JtTT.r 2, 1885.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



447 



roughlv-made skins, males and females, of the Arctic blue- 

 bird {Sialm aretica), and this seems to be the bird most often 

 taken, and the one they care most about. I believe these 

 skins are used as ornaments to their attire in some of their 

 dances. 



As we started in the ambulance on our road, the day was 

 all we could wish, with no dust and not a cloud in the sky; 

 in fact, this was the kind of weather we enjoyed the entire 

 journey until our return to Fort Wingate, a very unusual 

 thing for this time of the. year. Almost at, once we passed 

 through a prairie dog town', where the large, pyramidal ant 

 nests are so often seen, and I counted quite a number of 

 the bird traps sticking up in every direction, indeed, hardly 

 an ant nest was without its trap. As we intended slopping 

 on our return, we passed right through the small pueblo of 

 Las Nutrias into the cultivated valley beyond. Here the 

 bright morning sun shone upon a sight as pretty as it was 

 gratifying. At least 400 acres were under cultivation, the 

 ground thus utilized being nearly level, very "rich and care- 

 fully irrigated throughout its entire extent, The bright 

 green spring wheat had already begun to show itselt, whue 

 groups of Zufiis were at work In all directions. Still others 

 were plowing or repairing the irrigating ditches. It would 

 be hard to imagine a picture more gratifying to the eye; 

 and indeed apart from everything else, these groups of 

 peaceful Indians, some clad in their bright parti-colored blank- 

 ets, at work, yes, actually at the plow of their own free 

 will, constituted a scene so picturesque that one would not 

 likely have it effaced from his memory in many a long day. 

 Our road still lay through the level river bottom, after we 

 passed the wheat fields of the Zufiis, and what we had just 

 witnessed kept us all on the alert to see other objects of 

 interest. . j; 



The Professor by this time began to think of "taking in' 

 a few specimens, and he had expressed himself as being 

 particularly desirous of securing a skin of one of the mag- 

 nificent old ravens (Corvm corax) that were seen from time 

 to time. The opportunity for doing this was not long de- 

 laved, for to the left of the ambulance some forty yards 

 distant, strutting through the low sage brush on the prairie 

 in a most stately manner, was a fine old male with his jetty 

 coat reflecting all the purples and blues in the sun as he 

 moved. The ambulance was checked up, but before 1 could 

 cover him he was in the air and well under way. "JSTo use," 

 said the Professor from the front seat in a disappointed tone, 

 "he's off." Yes, but my ounce and a quarter of No. 5 shot, 

 backed out of my favorite gun by three and a half drams of 

 Orange ducking powder, was after him. Down he came 

 with a broken pinion with a heavy thump on the prairie. 

 Out jumped the Professor in a minute, and it did my very 

 heart good to see the enthusiasm in this old gentleman of 

 over sixty, as he, in his black suit and beaver and flowing 

 white beard, made chase in zigzags and curves after that old 

 wounded raven over the plains of New Mexico. The speci- 

 men was bagged at last and properly stowed away. 



Here we passed the extensive and extraordinary lava beds, 

 there, on the other hand, lofty mesas, standing out against the 

 blue sky, bold and grand in the extreme. Sometimes these 

 latter were sentineled by some isolated peak, standing well 

 away from their base, and erect as the pines they dwarfed 

 about them, rising seventy or eighty feet or more. Further 

 along these mesas were almost continuous, being of fantastic 

 shapes and broadly striped, horizontally, by their brick-red 

 bands of strata. This section is know'n as the Red Canon, 

 and its geology is full of interest. 



