| Show MOST WONDERFUL CITY the most wonderful city in the world is in new mexico only a few miles from cubero Cit bero or laguna on the atlantic and pacific railroad it had bad been in existence hundreds of years when Cb columbus lumbus discovered america acoma for such is its name is perched upon the level summit of a great rock whose perpendicular sides are nearly feet above the surrounding country and reached by some holthe most difficult paths ever trodden by roan man the feet of generations have worn these paths six inches into the solid sandstone the acoman now number souls upon their seventy acres of rock they have six communal houses each three stories high besides a church of enormous dimensions the inhabitants have carried up the toilsome trails every particle of the material from which the buildings were constructed and besides this the graveyard consumed forty years in being completed by reason of the necessity for bringing earth from the plain below all supplies at the present day even to drinking water are brought in the same way the architecture of acoma is as as its location the houses ate are all terrace so that they resemble nights flights of 0 stone steps or egyptian pyramids on a small sc scale in each house the second secona story baias I 1 ten a or a dozen feet back on the flat root of the first thus leaving a broad uncovered walk the whole length the third story is similarly placed upon the second there are no doors on the lower walls of the houses nor stairs inside to get into the first story one must go up a ladder to the first roof enter the second story rooms lift a t tra ra i door in its floor and back down another anoche r i ladder all these houses are of stone stonemasonry masonry in spite of the tact fact that the builders had no metal tools for dressing the material instead they chose rock which broke natu naturally r ally into the shape desired and laid it in a very durable mortar made from mud so neatly was their work done that the outer faces of the build ings are as smooth as a board the rafters are straight pine sticks stripped of their bark and above them isa roof of smaller sticks straw and clay the rhe combination is perfectly water tight the windows are very small and until glass was introduced the panes we remade were made of translucent gypsum the finishing hing it touch ouch is s to plaster th the walls inside and out with adobe clay and then whitewash bvm em with a preparation of gypsum anis Js whitewash gives a pue pueblo 0 town at a di distance stance the appearance of being built of 0 marble acoma is simply a type of twenty six inhabited pueblo towns now existing in new N ew mexico exah I 1 na arizona and containing a populo po pupo P ot 01 oooo souls the nineteen pueblos of new mexico ar an e scattered e d up and d down the vio rio gradde valley tram taos S the most northern to weta isleta which bichis is just south ot of albuquerque thence thence they extend westward along the lime liae of t toe they e atlantic and paci it Taij oad road to near the arizona border the last one in this direction 4 being the farr far famed zuni the seven pueblos in arizona are close together in the northern part the inhabitants belag being collectively called M moqui i botu ane e origin of the pueblos has never been unveiled A profound interest centres bentres in them but one thing has been settled they and the cave or cliff dw dwellers ellets are one and the same people the latter have not vanished as was once supposed their descendants are with us today the ancestors of the pueblos were probably the arliese ar liest inhabitants of this continent the remains of their forts towns and stupendous irrigating canals are thickly scattered over new mexico and arizona and indicate that the population was teeming one ot these lort discovered discover edby by ward of the united states army about twenty years ago it is some seventy miles east of maricana maricopa Mari copa capa in arizona the fortification a parallelogram isoo i feet long by feet beet wide is built of stone brought from the mountains twelve miles away its average height is twelve feet and there are portions of the walls still standi standing ag as perfect as when built within the enclosure are the moldering evidences of a structure of roughly hewn stones by feet one of the interior walls ot of which has a perfectly distinct tracing of the sun and its rays the have ever been sun worshippers at the southeast corner of the wall is a tower which must have been of conod considerable erable height while on oil the south ws corner is is 9 tower about thirty feet hith high i plate pottery and carved stone boxe of f which still exhibit evidences of irdeL indelible lIl le stai staining nia K and glazing ato scattered in all d directions i lons the motive for building g such a stu work could bay e been none other than man defense the id e a prompted the ancestors ot of the pueblos the cliff dwellers to build their homes so hh high 19 up on the canyon walls that from tae me ground the entrance looks like that ol of a swallows nest and in the pueblo towns of today like acoma the idea is still apparent for these towns were built when defense against a more warlike or numerous enemy was absolutely necessary to self preservation the pueblo indians now live in mu much ch the same way as did their forefathers when first discovered by the spaniards years vears ago years ago their lands which they hold in common were granted them by mexico and at the close of the mexican war these grants we were re confirmed by the united states aney are quite set seit SuA and should evely human himan be being 1 ing but themselves be blotted koin frota the earth they would jog along without concern the basis of t society is not the family as with us but bui the clan the number of jot clans in a pueblo town runs from six to git sixteen teen every individual bt belonging longing toone to one Ainan A man cannot marry a woman of the salme claw clat he be must go out sije sile still arranger is the law of descent with people A it is front from the 19 with the pueblos from the r mathe r children talce take the name of ehni mother furthermore the ithe house is in charge ol of the woman exclusively it mens clothing and weapons excepted belonging to the atie housekeeper it once housed housea the cidna whit As longas long as tatty twain mt in the field the man may dispose of them afterward he must consult the woman Evett th f proceeds df the corn common knon stints are treated in the same manner only lynch the man kills game when out alone is it his toi the pueblo woman Is an excellent hou houseW elfe Ue and her home is a model of neatness nearness beds are usually made up of blankets of home m make ake t bedsteads are not unknown but oftener the blankets will be neaty folded and ladd in a corner iti in ae the daytime and spread upon the floor at night nearly eairy every room has its dome shaped fireplace in which sticks of wood are placed on end to be burned those for heating only are small and stand in a corner those for cooking are much larger and are frequently placed out of doors the cooking fireplaces must not be confounded with wah the estu fas which are fo uadia in every pueblo the is is a circular structure rising a few feet above tia the ground like the upper part of a sunken cylinder it ita flat top is reached b by y rough steps ol of stone in the centre opening out of which is is a square a ladder adder or notched beam projects an and d by which the underground interior is is reached the males of each clan were formerly required to sleep in in the but it is now used only for ceremonial and religious religion purposes esputa in spanish means stove the name was given by the early spaniards to these subterranean fanean rooms because they were of so comfortable a temperature in winter the pueblo has nominally adopted the xe religion ligion of the roman catholic but ip in is a true rue baan wrapped in dense clouds of superstition full of fanciful legend and profoundly ceremonious in worship ris his gods ira are without number not even the ancient greeks had more gods of peace and war of the cape of harvest and lamise famine of sun and ram rain and snow elbow with a thousand others for room the serpent is an object of adoration and the annual snake dance of the maquis in which hundreds of rattlesnakes are gathered from the desert and handled with impunity is one of the most profoundly impressive ceremonies ever witnessed st S louis globe democrat |
