The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-05-03
RICH PUEBLOS.
PROSPEROUS INDIAN COLONIES
IN NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA.
They Own the Best Lands and Fay
No Taxes - Following Quaint
Ancient Customs Respect
for the Aged.
TN New Mexico and Arizona there

tue WehitHltst iutu W 'uc 'DoNthWtSAs |
These citizens are Pueblo Indians,
and mighty interesting people they !
are. They live in their own villages,
which ls1k more like forts or tene.
ments than anything else. govern
themselves without much interference
from the United States authorities /;
and manage to get along very well de-
spite 'the fact that many of them,
while protesting Christianity depend
more upon the old gods OF their fore
fathers. Their customs, mode of liv
ing, beliefs, superstitions and tradi-
tions are but very little different from
those that the old Spanisrds marvelled
at when they came into the country
from old Mexico toward the latter part
OF the sixteenth century.
The nearest pueblo to Sante Fe is
the Pueblo of Tesugue. II is about
nine miles distant Tesuque is fiat
looking little place. II is not any.
thing like AZ large as Taos or Ideta, or
many of the other pueblos of New
Mexico. The rising generation has
succum bed somewhat to the advanced
ideas OF the people Of Ssnte Fe, and
now Won see occasionally house with
a door in it OH alevel with the ground.
The houses are built on top Of each
other, and where the whole affair isin
some places three and four stories
high, IL looks from distance like n
giant flight of steps Nowadays one
can enter some OF the houses on the
story along the ground through doors
cut in the sides. To enter most of
them, however, you have to climb up
n ladder to the second terrace, and
then down into them through trap
holes in the roof. The roofs of the
lower houses furnish sidewalks for
the families living one story nearer to
heaven.
The houses are about ten feet high.
In olden times it is said only the
women and children slept and lived in
these houses. The men lived in the
estufas. These estufss or council
rooms are great, round. low affairs.
They have no doors. but you have to
climb up ladder to the top aud de-
scend into them through trap doors.
The interiors are plain. Sometimes
on the walls are sacred paintings and
drawings and antlers. For many years
the Pueblos have had more of family
life, the custom being introduced by
the Christian, according to the same
story. The respect =, tue n.uren
! for their parents and the affection OF
man and wife for each other and for
their children are delightful.
Zuni, in the far western part OF the
country, has one six-storied house
covering n vast territory aud contain
ing many rooms. The Mouui towns
are three-storied. All of these towns
are extremely old, their grants dating
back mostly to 1859, aud even then
they had been III existence hundreds
OF years
The government of tho Pueblo
Indians is in the hands OF - cazlque
or chief, war captain and fiscal major.
They are elected and have assistants.
The village generally settles its own
quarrels, aud one rarely or never
hears ot Indians coming into the
United States courts. Wltchcrait is
firmly believed in mp to this day.
1t is generally accepted belief
now that the cli1 dwellings, ruins OF
which are To be found thrpug huItt
New Mexico and Arizona, were mercy
the homes OF refuge Of the Pueblos.
The pueblos themselves are llttls
more than forts. and 1t IL believed
! that in times ot extreme danger the
l.
built III the ellis. There are some
ruins OF cliff dwellings hut lew miles
from Sante Fe. These dwellings were
almost invariably prepared and half
built by nature herself. The wind
aud sand followed out the softer
stratum of sandstone between two
more substantial strata OF solid rock,
thus furnishing the door, the roo; and
back of the fortress,
The Indians had then hut to butld
the two sides and the trout. using mud
aud clay III doing 80. The cliff dwell
ings are generally about twelve feet
long, eight feet deep and from five to
nine feet high. There were very sell
dom any windows, aud the doors, cut
very low and generally abou, eighteen
inches square, served as chimnegs
also. In the gorges of the Cochit
uplands, aboyt fifty miles northwest o.
Santa Fe, are To he found caves'u ellis
dwellings, followed out OF the pumlce'
stone cliffs. Near Flagstaff in Arlzons
are several canons in which are to b,
found the ruins Of innumerable elf
dwellings.
The children belong to the mother
and used invariably to take her las
name, which does not change when sh,
is married. Nowadays this custom IL
changing, the girls generally taking
their mothers name, the boys th'
fathers, In each tribe there are any
number of different clans, such as tn,
Sun People, the Deer People, the Fir
People. A young man may not MARI,
"a vnman of his own clan but If he Al