está muy metido en terror que aunque estaban abilantadoscon lo que les habia susedido á los de el Pu.o de Zia el añopasado juzgaba que era un imposible que dejaran de dar laobediencia; por lo cual se concedieron por el Señor Governadory Capitan General D.a Domingo Jironza Petroz deCruzate los linderos que aqui anoto; para el. Norte unalegua; y para el Oriente una legua; y para el Poniente unalegua; y para el Sur una legua; y medidas estas cuatro lineasde las cuatro esquinas del Pu.o dejando á salvo el temploque queda al medio dia del Pu.o y asi lo proveyo mando yfirmo susca [?] á mi el presente Secretario de Gov.on yGuerra que de ello doy fé. D.a Domingo Jironza Petroz de Cruzate. Ante mi Don Pedro Ladron de Guitara Sc.o de G.n y Gu.a |
[Translation.]
In the year 1689.
| In the Pueblo of Our Lady of Guadalupe of El Pasodel Rio del Norte, on the twenty-fifth day of the monthof September, in the year sixteen hundred and eightynine, the Governor and Captain-General, Don DomingoJironza Petroz de Cruzate, said that inasmuch as duringthe pursuit of the men of New Mexico, [namely], of theQueres Indians, and the Renegades, and the Teguas, andthose of the Thanos nation, and after the fight with allthe rest of the Indians of all the Pueblos—an Indian ofthe Pueblo of Zia, named Bartholomé de Ojeda, who hadgreatly distinguished himself in the fight, assisting at everypoint, surrendered, having been wounded by a bullet andby an arrow; he [the Governor] ordered that he shoulddeclare, under oath, how the Pueblo of Pecos is disposed,although it lies far off toward the sunrise, and [itspeople] are renegade Indians of that kingdom of NewMexico. |
Being asked whether [the inhabitants of] this Pueblowill ever return to their old ways, he, the deponent, saysthat they will not, since they are now in great terror,and though they were very much emboldened by whathad happened to those of the Pueblo of Zia the year before,he thought it was impossible that they should fail togive in their submission. Wherefore there were granted bythe Governor and Captain-General, Don Domingo JironzaPetroz de Cruzate, the boundaries here noted: to thenorth a league, and to the east a league, and to the west aleague, and to the south a league; and these four linesmeasured from the four corners of the Pueblo, reservingthe temple, which lies to the south of the Pueblo; andthus did his Excellency provide, command, and signbefore me, the present Secretary of the Interior and ofWar, who attest it. Don Domingo Jironza Petroz de Cruzate. Before me, Don Pedro Ladron de Guitara, Secretary of the Interior and of War. |
FOOTNOTES
[87] Lieut.-Col. W. H. Emory, Notes of a Military Reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in California, Executive Document 41, Washington, 1848. Meteorological Observations, p. 163. Camp 44, half-mile south of the Pecos, Aug. 17, 1846, altitude six thousand three hundred and forty-six feet. Camp 45, on the Pecos, near Pecos village, August 18, six thousand three hundred and sixty-six feet.
[88] This is the lowest height of the peaks seen from the valley. Some of the other tops are much higher yet. The altitude of Santa Fé Baldy, for instance, exceeds twelve thousand feet.
[89] Not to be confounded with the Rio de Pecos proper. The arroyo is not found on most of the maps. Its width is about 100 m.—330 ft.—but there is scarcely ever more than a mere fillet of very clear, limpid water in it.
[90] This is, however, only accidental, and exclusively due to nine months of consecutive drouth. Generally the strips of bottom-land have a rich soil, and grow fine corn, wheat, and oats.
[91] They are very picturesque objects, and stand out boldly, appearing to rise directly from the plain. Their height is stated to be about thirteen thousand feet. In this vicinity are the Placitas, now famous for mineral wealth (gold and silver), and the Cerrillos, also rich in ore, and containing beautiful green and blue turquoises, of which I saw excellent specimens in possession of His Excellency Governor L. Wallace.
