The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1876-03-16

that are now almost entirely obliterated,
and would hardly be noticed were it not
for the broken pottery.
At the head Of the valley of the DE
Chiefly the trail turned off to the south
west just above the upper edge of the
great white mesa. Taking only two
others, Mr.. Barber, and Lee the guide,
and sending the remainder of the train
back some fifty miles where there was
suitable grazing, Mr.. Jackson continued
over to the Moquis Pueblos, seventy-fve
miles distant, with only the Photographic
apparatus and supplies for five days.
Tedua was reached by noon Of the fol-
lowing day. As these Pueblos have been
so frequently described and illustrated,
the party spent only two days and a half
among the six most oasterly towns, viz ::
Tegua, se-chum.e-vay, Moqui, Moo
shar-nen, shong-a-pabwe and she-paul-a-
wee. Photographs of each Of these were
made, and numerous sketches, illustrat-
ing their habits, dress and occupations,
collection Of recent and ancient pottery
and tools, and other objects of interest,
were made. The comparison. between
the workmanship of northern town
builders and these Moquis was very
much in favor of the former. The high
est perfection was reached in the cliff
houses of the Rio Maucos, where some of
the houses were marvels of finish and
durability; and then travelling towards
the Moquis, there il a gradual merging
of one style into the other, from the
neatly-cut rock and correct angle to the
comparatively crude buildings now in
habited.
Retracing their steps to the San Juan
at the mouth of the De Chiefly, the party
now travelled toward the Sierra Abajo
up stream known as EPSON creek, from
the water, which is found near its head,
tasting and operating like that of salt.
The usual indefinite ruins which occur
on the low. lands continued up this val
ley over thirty miles. To the west was
a labyrinth of canyons running off into
those of the great Colorado, an examina-
ton of some of which discovered many
cave and cliff houses and towns, all of
the same general type as the others. The
ruins gradually diminished as they APP
preached the Sierra Abajo, and several
days spent in the examination of the
canyon and plateaus about it and the
Sierra la Sal failed to bring to light any
more evidence of their occupation.
Nearly opposite the Sierra Abajo or
Blue Mountains, as they are locally
known, head the great canyons and val
leys of the Montezuma, which empties
into the San Juan. Here the bottoms of
the canyons have once supported a very
thickly settled community. There is
almost continuous series of ruins for a
distance of twenty-five miles. This, in
one canyon only +; and all the others con-
tain numerous remains, chiefly in cliff
houses and towns. In the main canyon,
first spoken Of, are two ruins notable for
the size Of the stones employed in their
construction, In one, built upon small
isolated table land in the middle of the
valley, 6re stones set upon end, six feet
in length by eighteen inches square, and
ranged along the walls distance of
twenty-five or thirty yards. Another
case is, where stones seven feet in
height (aboye grcund) and twenty inches
square, are standing perpendicularly
about five feet apart, and form one side
of wall inclosing the ruins of large,
building. Throughout the
canyon every available defensive point
has been utilized, and is now covered
with the remains of heavy walls, and
large blocks OF houses. Another singu-
lar feature was the number of holes cut
into the lower walls Of the canyon for
the purpose of ascending the rock, holes
just large enough TO give hand and
foot hold, and leading either to some
walled-up cayeor to building erected
above. Some of these steps assembled
the nearly perpendicular face of the rock
for $50 or 200 feet, On exposed surfaces
disintegration has almost entirely wealth
cred away the holes, while on more pro-
teoted surfaces they are deep enough to
still answer their original purpose. The |