CLIMATE OF NORTH AMERICA HUNTINGTON. 409 



vegetation were more and more favorable. Places like Gran Quivira 

 were readily habitable and were growingly prosperous so far as their 

 prosperity depended upon good crops. Under such circumstances 

 the ignorant Pueblos would naturally look upon the commg of the 

 Spaniards as a blessmg. A decrease in rainfall begins to be apparent 

 about 1645, but it is unuuportant at first because the amount of 

 growth of the trees, and impliedly of the crops, contmues to be well 

 above the normal until about 1665. Thereafter a rapid deterioration 

 takes'* place, which culmmates about 1680 or soon after. At that 

 very time a widespread uprismg took place against the Spaniards, the 

 Pueblo rebellion, which ousted the Europeans for some years. Fam- 

 me must have prevailed as the climate became drier, and the distress 

 occasioned would almost surely lead the Indians to ascribe their mis- 

 fortunes to theh conquerors. Curiously enough a document has just 

 come to light which confirms our conclusion as to famme. I am 

 mdebted to jMt. E. E. Free, of the Bureau of Soils of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, for calling my attention to an account of 

 an old census given by Mr, J. W. Curd, m the El Paso Times. El 

 Paso, although in Texas, lies almost at the middle of the southern 

 boundary of New Mexico. The census is dated September 11, 1684, 

 and contams a list of 109 Spanish families livmg near El Paso. It is 

 signed by the Spanish governor. ''While the document is nothmg 

 more than a dry and unmterestmg census roll," to quote Mr. Curd, 

 "it is illummative of the terrible devastation and suffering that re- 

 sulted from the Indian revolt in 1680. This revolt destroyed some 42 

 presidios and missions m New Mexico north of El Paso, and the rem- 

 nant of Spaniards and friendly Indians took refuge in Guadalupe del 

 Passo (El Paso). While the Mission Guadalupe was a rich one, and 

 additional supplies were forwarded from Mexico City, the people still 

 suli'ered from lack of clothuig and food. The census shows that what 

 crops were planted that year consisted only of maize, which, owmg to 

 drought, was an almost total failure. Wliat maize was grown was 

 eaten green, so there was no supply for whiter." It is not here pos- 

 sible to carry the matter further. The curve speaks for itself. After 

 1680 conditions appear to have improved; the eighteenth century was 

 a period of less ramfall than durhig the time of the early Spanish 

 occupation, but of more than the last century. 



The Sequoia wasliingtoniana of California is the largest and proba- 

 bly the oldest known tree. Durhig the summer of 1911 I was able to 

 make measurements of 200 stumps, which ranged from 6 to 25 feet in 

 diameter, and from 250 to 3,150 years hi age. Three were over 3,000 

 years old, and 40 began to grow 2,000 or more years ago. Durhig 

 1912, 251 more were measured, 39 being over 2,000 years of age. The 

 result of the tabulation and calculation of these 451 trees is shown 

 hi figure 2 hi this article. The sequoia grows m a region which Is 