[92] Baughl's Sidings is a switch and large storing-place for ties. Even the Spaniards call it La Switcha. It is about 800 m.—2,620 ft.—from the foot of the mesa, in a belt of fine large pine timber, very high, and gives glimpses of splendid views over the valley of Pecos to the Sierras beyond. Climate fine, but nights very cold. The buildings are as yet nearly all temporary; it is more a camp than a place as is it now. I spent ten very happy days here, from the 28th of August to the 6th of September,—or rather nights, since the days were, with two exceptions (5th and 6th of September, when I visited Pecos town and explored the high mesa), devoted to the study of the ruins. I shall always gratefully remember the uniform kindness and attention with which its inhabitants and transient guests have treated me, and assisted me in my work. Aside of those whom I shall have occasion to name in the body of my report, I take occasion to express my thanks here to Messrs. McPherson & Co., and to their obliging manager, Mr. Wright; also to the station agent.
[93] On the right side of the Arroyo de Pecos, there is a wide amphitheatre bottom, which was filled with red clay, like that of which the adobe at the church is made, and which appears to have been partly dug out. The place is to the right of the road also, which there crosses the creek. The only objection to the surmise is in the fact that along this entire bottom I found not the slightest trace of obsidian. Pottery, however, is scattered everywhere. On the left side of the creek, unless more than a mile below, there is no place where the soil is sufficiently thick or sufficiently free from ruins and scattered stones, to permit the enormous quantity of clay needed for the church to be secured.
[94] Lieut.-Col. Emory, Notes of a Military Reconnoissance, p. 30, and two plates.
[95] The walls, or foundations rather, appear as follows:—The interstices are often filled with tufts of grama, and the stones themselves look very old and worn, covered with lichens and moss.
[96] According to Mariano Ruiz and to Mrs. Kozlowski. The former has lived in Pecos since 1837. But few, if any, of the dead are buried there; the majority were entombed within the church itself.
[97] P. José Amando Niel, Apuntamientos que sobre el Terreno hizo el ... Annotations to the history of Fray Géronimo Zarate Salmeron, in Documentos para la Historia de México, 3 series, vol. i. p. 99.
[98] Called by the Spaniards Plaza de Pecos. It is a comparatively new place, the only church-book still in possession of Rev. Father Léon Mailluchet, the present priest, commences in 1862. Including the scattered casitas several miles around, its population is not over five hundred souls. It is situated in a narrow vale or hollow, not far west from the Rio Pecos itself, and has a modest but clean and tidy church, with a small belfry. All the houses are of adobe. Lieutenant-Colonel Emory (Notes, Executive Document 41, p. 30) speaks of it in 1846 as "the modern village of Pecos, ... with a very inconsiderable population." As yet there are but very few Americans in the plaza. My recollections of Pecos are highly pleasant (5th September), owing to the friendly reception tendered me by Mr. E. K. Walters, Sr. Juan Bacay Salazar, and Father L. Mailluchet. According to Colonel Emory, its altitude is nearly 6,366 ft. (p. 163). Lat. about 35° 30' N.
[99] See [Plate I.]
[100] See [Plate IX.]
[101] See [Plate I.], Fig. 5.
[102] When Mr. Louis Felsenthal of Santa-Fé came to New Mexico in 1855, and still later, in 1858, the time of the arrival of Mrs. Kozlowski, the roofs were still perfect in part.
[104] Pedro de Castañeda de Nagera, Relation du Voyage de Cibola, French translation, by Ternaux-Compans, 1838. Original written about 1560. Introduction, p. ix; part ii. cap. v. p. 176.
[105] Castañeda, Relation, i. cap. xii. p. 71; ii. cap. v. p. 176. Juan Jaramillo, Relation du Voyage fait à la Nouvelle Terre, app. vi. to Voyage de Cibola, p. 371. Fray Agustin de Vetancurt, Crónica de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio de México (edition of 1871), p. 323. Gaspar Castaño de la Sosa, Memoria del Descubrimiento cue ... hizo en el Nuevo México, siendo teniente del Gobernador y Capitan General del Nuevo-Reino de Leon, July 27, 1590, in vol. xv. of Documentos Inéditos de los Archivos de Indias, p. 244. The latter though, as well as Castañeda and Jaramillo, mentions evidently building A, but there cannot be the slightest doubt that B was erected for the same purpose; to wit, as a dwelling.
[106] They are evidently moulded. Their size is about 0.28 m. × 15 m.—11 in. × 6 in.—and straw is mixed with the soil. The appearance is very much as if the adobe had been put in as a "mending;" and I am decidedly of the opinion that the northern section is the latest, and erected after 1540.
