Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-06-11
The Land of The Azlecs.


of New Mexico, has given representative
interesting description of life in that
almost unknown country, and particularly
of the habits and peculiarities of the Pue-
bio Cor village Indians, who compose II
large part of its population. These odd
people belong to the old Aztec nation and
most of them still hold to the mysterious
rites of the Aztec religion, There is II
good opportunity in New Mexico, Mr..
Prince thinks, for vineyards, but there
is little to be done in the territory
Just now without capital. There is no
employment for mecha mics, the Mexican
mode of life not requiring them, the houses
generally being built of adobe and such
clerical positions as there are overrun
with applicants. There is no place, how.
ever, he thinks, where II man with capital
can invest it to greater advantage. The
usual rate of interest is l IL per cent a
month, and safe loans can be made at that
rate. Along the Rio Grande there is
fine opening for fruit orchards. American
fruit has been introduced only within a
few years, and it grows to perfection.
The valley of the Rio Grande, from the
Otllll Il u W COllONO ANll = L llllCC DblltNC CS,
will before long be the orchard district of
the southwest and supply Colorado, Kan
sas and Nebraska with fruits. Lnnd can
be bought in large tracts suitable for graz-
ing, for from so cents to 5 an acre. Las
Vegas which is to be reached by the rail
road in July, is the business center of the
eastern part of the territory, controlling
the business so miles south and 100 miles
east. 1t is the emporium of sheep and
cattle raising, wool and hides. The Jour
ney from New York city to Cimmaron, in
New Mexico, by rail takes four and a half
days, and Las Vegas can be reached in
the same time when the railroad is COM
pleted. There is no more lawlessness in
New Mexico, Mr.. Prince says, than in II
New England community, except in the
border regions, particularly on the Texas
side. The natives are peaceable, polite,
law abiding people, and have great re-
spect for the authorities. The ourages
are almost invariably committed by Amer
leans, desperate characters, coming from
Texas. Most of the inhabitants of the
territory are MeXicans, with dark SKINS
and the common language is Spanish
There are some communities of the
Pueblo Indians in New Mexico living in
precisely the same way their ancestors
lived when Colorado reached 1.-THE land Of
the seven cities" About 1000 Pueblo
Indians, in II villages, are scattered about
the territory. They are analogous in their
methods of building, but use variety of
languages-not mere diaects-in use
among them, in one Of these languages
the words are nearly all monosyllables !;
in another they nearly all have three
syllables. Pueblos close to each other do
not use the same languages. In the
Puebla of Isleta, for example, in the
extreme south, is used the same language
us is spoken in Taos, in the extreme north,
and none of the intervening Pueblos use
that language. About rs years ago when
Pueblo of PecoS was abandoned by the
remnant of its inhabitants, whose numbers
had been terribly reduced by contagious
diseases, they had to 90 through Il number
of Pueblos of different languages to reach
Jamez, where their own tongue was
spoken.
One of the most interesting of the Pue-
bios is Taos where the inhabitants nearly
all live in two large stone buildings, each
and 400 feet long, and nearly 200 feet
pyramidal in shape, each story being
slightly smaller than the one under it,
Each building contains an immense num-
Der of rooms, and the stories are all reach
ed by ladders from the outside, the only
entrance to the rooms being through n
door in the ceiling. Each building con-
tains about 200 people. The buildings are
not at all ruinous, but are kept in perfect
repair, and are always scrupulously clean.
The rooms have no windows or arrange
ments for light except the door in the
ceiling, and round hole in the outer
rooms, about the size of stove-pipe,
through the wall. All the rooms are
thoroughly whitewashed, and are kept SO
white and clean that they are light enough
for comfort. Hardly an atom of dust is
to be found in any of the rooms, and the
grounds about the buildings are cleanly
swept. The people are always hosptable
to strangers, but no visitor is ever allowed
to penetrate to the center of the building,
where, it is said, there is great eStWjG in
which the sacred fire of Montezuma is
perpetually kept burning, and where the
ancient rites of the Aztec religion are still
performed. The furniture in the rooms
consist principally of lounges covered
with skins. The Pueblo Indians art
citizens of the United States, having beer
citizens of Mexico at the time of the
treaty of peace. Although they are entitl
ed to vote and hold Office, they have no
done SO for u number of years, preferrine
to be exempt from taxation. Some of the