THE 1RR1GA Tl ON AGE. 61 



by occasional patches of fertility. Such are the remains of the valley 

 of Narca, a fruitful spot, that lies between long tracts of deserts 

 where the ancient water courses of the Incas measure two or three 

 feet in depth by three feet in width, and are formed of long blocks of 

 granite uncemented, and conducted from an unknown distance. Thus 

 this art in that country, like all of the ancient civilization of the Incas, 

 has been allowed to fall to decay and disuse. 



I cannot leave this subject of prehistoric races until I have de- 

 scribed the works of the Tahua nations, and especially those tribes 

 known as the Aztecs and Toltecs, who formerly lived in Central Amer- 

 ica, Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona. We are told in history that 

 when Cortes visited Mexico, that for the purpose of irrigating the 

 fields, the water of rivers and of mountain streams was utilized by 

 means of canals, dams and ditches. We are also told that the network 

 of canals by which the plantations were watered offered to Cortes' 

 army very serious obstructions. 



Probably the greatest souvenir left by the ancient races of North 

 America is to be found in the immense network of prehistoric canals, 

 that is found in the Salt and Gila valleys of Arizona. The age of these 

 canals is entirely unknown and is only a matter of conjecture. That 

 they were constructed by a race of people who had attained to a far 

 higher degree of civilization than the present aborigines who inhabit 

 that part of the country goes without saying. There is but one tradi- 

 tion among the present Indian tribes concerning these canals, and that 

 is concerning their destruction. When Coronado, in 1542, was seeking 

 the seven cities of Cibola, he found several tribes of aborigines in 

 what is now Arizona, supporting themselves wholly or in part by till- 

 ing the soil. These tribes themselves occupied but a limited area. But 

 widely scattered groups of ruins prove that in the earlier centuries all 

 of the principal valleys were inhabited by a numerous people, who had 

 lived chiefly by agriculture. And today in many districts their irri- 

 gating Canals are still to be seen. Coronado was astonished at the ex- 

 tent and size of these canals, but failed to learn aught of their age or 

 builders, except a tradition of the hasty flight of that prehistoric peo- 

 ple and the destruction of their works. 



Whether the history which has been handed down to us by the 

 Spaniards under Coronado, and whether the tradition which the abo- 

 rigines themselves tell us of as to the history of the canals, is true or 

 not, or whether the tradition is a creation of a later day, it is hard to 

 say. But oftentimes what is considered to be mythology and tradi- 

 tion in one age is proven in later ages to be facts. There is one thing 

 sure. The tradition of the natives is corroborated to a great extent 

 by evidence that still exists. And in the first place the ruins of these 

 canals are plainly visible in the Gila and Salt River valleys. And ev- 