[107] It is very much like the stone-work of the Moqui Pueblos in Arizona, according to the photographs in possession of the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, D. C.; and in some respects to the walls of the great house described by the Hon. L. H. Morgan, On the Ruins of an Ancient Stone Pueblo on the Animas River, Eleventh and Twelfth Reports of the Peabody Museum of Archæology, etc.; also to those figured by Dr. William H. Jackson, Tenth Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, 1878, plate lxii. fig. 1, from the Ruins of the Rio Chaco. Compare photograph No. 6. I am led to suspect that the greater or less regularity of the courses was entirely dependent upon the kind of stone on hand, and not upon the mechanical skill employed.
[108] I am just (Sept. 9) informed by Governor Wallace, that the Sierra de Tecolote, east of the ruins, contains probably gypsum, even in the form of alabaster. It is certain that nothing like lime-kilns or places where lime might have been burnt are found at any moderate distance from the ruins. The surrounding rocks, up to head of the valley and to the mesa, contain deposits of white, yellow, and red carbonates of lead, often copper-stained, and very impure, therefore proportionately light in weight. However, we have very positive information as to how they made their plaster, etc., in Castañeda, Voyage de Cibola, ii. cap. iv. pp. 168, 169. He says: "They have no lime, but make a mixture of ashes, soil, and of charcoal, which replace it very well; for although they raise their houses to four stories, the walls have not more than half an ell in width. They form great heaps of pine [thym] and reeds, and set fire to them; whenever this mass is reduced to ashes and charcoal, they throw over it a large quantity of soil and water, and mix it all together. They knead it into round blocks, which they dry, and of which they make use in lieu of stones, coating the whole with the same mixture." Substituting for the "round blocks" the stones found at Pecos, we have the whole process thoroughly explained, for indeed the mud contains bits of charcoal, as the specimens sent prove. The white coat, however, is not explained. I must state here, however, that I found the latter only in such parts of A, as well as of B, as appeared to be most recent in occupation and in construction. Further investigations at other pueblos may yet solve the mystery.
[109] See [Plate VIII.]
[110] Compare, in regard to the outer (western) wall of B, and also in regard to the inner wall, Lieut. James H. Simpson, Journal of a Military Reconnoissance from Santa Fé, New-Mexico, to the Navajo Country, Executive Document 64, 31st Congress, 1st section, 1850; plate 41, no. 5. Also, L. H. Morgan, On an Ancient Stone Pueblo on the Animas River, Peabody Museum Reports, 1880. The latter is particularly suggestive.
[111] Compare Castañeda, Voyage de Cibola, ii. cap. iv. pp. 171, 172. "There is a piece reserved for the kitchen, and another one for to grind the corn. This last one is apart; in it is found an oven and three stones sealed in masonry." Simpson, Journal, etc, p. 62, description of a fireplace.
[112] Simpson, p. 62, Fireplace and Smoke-escape at the Pueblo of Santo Domingo. The vent was directly over the hearth. I expect to visit Santo Domingo shortly.
[113] Mr. Thomas Munn found about the church a stone hatchet, a fragment of a stone pipe (?), and many arrow-heads. These he kindly promised to me, even authorizing me to get them at the place where he had deposited them, and which lay on the line of my daily tramp to the ruins. Unfortunately, when I reached the place, the objects were already gone.
Mrs. Kozlowski informed me that copper rings (bracelets) were of very common occurrence among the ruins. Her statement was fully confirmed by Sr. Baca and others. She also spoke of "the heads of little idols" having been plentiful at one time. Gaspar Castaño de la Sosa, Memoria del Descubrimiento, etc., Documentos Inéditos, vol. xv. p. 244, speaking of a pueblo which is evidently Pecos, says: "Porque tiene muchos ídolos que atras nos olvidaba de declarar." Antonio de Espejo, El Viaje que hizo ... in Hackluyt's Voyages, Navigations, and Discoveries of the English Nation, 1600 a.d., pp. 457-464. A somewhat abbreviated and frequently unreliable copy of Espejo's letter, dated "Sant Salvador de la Nueva-España, 23 April, 1584," mentions a district two days east from Bernalillo, inhabited by pueblo Indians: "Los quales tienen y adoran ídolos."
[114] On first sight this building appears circular, but I soon became satisfied that it was a rectangle.
