INTRODUCTION. 



The Southwest claims the attention of those inter- 

 ested in ethnology in three important particulars. 

 Such physical conditions as the rather scanty rainfall, 

 the great evaporation, the high ele\'ation of the table- 

 lands, and the peculiar vegetation which exists under 

 these conditions, set it off rather distinctly from the 

 Eastern and Central United States. Under these not 

 too favorable physical surroundings, there have been 

 maintained for a long time two strikingly different 

 cultures, both meeting in their own way these condi- 

 tions with success. Finally, we have here an unusual 

 perspective resulting from the splendidly preserved 

 prehistoric ruins and from historical records and 

 descriptive literature covering nearly four centuries of 

 contact with Europeans. 



Region Defined. 



This region is separated from the culture area of the 

 Plains by the staked plains where there exists neither 

 fuel nor drinkable water. They were crossed in both 

 directions: by the people of the Southwest who went 

 eastward to hunt the buffalo and by the Comanche 

 and Kiowa who raided the Mexican and Indian settle- 



