Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-09-07
Wonders Of the Rio Grande valley.-.No. 1.
nv rRor. ). W. oLEED or KANSAS UNIVERSITY.

Mr.. Editor Away up in the San Juan noun
tains, lower Colorado, two thousand miles TO the
west OF New England, from the foot OF old
Mount Marshall, which lifts It's shaggy head,
white with the snow Of ages, far up into the scud-
ding clouds,-there flows a tiny rivulet, no wider
than a mans hand. Hurrying away to the SOUTH
west, II broadens and deepens, and cutting its
way through mountain ranges and rocl-ribbed
hills, reaches the broad valley that stretches
away for fifteen hundred miles to the Gulf OF
Mexico. Reaching this valley, 1t takes the name
Of river; and none on the continent has greater
charms OF present historic interest than the Rio
Grande del Norte, the grand river OF the north.
Centuries ago, before history began, beyond the
ken Of tradition or the realm OF story, men lived
in this valley and built their dwellings high up
among the cliffs, secure from providing enemy or
savage beast OF prey. Who they were or whence
they came, no man can tell We know that like
the swallows meath the caves, they had the
instinct OF self-preservation but the savage dent
stry OF time has left us no record of their life or
deeds or thoughts.
Then from the salty lakes Of the north, Monte
yuma, following his snow-white eagle led down
host mighty as the Goths and vandals.
These too have passed away, and left behind
them monumental ruins, mysterious ~ the pyra-
mids and speechless ms the sphinx. Hundreds OF
dismantled towns, vast and intricate systems Of
drainage, skillfully constructed aqueducts and
furnaces all tell OF an extensive population and
high attachments in civilization. In 1912 the
natives told the Spanards that these relics were
older than the memory of seven generations; and
so we cannot date the coming Of the Aztec later
than thousand years ago, and probably it should
go back many centuries more.
After the Aztec came a race whose descendants
are scattered along the valley to-day. They lived
in towns and titled the soil. They built mud
houses three and four stories high, with doors in
variably on the top, to which they climbed on
ladders. Rude barracks for self-defence walled
round the towns, for the people were not aggres-
sve, but supersttious and full of fear. The rr-
eating bitches, the cotton fabrics and the mortar
mills were the same az are still to be found among
their descendants, the Pueblo Indians.
The mythology Of this people is as strangely
beautiful as that Of the Greeks. They worship,
in the first place, one supreme God, sort Of
Jupiter Olympus; and then Montezuma, the sun,
the moon the stars, the rainbow, winds, rivers,
| mountains,-in a word all nature The sun and
moon are husband and wife, and the stars are
| their children. Senior Sun sometimes quarrels
| with his wife, and then, in accordance with all
known natural laws, he is eclipsed by her and
| shut out in the dark
Out of the starry battlements of heaven the
Pueblo, like the Greek, sees the spirits of de-
parted warriors looking down. and on the canvas
Of the northern sky aurora borealis paints for
la ...st.
treating and pursuing, striding across the gloom,
hurtling one upon another, and disappearing in
the black abyss of shade.
The classic story of Enceladus, the fre-breath-
ing, thunder-speaking giant whom the gods inn
imprisoned underneath mountain, whose hope
less struggles make the earthquake, and whose
groans of agony its rumble,-this has its exact
counterpart in the mythology of the Pueblo In
dians
In the valley of the Zuni river entirely detached
| from the surrounding hills and mountain ranges
two miles long and nine hundred feet high, vast
and lonely, like stranded Ark OF Safety, there
stands a celebrated mesd,-refuge OF God chosen
people fleeing from the flood. Ages and ages ago
the legend runs. the angry gods sent down a
mighty food to drown the world A black night
fell on the earth the sun hid his face, the rain
fell in streams, and call the world was in the
sea" From the neighboring valleys a few of the
inhabitants escaped to this Zuni mesa, and for a
time were safe. But still the water crept NJ
toward them higher and higher, cruel and unre
lenting Its countless black and eager hand,
began to tear away their fortress, and still nc
sign OF promise In desperate extremity, the few
survivors snatched the children Of the cacique,
son and daughter, beautiful and pure and hurled
them into the waters-a sacrfical offering to tn,
offended Deity. Then the sun broke forth, tn,
rainbow came, the deluge disappeared. The vic
tins were changed into stone columns, a sign o
everlasting favor from the gods
The Indians idea of the future state is a habita
ton beneath vast underground lake, wher
melons and peaches and beautiful maidens an,
horses Tor burros) are in never-ending supply 70
| the good.
The legends OF the west, you see are strikingl,
like those OF the east. Human experience, huma
growth, human aspirations are the same tn
world over. The Pueblo is pathetically persisten
in his faith Every morning. still, he climbs +
his housetop to see if the Lord comes not, an,
every morning goes sadly down.
Only ten thousand of the race are left to-day
Thrifty, honest, industrious, the good Indian ha
been found at last. In the same old castle houses
with thoughts and hopes the same as centurie
ago, they wait the coming Of the Montezuma