The Zuni, or Soones, bring us out of California, and into New Mexico. The character of the civilisation is, however, the same. So are the difficulties of the ethnography.
Conterminous with the Zuni, and amongst the most western, though not the most northern of the New Mexican aborigines, are—
6. The Indians of the Rio San José.—-This is a feeder of the River Puerco, itself a westernly feeder of the upper part of the Rio del Norte. Their villages are seven in number—1. Cibólleta,[152] 2. Moquino,[152] 3. Poquaté, 4. Covero, 5. Laguna, 6. Rito (now deserted), and 7. Acomo.
7. The Indians of the parts about Abo and Quarra.—South-east of the Indians of the San José, and on the opposite bank of the Rio del Norte, lie the seven villages of 1. Chititi, 2. Tageque, 3. Torreon, 4. Mansana, 5. Quarra (deserted, and with ruins), 6. Abo (the same), 7. Quivira.[152] The ruins, both of Quarra and Abo, are of stone, with foundations above 100 feet in length, and in the shape of crosses. One of the easiest passages across the ridge that divides the prairie country belonging to the water-system of the Mississippi is along the stream on which Abo is situated.
North of these, and nearer the head-waters of the Rio del Norte (or Rio Grande) come—
8. Indians speaking the Piro language.—These are the Taos, Picuri, and others.
9. Indians who speak (or spoke) the Hemez[153] (or Yemez) languages.—The Pecos, Cienega, and others in the highlands east of the Rio del Norte, and between that river and the River Pecos. These were anciently known as Tagnos, whilst their language is said to be that of the Hemez.[153]
Now the names Taos, Tagnos, Tigue, and Tegua, create a difficulty. Gallatin remarks that the last two are forms of the same words. I think so, too. But then I also think that all four words are the same, or, if not, that Taos and Tagnos are, at least, so. If this be true, the Taos are made to speak the Piro language and the Hemez as well. Nay more, a third language distinguished from both (the Piro and Hemez) is mentioned, viz., the Tegua, spoken by a large portion of the others, all of whom had, originally, this general name, though some seem to have been distinguished as Queres, probably the Quivix or Quirix of Castañeda.
Be this, however, as it may, the northernmost Indians of New Mexico bring us in contact with a section of the Indians of the Mississippi system already mentioned, the Arrapahos, whilst the southern are in contact with the ill-ascertained tribes of Texas. In Texas, however, we have traces of the Casas Grandes; in the high-land between New Mexico and Texas we have the famous Llano Estocado. This means a trail or line of road marked out by stakes placed in nearly a straight line, and at intervals to indicate its course. Under the name of the Cross-Timbers, this has attracted the notice of several travellers, and has been especially described in a paper laid before the Geographical Society, by Mr. Catlin.
The reason why certain names have been printed in italics, a fact to which the reader's attention was directed by notes,[153] will now be explained. They all agree in introducing complications in the ethnology from the fact of their occurring elsewhere. Thus—