Part 12 (1/2)

[105] Castaneda, _Relation_, i. cap. xii. p. 71; ii. cap. v. p. 176.

Juan Jaramillo, _Relation du Voyage fait a la Nouvelle Terre_, app. vi.

to _Voyage de Cibola_, p. 371. Fray Agustin de Vetancurt, _Cronica de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio de Mexico_ (edition of 1871), p. 323.

Gaspar Castano de la Sosa, _Memoria del Descubrimiento que ... hizo en el Nuevo Mexico, siendo teniente del Gobernador y Capitan General del Nuevo-Reino de Leon_, July 27, 1590, in vol. xv. of _Doc.u.mentos Ineditos de los Archivos de Indias_, p. 244. The latter though, as well as Castaneda 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 Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 Archaeology_, 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 Castaneda, _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 ma.s.s is reduced to ashes and charcoal, they throw over it a large quant.i.ty 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.” Subst.i.tuting 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 Fe, New-Mexico, to the Navajo Country, Executive Doc.u.ment 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 Castaneda, _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 Castano de la Sosa, _Memoria del Descubrimiento_, etc., _Doc.u.mentos Ineditos_, vol. xv. p. 244, speaking of a pueblo which is evidently Pecos, says: ”Porque tiene muchos idolos 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-Espana, 23 April, 1584,” mentions a district two days east from Bernalillo, inhabited by pueblo Indians: ”Los quales tienen y adoran idolos.”

[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 Castaneda.

(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_. Castaneda (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 Castaneda (part ii. cap. v. p.

177). Speaking of ”Cicuye,” he says: ”Those houses fronting outwards ('du cote de la campagne') are backed up ('adossees') 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 ”Penasca 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; ”Penasca 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 a Rumbos N. N. Oe.

Oe. del Nuevo Mexico_, MSS. at the Library of Congress, fol. 118, on the San Buenaventura (Green River), and in his letter, dated Santa Fe, 2 April, 1778, _Doc.u.mentos para la Historia de Mexico_, 3a serie, vol. i.

p. 124.