194 ETHNOGEOGRAPHY OF THE TEWA INDIANS [eth. asn. 29 



l)le village; to-day it is reduced to a mere hamlet."' A San Juan 

 informant says that the principal shrino of the Picuris Indians is 

 on top of Jicarita Mountain [22:9]. An old scalp-house (Tewa 

 po¥owate 'head-skin house') is still to be seen in the plaza gf 

 Picuris. Scalps are hanging in tliis house in plain sight of all 

 who enter. 



[8:89] The "Old Castle," presumably called in Span. Castillo Viejo. 

 This ruin stands just north of the pueblo. Dr. H. J. Spinden^ 

 furnishes the following information about it. '"There are still 

 several houses at Picuris which show pre-Spanish construction. 

 The best example is the 'old castle' on a mound back of the 

 pueblo. It is said to have been live stories high. It is now 

 three, but is in an advanced stage of decay. There are still two 

 perfect rooms, which are sealed up and which contain some 

 sacred meal. There is a shrine on the mound of the ' old castle.' 

 On it a fetish of clay representing an animal, a piece of an old 

 tube pipe, and four small stones, one of them a piece of obsidian, 

 were to be seen." 



[8:90] (1) Piyviipwf 'mountain-gap mountains' (piyvni, see [8:88]; 

 piyf ' mountain '). 



(2) Picuris " Pi°ene — the Picuris mountains are called thus; 

 also any range of mountains is called thus."^ 



(3) Eng. Picuris Mountains. =Span. (4). 



(•i) Span. Sierra de Picuris ' mountains of [8:88]', q. v. = Eng. (3). 



"The dark moimtains of Picuries divide the ruins in the Taos 

 country from those to which the traditions of the Picuries are 

 attached''.^ "There is a trail leading from Taos to Picuries, but 

 I preferred the wagon road as more commodious and as furnish- 

 ing a better view of the eastern high chain. This road sur- 

 mounts the crests of the Sierra de Picuries by going directly 

 south from the Ranchos de Taos [8:.58] for some distance. It 

 follows at first a pleasant valley and a lively rivulet, and then 

 penetrates into forests of pine on the northern slopes of the 

 Picuries chain. These wooded solitudes afforded no room for the 

 abode of man in ancient times. The modern traveller delights in 

 their refreshing shade, and notices with interest the animal life 

 that fills the thickets. The jet-black and snow-white magpie 

 [Tewa ^wa'«] flutters about; blue jays [Tewa se\ appear, and 

 variegated woodpeckers. It is so ditlerent from the arid mesas 

 and barren mountains that we forget the painful steepness of the 

 road. Its general direction is now to the southwest. Once on 



1 Baiirtelier, Final Report, pt. ii, p. 36, 1892. = Bandelier, op. cit., p. 33. 



2 1'icuris notes, MS., I'JIU. 