As we passed once more into the rolling prairie some speci- 

 mens of birds were taken, and we observed Sturnella neg- 

 lecta, Lfinius kidovieianus excubitorides- (S&y's flycatcher, 

 Western sparrow hawk), Eremophila, Totanus melanoleucm 

 (Steller's jay, mountain chickadee), and a few others ; but, 

 on the whole, the absence of animal life was painfully notice- 

 able. At 1 P. M. the vegetation was becoming; scarcer, the 

 country rolling, and the mountains further removed from our 

 road. On our left, however, we were now nearing one 

 grand, level-topped old mountain that I at once recognized 

 as the far-famed Thunder Mountain of Zufii lore, and I 

 knew the pueblo would soon be visible. It came in sight at 

 last as we drove down the gentle decline which enters the 

 valley of the Zufii River. There in the distance, lit by the 

 noonday sun. of the same reddish mud-color as the level 

 prairie that surrounded it, was the pueblo of the Zufiis. The 

 river running by it sparkled in the light, and it was soon 

 evident that the houses were on a slight elevation above the 

 surrounding plain, which latter was, at this time of year, 

 devoid of all vegetation, or with barely a dash of grass at 

 long intervals apart to relieve the monotony of the red glare 

 of the clay bottom. 



Mv first impression was, "Why, how small it is," and the 

 second soon followed, "The isolated fragment of a former 

 race, and such isolation !" Then, bad it not been that my 

 mind aopreciated the fact that it was soon to have new 

 sights and objects to feed upon, would have crept over me 

 (which I've more than once experienced in former years) 

 that sickening feeling that takes possession of one as he enters 

 the Terres Mav.vais to cross them. 



Some gardens occupy the outskirts of the pueblo, but 

 whatever was planted in them was not above ground yet. 1 

 noticed some i ngenious scarecrows, made of empty tin vege- 

 table cans, swinging in the wind. Our road led through 

 these gardens to two very well-constructed adobe houses 

 lying some little distance from the pueblo. One of these was 

 occupied by the missionary schoolmaster, while the other 

 was his schoolhousc. This personage met us as we drove up 

 with our ambulance, closely followed by the escort wagon. 

 I descended and introduced myself to him and then presented 

 the visitors. Everything at his command was offered to us, 

 but it was finally decided that the Professor should occupy the 

 spare room at the missionary's, while my Philadelphia friend 

 and I still stood by our tent, which I had pitched near the 

 schoolhouse. We all, however, had the use of the dining- 

 room given us, and our cook served our meals there. 



We had hardly made the acquaintance of the missionary's 

 family, consisting of his wife and his niece, before we were 

 called upon by the Governor, ex-Governor, and other func- 

 tionaries of the tribe. Our salutation was a warm one, as 

 the Governor gave us each in turn a hug like a bear, and 

 then with no little dignity took a seat opposite us, those with 

 him following his example. The conversation turned prin- 

 cipally upon points for mutual information, with the usual 

 little pleasantries thrown in. The ex-Governor, who spoke 

 just a little English, ascertaining that I had been in Wash- 

 ington only a few months before, asked me about Col. and 

 Mrs. Stevenson, and others who had been at different times 

 in Zufii, and I answered his many questions as best I could. 

 It then being about half past two, we determined without 

 further delay to pay a visit to the pueblo. 

 Our party was made up of our three selves, the mission- 



ary and the Governor. We had hardly a hundred yards to 

 walk before we reached the rounded knoll upon which the 

 houses composing the pueblo were massed. As we strolled 

 over I noticed that two new Zufii houses had already been 

 erected in the bottom and were then occupied. Gardens 

 and corrals surround the hill nearly all about. These are 

 fenced in by high, rough poles, upon the tops of many of 

 which were perched the ever present ravens. The general 

 appearance of Zufii houses is so well known to us now, 

 through the illustrations in many of the reports of the Eth- 

 nological Bureau of the U. S. National Museum, and those 

 in the admirable articles of Mr. Gushing, which appeared in 

 several of the numbers of the Century Mqga&tie for 1883, 

 that any description of them here would be quite superflu- 

 ous. It was to me like stepDiug from the pictures into the 

 reality. There were the squarish houses all piled up on one 

 another, with the chimney pots and openings on the roof ; 

 there bristled up in many directions the tops of the ladders; 

 there were the Zufiis themselves on the roofs with others iu 

 the streets, bearing ou their heads the very jars, the like of 

 which I had so often seen my artist friends in the National 

 Museum illustrating, in "short, here was Zufii, for it has not 

 its counterpart in all the world. At our approach a dozen 

 dogs raised the alarm, and off scampered a group of half- 

 naked children of both sexes with their black, mop-like heads 

 of hair (the biggest part of some of them) blowing in the 

 wind. 



