Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-24

| ,N% w rF>N rowed in t h e earth
~ Y " like rats Their IL:
| g. m VI, houses were holes in
| the hills, me of
| them so extensive as to be veritable SUBJ
! terranean hotels, the apartments being in
suites for the occupancy of families. Eight
miles south Of Verde. on the east side of
| the river, Is the now empty home of once
prosperous underground community. 1t
has 200 rooms on the main level. divided
into seventy-four distinct and separate
| sets. On level above, constituting sec
ond story, are fifty-six rooms in twenty
| four sets, 1t is believed that the entire es-
adjustment accommodated $50 to 200 peo-
pie.
| Rooms in Cliffs.
| followed out Of the faces Of the cliffs in
that region are thousands of rooms, some
| times in clusters of two or three, while
now and then will be found such an elabor-
ate excavation as that just described, af-
fording quarters for a community of con-
siderable size. The places chosen for such
workings are along the faces of cliffs. where
| strata of soft rock occur. The rooms gen.
| orally are rudely circular, the largest being
| thirty feet and the smallest five or six feet
| in diameter. In the underground hotels a
| suite ordinarily consists of one large main
| room in front, entered by narrow hail
| from the face of the bluff, and a number
| of smaller rooms connected by narrow
| doorways or short passages. There is no
| outlet into the open except through the
main room or parlor. Usually there are
| number Of little storage rooms or cubby
| holes, corresponding to closets. These are
| from one foot to five feet in diameter, on
level with the floors.
| The deserted dwellings of these burrowing
| people have been found in New Mexico and
| Colorado also. In some places the hills
| have been literally honeycombed by them.
| Along the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, near
the modern Pueblo of Santa Clara, are
| cliffs of volcanic sand and ashes. Into the
| face of these cliffs many chambers have
been excavated, the rock being friabe and
| easily worked. The specific gravity of some
| of the rocks Is so low that they will float
| on water For mile after mile the hills are
studded with such dug-out rooms. of which
| there are many thousands. Some of them
evidently were used as stables for asses,
goats and sheep Others were for the stor-
age of grain. Often steps were cut in the
cliff-faces, forming rude stairways by which
the chambers could be reached.
Not much Is known about the history of
the Rio Verde valley. Within recent years
that region has been stamping ground
of the hostile Apache and Walapai. So
late as twenty-five years ago, when settle
ment by the whites was begun, the rifle
was more necessary than the pillow for
successful agriculture. At present the vak
| ley is ole Of the best-known mining DIS
tricts in Arizona. In early times the Verde
"
trappers and prospectors told many tales
of wonderful ruins to be found along its
banks
After the Fashion of the Pueb1Os.
By no means all Of these prehistoric peo-
pie lived in burrows. The latter were made
to serve for purposes of habitation where
suitable rock formations occurred. Re-
| mains of large villages are found on the
river terraces, some of them Of elaborate
and complex ground plan, indicating long
occupancy. The biggest Of these was on
the east side Of the Verde, one mile above
the mouth of Limestone creek. The ruins
cover a space Of five acres. This village,
like all of the others, was built after the
fashion of a pueblo, being merely an ag-
gregation of rooms. most of which were
only one story in height. 1t had 225 rooms
on the ground floor and about 800 rooms
in all, providing accommodation for per-
haps 45O persons. This interesting struc-
trre Of antiquity is Of roughly dressed
stone, with a number of courts or open
spaces separating the clusters of rooms
One room that stands by itself is imagined
to have been sacred ceremonial chamber
An Agricultural People.
These ancient villages were built in much
the same style as the modern pueblos Of
the southwest. A pueblo is a town con-
structed on the principle of a house-an
assemblage of rooms instead of a group
| of separate dwellings This style of archi-
lecture was evolved out of the peculiar
conditions environing the people. Agricul-
tural, and by no means warlike, they were
victims of frequent raids by fierce tribes
Owing to this pressure from the outside
they huddled together for mutual protec-
| ton. Usually such village was situated
on an elevation overlooking the surround
ing cultivated fields. These beehive towns
are disappearing, because the people are
no longer obliged to huddle through fear
Of attack by savages. The largest inhabit-
ed pueblo today is that of Zuni which has
a population of LOCO.
The ancient Inhabitants Of the Verde
valley relied mainly, If not wholly upon
agriculture for their support OF the mil
itary art they knew SO little that they
built no Notifications of my kind. The
farming industry was highly developed
among them. They grew much corn, and
remains of irrigation canals and reser-
voirs utilized by them are found That
they domesticated the sheep and the dog
Is proved by the Photographic writings
which they have left behind them. In the
rooms which they once occupied have
been discovered such relics as fragments
of brackets, bits of grinding stones, bun
dies of nhers, pieces of cotton cloth, pot
terry, arrowshafts and sandals of woven
yucca fiber. Sometimes the house was
provided with cavity in the Eock for
holding fifteen or twenty gallons of wa
ter-a months supply for an aboriginal
family.
and extensive as 20 be attributed formerly
to an immense population, estimates run
ming as high as 10000. But these people
had q way of moving continually on and
on, and band of 500 of them might leave
behind them the remains of fifty villages
in century.
Family Relations.
Among the Pueblo Indians Of today, who
are the descendants of these people, in
heritance in real estate is in the female
line. When a man marries he becomes a
member Of his wifes family and house.
hold If the wife's home is not big enough
to accommodate the extra membership,
additional rooms are built adjoining and
connected with those previously occupied.
The women build the houses, though the
men supply the material and do the heavy
work. AS result of the system described,
family in which there many daugh-
growing. On the other hand, a family