MYTHOLOGY.—INSCRIPTIONS.—SACRED SPRING. 
39 
They say there is hut one God, hut that Montezuma is his equal. Inferior to them is the 
sun, to whom they smoke and pray, because he looks upon them, knows their wants, and 
answers their prayers. The moon is younger sister of the sun, and the stars are their children. 
All are worshipped. Besides these is the Great Snake, to whom, by order of Montezuma, 
they are to look for life.* Turning to the inscriptions, and pointing to the horned men, they 
said that this was a representation of the buffalo dance, from time immemorial a national festi¬ 
vity, at which they crowned themselves with horns and corn-shucks. 
We saw no more Indian inscriptions until we reached the canon upon Santa Fe river, where 
the half-vitrified surfaces of the rocks contained many representations of snakes, four-footed 
beasts, and men. They are rude, like those upon the banks of Rio Gila. Being disconnected, 
they seem designed to tell no story, and hence the copies are suppressed. 
The next series of carvings was found at El Moro (Inscription rock) where Spanish adven¬ 
turers and explorers, from as early a period as the first settlement of Plymouth, have been in 
the habit of recording their expeditions to and from Zuni. But these have all been fully 
described by Captain Simpson, in his report upon the Navajo expedition, and therefore will 
not be repeated here. The Indian figures are evidently more ancient than the oldest of the 
Spanish inscriptions. 
Plate 31. 
Plate 32. 
Etchings at Arch spring. 
Plate 31 represents some of the etchings upon rocks in the vicinity of the ruins at Ojo 
Pescado. The figures are curious, and might safely be pronounced centuries old. They have 
been defaced by time only, there being no trace of a modern hand about them. 
In plate 32 are copies of a few of the figures found cut upon rocks at Arch spring, near 
Zuni. There seems to be a faint similarity between the first two images, and those said to 
represent Montezuma at Rocky Dell creek. 
In the valley of Zuni there is a singular spring, surrounded by high walls of earth, upon the 
top of which are many earthern jars fixed in an inverted position. A sketch, and some remarks 
upon it, may be found in the following chapter upon Indian antiquities and arts. Pedro Pino, 
governor of this frontier pueblo, visited our camp, and was questioned regarding this fountain. 
He replied: “We live in a country without acequias, and, for the growth of our crops, depend 
0 Vincente says, that when he was a captive among the Comanches, he was bitten by a rattlesnake. The Indians scari¬ 
fied the wounded foot with a flint, rubbed it with a weed, bruised the snake, caught it, and told him to take hold of it. 
He was afraid to do so; but they told him he would die if he did not. He then grasped it convulsively, and they coiled 
it around the wound. He was cured, of course; and his foot now bears the scar. 