Strange as it may seem, our first inquiry was, how came 

 the hill there upon which this ancient pueblo is erected? The 

 plain for miles about it is almost as level as the surface of a 

 lake. Imagine the impression it made upon us when, after 

 our examination, the undeniable fact stared us in the face 

 that, although Zufii may have originally been started on a 

 slight rise in the plain, yot its present elevation— between 

 thirty and forty feet above the datum plane— is due largely, 

 in some places, to the accumulated excrement of the burros, 

 and I suspect, too, to some degree, the refuse from the 

 houses. This condition can better be seen at the pueblo of 

 Las Nutrias, where the entire lower stories of some of the 

 houses are covered above their roofs by a like guano deposit, 

 while additional stories have been built on and above them. 

 In Zufii, this condition is more particularly the case on the 

 side of the pueblo facing toward the missionary house. In 

 this situatiou the side of the hill has been cut away to make 

 room for a garden, and its composition is easily studied. I 

 am not aware that this fact has been published before; but it 

 seems hardly possible that a thing so evident has been over- 

 looked. We were disappointed fiuding the pueblo so nearly 

 deserted; not more than one house in ten was occupied, as 

 every able-bodied man and woman was at this lime of the 

 year away planting wheat, as we saw them at Las Nutrias, 

 Upon leaving home, a Zufii closes the little low door to his 

 house by piling a quantity of stones up in front of it. He 

 also takes the precaution to plaster up with clay the opeuing 

 upon the roof. Such fastening is considered a sacred seal, 

 and no honest one would think of breaking it any more than 

 we would, a seal to a letter. We saw all the empty houses 

 closed up in this way, and it lent to the pueblo a terribly 

 deserted appearance. The entire pueblo only covers between 

 twelve and fifteen acres. 



Our party next took its way through the short, little 

 streets, to "the principal plaza. This is a small patch of 

 ground, perhaps sixty by seventy-five feet, inclosed by a low 

 stone wall pointed up with mud. The cathedral closes in 

 the western end of this oblong plat, and a gateless opening 

 allows you to enter it on the opposite side, The plain, ver- 

 tical upright of an old wooden cross, stands in its center, 

 supported by a rough stone pedestal. 



This ground, which appears to be the bona fide top of the 

 hill, though not the highest elevation of the pueblo site, has 

 been used as a burial place by the Zufiis for age3. Its sur- 

 face is everywhere strewn with human bones in all stages of 

 preservation, and in two or three places the white vaults of 

 the weather-beaten crania of its occupants just peeped above 

 the ground. It was a graveyard where there were more 

 bones than earth. Much as 1 liked to moralize over all that 

 this little yard contained, just at the moment there were but 

 two favors I wished it could have granted me— one was a 

 scientifically chosen series of Zufii crania for the Army Medi- 

 cal Museum, and the other, that six of its most truthful and 

 first occupants could arise in the flesh and recount the early 

 history of their race. 



From the graveyard we entered the cathedral, through its 

 main door, or rather half door of unpainted wood, and so 

 jammed by the bones, dung and refuse at its threshold that 

 one could only squeeze in with difficulty. Once within the 

 building a most extraordinary view met our sight. The old 

 tumble-down structure consisted of but one room, the wall 

 of which had once been handsomely frescoed, but at a late 

 date smeared over with mud, allowing the fresco to show 

 only in small places. The heavy rafters of the roof were 

 fast falling in, and large breaks showed the sky through it. 

