The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1895-08-06
QUEEREST OF FOLK,
WONDERFUL NEW MEXICAE
CITY OF ACOMA.
Probably Built Centuries Before the
Discovery or Amerlca-PccuIInr
Construction of the
Houses
HHE most wonderful city of
tho vvorI1 80 -, NJ. ~

the world is in New Mexico,
only few miles from Cubero.
or LagunN, on tho Atlantic
and Pacific Railroad. 1t had been in
existence hundreds of years when Co.
lumbus discovered America. Acoma
Tor such Is its name, is perched upon
the level summit of n great rock
whose perpendicular sides are nearly
400 feet above the surrounding conn.
try, and reached by some of the most
difficult paths ever trodden by man.
The feet of generations have worn
these paths six inches into the solid
sandstone.
Ihe Acomas now number COO souls.
upon their seventy acres of rock they
have six communal houses, each three
stories high, besides church .nor.
nous dimensions. The inhabitants
have carried up the ioilsome trails
every particle of the material from
which the buildings were constructed.
and besides this the graveyard CON
sumed forty years in being completed
by reason of the necessity for bring
ing Garth from the plain below. All
supplies at the present dnv, even to
drinking water, are brought in the
same way.
The architecture of Acoma is MS
strange as its location. The bouses
are nil terraced, so that they resemble
flights of stone steps, or Egyption
pyramids on small scale In aacb
house the second story sta, = ten or a
dozen feet back on tho fiat roof of the
first, thus leaving broad, uncovered
walk the whole length. The third
story is similarly placed upon the sec
ond. There are no doors on tue lower
wills of the houses, nor stairs inside
10 get into the first story one must
go mp ladder to the first roof. enter
the second-story room, lift n trnp-
door IN It's floor and back down
another ladder.
All these houses are of stone ma.
sorry, IN spite of the fact that the
builders had NO metal tools for dress
ing the material. Instead, thev chose
rock which broke naturally into the
shape desired, and laid it in A very
durable mortar made from mud Sn
neatly was their work done TINT Tho
outer fnces of tho BUILDINGS arc os
smooth as n board.
The raftcrs are straight pine sticks
stripped of their bark, and above
them is n roof of smaller sticks. straw
ana clay. The combination is per
iectly water-tight. The windows nro
very small, and until glass was intro
duced the panes were made of trims.
lucent gypsum. The finishing touch
is to plaster the walls, inside and ont.
with adobe clay, and then whitewash
them with preparation of gypsum.
This whitewash gives pueblo town Mt
a distance the appearance of being
built of marble.
Acoma is simply type of twenty.
SIX inhabited pueblo towns now exist
ing IN New Mexico and Arizona. and
containing a population of 10. 600
souls. The nineteen pueblos of New
Mexico are scattered mp and down the
Rio Grunde Valley from Taos. tho
most northern, to 1sleta, which is lust
south Of Albuquerque. Then they ex.
tend westward, along the line of the
Atlantic md Pacific Railroad. to neor
the Arizona border, the last one in
this direction being the far-famed
Anni. The seven pueblos in Arizona
arc close together in the northern
part, the inhabitants being collectively
called Moqui.
The origin of the Pueblos has never
been unveiled. A profound interest
centers in them. But one thing hos
been settled-they and the cave or
cliff jewellers arc one and the same
people. The latter have not vanished
as was once supposed. Their desccn-
dants are with us to-day.
The ancestors Of the Pneblos vero
probably the earliest inhabitants of
this continent The remains of their
forte, towns and stupendous irrIgatipo
canals are thickly scattered over New
Mexico and Arizona, and indicate that
the population was teeminc.
The Pueblo Indians now live IN
much the same way ms did their fore
fathers when first discovered by the
opaniards, $50 years ago. Yenrs 400
their lands, which they hold in com.
mon, we're granted them by Mexico.
md ut the close of the Mexican War
these grants were confirmed bv tho
United States. they IRE quite self
supporting, and should every human
being but themselves bo blottcd from
the earth they would jog along with
out concern.
Tho basis Of society is not tho fam
ny, as with as. but tho clan. Tho
number Of clans i'm pueblo town
runs from six TO sixteen, every indi-
vidual belonging to one. A man can
not marry woman of the same clan
he must go outside.
Still stranger is the law OF descent
with civilized people it is from tho
father; with Pueblos from tho moth
err Children take the name of their
mother. Furthermore, the house is
IN charge of the women exclusively
everything within it,, the mems
clothing and weapons excepted, he.
longing TO the housckeeper If once
housed, the crops are hers. As long
ns they are In the field the man nav
dispose Of them; afterwnrd he mnst
consult the woman Even the rro
ceeds Of the common hunts are treated
IN the same manner, Only when the
man kills game when out alone is it
his
The Pueblo woman Is an excellent
housewife, aud her home is q model of
neatness Beds are usually made up
of blankets, of home make. Bedsteads
are not unknown but oftenor the