Show description OF RAMAH now new mexico given by 0 H crosby in a letter to perry 0 fisher dear perry yes you are arc preparing for the dedication and I 1 am here in a little new mexican town which is mostly compe composed sed of indian I 1 missionaries it was built here beca came we it lay between the zuni and navajo countries the alie people are N g generally poor and as they have to in m aa angain private schools or lave have none t they hey have had bad none for two years and almost none for three and r half years about twenty four miles from ile here lies the zuni village it would be b 7 interesting 0 to visit it but I 1 will attempt to briefly describe it to you around it lies a barren red clay t p plain un w while hile it is built on a knoll right b by the zuni river a dry river from eight to ten months month st yearly the houses being 7 that the ground neighbors roof forms door yard ard for the residents of the next domicile above this necessitates a ladder being placed from the ground root roof while number three has bag a ladder from roof one to number two U up p these ladders climb women with great water pots on their head I 1 saw a little girl carry one that filled two large buckets here the author ill illustrates 11 strates with a drawing in the letter which we are unable to represent to y you on north of the village 0 a mission school is located this not only teaches tea clies them to read write and cipher but also to eat cat at civilized tables wear civilized clothing to sew to knit to wash themselves and their clothing to wash dishes spend 0 ingime half of every day in industrial work the people elect a governor every two years and a chief for life the former being a civil officer the latter commander lu in chief during war the they y have three other villages villacres acres 0 which in mostly have the farms surrounding them they are a farming people this town has 1600 population and covers near about forty to sixty acres and as they lave have no ventilation but throw filth out pile upon pile pay little biltl e attention to bodilly cleanliness are often poorly fed and clothed they have many invalids cripples and deformities among them they make pottery for utility and orDa ornamentation tend sheep cattle and horses raises corn squashes potatoes and beans uses shovels plows scrapers rakes hoes and wagons the latter implement being a present from the government when he be travels to the farm in the spring 0 lie he takes everything along from the turkey gobbler and kitten to his wife and family if 11 wealthy he transports these in a wagon but generally on donkeys at times when the crop is planted they move back to zuni until harvest harves this village was discovered discovered in igge by a catholic priest and that sect built a church here but it is now almost a ruin the indians have taken the chime of bells the holy candies candlesticks ticks and crucifix the sacred vessels and put them away while the old church wi with I 1 its ils caved iu in roof ancient portico and end gallery remain to show that the jesuits were once there let us look at the zuni himself with liis his hair square across the bottom parted iu in the middle while around liis his head and forehead is wrapped a red sash now greasy his pants and shirt are made of calico lie he lias has a blanket around his big waist and moccasins on oil his feet it looks strange to see these people sitting in front of their houses ome idle some some cobbling moccasins ca somo whittling some comb aug 1119 should you wander ground round the village the garden would soon attract you they are in hi terraces on the banks of 0 t the he zuni each being enclosed with a mud wall they 30 feet and are arc measure about 20 by laid off in beds beda about a food foot squarer in these beds they plant seeds se eds and the wife packs water from the zuni river or a well to water these that her lord jord may cat the fruit thereof georgr GEORGE 11 croskr JK jit KAMAU NEW MEXICO april 5 1893 |