The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1848-11-07

REMARKABLE ANTIQUITIES OF NFw MEXICO
Among the valuable publications of the
United States Senate at the last session is
Lieutenant Albert's report of his Typographical
examination at New Mexico. Lieutenant
Albert explored the country thoroughly ia the
years of 1916 and AZ with detachment Of
the Typographical Corps by order of the Gov
|ernment, and his report reveals the existence
of semi-ciyilized race that has disappeared.
la the language OF a distinguished antiquary,
it enables us fully to identify the Kingdom
Of Cibola," visited by Castenada, the chroni-
cler Of Coronado's expedition, sent northward
by the Viceroy Mendoza in the years 1910 and
1912.
Some of the towns visited by Lieut.. Albert
still bear the names by which they were
known in the sixteenth century, and the In
habitants, in manners, mode OF building, ect.;
have undergone scarcely perceptible change
from that period. The town of Acoma, visi-
ted by Lieut.. Albert, probably dates back be-
yond the conquest, and was one OF the ''seven
cities" of Caslenada. 1t is situated upon a
rock, inaccessible except by narrow, and, in
three and four stories high, with no entrance
from the ground. The stairs recede so as to
leave terraces in front, which are reached by
movable ladders. The openings into the inte-
rior are through the roof. In case of attack
| the ladders withdraw, and the buildings,
| fifty or sixty of which compose a block or
square, are Immediately converted into an al
most impregnable fortress. One of these edif-
ces, the Pueblo de Taos, has successfully re-
sisted all the attacks of the wild Indians and
the Spaniards. 1t is seven stories high. II
was reduced by the American forces, January,
l847, by long and bloody siege.
The ruins of ancient buildings, and the ira
ces Of remote population, are numerous upon
the river Gila. They differ in many respects
from those Of New Mexico. Their existence
has long been known, and has been supposed
to lend a sanction to the tradtionary migra-
tons of the Aztecs, by whom it has been con-
jectured they were built. Those which are
stories in height.
Upon the ella, Lieut.. Emory found two
singular semi-civilized aboriginal tribes. They
are the Pimos and the Coco Maricopas. They
cultivate the soil, irrigating it by means of
numerous canals, and live upon the most
friendly terms with each other. They are
honest, industrious, brave, but peaceable, and
in all respects afford contrast to the rowing
Apaches who occupy the country to the north
westward. Lieut.. Emory heard of similar
tribes 10 the territory above the Gla, between
the Pimos and the Navajos, which are proba-
bly, the same with the Moqui of Humboldt
One Of there, the 'SOouies, are represented to
be further advanced in civilization than the
Pimos. 1t is also stated that they reside in
caverns cut i'll the rocks-suggesting at once
the seven caves from which the Azlecs claim
ed that their ancestors migrated.
| Although the remains found on the ella
possessed few features in common with the
structures erected by the Mexicans, and are
certainly not beyond the capabilities of the
presen. or ancient Indians Of New Mexico,
they still attest the former existence here of a
population differing from the Pimos at least in
the construction of their edifices, and which
maj have migrated Southwark or disappeared
under the attaks Of hostile neighbors. They
certainly tend TO confirm the Aztec tradition,
and invest the unknown nations 10 the north
ward with new interest. A knowledge of the
true character of these nations is a great de-
| sideratum.