Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-06-27

of the NeW York Times an exceedingl,
interesting description of life in that al
most unknown country, and particularly O
, the habits and peculiarities of the Puebl
| Tor village) Indians, who compose larg
part of its population. These odd peoplt
; belong to the old Aztec Nation. and mos
of them still hold to the mysterious rite
of the Aztec religion There is a good op
portunity in New Mexico Mr.. Prime
thinks, for vineyards, but there is little t.
be done in the Territory Just now withou
capital. There is no employment for me
chanics, the Mexican mode of life not re
quiring them, the houses generally being
built Of adobe and such clerical position
as there are overrun with applicants. Their
is no place, however, he thinks, where 8
man with capital can invest II to greatel
advantage The usual rate of interest rs L
per cent. month. and safe loans can bI
made at that rate Along the Rio Grand,
there is fine opening for fruit orchards
American fruit has been introduced onll
within a few years, and it grows to perfec
ton. The Valley of the Rio Grandt
from Santa Fe to Socorro, Mr.. Prince be
lives, will before long be the orchard dis
trict of the Southwest, and supply Colora
do, Kansas and Nebraska with its fruits
Land can be bought in large tracts, suita
hle for grazing. for from 80 cents to 81 III
acre Las Negns. which is to he reached
by the railroad in July. Is the business
centre of the eastern part of the Territory
controlling the business $50 miles south
and a 100 miles east 1t Is the emporium
of sheep and cattle raising, wool and hides
The journey from New York City TO Gin.
maron, in New Mexico. by rail takes foul
and half days, and Las Vegas can be
reached in the same time when the rail
road is completed There is no more law
lessness in New Mexico, Mr.. Prince says,
than in New England community, except
in the border regions, particularly on the
Texas side The natives are peaceable,
polite, lawabiding people, and have great
respect for the authorities. The outrages
are almost invariably committed by Ameri-
cans, desperate characters, coming from
Texas Most of the inhabitants of the
TerIoitcIy are 8lexicans, with dark skins,
and the common language is Spanish.
There are some communities of the
Pueblo Indians living in New Mexico,
living in precisely the way their ancs stors
lived when Coronado reached ''the land Of
the Seven Cities" About 1000 Pueblo
Indians, III fourteen villages, are scatter
ed about the Territory. They are anala-
gous in their methods of building, but use
variety Of languages There are three
entirely distinct languages-not mere
dialects-in use among them, without any
similarity between them In one of these
languages the words are nearly all mon
osyllables : in another they nearly all have
three syllables. Pueblos close to each
other do not use the same languages. In
the Pueblo of Isleta. for example, in the
extreme south. is used the same language
as is spoken in Taos, in the extreme north,
and none of the intervening Pueblos use
| that language. About - years ago. when
/ the Pueblo of Pecos was abandoned by the
remnant Of its inhabitants, whose num-
bers had been terribly reduced by conta-
| gious diseases, they had to go through a
number of Pueblos of different languages
to reach the Pueblo of Jamez, where their
own tongue was spoken.
One of the most interesting of the Pue-
bios is Taos. where the inhabitants nearly
all live i'll two large stone buildings, each
about 400 feet long, and nearly 200 feet
wide, and five stories high, somewhat
pyramidal i'll shape, each story being
slightly smaller that the one under it.
Each building contains an immense num-
! Der Of rooms, and the stories are all reach
ed by ladders fromthe outside, the only en-
trance to the rooms being through a hole
| in the ceiling Each building contains
| about 300 people The buildings are not
at all ruinous, but are kept in perfect re
| pair, and are always scrupulously clean.
! The rooms have no windows or arrange
ment for light, except the door in the cell
ing and "A round hole in the ont rooms.
about the size of a stove pipe, through the
wall. All the roorAs arc thoroughly white
washed, and are kept 50 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 building are kept cleanly swept The
people are always hospital to strangers,
but no visitor is even allowed to penetrate
to the centre of the building, where, it is
said, there Is II great estufd 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 consists prin-
cipally of lounges covered with skins. The
Pueblo Indians are citizens of the United
States, having been citizens Of Mexico al
| the time of the treaty of peace Although
they are entitled to vote and hold office,
! they have not done so for number of
years, preferring to be exempt from taxa
| ton. Some of the educated ones can
read and write Spanish. The men wear
| pantaloons and blankets, and men and
women are exemplary lin morals They
never intermaITy with the Mexicans, and
the men are not as small as the Mexican
Aztecs, although the women are small
The men look more like our Western
Indians
Nearly every village in New Mexico has
its old Spanish church. Roman Catholic,
Of course, and they were all gorgeous
with paintings and carvings. Santa Fe
has two old churches, both of great his
torical interest One, the Church of san
Miguel, adjoins the only house belonging
to the old Pueblo Of San Fe that is left in
the town. The other, the Church Of our
Lady OF Guadnloupe, is very handsomely
ornamented. There is also fine old
church at Santa Cruz containing many
Spanish paintings and carvings and old
embroidered vestments. The Spanish
customs Of two centuries ago prevail al
most all over the Territory, and the peo-
pie are hospital 10 a fault, especially
around Albuquerque and Bernalillo,
whore the wcalthiest old Spanish families
live.
The scenery and climate of New Mexico
are unsurpassed, and 1t is already n great
resort for consumptives. Santa Fe, the
capital, with 1000 inhabitants, is 1000
iect above the level of the sea, or almost
as high AS the City of Mexico further
down un the table lands This gives a
temperature hot IN the middle Of the day
and mid at night. Thcrr are mountains
IN the Territory 1000 feet high. The
Mexican population was loyal to the
Union throughout the war without rxc,.p-
/ tlon. An army cam, up from Texas IN
/ 1852, and held poss, sion of Santa f. for
Il short time, but aftcrn month. they
were driven ont The minority of the
| Mcxcans are Republicans, hut the large
part of the American population is from
/ Missouri. and rather inclines toward
| Democracy. There is some excitement inst
now about newly discovered silver mines
| Extensive deposits of carbonates have been
discovered at Cenllos. about II miles
| from Santa Fe This is nearthe site of the
ancient Spanish mines which were worked
to a great depth. and some of which have
! been explored, with interesting historical
| developments They were worked in the
sixteenth century, but most of them are
now filled with water, and it is impossible
to tell their exact depth. The torquois
mines, from which the elegant Jewels in
the present crown of Spanish were taken,
were IN this vicinity, and number of
miners are now GA their way to the newly
| discovered mines. The cost Of going bv
rail from New York to Santa Fe il about
| Sl25, and although railroads are scarce in
the Territory stage lines and inhabitants
and hotels are plenty.
Addison Correspondence.
| To the Eiltor Of the Free Press and Times
"A valued old friend in handsome new
dress - was my mental exclamation Oh re-
cciving my FEEE PrgaA h>D TINES from the
] posiof"", ,ho other evening. But news
/ paper is moi acceptable to the better class of
readers merely ON the ground of typograpli.
cal appearance, and mechanical makeup; it