Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-04-04

| know too well the gallantry OF the gen
| tlemen on the other side of the chamber,
whether il was axerted on one side or
| on the other; but even they, with all their
| gallantrv. tell them frankly, will find
that they have not the courage to present
this issue to the simple arbitrament OF the
conscience and the sense and the love OF
country of the American people.
The CHI DuelIers.
THE CIVILIZATION OF AMERICA BEFORE
COLUMBUS DISCOVERED ia rICrCRE
| OF A PREHISTORIC HOUSE.
From the Albany Journsl.
Long before Columbus's discovery,
probably early in the Christian era, cIvill-
zation began in America. Five distinct ma
tive civilizations are known to have ex-
| istcd one in Peru. one in lucatan, one
in Mexico, one in New Mexico. Arizona
and Colorado. and one in the valleys OF
the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The lat
ter were the mound-builders who worked
the copper mines OF Lake Superior and
worshiped the American eagle. The New
Mexican race we call the PuebloS, or
town. builders, and toward the close CT
their career the Cliff dwelIerS.
When the whites came to this continent
the Peruvians and the civilizations OF
Yucaran and Mexico were ilourishing;
the Cliff dwellers had nearly disappeared;
and the mound builders had been swept
away and replaced by barharous northern
hordes. Living in moist land rich IN
wood, they built OF this material. and
most of their works perished with them
but the New Mexican people occupied
dry, elevated and barren country abound
ing in plateauS and cliffs, where agricul-
turc, requiring irrigation, could be carri-
ed on only along the borders of the few
and widely separated streams. or where
water could be stored in reservoirs. The
region was and is desert, in which
settlements mark oases. Wherever the
Pueblos could cultivate the ground they
built towns of stone or sun-baked brick,
the only materials at hand in this nearly
woodleSs land They raised cotton, corn,
pumpkins, beans and other vegetables;
had domestic animals. and were quite ad
vanccd in weaving. pottery making. and
other primitive arts. At one time they
occupied every available spot in Eastern
Arizona. New Mexico and southern Colo
rado but the natural conditions Olclimate
and topography forbade that any great
Accommodations of wealth should repay the
endless patience OF their toll. \ bare
subsistence was all that could be wrung
from the desert land.
When therefore, the northern tribes
began TO crowd down upon the scattered
settlements. those wild men Of the chase,
who, having neither property nor fixed
homes. had everything 10 gain and moth
ing to lose in the struggle, slowly wore
out the strength OF the more civilized race.
While the services of every man, woman
and child musthave been needed in agricul
ture to secure a living, a large proportion
OF the male population were in arms re-
.isting the increasing incurSions of no.
mads Weakened by battle and famine,
the gentler race, who had treasured and
developed the sacred germ of human pro-
greSS. abandoned their cities in the val
levs and took refuge in lodges of almost
inaccessible cliffs Here they built them
selves stone houses, not to be approached
except by ladders, and supported them
selves on what could he raised along
streams at the foot OF the rocks. All OF
this transpircd before the fifteenth cen
turv.
When the Spanlaris first penetrated in
TO New Mexico they heard fabulos tales of
sovan inhabited cities full of gold and |
silver, perched on the summit oi nign
rock They vainly endeavored to cross
the deserts. separating them from these
so called cities OF Cibola. Almost moth
inr was known of them until a United
States government expedition. overcOm-
ing great obstacles, encamped finally at
the foot of the escarped plateau, on whose
top stand the seven Moqui towns. They
found a civilized agricultural people. clad
in cotton and woollen garments of their
own weaving. engaged in cutivating
maize, vegetables and fruit, but also men
OF the chase and thoroughly warlike.
This is the only surviving remnant oi
that once powerful people, who, driven
from the valleys to the cliffs, perished at
last by the hands of the wild tribes Ne
are now exterminating.
These savages have met III us 4 cult
vatcG race, before whose wealth and
power their ferocity avails little; and the
early civilizcrs of this continent, the Cliff
dwellers, who fought 50 long and hope
lessly forwhat they had gained of art and
science and religion, are now being
avenged.
In the northwest corner of the loan col
lection are two frames filled with photo
craps In the centre of the western frame
i picture of one of the early Gill dwell
ler's houses taken by the Hayden survey
in Southern Colorado.
Three hundred feet above the bottom
of a elf, whose total height is 800 feet,
on ledge sheltered by an overhanging
rock, stands two-storicd house built OF
hewn sandstone. The out0r walls are
smooth, and even the pointing OF the
mortar remains although the house Is not
less than five or six hundred years old.
The interior Is plastered and paneled
in red and white. Part of the woodwork
OF the floors and windows still remains.
This remarkable preservation i due to
that fact that no rain ever falls on the
ruin, because il faces eastward and is
projected by the overhanging rocks
from the storms OF the region, V hich are
always westerly.
Directly above this photograph Is II
small picture OF some Moqui women with
strange head dresses. BY comparing
their faces with those OF the wild Indians.
whose photographs fill the remainder OF
| the ease, the effect OF their civilization
! Will be easily understood. They are
wrapped in blankets oitheir own making.
| The character OF their weaving is seen
/ in the two little Navajo saddle blankets,
/ No. II and l., (which hang by the pic
! lures Turning from this interesting rem
4 naut Of IN American civilization, one may
soc the photographs OF the savages who
/ crushed ii. They are very picturesque
especially the princess VIII" stands like i
statue against the rock. but their faces
are gloomy and forbidding. The two
Cheyenne chiefs are excellent specimens
OF the lierccst tribes of the plains with
whom we are now lighting. The senti-
mental lover Of the red man will do well
to study these phyeiognomics.