New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-29

cusion has been that the inner plaster was
simply separate coat Of the same mateF'al
from which the building was constructed
though the plaster for the interior was evil
IDENTIFY worked up 10 finer consistence, so as
to give it the effect and the durability OF a
good hard finish.
AS regards the antiquity Of the Casa Grande
Mr.. Morrison appears to entertain opinions
scarcely on a level with the most recent re-
! searches and the most authoritative conclusions.
/ He speaks of the ruin as if he believed that 1t
was survival from very remote antiquity
and his idea seems TO rest upon the consldera-
I ton that when the Spanards first saw the
Casa Grande, about the middle of the sixteenth
century, they found it a ruin, and so long ante
dating the native tribes of the locality thai
those Indians could give no account OF its
origin. But if Mr.. Morrison had made care
full study Of Mr. II. II. Bancrofts works he
would have found ample reason for doubling
the conclusive nature of such testimony. Mr.
Bancroft, after full consideration OF all the
known facts, sees no ground for assuming that
the Casa Grande of the ella was much more
than a century old when it was first seen by
Cabeza de Bace. No writer on American an
anything like the mass of material accumulated
by Mr.. Bancroft. He has examined every par
ticle Of evidence on the subject, and his mon
umental work on the Native Races must
ever be the most full and trustworthy authority
on all the subjects it embraces. Now Mr.. Ban
croft found it necessary to abandon the old
theory Of extinct nations as builders of the
NeW-Mexican monuments, and he has shown
concluSiyely that there is no need for any such
hypothesis the simple explanation OF the facts
being obviously the correct one.
Mr.. Bancroft holds that the Casa Grande
and all the erectionS of its kind were the work
Of Pueblo Indians. lie says: every one of
them may be most reasonably regarded as the
work of the direct ancestors of the present in
habitants Of the Pueblo towns, who did not
differ to any great extent in civilization or in
situations from their descendants, though they
may very likely have been vastly superior to
them in power and wealth." And he proceeds
&" Consequently, there is not a single relic in
the whole region that requires the agency Of
any extinct race of people, or any other nations
than those now living in the country" The
conclusion he reaches, therefore, is that " New
Mexico, Arizona and Northern chihuahua were
once Inhabited by agricultural semi-civilized
tribes not differing more among themselves
than do the Pueblo tribes of the present time"
How the civilization of these tribes came to
decline some generations before the Spaniards
came is question prolific of surmse and con-
lecture, but in the nature of the case incapable
Of defnitive solution. Mr.. Bancroft has dealt
with it, and his suggestions are certainly plaus-
ibe, but that aspect Of the matter cannot be
entered upon here. The preservation of the
Casa Grande-and indeed, of other like mon
uments-is to be desired and approved but at
the same time it is well that the claims of the
venerable relic upon our respect and interest
should be accurately stated, and that they
should not be confused by Incorporating with
them groundless or exploded theories.