THE NORTHERN MYSTERY 241 



tales of the wealth to be found in the land 

 of the Northern Mystery, began their ex- 

 plorations ; and, after inconceivable toil and 

 hardship, came upon a fairly friendly agri- 

 cultural people, living in large communal 

 buildings, or pueblos, made of the same clay 

 bricks with which we build to-day, or else 

 having their homes (as in Southern New 

 Mexico) in separate family houses. 



' Here,' writes Mr. Bancroft of the Territory 

 within recent years, * we find a people far in 

 advance of the savage tribes, if far behind 

 the highest types, retaining many of their 

 original characteristics, and living on the same 

 sites in buildings similar to, or in several in- 

 stances perhaps identical with, those occu- 

 pied by their ancestors at the coming of the 

 Europeans, and for centuries later.' To the 

 antiquary, or the traveller interested in the 

 past, New Mexico and Arizona are full of 

 historic lore and unsolved problems, as well 

 as of romance. 



With respect to the early pioneers, native 

 friendliness was not always justified. Greed 

 and cruelty and broken vows marked too 

 often the trail of the conquering Spaniard, 



16 



