EL MORO. 167 
separate parties, for such an attempt would fill a volume 
instead of a chapter, but I shall relate, with the help given 
me by my friends who were present, the most interesting 
adventures met with on the way, and shall sketch here and 
there the country traversed by them. 
Whilst two parties were surveying north of the bold 
volcanic cone, San Mateo (Mount Taylor), west of the Rio 
Grande, and exploring Navajo Pass (Campbell’s Pass), the 
third was travelling south of the mountain; visiting the 
interesting pueblos of Laguna and Acoma, examining In- 
scription Rock, which the Spaniards named El Moro, and 
making ‘the acquaintance of the Aztec Indians of Zuiii. 
On approaching Inscription Rock you are struck with its 
wonderful resemblance to a Moorish castle, and acknowledge 
at once the justice of the old Spanish name. It is—as may be 
seen by the engraving, an exact copy of a photograph taken by 
our professional artist—sufficiently large to be a fine land- 
mark for the surrounding district, and it is fortunate for 
us all that the earliest Spanish pioneers thought so too, for 
they have engraved their names and the dates of their expedi- 
tions on every side of the rock, leaving behind them a record 
of events, some of which would otherwise have been entirely 
lost to history. Close to the left hand corner, almost hidden 
by the brushwood, is the most ancient date of all. 
‘Don JOSEPH DE BASEMZELES, 1526.” 
Arranging the inscriptions in chronological order, and using 
the translation furnished by Lieutenant Simpson in his report, 
we find the following : — 
«Passed by this place with daseeichet ne 
16th day of April, 1 
‘«« J, APARELA, 1619 (hieroglyphics not decipherable). 
‘‘Governor and Captain-General of the Province of New Maxioo, for our 
