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Show to the somewhat legendary story, the Acomas once lived atop a higher At my earlit somewhat smaller rock, a few miles westwa.rd of the village today. er visits to this rock---ttHesa Encant ade" ot! the Enchanted Hesa, the walls ap eared unscalable. Later, however,it appeared that some tserhaps Itloose" stone ad given way, and that it 1night be possible to climb tothe mess. Enquiries at information that the wa.Ls of Hesa Enca.ntada had he villages, brought th een e Ltmbedj and that at the tip were the ruins of the old village of. the nd According ong ago.: The story is that to the' ancient village, there was but one. trail from the One day,' while all the Ilain below, where the farms of' the tribe were Locat ed in the fields, with the exception of 3 old ribe were below the cliffs, working omen.unebl.e to make the climg, lightning struck on the "trail", making it im osaf.bl.e to ascend---of course the old ladies had to be left to their fate. their present location atop te lower rock. be tribe, however, then moved to , like the Hopis, have made their homes in these rugged places for protection om enemies. Why they should stay' during conditions that have persisted for the past century, a seem to understand; but to the natives it must be "home". bit difficult lay 'he government, sever-al. years ago, attempted to induce the Hopis of First Meaa o come down to the foot of thecliffs, by building some 100 new houses for Some of the Indians moved down for a time; but it was not long until they .hem. 'moved" back to their old "home" atop the cliffs, taking with them the doors and r.indows of the government=bui It, dwe Ll.Lngs The Acoma Indians, nd inconvenient rt.op such ci iffs ' , '. : .. _. • $. 1. -', • . During the winter of 1604-05, Juan de Onate made another trip westward through villages, including Zuni and the villages of the Hopis; and then onward mtd.L, .late in Janua.ry, 1605, he arrived at the mouth of the Co Lor-ado River. [t is evident that he did not remain o.ng on the shores, of the Gulf of Califor On the cliffS of that bold headland, "El, Ro rro " , is this inscription:-ri.a, nPassed by here the Adelantado Don Juan de Onate, from the discovery of the This bit of historica.l informa)ea of the South, the 16th of April of 1605". ion was, of course, inscribed on the cliff on that date;' and we may note the acknowledgement that Onate was te' Governor of New Mexico; and was'on his way back hese from his second journey westward from the Rio Grande yalley. * - f- El Morro This re-a. bold sandstone headland. is 'a "promont.orv" jutting from highlands plains below, and having perpendicular cliffs on the three exposed At some distance from its crigin 3ides. 'It is perhap'. some 200 feet high. .n the highlands, is;:bend in the promont.oryj formi.ng an "alcove" on 'one side Into this depr-essd.on, during time of storm or melting snows, )f the projection. clows a small creek over the precipice, having its origin in the highlands back ti )f the promontory. Through the centuries, or perhaps through the ages, the a deep hole at the base of the cliff, in which has been worn water has nto lower ralling. far back as Jr kno', a never-failing water supplY7--sufficiently replenished replaced-to prevent staleness to any great degree. as is (\ A veritable tlwell in the desert", with wood and forage in the immediate vicin,ir ity it has been a favorite camping-place for nearly four centuries for the lite Juan de Onate, the and how long before for the aborigines we. do not know, of New Hexico, left his inscription as above given, on his return from his second trip westward---on this trip he had gone as far as the Gulf of Cal ne! C"'()vrnor hundreds of SUC:1 inscriptions incised around the base of the high cliffs---mostly, of course, by Spanish trvellers---a veritable· historical record of the past. It is in the upper drainage of the Little Colorado, a few miles west of the Continental Divide. ifornia There are · ' |