 Burros and other animals had evidently made it their head- 

 quarters, and the place had an odor about it that strongly 

 reminded me of a college dissecting room during the summer 

 months. The further wall opposite the door was covered 

 with rude carvings in wood; a separate and oblong one, of 

 some size hanging above the others, showed a raised carving 

 of one of the popes wearing the tiara. This carving had 

 been colored entirely white. The carvings on the uprights 

 below were quite elaborate and the faces of the cherubim 

 were symmetrical, and the whole thing looked like compar- 

 atively modern work of the Mexican Catholics. After seeiDg 

 all we wished, we passed out of a low side opeuing on to 

 the street; then the Professor kindly taking charge of our 

 outer wraps and remaining below, the rest of the party 

 started to examine the roof of the structure. We first had 

 to enter a narrow creep-hole in one of its angles, then goiug 

 on up through a winding mud staircase we 1'ound ourselves 

 on the roof of the front part of the building. Here hung to 

 a wooden crossbar in an adobe frame two metal bells, each 

 fastened to its bar by an ordinary Mexican lariat. These 

 bells were almost exactly alike, bore no date nor other mark- 

 ings and were without tongues. They appeared to be cast in 

 ordinary bell metal, and in dimensions something like two 

 feet high with an aperture of a foot and a half each. 



The point where we now stood afforded us a fine view of 

 the pueblo and all its surroundings. Some very old women 

 were at work on the roof of the house nearest us, and a few 

 children at play under the lone cottonwood in front of the 

 piazza — the only tree of which the country could boast. 

 After a last look we all descended to the ground and walked 

 down the hot, dusty and filthy street to visit the Governor's 

 house at his invitation. Here we were introduced to many of 

 the mysteries of the Zufii household, and here we saw the 

 various belongings to a well regulated Zufii house in actual 

 use by their owners and manufacturers 



Subsequently we entered many other houses and scrambled 

 over their roofs to our hearts' content; visited their dance 

 court (a place that any New England farmer would have 

 beeu ashamed to exhibit as the stallage for his cattle) and 

 peeped into their secret dance halls under ground. 



I saw several of their faces scarred with the marks of 

 smallpox, and a number of the babies and children suffering 

 from loathsome diseases of the skin. In calling the mission- 

 ary's attention to this he remarked, "Yes, it's a wonder to 

 me that most of them are not diseased, as I've known them 

 to eat the bodies of their burros that have died from disease, 

 and been kept too long besides." 



Every law known to sanitary science seems to be violated 

 iu this Zufii pueblo; the houses are not ventilated, they are 

 overcrowded ; there is no sewerage, and the dejections of all 

 kinds from the human body are to be seen standing in ves- 

 sels in the broiling sun on nearly every housetop and corner 

 of the streets. 



The faces of some of the younger women are quite pretty, 

 but of the young married women, or those that I saw, the 

 faces had an oldish cast. 



Some of their dances I am told are quite chaste, while 

 others are accompanied by customs too foul for record, and 

 the people who practice them but merit the fate of those we 

 read of in the Biblical legend of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

 Many of their ancient myths are pretty and full of romance, 

 and their language is a sweet one to listen to; but as £ strolled 

 back to the missionary's house with my friends, I knew too 

 well that the picture I had painted in my mind of Zufii was 

 forever spoiled by the first glimpses Iliad had of the reality. 

 To us the study of their language is of the highest im- 

 portance, and as a living link, connecting the people of ages 

 gone by with those still with us, the value of a searching 

 study of the Zufiis themselves can hardly be overestimated. 

 Beyond this Zufii has no further attraction for me. 



The Professor robbed it of all poetry when he remarked 

 with a sigh of relief as we walked along, that "he had seen 

 enough of that mass of mud hovels on a dunghill, inhabited 

 by people whose habits and customs are too frightful to 

 think of," This was placing it in rather a strong light, but 

 I fear with more truth than poetry in it. 



