The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-02-06
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The story teaegraphexi from AIhH-
ausrque, Nez Mexico. that remnant
81 the elia-dx eiIers has been discoy-
cred In the san Msteo mountains.
rnay be taken with large share Of
allowance. The pon1ent sho Is
responsible for the story AYERS that
similar people have also been seen IA
The mountains Of the Black range.
that they are Hot more Than three feet
in height, and that they are VERY Wild
He adds that a. soon as the SHOW
saelfs parties viii SO ont 70 capture
them.
That the country comprised IN Arr
zona snd New Mexico was once inhab-
tied by race known as ciifF-dwellers
or cave-dweIIers. has long been an IS
tabllshed fact. Traces Of this lost rare
have repeatedly been discovered, and.
thanks 10 investigations made under
the auspices OF the Smithsonian Insfi-
tuition. We have acquired considerable
information concerning ii. We know
that the ciiff-dxellers bad attained a
degree of civilization far above that Of
the race which displaced them. ye
know that they occupied the high
lands OF New Mexico for many years
II not for centuries. and we know that
they brought that arid region into =
state of cultivation which il has never
since attained. Their dwellings. which
were merely caves cut into the faces Of
high cliffs, are supposed 70 have been
thus peculiarly located for purposes of
defense and IL il further sup
posed that the cIiff-dwellers re-
sorted to the dwellings from
which their name Is taken only
after they had been driven from the
plains. In short, what we know with
reasonable certainty Of the cliff
jewellers is that they lived and
fioarished in New Mexico long before
the advent Of Europeans. that they
were overcome by an invading race
and fed into the Businesses OF the
mountains, and that their conauerors
allowed the land which they had
made fruitful to become once more q
desert. There is no way Of knowing
whether these conquerors were In
dians or whether they belonged 10 a
race which in its turn gave way TO
the Indians.
Ii is extremely improbable that a
remnant of this last race has been dis
covered in the San Mateo mountains
or anywhere else. On the contrary.
there is every reason to believe that
the cliff-dwellers became extinct many
centuries ago. There Il no indication
that they were dwarfs, and there
is apparently no ground for con-
Meeting the little people OF the San
Mateo mountains with them, even
supposing such race to have been
discovered. Indeed. the latter suppo-
sition is violent one, sor we have no
record of race Of human beings 50
small as those described. Even the
savage little dwarfs of Central Africa
average between four and four and one
half feet in height. and could look down
with scorn upon the three-foot pyg-
mics OF the San Mateos.
The assurance that these little peo-
pie viii be captured as soon as the
snow melts is startling. One is COM
PEELED to inquire what they have done,
why they should be captured and why
they should be disturbed at all. II
there is reason to believe that they
have any existence outside of the brain
of the Albuquerque correspondent. the
Humane Society should bestir itself in
their behalf.