398 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



structed of rough rectangles of light gray limestone, whose character 

 is such that long and arduous work would be required to get it out 

 in large quantities without the aid of explosives. Inasmuch as the 

 village v/as evidently built long before the coming of the Spaniards, 

 we must assume that the Pueblos, or their predecessors, put them- 

 selves to a vast amount of labor in the process of quarrying, squaring, 

 and transporting the stones of theii' numerous houses. Many of the 

 dwellings were of two stories, and the height of the heaps of rocks 

 makes it probable that some were of at least three stories. The 

 rooms are all small, as is customary in this region, the majority not 

 exceeding 7 by 9 feet. The exact number of rooms has never been 

 counted, but if we assume that only half of the 5^ acres covered by 

 the ruins was actually built upon, and that the rooms, including the 

 walls, had an average size of 10 feet by 10, there must have been 

 about 1,100 rooms on the gi-ound floor. The upper stories may be 

 put at 400 rooms, although the actual number was probably two or 

 three times as great. This gives 1,500 rooms as a low estimate, 

 which would mean at least a thousand people. 



When the Spaniards came to the country at the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century, the village of Gran Quivira was evidentl}'' one 

 of the most important in the district. Otherwise the canny fathers 

 would not have built here one of their largest missions. Possibly a 

 portion of the village was in ruins, and the rocks from it may have 

 supplied materials for the large church with walls 5 feet thick and 

 for the other structures which the Spaniards erected. Nevertheless 

 the number of natives must have been considerable. The beginning 

 of the Spanish regime here, as in the rest of New Mexico, appears to 

 have been highly peaceful and prosperous. Its end, so far as Gran 

 Quivira is concerned, seems to have come at the time of the Pueblo 

 rebellion, which culminated in 1680. Since that time the site has 

 been left as a center around which a multitude of traditions have 

 gathered. One tradition ascribes its destruction to an earthquake, 

 another to a flow of lava bursting forth some miles away, and still a 

 thh'd speaks of a river which has now disappeared. 



The truth seems to be that there is no village now at Gran Quivira 

 because there is no water and the land is too dry for successful culti- 

 vation except in years of good rainfall. A ranch is located in the 

 valley below the ruins, but it is not permanently inhabited, although 

 a little cultivation is carried on. Settlers have recently taken up 

 land 10 to 15 miles to the north, but arc having a very hard time. If 

 the rainfall is propitious they can exist, but in 1909 none of them 

 raised enough to live on. It scarcely need be added that all depend 

 upon deep wells for water. So far as we can gather, the Pueblo 

 Indians, like their Ilohokam predecessors, knew nothing of lime or 

 mortar and had no facilities for making water-tight cisterns. They 



