282 THE ENCHANTED MESA 



tribe and a medicine priest; Luis Pino and Santiago Savar&, 

 principales. After careful inquiry in regard to the tradition of 

 the former occupancy of Katzimo, Luciano informed us that 

 " the elders " had lived there so long ago and the storms in his 

 country were so destructive that we could now hardly expect to 

 find any remains on the surface of the mesa. When we told him 

 and his companions that a potsherd had already been found, 

 the}'' became deeply interested and manifested no little anxiety 

 to find other evidences of the lofty homesite of their ancestors. 

 I think there can be no doubt that this was the first visit of any 

 of the present Acomas to the mesa top. They evinced much 

 curiositv in the place, and were greatly surprised when we took 

 them to the stone monument, of which they could give no satis- 

 factory explanation. It is needless to say that the natives did 

 not intimate that the pile Avas due to natural causes. 



As already stated, the Indians were deeply interested in find- 

 ing further evidence of occupancy, and I encouraged them to 

 search for relics. They had proceeded only a few yards, accom- 

 panied by Major Pradt, when the teniente found a fragment 

 of ancient pottery quite similar to the sherd picked up the 

 evening before. A few moments later several more fragments 

 were found (two of them of different kinds of indented ware), as 

 well as a portion of a shell bracelet still bearing evidence of con- 

 siderable wear, and a large arrowpoint. Soon after the keen-e3^ed 

 Luciano discovered near the northern rim of the mesa the blade 

 end of a white stone ax, on the edge of which several small 

 notches had been made. The exposed side of this implement was 

 thoroughly bleached and crackled, while the side in contact with 

 the ground was stained and still damp when the finder handed it 

 to me. After descending the mesa the same Indian exhibited 

 the blade end of another ax which showed a portion of the groove 

 and which was notched similarly to the other. He had found it 

 on the summit, or rather on a ledge a few feet below the summit. 

 Both Mr Hayt and myself tried to purchase it, but the Indian 

 refused to part with the specimen, as he was a medicine priest 

 and desired to keep it for ceremonial use. Like the other imple- 

 ment, this ax was thoroughly bleached on one side by weather- 

 ing, the unexposed side being stained through contact with the 

 lichen- covered ground. 



We descended the mesa about noon of the second day (Sep- 

 tember 4), having spent about 20 hours on the summit. During 

 this time I employed every opportunity in making a critical 



