INTRODUCTION. 19 



economy of cooperative labor in building houses of 

 such a sort that one roof and one set of outer walls 

 served to shelter many families. Either as a cause or 

 a result, we find a complicated religious system, with 

 orders of priests, councils, and governors to control the 

 people in their joint industries and in warfare, and a 

 system of social grouping consisting of large divisions 

 known as clans. 



Under such a physical environment, shaped by such 

 social tendencies, there developed in the Southwest a 

 civilization comparable to that of Mexico and Peru, 

 into which in 1540 the Spaniards came, with a knowledge 

 of metals and firearms, bringing with them horses, 

 cattle, and sheep. Later came the Franciscan mission- 

 aries who were intent on breaking down the religious 

 beliefs and practices of native growth entwined into 

 the daily life and social organization of the people 

 and substituting Christianity. The fortunes of war 

 transferred this territory to the United States in 

 1847. Notwithstanding this long period of contact 

 with European peoples, customs, and religion, we still 

 have in the Southwest many thousands of pure blood 

 natives living in the same localities, in the same sort 

 of houses, by the same means, thinking the same 

 thoughts, and following the same religion they did 

 when found by the Spaniards, and perhaps for many 

 centuries before that time. 



