334 NOTES ON HISTORY AND CLIMATE OF NEW MEXICO. 



Pecos aud had settled with the Pueblos on the Eio San Juan. Montezuma 

 was to return and lead the rest of the Pueblos also to the south, but he 

 failed to come back. * * This whole tradition accords well x\ith an- 

 other held by the Aztecs, in old Mexico, when Cortez entered the country 

 of Auahuac, namely, that their forefathers came (most probnbly at the 

 end of the twelfth century) from the north. (Dr. Oscar Loew's report 

 on "Euinsin New Mexico.") It is probable that the climate has be- 

 come progressively more dry as time has elapsed, from evidences ot 

 former cultivation which would be now impossible. At Quivira, Dr. 

 Loew says, " when Coronado visited this province it was, as he de- 

 scribed it, very fertile ; at present it resembles a desert." 



At similar elevations in other countries the snow would accumulate 

 and form glaciers upon the mountains, whence an ample river-supply 

 of water would continue all the summer. Nothing like this occurs here, 

 and the extremely rapid evaporation in this dry air may help to account 

 <or the diftereuce. 



II. Very soon after my arrival in New Mexico, in October, 1875, 1 be- 

 came aware of unusual electrical disturbances around me. Severe shocks 

 \vere experienced on touching garments of wool or cotton that had just 

 been taken off, and if at night, vivid sparks of electricity aud a trail- 

 ing line of light would follow the fingers when passed over them. The 

 shaking of clothing, to free it from dust, or friction with the fingers 

 over a sheet, would have the same effect. Upon inquiry I found others 

 also sensible of a highly electrical condition here. The telegraph was 

 disturbed in its operations by excess of atmospheric electricity, and on 

 inquiry of Mr. Gough, the agent of the Western Union Telegraph Line, 

 he was happily able to confirm my impressions from a very extended 

 experience. The subject became one of almost daily inquiry between 

 us since July 18, 1876 ; and at my request he has furnished me a writ- 

 ten statement, to which I invite special attention. 



" Office of Western Union Telegraph Company, 



" Headqltarters District of New Mexico, 



" Santa Fe, N. Mex., December 12, 1870. 

 "To General T. A. McParlin, 



" Surgeon, U. S. A. : 

 " Dear Sir : In reply to your question as to whether I have noticed 

 any unusual electrical disturbances on the telegraph-lines in this region, 

 1 would respectfully state that I have noticed such disturbances, and 

 that in character and frequency they are very remarkable, and really 

 astonishing, and such as in a seventeen years' experience I have noticed 

 on no other lines. 



" From about the middle of April until about the middle of October, 

 between the hours of 10 a. m. and 5 p. m., these disturbances are most 

 frequent, and render the working of the line almost impossible. 



