THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 309 



or open aqueduct, could not, it is believed, have brought water to the 

 Gran Quivira, for the point occupied by the town appears to be con- 

 siderabl}^ higher than the surrounding country. 



We were informed by men at Manzana who had been 'pastores in 

 their youth, and had herded sheep in this region of country, that there 

 is a fine bold spring of water at the base of the Sierra de las Gallinas, 

 about fifteen miles from the ruins, and that they had heard that water 

 once ran in an aqueduct from that spring to the Gran Quivira. This 

 could hardly have been possible, unless the aqueduct was a closed 

 pipe ; because, from appearances, the country intervening between 

 those two points is considerably lower than either of them. 



We saw no indications that there had ever been such an aqueduct, 

 nor did we see any sign that wells had been digged in the neighbor- 

 hood. From every feature of the country, both within and without the 

 surrounding sand-hills, we could but be lost in conjecture as to the 

 method adopted by the inhabitants to obtain even water to drink, let 

 alone for purposes of irrigation, unless they were supplied by some 

 spring or stream that has long since disappeared. The nearest point 

 where water can always be obtained 71010, is the spring which the fas- 

 tores spoke of as being at the base of the Sierra de las Galhnas, fifteen 

 miles away. The Laguna de la Puerta is 14 miles 773 yards from 

 Gran Quivira, in nearly a direct line; but this is said to become 

 entirely dry in seasons of great drought. 



As at Abo and Quarra, we were surprised at not finding, in the ca- 

 thedral and chapel, some of the doorways and windows surmounted 

 b}^ an arch. Had they been so, originally, these buildings would be in 

 a better state of preservation. The beams across windows and doors, 

 in giving way to the weight above as they became decayed, made a 

 fair beginning towards letting down the whole superstructure. 



Mr. Gregg, in speaking of the ancient ruins of New Mexico, says: 

 "The most remarkable of these are La Gran Quivira. This appears 

 to have been a considerable city, larger and richer b}' lar than the 

 capital of New Mexico has ever been. Many walls, particularly those 

 of churches, still stand erect amid the desolation that surrounds them, 

 as if their sacredness had been a shield against which time dealt his 

 blows in vain. The style of architecture is altogether superior to any 

 thing at present to be found in New Mexico. What is more extraordi- 

 nary still is, that there is no water within less than some ten miles of 

 the ruins ; yet we find several stone cisterns, and remains of aqueducts, 

 eight or ten m-les in length, leading from the neighboring mountains, 

 from whence water was no doubt conveyed. And as there seem to be 

 no indications whatever of the inhabitants having ever been engaged in 

 agricultural pursuits, what could liave induced the rearing of a city in 

 such an arid woodless plain as this, except the proximity of some val- 

 uable mine, it is difficult to imagine. From the peculiar character of 

 the place, and the remains of cisterns still existing, the object of pur- 

 suit, in this case, would seem to have been a filacer — a name applied 

 to mines of gold-dust intermingled with the earth. Other mines have, 

 no doubt, been worked in the adjacent mountains, as many spacious 

 pits are found, such as are usually dug in pursuit of ores of silver; and 

 it is stated that in several places heaps of scoria? are found. 



