294 ETHNOGEOGRAPHV OF THE TEWA INDIANS [eth. axn. 29 



{!») Span. Mesita, Mesilla 'little tableland' 'little mosa'. 

 = Edj^. (4). Cf. the names of the settlement Mesilla [15:28] and 

 of the Mesilla on the wcsl side of the Rio (Jrande somewhere 

 opposite the latter [14:unIocated], which take their names from 

 [18:19]. 



(10) Span. Hiu'i'fano 'the orphan', so called because the mesa 

 is so isolated. = Enj;-. (5). This is perhaps the commonest Span, 

 name of the mesa. 



(11) Span. Mesa, Mesita 6 Mesilla de San Ildefonso. = Enjr. (6). 

 The Black Mesa is the most conspicuous geoj^-raphical feature 



in the Tewa valley country. It looms like a great black fort, 

 about midway between San Ildefonso and Santa Clara Pueblos. 



Of the g'oolog\' of the Black Mesa Ilewett writes: '' Here is an 

 example of the geologically recent basaltic extrusions which char- 

 acterize the Rio Grande Valley from this point south through 

 White Rock Canon''.' The entire mesa is of blackish basalt; see 

 the discussion of its historj', below. The cave [18:'21] was 

 deepened in the hope of tinding mineral deposits, but up to the 

 pi'esent time no mineral of conuuercial value has been discovered 

 at the mesa; see [18:21j. 



The Tewa sa}^ that the mesa has been used as a place of refuge 

 and defense in time of war since the earliest period. The clilt's 

 are scalable in four places only: [18:l'TJ, [18:28], [18:29], and 

 [18:25]. At one of these places [18:29] are remains of an ancient 

 wall. In historic times the San Ildefonso Tewa were besieged on 

 the top of this mesa by the Spaniards at the close of the Indian 

 revolt of 1680. 



It was on thia cliff [18:19] that the Tt-huas [Tewa] held out so long in 1694 

 against Diego de Vargas. No documentary proof of this is needed. Vargas 

 made four expeditions against the mesa, three of which proved unsuccessful. 

 The first was on the 2Stli of January, 1694, and as the Tehuas made proposals 

 of surrender, Vargas returned to Santa Fe without making an attack upon 

 them. But as the Indians soon after resumed hostilities, he invested the mesa 

 from the 27th of February to the 19th of March, making an effectual assault on 

 the 4th of March. A third attempt was made on the 30th of June, without 

 results; and finally, on the 4th of September, after a siege of five days, the 

 Tehuas surrendered. Previously they had made several desperate descents 

 from the rock, and experienced some loss in men and in supplies. The mesa 

 is so steep tliat there was hardly any possibility of a successful assault. The 

 ruins [18:24] on its summit [18:19] are those of the temporary abodes con- 

 structed at that time by the Indians.- 



The San Ildefonso Indians preserve traditions of this siege. 

 Brave Indians used to descend every night through the gap 

 [18:27] and get water from the river for the besieged people to 



' Hewett in Out Wtst, xxxi, p. 701, 19(W. =BandeliiT. Fiiml Report, pt. ii, p. .S2, and note, 1S92. 



