New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-23
AMONG THE pUEBLOS.
TIE RUINS OF MoNTEzUNNs PALACE.

LEW WAILACE-ruE RUINS or TIE CAsAs
GRANDEs-A DESCRIPTION OF TIE HOUSE OF
THE MONTEZUMAS As IT now STANDS-rfGE
COUNTRY, CLIMATE. SCENERY AND HABITS or
TIE PTCPIE-AN END TO TIE VISIONS OF
pREAMERS AND ROMAT"1I.S.
TO the Editor Of me TTt5Wpc.
SIR: No American antiquities except. perhaps,
the Old Mill at Newport. have figured largely in
| imagination and in print the prehistoric ruins
along the Gila River, in Penal County, Arizona.
More than thirty wears antiquarian hearts were
deeply stirred 10y accounts of travellers then very
rare, describing the Casas Grancs great cities of
hcwn stone built in rich and noble architecture
like that of Egypt. Rhetorical iourshcs and bold
nights Of fancy cosored the pictures drawn before
the days OF photography. Communication with
this region difficult, and travelling hundreds Of
miles the stories naturally grew along the way,
taking wider outlines and warmer colorng. The
gold seekers of California varied their explorations
by ascending the ella, almost rs unknown to them
as the White Nile. Rapturous reports came back
and for years the Casas Gran,cs ranked with Veil
and Karnall. l greatly regret having no copy of
those Pacific newspapers to compare the impressions
OF thc last generation, cropping III the misty twi-
light of half-seen wonders. with plain facts come to
actual sight and touch in the light of to day.
The walled cities, capable of holding many
| thousand souls, were supplied with water by
| accquias leading from the river They were repre-
scnted by enthusiastic Bohcmiaus rs aqueducts of
solid masonry and fairly equal in durability and
strength to the MaXima Cloaca of Rome. Charming
traditions cmbcllishcd the bcguing descriptions,
lovely myths and airy fables noated in the warm
bne silence above the House of Montczuma whose
lordiy name is itself stimulus to ina gination
They were the work, the tales of lost races
mysterious invinciblc, all-conquering vanished
into the voiccless past They had reached a high
civilization, as the magnificent remains attest and
had passed from the earth leaving no sign but co.
ossal ruins. no records but strange hieroglyphs
which, engraven on rocks in the ncighborhood of
the caSaS. undoubtedly formed their history.
| SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HEKoGLYPtICs
These mural records are heaps of weather worn
rocks ana detached boudcrs covered with figures
rudely scratched painted. bearing signs of great
age They possibly served IA boundary lines the
heroglyi'hs being tribal signs of treaties One
highly romanccr who understood his own language
! lmperfcctly, testies that the pictured rocks "
were written over with deeply carved inscriptions
| like the Hebrew, Chaldcan and Gothic characters
| Ihey have been foundation stones for imag inary
pyramids with sculptured facaies, which were COM
| pared to the temples of Palrnquc and Tuloom
"made of hown stone so admirably fitted they seem
born so and require neither mortar nor clamps "
POTTERY was found in profuson, glazed and painted.
always IN fragments too small and scattered to be
| lifted together. Yet tho Missionaries nkencd the
miserable scraps to ceramics of antique India and
| the nmltablo vases of Etrnria.
From the early times the Apache savagcst of
savages-the red man incuraby wild-has swept
| the plains and has held the mountain Businesses
carrying terror and torture from the upper water,
OF the Iccos far into old Mexico The shadow,
! region, mountain-lockcd like some vast stronghold
| made by nature for herself and guarded by naked
seniinelS, was rcsistlcss temptation to lovers of
the marvellous. Tho deserted cities slowly crumb-
! ling down by the shallow waters of the ella must
1 how. l,,,, tl,. al
their supremacy in the face Of sayagcry There
much to stir the fancy ever strongest of nipht
| under skies most unknown, in the idea of walled
and fortified cities in the centre of barbarian
hordes. able to withstand their warfare and beat
back their encroachments. Poet, sighsccr archro-
logist, reporter adre, missionary. rovcrs of every
! sort came by turns to the Casas Granocs ard gave
their impressions in poetic coorng; and over all,
like the dreamy mountain haze whose soft radiance
! puppies hill and plain, hung "A delicious mystery.
| Who should lift the secret vcIl AID question the
| past TIL it gavc back somc answer II was an
aluring bordcrland between ci yilization and bar
barIsm; ON the North American Continent the last
| footing of phantoms popping the unknown till the
shri whistle of the locomotive. which has broken
so many illusions, put the pale shades to flight.
| a PICTURESQUE SCENE
The RUNS arc twenty miles from the villages of
| the Pimas branch of the Pueblo Indians and
only twelve miles from thu town of Florence on the
South Pacific Railroad. The wagon road rms
along the Gi!a Valley, n level bottom of VARYING
width with abrupt scarped banks of earth The
plain Is OF pale gray color, with a low mossv grass
| its monotOny being relieved by groves of mclouit &,
species of acacia resembling locust but with
foliage more delicate and almost shadclcss The
stunted trees gov branching from the ground q
low as to be nearly tmnllcss; knottcd, gnarled
dwarfcd, black of bark vastcr of root than of ton
yet with certain grace derived from the small
emerald green leaves dclcatrly sci on TREMBLING
| fronds. Occasionally va-oc-vcrdc apprars =
! peculiar and striking growth OF green body barll
| leaf and limb, never very large and not over ciyht
inches III diameter; and here ana there is a prckiy
pear twenty feet in height, loaded with red ,,ror
| shaped fruit.
The shifting outlines of the Tucson Mountains
never five minutes the same aie drawn in ncrl,ct
| relief against sky of unrvallcd brilliancc: the
purcst sapphire free from every faint of mist fog or
| vapor. The exquisite fnencss of the atmospbere
shows clearly tho high and rugged peaks of the
Sierra Catarna, and one picturc-lilc summit called
Ilchaco overlooks the chain Of hills below through
veil OF dying blue Close to the rivers hr,p fine
willow tosscs ITS branches in the eternal west wind
lightly az lady's plume, and bears profusiou of
lilac ilowers rarely beautiful. ON the stcril. mesa
| appears the suwarrow Oereus Gigantriis) of a ne
| culiar and fantastic shape, and IA wild ycrbcna
| repeats the shade of the lar-oil hill puppies
| Miles away from tho dead cities struck the he'd
| OF an ancient acequia, very large and perfectly
Defined the main artery by which the river bot tom
only IA mile or so wide here irrigated in former
times. Mezqut trees, apparently falling into decay
! from age, stand in the dry, abandoned bitches
whose various branches may be traced IN every
| direction, network Of irrigatng canals Here and
there elevations in the plain proclaim the vstcmr,
| lalIpu VIII -