[115] They may have been the "almacenas", or granaries (storage-rooms), of which I speak further on. "Outhouses" are referred to by Castañeda. (Part ii. cap. iv. p. 172.)
[116] One or the other may also have been an Estufa, for I saw no round structures about B. Castañeda (part ii. cap. iv. p. 169) says: "There are square and round ones." It is true that the Estufas are usually in the courts; but when there was no court, as in this case, there could be no Estufa inside.
[117] [Pl. I.], Fig. 5, shows cross-sections of the "body" of the mesilla on which A stands, along the lines indicated. The surface of A was therefore very irregular and difficult to build upon for people who could not remove and fit the hard rock.
[118] This may have been caused, in part, by filling with rubbish from the surrounding walls.
[119] Such double houses are mentioned by Castañeda (part ii. cap. v. p. 177). Speaking of "Cicuyé," he says: "Those houses fronting outwards ('du coté de la campagne') are backed up ('adossées') against those which stand towards the court."
[120] The dimensions given by Gen. J. H. Simpson, Reconnoissance, etc., pp. 79-82, of the pueblos—"Pintado," "Bonito," and "Peñasca blanca"—on the Rio Chaco vary, as far as the circuit is concerned, between 1,200 and 1,700 feet, "about." Dr. W. H. Jackson, Geographical Survey, etc., 1876, has measured these ruins, and gives the following dimensions: "Pueblo Bonito," 544 × 314; "Peñasca blanca," 499 × 363 (only 3 sides of the rectangle being built up); "Pueblo Pintado" (2 sides), 238 × 174; "Pueblo Alto" (3 wings), 360 × 200 and 170. "Pueblo Bonito" therefore alone comes up to the standard of Pecos. The latter, however, is larger still, as, by adding to the perimeter given that of the northern annex (about 90 m.—295 ft.), we obtain a total of 450 metres, or 1,480 feet. The difference, if any, is not considerable; and I merely advert to the fact to show that the old ruins of New Mexico, comparatively neglected, are fully as important in size as any of those further north, besides being completely identical in plan, structure, and material. Furthermore, the pottery is identical. This was already recognized in 1776 by Father Silvestre Velez Escalante, Diario y Derrotero de los Nuevos Descubrimientos de Tierras á Rumbos N. N. Oe. Oe. del Nuevo México, MSS. at the Library of Congress, fol. 118, on the San Buenaventura (Green River), and in his letter, dated Santa Fé, 2 April, 1778, Documentos para la Historia de México, 3a série, vol. i. p. 124.
[121] On the Ruins of an Ancient Stone Pueblo on the Animas River, Peabody Reports, 11 and 12.
[122] I must here call attention to a singular coincidence. Among the ruins of Uxmal in Yucatan there are, aside from the "Teocalli," or medicine mound, two general forms of structure,—one narrow rectangle like B, and hollow rectangles like A. The "Casa del Gobernador" would correspond to the former, and the "Casa de las Monjas" to the latter. Of course, there is dissimilarity between the house of the "Governor" and B, in so far as the former contains halls and the latter but cells. Still the fact is interesting that, whereas the great northern pueblos have each but one house alone, here, for the south, we have already two buildings within one and the same enclosure, similar in form and size to those of Central America. I call attention to this fact, though well remembering at the same time the friendly advice of Major J. W. Powell, the distinguished chief of the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, "not to attempt to trace relationships."
[123] Relation du Voyage de Cibola, ii. cap. v. p. 176.
[124] I am informed by Governor Wallace, and have permission to quote him, that these elevated plateaux grow exceedingly tall wheat, rye, and oats. He has seen oats whose stalks were 6 feet long and 1¾ inches in diameter. The heads were proportionally large.
[125] He became adopted, as I am told, from being, as a boy, assistant to the sacristan of the church of Pecos.
