JACKSON.] KUINS OF CHACO CANON, NEW MEXICO. 433 



comparatively level country to the Continental divide. On our right 

 hand were several prominent mesas and some small conical buttes, oth- 

 erwise the near landscape presented no marked features. In the ex- 

 treme distance, however, the Cerro Cabezon, the San Mateo, and the 

 Jemez Mountains were almost constantly in full view. The transition 

 from the drainage of the Eio Grande to that of the Eio Colorado is so 

 nearly imperceptible, that we could not tell within several miles where 

 the true divide lay. Everything about us indicated that we were trav- 

 elling upon the summit of a high plateau, in which the canons of the 

 Chaco, Torrejon, and Largo have their origin in scarcely perceptible fur- 

 rows. From the point where we left the Torrejon to where the Chaco 

 fairly commenced is about 12 miles. There is here a broad valley, with 

 every appearance of having been covered with standing water which had 

 evaporated and left the surface covered with a thin layer of whitish 

 clay, which has cracked and curled up into a thousand fantastic forms 

 under the intense heat of the sun. Looking across its desolate waste a 

 mirage danced constantly on the horizon, magnifying the insignificant 

 sage bushes and the low, rolling hills into great oaks and distant mount- 

 ains. After passing this plain the low hills upon either side converge 

 in such a manner as to leave but a narrow passage between them, and 

 here the bed of this arm of the Chaco first takes definite shape. From 

 the summit of the hill on the right the first of the great ruins maybe easily 

 discerne(f with the naked eye some six or seven miles away. A short dis- 

 tance farther and we found some water-pockets formed by an obstruction 

 in the bed of the arroyo. A few families of Navajos, with large numbers 

 of sheep and some horses, were camped near by. The previous season 

 they had planted considerable ground in corn, drawing off by acequias 

 the water which occasionally finds its way into the arroyo, and flooding 

 the loose, porous soil adjacent to it. By a little prudent forethought in 

 storing water at the right time, they are enabled to reclaim what would 

 otherwise be an unprofitable waste. While yet four or five miles away 

 the ruins loom up prominently, resembling at this distance a ledge of 

 dark-brown sandstone, and it is only when within less than a mile that 

 we recognize its true character. We were fortunate enough to find a 

 pool of shallow water and some good grass near the ruin. The arroyo 

 itself, which is here some 10 or 12 feet deep, was perfectly dry, the little 

 depressions in the grassy soil of the level valley retaining water much 

 longer than the bed of the streams. 



THE PUEBLO PINTADO. 



The ruins of the Pueblo Pintado* occupy a bench of some 25 or 30 feet 

 elevation above the valley where we are camped, and this bench runs 

 back into rolling hills and mesas covered with juniper and pinon trees. 

 On the side of the bluff facing the valley is an outcrop of a yellowish- 

 gray sandstone, showing in some places a seam of from 12 to 18 inches 

 in thickness, where the rock breaks into thin slate-like layers. It was 

 from this stratum that most of the material in the walls was obtained. 



* This is the one undoubtedly referred to by Gregg as the Pueblo Bonito. Professor 

 Loew refers to it under the saroe name. I have, however, adopted throughout the 

 names given by Simpson. He thus refers to this one. It is " called, according to some 

 of the Pueblo Indians with us, Pueblo de Montezuma, and according to the Mexicans, 

 Pueblo Colorado. Hosta calls it Pueblo de Eatones ; Sandoval, the friendly Navajo chief 

 with us, Pueblo Grande ; and Carravahal, our Mexican guide, who probably knows 

 more about it than any one else, Pueblo Pintado." It will readily be inferred from the 

 above that none of these names give any indication whatever of those in use during 

 the occupancy of the pueblos. 



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