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Show 177 most prosperous in New Mexico, having fine lields, large irrigating- ditchcs, and extensive Hocks of sheep. " If you wish to see," said the kiud old Hosti, ex- governador of the town," what a great people we once were, ( que gran pueblo los Jentez eran,) you must go upon the mesas and into the cafions of the vicinity, where ruins of our fore-lathers are numerous. Our people were a warlike race, and had many lights not ouly with the Spaniards but also with other Indian tribes, the Navajos and Taos for instance, and were thus reduced to this pueblo of Jemez,' wThich now forms the last remnant." Hosti's son led me to some ruius in the viciuity. A rido of six miles up the river brought us to the junction of the two great canons, Guadaloupe aud San Diego. Where the mesa between these caiions narrows itself to a point are the ruius of two pueblos, one upon the lower promiuenco of the mesa, named Batokva, the other upon the mesa proper, called Ateyala- Keokva, aud only approachable by two narrow, steep trails, the mesa everywhere else beiug nearly perpendicular and 750 feet high. The view from the mesa is picturesque and imposing in the extreme; far beneath, to the right and left, a stream makes its way between the colossal walls of sandstone, which are penetrated. by trachytic dikes; upon the narrow width of the mesa, near frightful precipices, are the ruins of a town of eighty houses, partly in parallel rows, partly in . squares, and partly perched between the overhauging rocks, the rim and surfaces of which formed, at the same time, the walls of rooms, gaps, aud interstices being tilled in artiticially. Nearly every house ha4 one story and two rooms; the building material was trachytic rock, as found upon the mesa. Brokeu pottery, charred corn, and millstones for grinding corn, were found in some of the rooms. The roofs had all falleu in, aud so also had many of the side walls, in the construction of which wood was but little u$ ed. Pi non- trees have taken root within many of the former rooms. Upon asking my Indian guide whether the former inhabitants of this town were obliged to descend the steep and dangerous pathway every day to the creek to procure water, he replied that there were cisterns ou the mesa, in which rain, formerly plentiful, was caught. He then called my attention to some conical heaps of stone along the rim of the precipice, which was the material for defense. Although the position upon this mesa appears impregnable, the Spaniards succeeded in taking it, probably forcing the inhabitants to surrender by cutting oft* water aud provisions. " When the Spaniards came up," said this Indian, " the despair of the people was great; many threw themselves headlong into the frightful depths below, preferring suicide to humiliating death at the hands of their couqnerors. Suddenly the Spirit Guadalupe, who is the custodian of the cafion, made his appearance, and from this moment the people could jump down without any < lauger, and siuce this remarkable episode the image of Guadalupe has been upon the rocks." On descending, I viewed this image, which is a white tigure, about ten feet in length, painted high up on the vertical bluffs, apparently a difficult task for the uu-knowu artist. The only place from which the spot could be reached is a narrow prominence 30 to 40 feet below the picture. As there is a sort of halo around the head, such as we are accustomed to see in pictures of saints, I believe this image to be the work of a Spauish priest who desired to impose upon the people, for which purpose he might have secretly made this picture, which to them is a miracle. Again, in the valley, the Indian called my attention to a number of peach- trees along the river- margin, which he said were planted by the former inhabitants of Ateyala- Keokvri, and, from the fact that these trees still blossom and bear fruit, it would seem that the impositions on the credulity of theso people by the Spauish priests are not of a very remote period. The reports of the Spaniards frequently mention Jemez. Ca- stafiade, who accompanied Corouado on his marches through New Mexico, as early as 1541-, 43, speaks of two great provinces in that vicinity, Jemez, and north of it Juke- Yunke. He also speaks of stronglj'- fortitied places difficult of access, and of a town, Braba, that was called by the Spaniards Valladolid on account of the resemblance of its situation with that of this Spanish towu. I think that from this word is derived the name Vallatoa, used at the present day by the inhabitants of Jemez to siguify their town. In the years 1692 and 1693 two war expeditions took place, under General Diegodo Vargas, against the Jemez, who had destroyed the churches, murdered the priests, and declared themselves free from the Spanish yoke. In the Spanish account of these occurrences, it is mentioned that the Indians fled to a high mesa aud there bombarded the Spaniards with a shower of stones. Trustworthy Mexicans told me that there are ruins of twenty- five or thirty towus upon the neighboring mesas aud in the canons, and those of live largo churches. In the viciuity of the Hot Springs, ( Ojos Calientes,) twelve miles above Jemez, iu the Cafmu de San Diego, are the ruins of one of them. The walls are fully 7 feet thick, aud the interior space 100 feet long by 35 feet wide, with a tower attached on the north side. The destruction of this church building probably took place in 16d0, at the time of the great Pueblo revolution against the Spanish priests And soldiers. It may be added, with regard to the Pueblos of the present day, who hardly number more than 8,000 souls, that, taking difference of language * as a base, there are eight tribes, which occupy the following towus: * Vocabularies of all the Pueblo languages, except the Zufii, were collected by the members of the expedition, each vocabulary embracing about two hundred words. |