In the cool of the afternoon my Philadelphia friend and I 

 returned to the pueblo for further investigations, and we saw 

 much more that was interesting. We had the opportunity 

 to watch a group of women paint the pottery, aud later bake 

 it on the street. They do this by placing the freshly painted 

 pots, after the designs are dry, bottom side up on the ground, 

 and, protecting them with old broken pieces of pottery, pro- 

 ceed to build over the lot a flattened dome of very regular 

 outline of dried chips of cattle or burro dung, in such a way 

 as children build blocks, leaving alternate openings. A hot 

 fire is then started inside, which soon brings the pots to a 

 white heat, and the operation is completed in about half an 

 hour. It is accompanied by a practice, a description of 

 which 1 will here omit, though it will do no harm to men- 

 tion that, as "the bake" took place on the street by the grave- 

 yard wall, I picked up in the ashes afterward fully a dozen 

 completely calcified human bones; so the pots when done, 

 and we atterwaid purchased them, were certainly thoroughly 

 Zufiilied. 



Of particular interest to me were the golden eagles (Aquila 

 clwysuetus) that they keep penned up lor the feathers they 

 afford. Numbers of these birds are found all round the 

 pueblo, iuclosed in small cages of poles driven in the ground 

 for sides, and lashed overhead for tops. Similar structures 

 confined their prisoners in the angles of the houses aud 

 yards. In some of the eagles I noticed that the eyes were 

 nearly yellow, and they were in all stages of albinism. One 

 bird had its entire breast and tail, the scapula regions and 

 other isolated patches, composed of entirely pure white 

 feathers. Others were in various stages of this condition, 

 and from my inquiries I could not quite determine whether 

 it was due to old age or to long confinement in limited quar- 

 ters, or to the practice of pulling out the feathers or to the 

 change of food and environment; or perhaps to all these 

 causes combined, with certain ones predominating. A col- 

 ored man, whom they call Cuff, employed by Mr. Graham, 

 the trader of Zufii, told me that these eagles lay in the cages 

 and rear their young there; that he has repeatedly seen them 

 do it. I have reason, however, to doubt the word of this 

 same Cuff, and I must see the truth of his statement with' 

 my own eyes before I believe it. 



My friend, who was the wealthy one of our party, was 

 very fortunate in his purchases, aud came away with fiue 

 specimens of belts, moccasins, pottery, drills, hatchets, sac- 

 red basket and what not. I contented myself with very 

 little, as I hoped to pay them another visit later in the season 

 when the nation would be at home. 



After our exertions of the first day, we spent a pleasant 

 evening and enjoyed a good night's rest. 



Next morning I was awake before daylight, and as my 

 tent door faced toward the pueblo, the rising sun upon that 

 strange scene, with old Thunder Mountain and the hills as a 

 background, will long remain impressed upon my memory, 

 Would that its light could make clear to us, as its own face, 

 at least some of the mysteries that lie hidden in the uuwrit- 

 ten history of that curious little group of structures on the 

 banks of Zufii River. 



Alter breakfast my friend and I took a morning walk 

 through the pueblo again. On this occasion we watched an 

 old Zufii woman weave a blanket, and I purchased some of 

 the tools with which she did it. In another house where we 

 had entered in our search for one of their spinning wheels, 

 as my friend was very desirous of purchasing one, we saw 

 standing behind one of the stone slabs where they grind 

 their corn, a pretty little Zufii girl, not a day over* a year 

 old, and as naked as the hour she was born, with the stone 

 grinder in her hands, playfully showing her mother, who 

 watched with no little pride ou her face, how to grind the 

 corn. The picture was a charming one, and if the expres- 

 sions of all could have been caught at the proper moment, 

 what a study it would have made. 



But the morning Hours were passing, so a little after 1 

 o'clock away we drove from Zufii, and in a very short time 

 Thunder Mountain and the pueblo were once more beyond 

 our sight. 



The objects of interest by the wayside had lost none of 

 their charm for us on our return; in fact, I think we rather 

 enjoyed them the more for seeing them ou different sides 

 aud in a different light. Just beyond the Pescaclo, a creek 

 that we cross close to the road, we pass what appears to be 

 the ruin of some old fortification, We all descended from 

 the ambulance and rambled over this curious heap of almost 

 shapeless ruins and debris. It covers some two or three 

 acres, aud we had no trouble in finding parts of human 

 skeletons, pottery of various kinds, bones of eagles and tur- 

 keys, and scraps of implements. All these relics bore evi- 