[126] It was Mr. John D. McRae who, together with Mr. Thomas Munn, led me to this spot. Subsequently the former, who has been for nearly twenty years among the northern Indians (in Canada and Oregon), gave me some valuable information in regard to their sign-language. He affirms that it is very highly developed and extensively practised by them; that tribes of entirely different stock-languages can converse with each other freely; and that he was himself present at one time when the Crees and the Blackfeet arranged for a pitched fight on the day to follow, the parley consisting almost exclusively of signs. Thus, killing is indicated by the spanning of a bow and the motion of throwing down; walking, by shoving both hands forwards successively, etc.; the time of day is very correctly given by describing an arc from E. to W. (facing S.) up to the point where the sun stands at the specified hour. These signs are not new to my distinguished friend, Lieutenant-Colonel G. Mallery, to whom science owes the gift of this new branch of inquiry, but still they are interesting to those who may be less familiar with it. In regard to connection of this "sign-language" and Indian "pictography," Mr. McRae has told me the following: Whenever an Indian breaks up his camp, and wishes to leave behind him information in what direction and how far he is going, he plants into the ground near the fire a twig or stick, and breaks it so that it forms an acute angle, planting the other end in the ground also in the direction in which he intends to camp the following evening. The following would very well give the appearance of this little mark, assuming the Indian to travel from N. to S.:—
If he intends to go S. for three days it will look thus:—
Fractional days are indicated by corresponding shorter limbs. If his direction is first S. and then E., this would be a top view of the bent twig, assuming that he travels two days S. and three days W.:—
The connection between this expedient and sign-language, knowing that, as Dr. W. J. Hoffmann, of Washington City, has informed me, the sign for "lodge" is an imitation of the tent,—that is, holding both hands up and the tips of the fingers together at a steep angle,—becomes very apparent. Through it pictography is easily reached.
[127] Sr. E. Vigil has just informed me that the notion is current that all the Indians of the New Mexican pueblos buried their dead in this manner. Among the Mexicans and the Christianized Indians it is the rule to bury the dead around the church or in sight of it.
[128] There is still another ruin much farther down the railroad, near to a place called "El Pueblo." I was informed of its existence, but have not as yet been able to visit it.
[129] Or rather towards the pueblo of San Cristóval. The latter was the chief place of the Tanos Indians, of which stock there are still a few left at the town of Galisteo.
[130] The following is an approximate sketch of these structures. This sketch is made without reference to size or plan, merely in order to show the relative position of the graves (a, a, a, a). It will be seen that the analogy with the grave of mound V, building A, is very striking; also with the grave discovered by Mr. Walters, and the wall above the corrugated pottery west of the Arroyo de Pecos.
[131] To judge from the report of General Simpson (p. 68), these early traditions must be very meagre. His informant, the celebrated "Hoosta-Nazlé," is now dead. Of the Pecos adults then living at Santo Domingo, a daughter is still alive, and married to an Indian of the latter pueblo. General (then lieutenant) Simpson was at Jemez in 1849.
[132] Memoria del Descubrimiento, etc., p. 238. "Tienen mucha loza de los colorados y pintadas y negras, platos, caxetes, saleros, almoficos, xicaras muy galanas, alguna de la loza esta vidriada."
[133] W. H. Holmes, Geographical Survey, part iii., p. 404, plate xliv. "This plate is intended to illustrate the corrugated and indented ware. Heretofore specimens of this class have been quite rare, as it is not made by any of the modern tribes."
[134] Holmes, pp. 404, 405.
[135] Even the estufa and the almacena are found. The round depression near the road to the Rio Pecos (marked L on the general plan) is evidently an Estufa, while the circular ruin which I met upon the apron of the mesa during my ascent appears very much like a storehouse.
[136] House A alone appears in these reports; but from the statement that the tribe mustered 500 warriors, it seems probable that B was also inhabited. 2,500 souls could hardly have found room in the 585 cells of A, The number of warriors given is doubtless a loose estimate.
[137] San Diego, now in ruins, about 13 miles N. of the pueblo Jemez, was the old pueblo of that tribe. It was the scene of a bloody struggle in 1692, according to the story of Hoosta-Nazlé, given to General Simpson in 1849. Reconnoissance, etc., p. 68. Diego de Vargas (Carta, Oct. 16, 1692), Documentos para la Historia de México, 3a séries, i. p. 131. "Los Gemex y los de Santo-Domingo se hallaban en otro tambien nuevo, dentro de la Sierra, á tres leguas del pueblo antiguo de Gemex." Nearly all the pueblos, upon the approach of the Spaniards, fled to steep and high mesas.
[138] This is the same cañon whose source on the "Mesa de Pecos" I have visited, and where the great bell was found. It is the natural pathway, from the W. and S. W., up to the heights overlooking the valley of Pecos.
