The morning call., 1894-03-11
NEW MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES.

while It IS fitting and proper that the re-
mains of MesopOtamian antiquity should
be in part unearthed a.. American expense
1t may perhaps be suggested that we have
antiquities in this country also, and that
a little money would be we'll spent in de-
ciphering the story they have to tell
This month, under an act of the Mexican
Congress, an expedition comprising some
of the ablest areh@nlOgists of this country,
including Mr.. Momsen of this city, is to
undertake new and thorough exploration
of Axmal and Palenque and the other
ruined cities of Yucatan. The Lorillsrd
expedition tended to refute Stevens the
DRY of the vast antiquity of those ruins; we
shall now learn whether the learned
Fren Gilman who commanded that expedi-
tlon was right in ascribipg them 10 the
eighth or ninth century of our era.
Meanwhile light is being thrown on the
ruins of Arizona and New Mexico by
scientific travellers. Pr minent among
these is Mr.. Chanler F. LOOMS, who. in a
volume entitled "The Land of POGO
Tempo" has brought to bear extensive
learning and careful research on an inter-
esting spot in New Mexico. The valley
of the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque
is bounded on the east by an arid plateau
about twenty miles wide, and this melts
into mountain range of considerable
height. On the east of this range stretch
vast plains which are dotted with salt
lakes; in these plains occur ruins of an
cient cities which were evidently at one
time populOus and powerful. To three of
these the names of Abo. Cuarai and
Tabira have chung; they are not unfre-
quently visited by travellers, being only
about twenty miles southeast of Albu-
QuerQue. Imaginative wanderers have
credited them with very great antiquity
indeed. Mr.. LOOMS does not share their
views. He thinks that the tall and impos-
ing walls of limestone which we now see
prOtruding out of a level desert and domi-
mating the country round are the remains
of pueb built under the direction of
Franciscan fathers and with Spanish tools.
He Is bold enough to assign the date.
1670-75, to their final destruction by the
Apaehes. He is so welI-in formed trav-
eler that his conclusions must not be
hastily challenged.
Still, the evidences Of a revolution in the
physical geography of that region, prob
ably after the advent of man, suggest
queries. The country in which the three
ruined cities stood was not always what it
is now. 1t must have been supplied with
water. while now there is no water within
thirty miles of Tabira. The lakes of Tigua
were once fresh and were inhabited by fish
and water fowl; they are now saline. and
their shores are as desolate as those of Salt
Lake. 1t would be impossible now for a
pueblo to exist In the vicinity of the ruins;
but the latter afford proof positive that
not one but many pueblos once flourished
there. The theory that a substantial sec
ton OF the northern moundbuilders were
driven out of Ohio and Wisconsin by more
powerful tribes and migrated south. where
they maintained precarious existence as
cliff-dwellers for many centuries, until they
were again driven out or exterminated,
has many adherents. But no one has ever
produced evidence that would command
the assent of a jury regarding the date of
these movements The books are quite
sure of the period when the Toltecs went
into Mexico, and when the AZtecs drove
them out. But when the authorities are
examined the chronology rests on sup
posed Interpretation of hieroglyphics which
we may not understand.
Mr.. LOOMS tells us at the great church
convent, which also served as a fort, at
Tabira was built in 1914. But how did the
priests build it if there was no water nearer
than thirty miles ? And we know that
there has been no convulsion which
changed the face of nature In that region
within three centuries. Public opinion on
the subject of these antiquities seems to
have swung from one extreme to another.
When Stevens wrote fifty years ago edu-
Gated people were willing to admit that
the ruins of Palenque might be the remains
of edifces which were contemporaneous
with the pyramids of Egypt; when the
LOrillard expedition reported, arch9olo-
gists became satisfied that there was
nothing in Central America over 1000 years
DID, Major Powell thinks that the cliff
jewellers and the pueblos of New Mckee
are of yesterday. Yet the conversion Of
Northern San Diego County into desert
occurred after the advent of man; and yet
it was very old story when the Spainiards
came. There is more in these old ruins
than is known to our philosophy.
COST OF A YEAR OF CLEVEL AND.