The St. Johns herald., 1891-12-10
A CITY ON A MOUND.
The Strange Location of Acoma
 in New Mexico.
4 Visit to the Homes of an Indian Tribe Who five at an Altitude of Four N Hundred Feet in the
 Air.

The pueblo of Acoma, situated ninety miles west of Albuquerque, is one O1 the most remarkable communities ir the world, says a writer in Pearson s Weekly. To reach it you take the At lantic & Pacific railway to Mccarthy s station, and then transfer to pony and ride eighteen miles, south by east. When near your journeys end you de scend almost imperceptibly into val ley six miles in width, in the middle O1 which stands huge mound, and on the top of this is Acoma. Eight hundred people are living in this place, and they and their ancestors have gathered their possessions there for nearly three cen- turies.
 This mound is one of many that are the remains of range of hills which has been worn away by the erosion of the ages. and survives only in the flat topped elevations here and there. The valleys between are fertile, and untold generations of men have seen them GOV cred with grain and focks of sheep. Some time in the seventeenth century the Laguno or Valley Indians made war upon the AcomaS for the possession of the country, and the latter, being the weaker, occupied this mountain as a position believed to be impregnable. The height above the valley is nearly four hundred feet, and the walls in sev- cral places nearly perpendicular. There are two means of ascent, one by flight of steps cut into the face of the wall and rising at an angle of 43 degrees. and the other by Assure in the rocks leading up into the heart of the noun tain. Both ways have been troddcn by human feet until the steps arc hollOwcd out like shallow trOughs. Either one is exceedingly difficult; neither is toler- ably safe. We choose the one along the Assure. With all the danger and fatigue, it is Imaginable sight to sec a person some Other-makc the ascent. One has to stride over the Assure, one foot on the right-hand side and the other on the left, and at the same time press the hands alternately against the rocks for support. An Indian will throw live sheep around his neck and go up quite rapidly without touching the rocks with either hand, but I am satisfied could never do it. They told us of a pathetic incident that occurred on the outer stairway some generations ago. Several men started up, each with sheep on his back. When near the top the sheep carried by the foremost man became restless, and the shepherd in trying to hold it fast lost his footing. and in falling swept his companions over the prccipice, and they all fell on the rocks in lifeless heap. The h. dians have carved a representation of the incident on a rock near where it oc- cured, which scarcely serves to steady the nerves of those who go by that route. set s;E:1 -'.s
 The top of the elevation is level and contains an area of sixty or seventy acres. At one side stands the pueblo, a blunt pyramid of adobe and stone honeycombcd with rooms, at the other the church and graveyard, and near the center pond of pure water thirty feet deep and several rods in extent. The priest was made acquainted with the ODJCCO OL Oui NISlG, SLIel IlIC I1LS iHS OI the church bell brought the habitants of the village round us. As night ap- preached number of the men who had been at work in the valley came up, bringing delicious peaches and grapes, which we were glad to accept. We slept in the church wrapped up in our Navajo blankets, and never felt more secure or happier in our lives.
 When the dawn appeared through the little mica window panes it revealed great roof beams more than foot in diameter and thirty or forty feet long. and bell that was cast in ITO. How these immense timbers and this bell were got to the top of this cliff no one living knows. The Indians shake their heads and the priest shakes his, but no one ventures an opinion. The timbers are there, however, as witnessed and morning and night. as the seasons come and go and generations pass away, the bell speaks for itself in the silvery tones that pleased its founder in far-off Spain. The adobes-or the earth of which they were made-were brought up from the valley also, for the top of the butte was a bald rock in the beginning. And the earth for the graves came the same way, requiring forty years, the priest said, to complete the graveyard.