New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-23

ing The geography of Nueva Espagna, but it is easy
10 identity Casa Grande with the Red House"
standing IN mezquit Jungle on the edge of the
desert, the first ruin seen on the ella by as
ccndlnS from its mouth In certain lights the walls
have reddish tint and again appear white on ac-
count OF pebbles contained in the plaster.
In ioJf tather kino visited the Casa Grande. He
hrarn traditions OF the Pimas running back four
hundred years; IT had been a ruin for ages and
was destroyed by fire in the war with the Apaches.
=, The principal room in the middle is four stories,
tie ADJOINING rooms on Its four sides of three
STORIES with walls so smooth and shining that they
appear like FURNISHED tables At the distance
OF an arqnehnss shot twelve other houses were to
n9 seen, also half fallen, having thick walls aud
an inc ceilings burnt except in the lower room of
one mousse lie mentions also canals for irrigation,
which had capacity for carrying half the water of
the river The good priest took peaceabe pos
the dreary walls and made tbc norr n EoIv Sin, me
with the celebration of mass.
INDIRECTLY THE WORK OF TIE DEVI.
OF the old descriptions that OF Father Font, who
visited the scene in 1879, is most valuable. / re-
gret not having space for a longer extract from his
journal: "The large house or Palace of Monte
yuma" he says, according to the histories and
meagrc accounts of it which we have from the In
dams. may have been built some 300 years ago:
for, as it appears, this building was erected by the
MeXicans when, during their transmigration the
Devil led them through various countries until they
arrived at the promised land of Mexico and in
their soionrns, which long ones they formed
towns and built edGces." He further speaks of
ruins i'll every direction. "The land is partially
covered with pieces of pots jars, plates, ETC." He
was the first one who discovered that the outer wall
was a torthcation u fence which snr ounded this
house and Other buildings" Within the last thirty
years the Casa de Montczuma has been often
scrhcd and so much speculation has been cxuenGed
:a 10 us origin anu uses that hesitate TO push out
INTO that dark sea.
There is succession of ruined cities forming
contnouS cham of evidence, from Utah TO the City
OF Mexico | have examined many of these dead
pucbos and can discover essential in which
oil lf,-f,,
now inhabited, or from the Casas GTandes. All are
community houses where whole tribe may dwell.
built of adobe in the shape of an oblong square
around an open court. Enclosing this an onier
wall or tortihcation with towers al regular inter
were built on table Land to afford an outlook
for senries and an opportunity for watching dcpre-
datlons on the corn lands lii the valleys below and
oleh at distance are found the remains OF circu-
Jar watch tower; II signal station near the city.
Such are the prehistoric NcstgPs along the McElmO,
| Coorano, san Juan and the Rio Mancos, and the
widely dispersed remains in the Ehaco and Mancho.
hs uoys .nT s%ry wa zen IN ths Can9n OF
discovered ~ Arizona and Colorado exact copies
OF the southern and Moqui pueboS, varying with
SITUATION ana with the quality OF material used.
Generally the earth Of the country mixed with
ashes and clay. The lack of individuality in the
lnan race gives you the feeling that ii you
YOU nave seen All so IT Is in regard 10 thcI! habIia-
tons The sameneSs OF the remains. and their close
likeness to the CataS GIandcs ann the modern build
ingS must strike the most careless observer Yet
they are not more alike than the huil!crs them
| selves.
There are few. if any antiquities that have not
been searched through and through and reported
on. The hunter, miner. scout, surveyor priest and
sighSccr have overlooked no hill plain where there
| Is, q trace OF I'm nan dwelling. Undoubtedly the
adobe houses wherever found are The work of a
sen,i-crvlhzcd agricultural people with whom the
Spanlards came IN conflict. AMI who are described
by them as Pueblo or Town Indians TO diStinyui>h
thein from tho nomads or wandering tribes of the
! primitive race. An immense amount of romance
has been wasted on the old mud houses. which
| makes them hardly less wonderful than the en-
chantcd city Iiahuanco. which was built in ST? gle
night by an invisible hand but the time is come TO
| lafrl,f
shadows.
THE PALACE INTENDED FOR 4 FORTRESS
am convinced that the Palace of Montozuma was
designed as a fortress. centre from which many
villages radiated aad to which the inhabitants fed
for refuge in last extremity. The lghtncSs of the
floor raiters in the lower story prccudcs the posi-
! bihty that the building was used As a granary
Any one of the many rooms full of grain must have
| crushed the floors, if not the walls Themselves
Again, it has been declared 10 have been "a temple
| for the sun worShippcrs; but the smallness and
multiplicity of the rooms and the many doors and
portfolios oppose such a surniSc. thongh the dismal
| central room and the circular passages between
rooms might suggest prestcrait, and heather rites
and sorceres.
1t may have been. ike the castle of the middle
ages, the nucleus around which The city gradually
grew up but more probably II rose from the needs
| of the citizens many of whom must have ioilrd in
has harrlcd this land. |. is the Indian law 10 de-
stroy all that he cannot carry away an, the noft
| II always broken. the interiors are ALWAYS fired
The builders Of adobe houses. wherever found were
| omen To incursions of the enemy which sill
lui. sts the Mexican border. To me these remains
| have no new meanings. They merely prove that the
| North American Continent has been Inhabited from,
J Il remote period; something which believe has
! never been disputed.
| The undated tradition is that the spot which am
trying To describe Is one of the stopping places of
Monlczuma on his southward march to Anahuac
| All leg'njs point to an emigration from north TO
| south Coming from the ends of the earth or from
tabed Alatan. the first halt the Montelumas made
wa at Old Iuni; this was the second station; the
| THIRD was near thlhuahu Mexico where enormous
ruins, exact reproductions of the ones | have de-
scr1cd, are standing isolated in a luNunant valley
the toitrrng monuments of peculiar trino or
| TRIBES e hygonc nationality Nothing is To he
learned from the natives there who like all Pueblos
love TO call themselves SONS of NontrZtma. or from
the M"NicanS round about. Whatever requires a
moments Thought is dismissed 10y the eVcr-rea,ly
meaningless tdien SabcY Who knows p
NpA A