KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 19 



Still proceeding eastwardly, there are traces of walls and apparent foun- 

 dations of buildings all along the slope, and on a little eminence about 200 

 yards southeastwardlj of the inclosure last described, are the remains of two 

 walls (10), inclosing spaces respectively 100 feet square and 125x140. 



On the opposite side of the Pecos river, between it and a small stream 

 which empties into it, and 345 feet southeast of the water inclosure first above 

 described, is a kind of pentagonal inclosure, 240 feet in diameter (9), and 

 crossed by another wall which divides it into one large and one very narrow 

 compartment. Just beyond and southeast of this are the remains of what 

 has apparently been a fortification situated just at the confluence of the 

 two streams. 



This completes the description of the outside works. We will now return 

 to the plateau. Passing from the groups of Aztec huts last described, we 

 proceed eastwardly 180 feet, and find ourselves face to face with the old Pecos 

 church itself. Before describing this old building (7), we will refer to the 

 history of the discovery of the village, which had its origin long before the 

 Spanish invasion, and which is held by the Aztecs to have been the birth- 

 place of Montezuma himself. 



There seems to be no doubt that the Aztecs migrated from some more 

 northern region into Mexico, and the traditions of the present Pueblos, who 

 are believed to be descendants of the original Aztecs, teach that this very 

 spot was the birthplace of Montezuma. But Short, in his " North Ameri- 

 cans of Antiquity," claims that this is a different civilization, and that the 

 culture god Montezuma of the Pueblos and the Aztec monarch, Montezuma, 

 are not to be confounded. Dr. Foster, in his " Prehistoric Races of Amer- 

 ica," does not speak of any such distinction. At all events, all writers agree 

 that Pecos is one of the most important of all the ancient ruins of this 

 region, and that it was one of the sacred cities of the Pueblos. Here the 

 everlasting fire, dedicated to their god Montezuma, was kept burning from 

 time immemorial down to the abandonment of the town, which occurred, ac- 

 cording to Short, some time during the second quarter of the present cen- 

 tury. Other authorities fix the year at 1837. 



One tradition is that Montezuma was born at Acoma, and subsequently 

 removed to Pecos, where he taught the people the arts of civilization, and 

 that when he removed to the south he told them to keep the sacred fire burn- 

 ing until his return. But he never came. Warriors watched the fires, and 

 remained on duty by turns, until, through decimation, from one cause and 

 another, the tribe became too much reduced in numbers to keep up the watch 

 any longer. Then three warriors took the remains of the fire and carried it 

 into the mountains, where Montezuma himself appeared and received it. 

 Thus relieved, they abandoned their village, and joined their brothers west 

 of the Rio Grande. 



"For generations," as Short eloquently says, "these strange architects and 

 faithful priests waited for the return of their god — looked for him to come 



