The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-04
RELICS OF THE o0oHIT1s.
The Ancient stronghold of a Fierce
ReouIc.

People,
Prof. Frederick A. Starr. head of the
a-nthropological department. ofathe Uni
versity of Chicago, returned recently
from an exploration trip among the Pu-
eblo Indians in New Mexico. f. b. Mel
willie. his modeller, took copies of the
wall paintings in the mysterious ana Ia,
Cueva Pintada, or painted cave. rms
cave is IN the top of a cliff, the walls
of which rise almost perpendicularly
above the plain 100 feet. There IS no
path, and access is only to be mad by
means of rough footholds cut in the
rock.
lively unknown, and Professor Starr viii
nave a complete model made of it, re-
producing in detail this ancient strong
hold of the fierce Cochitis. me paintings
finest north of Mexico: They are
done in red, white and black. The pre-
dominant color is red, ana thls snaae
of the Katchinas, or sacred dances. over
the walls are scattered paintings OF the
sun and the plumed serpents, the fetishes
In this strange, place lived the Cochitis
many hundreds of years ago, and the cave
was for centuries the ancient G. 6 ! N me Mecca was o.
ward. BY some the region has been
connected with the Aztec civilization. but
Professor Starr dissents from tins theory;
dIu lldhGS IL :,
Cochitis, who he believes nag nothing IN
common with ancestors Of Montezuma;
The browning achievement, frem the
exnlorer's standpoint, was, perhaps the
scaling of the heights of Potrero De las
Vegas whose dizzy ramparts rise a thou
sand feet above the Cueva. Pintada- rms
place. which was also an. old home OF the
Cochitis. is near the. a v first explored
and overlooks the canyon OF the Kio
Grande. The whole region is practically
impassable to animals of any kind, save
the mountain goat, although in bygone
DAYS the Mexicans We're wont to drive
their sheep to the top of the rocky emf.
n arm and the spoliations Of time nave
made an attempt to scale the cliffs an
extremely hazardous undertaking, and
Professor Starr thanks provldence Tor
On top of the mesa were found objects
that will be of untold value to science and
to history. In the centre of the plot Pro-
fessor Starr found a circular area 1nclosed
were two stone images of panthers, cary
ed centuries g by unknown sculptors.
Time n prehistoric vandals have. been
unkind to these masterpieces of the
ancient Cochitls, still they were in a re-
markable state of preservation. They
presented excellent likenesses OF the
originals, and the travellers decided to
preserve the fetishes in plaster
casts as long as 1t was impossible to get
the stone images down to the plain. Pro-
fesor Starr shuddered when he related
how he and his nelperS ndu 10 carry up
water on their backs from the canyon be-
low to mix the plaster. THE burning sun
added discomforts to the rest of the UNI
dertakings, but the casts were made, and
they will soonr be seen in Walker
Museum at the university.
The main purpose of Prof. STAIRS trip
was to secure busts. and plaster casts
Of the Pueblo indians. The busts that
the a-nthropologist secured he thinks are
The finest in existence. .I do not think
he said. that there will be a finer col
lection in the world of, casts OF any In
dian tribe thai the. ores we secured while
I was among the Pueblos. Owing to the
Ignorance. the approximation and the
suspicion with which everything. done
bv the Whites is regardedsb by the Indians.
It is extremely difficult to get any re-
productions of their likenesses. | set out
ia get fifteen casts. We secured sixteen
and could nave got more. The collection
includes types of both sexes. and all
ages. They will be colored true to the
Shades of the originals and will prob
ably be on exhibition at the university.
/ will also endeavUr to secure two. life
size figures Illustrating the National and
sacred dance, which is held annually. July
IA. left Mr.. Melville in charge of the
enterprise, and gave him orders when |
left to proceed to st. Felipe Laguna n
Acoma for other models.-Chicago
Times-Herald.