THE 



National Geographic Magazine 



Vol. VIII OCTOBER, 1897 N,, |,, 



THE ENCHANTED MESA 



By F. W. HoDGK, 



Bureau of Americnu EOmnhgn 



The ]iuebIo of Aconia, in western central New Mexico, is the 

 oldest settlement within the limits of our domain. Many of the 

 walls that still stand on that beetling penol were seen by Coro- 

 nado during his marvelous journey in 1540, and even tiien thev 

 were centuries old. 



The valley of A coma has been described as " tlie Garden of 

 the Gods multiplied by ten. and with ten equal but other won- 

 ders thrown in; plus a human interest, an archeological value, 

 an atmosphere of romance and mystery ; " and the comparison 

 has not been overdrawn. Stretching away for miles lies a beau- 

 tiful level plain clothed in grama and bound on every side by 

 mesas of variegated sandstone rising precipitously from 300 to 

 400 feet, and relieved by minarets and pinnacles and domes and 

 many other features of nature's architecture. About tiieir bases 

 miniature forests of pinon and cedar are found, pruned of their 

 dead limbs by native wood-gatherers. Northwestward, Mount 

 Taylor, the loftiest peak in New Me.xico, rears its verdant head, 

 and 20 miles away to the westward the great frowning pine- 

 fringed Mesa Prieta, with the beautiful vale of Cebollila at its 

 feet, forms a fitting foreground to every dying sun. 



But none of these great rock-tables is so precipitous, so awe- 

 inspiring, and seemingly so out of place as the majestic isolateil 

 Katzimo or E]nchanted Mesa, which rises 430 feet from the middle 

 of the plain as if too proud to kee|) comyiany with it-s fellows; 

 and this was one of the many wonderful homesites of tlie 



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