[139] A. S. Gatchet, Zwölf Sprachen aus dem Südwesten Nord-Amerika's, Weimar, 1876, p. 41.
[140] I infer it from the fact that it is not noticed previous to 1680. Agustin de Vetancurt, Crónica de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio en México, edition of 1871, pp. 310, 311. It then contained 2,000 "Tiguas;" but the church dedicated to San Antonio de Padua had just been brought under cover when the rebellion broke out.
[141] Castañeda, ii. cap. v. pp. 178, 179.
[142] Castañeda, pp. 189, 190. Jaramillo, pp. 372-382. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Letter to Charles V., dated Tigues, Oct. 20, 1541. Appendix to Voyage de Cibola, pp. 356-359.
[143] Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de Nueva España. Very valuable, but much influenced by personal views and prejudice.
[144] Fray Luis Descalona, a lay brother, who remained at Pecos in 1543, may have had a hand in this report. Castañeda, iii. cap. iv. pp. 214, 215. Jaramillo, p. 380.
[145] Castañeda, pp. 176, 177.
[146] Id., xii. p. 68.
[147] Id., i. p. 68; ii. cap. vii. p. 188.
[148] Id., i. p. 69.
[149] Relation del Suceso de la Jornada que Francisco Vazquez hizo en el Descubrimiento de Cibola, in vol. xiv. of the Documentos del Archivo de Indias, p. 325. "De unos Indios que se hallaron en este pueblo de Acuique" This would make it very important to consult the original manuscript of Castañeda in order to ascertain if "Cicuyé" is not really "Acuyé." The latter word would be identical almost with "Âqiu." The name Pecos itself belongs to the Qq'uêres language of New Mexico, and is pronounced "Pae-qo." It is applied to the inhabitants of the pueblo, the place itself being called "Pae-yoq'ona." The first mention of it under the name of Pecos is found in the documents of the year 1598, after the general meeting of Juan de Oñate with the pueblo Indians in the estufa of Santo Domingo (a Qq'uêres village).
[150] Castañeda, ii. cap. viii. pp. 194, 195; iii. cap. iv. p. 214. Jaramillo, p. 380. Vetancurt, Menologio Franciscano, Nov. 30, p. 386. Juan de Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, first edition, 1614, lib. xxi. p. 689.
[151] Castañeda, ii. pp. 194, 195.
[152] Vetancurt, Menologio, pp. 412-422. He calls him Rodriguez. Espejo, Viaje, etc., Hackluyt, iii. Gerónimo de Zarate Salmeron, p. 9.
[153] This is plain from the description, although Juan de Oñate (Discurso de la Jornada que hizo el Capitan de su Magestad desde la Nueva-España á la Provincia de la Nueva-México, Archivos de Indias, vol. xvi. p. 258) says of the "gran pueblo de los Peccos, y es el que Espejo llama la provincia de Tamos."
[154] Castaño, Descubrimiento, etc., p. 244. The "vigas grandes," in the estufa, recalls the great tree across the northern estufa in the court of A.
[155] Oñate, Jornada, p. 244.
[156] Obediencia, etc., Archivos, xvi. p. 113.
[157] pp. 371, 372.
[158] pp. 371, 372.
[159] p. 179.
[160] Fray Francisco de Apodaca, native of Cantabria, was commissary from 1627 till 1633. Vetancurt, Menologio, p. 464. Davis, Conquest of New Mexico, cap. xxxv. p. 278.
[161] Published in vol. i. of 3a séries of Documentos para la Historia de México. In consequence of it, Fray Estiban de Perea came to New Mexico with thirty priests. Vetancurt, Crónica, p. 300. "Con cuyo ejemplo y enseñanza se poblaron treinta y siete casas de diferentes naciones," among which the Pecos.
[162] Jean Blaeu, Douzième Volume de la Géographie Blaviane, contenant l'Amérique, etc., Amsterdam, 1667, p. 62. He says Picuries, but it must be Pecos. "Avec un seul bourg, mais grandement peuplé, où il y a un temple somptueux." Vetancurt, Crónica, etc., p. 323. "Tenia á nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Porciúncula un templo magnífico, con seis torres, tres de cada lado, adornado; las paredes tan anchas que en sus concavidades estaban hechas oficinas." There are still, in the church of the plaza of Pecos, three paintings out of that church,—one on buffalo-hide, representing Nra. Sra. de Guadalupe, and two on cloth, with Our Lady of the Angels painted on it. The last two are very good.
