?AUB?NGTON] ETHNOZOOLOGV OF THE TEWA INDIANS 3 



can not be ignored, the effects are but local. Vast areas in the South 

 west have never been subjected to the ravages of large domestic herds, 

 because from the time the region was first explored the lack of water 

 has prohibited the use of many such areas for extensive grazing pur 

 poses. A study of the literature of early exploration does nq^ indi 

 cate general distribution of vast herds of antelope, elk, and., deer, 

 and especially is this true of elk. Certainly within the periotj^desig- 

 riated (30 years immediately preceding 1906) there has been .Qp gen 

 eral distribution of large game in great herds, although antelope and 

 deer have been abundant locally and are still common in places. It 

 may be said of the species of animals whose bones have been taken 

 from various pueblos that many of them may have been so rare that 

 a naturalist might search the region for a year without seeing one. 

 The bones represent the accumulated results of many hunting expe 

 ditions, more or less extensive, besides the daily hunting of many 

 men for generations. An elk rib was taken from an ancient pueblo 

 northwest of Santa Fe, yet old men from two neighboring pueblos 

 say they have never seen an elk. Likewise the bison was known to 

 many of the old Indians in the upper Rio Grande valley, although 

 they had never seen one alive. 



It is exceedingly probable that the important species inhabiting 

 the Tewa region during the ancient occupancy were the same as at 

 present, except the elk and mountain sheep, which have disappeared. 

 The bison, no longer known in New Mexico in a wild state, was not 

 found, perhaps, in this part of the Rio Grande valley and could be 

 obtained only by barter or by long excursions through a country 

 inhabited by hostile tribes. Though the present report lists a large 

 number of animals for the region, a critical analysis shows that very 

 few of them could have been important as a source of food. 



In this connection the invertebrates may be almost wholly dis 

 regarded, though possibly in seasons of unusual abundance grass 

 hoppers may have been a much-relished addition to the bill of fare ; 

 they were certainly much used farther west. It must be remembered, 

 however, that invasions of these pests in sufficient numbers to make 

 them important as a source of food for a large population would mean 

 the destruction of the corn crops and of the grass and other vegeta 

 tion on which the game animals feed, thus reducing the supply of 

 the ordinary food of the human inhabitants. There were undoubtedly 

 fish in all the important streams, but they could not have been 

 numerous enough to have played a large part in sustaining the 

 number of people who lived in the region, even if the latter were no 

 more numerous than at the time of the Spanish conquest. Reptiles 

 and amphibians may be wholly disregarded, as they do not occur 

 in sufficient numbers to be important, though of course with a more 

 abundant water supply there would have been more frogs. Most of 



