THE PUEBLO OF SAN JUAN. 



By H. C. Yarrow,,* Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A. 



This town differs materially from the Taos town, being built around a 

 hollow square, the buildings rising two stories in height, instead of five or 

 seven. In the vicinity the Indians own most of the fertile lands near the 

 river, and raise excellent corn and wheat, and, besides, a great quantity of 

 fruit; peaches, apples, and watermelons predominating. At this season of 

 the year they abandon their villages and erect temporary structures in their 

 fields, in which they live, to watch over their crops and protect them from 

 unscrupulous trespassers. From the alcalde of the previous year an inter- 

 esting vocabulary was obtained. It may be interesting in this connection 

 to mention the Indian method here witnessed of thrashing grain. A 

 suitable piece of firm ground is selected, perhaps 20 feet in diameter, and 

 is carefully cleared of stones and gravel; water is then poured on it from 

 time to time, and a herd of goats is driven round and round until the sur- 

 face is as firmly packed as possible; a circle of posts is then driven into the 

 ground, and the whole is inclosed with ropes, on which are hung old bags 

 or rags. Into the inclosure ten or fifteen mares are introduced and driven 

 around in a circle, the straw containing the grain having previously been 

 spread out. In a very short time the grain is beaten out by their hoofs and 

 is gathered into a heap, being afterward winnowed from the chaff when a 

 sufficiently strong wind will admit of it. These thrashing-floors are called 

 by the New Mexicans "era." 



[The pueblo of San Juan is about 40 miles south of Taos and on the 

 same side of the Rio Grande del Norte.] 



* Abstract from general itinerary report of field season for 1874. Annual Report of the Chief of 

 Engineers for 1875. Appendix LL. 



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