[163] Blaeu, p. 62.
[164] Vetancurt, Crónica, p. 323.
[165] Ibid.
[166] Oñate, p. 258.
[167] Apuntamientos, etc., p. 104.
[168] "Este Cuaderno se cree ser de un Religioso de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio" (Anonymous Report on New Mexico), Documentos, 3a série, vol. i. p. 127.
[169] Davis, cap. xlii. p. 329.
[170] Escalante, Letter, p. 123. Diego de Vargas, Carta á S. E., etc., p. 129.
[171] Davis, cap. xlv. pp. 348, 349.
[172] Davis, cap. l. p. 396; cap. li. p. 402.
[173] Niel, p. 104. Escalante, p. 123.
[174] Niel, pp. 104-106. Escalante, p. 122. Gobierno de Don Francisco Cubero y Valdes, Documentos, 3a série, vol. i. p. 194.
[175] Gobierno de Don Francisco Cubero y Valdes, p. 195. In 1712 the pueblo of Pojuaque (north of Santa Fé) contained but seventy-nine inhabitants,—all Tehuas.
[176] Niel, p. 104. "De los Pecos quedaron mas."
[177] The Apaches were in intercourse with Taos until 1700 a.d. Sesto Cuaderno, Documentos, 3a série, i. p. 180.
[178] Historical Sketch of Santa Fé, pp. 22, 23, in the pamphlet on Centennial Celebration, 1876. It is the only printed report in existence, except a very short one by Judge K. Benedict, on the revolt of 1837.
[179] I have not as yet been able to consult the archives of San Miguel County, at Las Vegas, in regard to the different "Deeds" then executed. Therefore I forbear mentioning even the names of the grantees of which I was informed.
[180] The Hon. W. G. Ritch is in possession of a number of highly interesting data gathered from the Indians in relation to the sacred fire. All of these he has, in the kindest manner, placed at my disposal. I, however, defer their mention for a future report, in connection, as I hope, with the pueblo of Jemez. I shall but refer here to a single one. There were, formerly, several fires burning. One of these, that of the cacique, was never permitted to go out, so that, in case one of the others should accidentally become extinguished, it could always be rekindled from the "extra-holy" one.
[181] Even Ruiz affirmed that the tale, as far as the Pecos were concerned, was certainly true. He never could get to see the reptile, however. It is a rattlesnake (cascabel).
[182] I am informed by Mr. Miller that blocks or "chunks" of obsidian, as large as a fist or larger, are found in the Arroyo de Taos. This would be about 60 miles north of Santa Fé.
[183] In regard to the regular indentation of arrow-heads, I was informed by Mr. Debrant, then incidentally at Baughl's (on the 4th of September), that these were produced by contact with fire. Applying a glowing coal (the end of a burning stick) to the edge of the flint, and blowing on it steadily, after a few seconds a speck of the mineral will fly off, leaving a groove or indentation proportionate in size to the coal used and to the length of time applied. Thus, an arrow-head may be indented in a very short time, which would be impossible by chipping.
[184] Moss-agate is also found, but rarely.
[185] Compare W. H. Holmes, U. S. Geographical Survey, 1876, p. 404.
[186] That stones were used, both in offensive as well as in defensive warfare, is proven by Castañeda, ii. cap. v. p. 178; i. cap. xii. p. 69. It is possible that the pebbles used were kept on the roofs, as was the custom among the ancient Mexicans.
[187] Thus the probability of the destruction of a part of Pecos by the Tanos, on the 10th of August, 1680, is still further increased.
[188] Therefore the massacre of all their available men by the Comanches, already mentioned. I could not as yet find the date of the event. It is a well-known tradition, however. It occurred in the moro.
[189] That constant guard was kept on the housetops is stated by Castañeda, ii. p. 179.
[190] The defensive constructions of the pueblos, as late as 1540, were the houses. The wall of Pecos is an exception. Castañeda says (i. cap. xiv. p. 80): "As these villages have no streets, that all the houses are of the same height and common to all the inhabitants, these large houses must be captured first, because they are the points of defence."
[191] The church of Pecos, although it had lost all its former splendor, still was used till about 1840. Afterwards it was abandoned.
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