The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-03

NEW YORK, Oct. IA Washington
special to the Herald says: The story
of the Enchanted Mesa, in Western
New Mexico, and the tragic fate of
some Of the inhabitants of its summit
after that memorable storm of CEN
turies ago is more than a twice-told
tale The tradition. as repeated by
Lummis, is Identical with that learned
from Acoma lips, in 1895, by Mr.. F. w.
| Hodge, of the United States bureau of
American ethnology, who led the re-
cent expedition to the summit of that
interesting cliff.
This great, isolated rock table was
| first explored by Prof William Libbey.
of Princeton university, on July 20 last.
and his undertaking aroused much in
terest among students of the aborig-
| inal history Of the continent Prot
| Libbey was accompanied by Mr. H. L.
Bridgeman, of Brooklyn, and Mr. c.
NJ. Pearce, of Albuquerque, N. M. In
summarizing the result of his inves-
| tigation, Prof. Libbey said:
Not the slightest trace was found
| which enabled me to believe that q
| human foot had ever passed over the
top of this famous rock" adding that
| rats were the only existing occupants
| of this castle in the air. A careful
search, he stated, was made of every
| portion of the fifteen or sixteen acres
| of broken surface, but not the smallest
| evidence of former human inhabitants
was ascertainable-no affairs or traces
Of prayer sticks. This, he thought,
showed best the inaccessible character
of the place, because, if it had been
| within reach, he argued, the mediaeVal
men of the Acoma tribe would certain
| ly have made use of it for their pur-
| poses.
Prof. Libbey, in order to reach the
summit of the mesa, had provided him
self with the apparatus of the life-sav-
| ing service, consisting of two and a
| half inch Lyte gun and various sizes
| Of rope. A line was shot across the
rock and used to haul up main rope
! of three inches in diamater. On this
! a travelling block was put attached to
! which, was a boatswains chair, in
which Prof. Libbey was hauled up, q
| team of horses supplying the motive
power. His aerial trolley ride took
nearly three minutes, the angle at
which the rope ran being about forty
degrees and the distance 700 feet.
1t is only due to Prof. Libbey to state
| that his Investigations, which occupied
about two hours, were somewhat
abruptly terminated by the approach
of thunder storm, which also pre-
vented him spending the night on the
Mesa's top, although he seemed to
think that they were sufficiently thor
ough to be convincing
So much for Prof. Libbey's expert
ences. Now hear what companion of
Mr.. Hodge has to say:
During Mr.. Hodges connection with
the Smithsonian institution. and pre-
viously with the Hemenway expedi-
4 tion it had been his fortune 10 spend
some three years in the examination
and excavation of various archaeOloglc
remains in Arizona and New Mexico
and a much longer period in a study
of the history and ethnology of the
tribes now and formerly inhab:ting
that section Not a little of this time
was devoted to the determination Of
the verify of native tradition by COM
parison with known historic and ar
chaeologic evidence, whenever such
tradition was found to be free from the
supernatural or strictly mythic and
untouched by Caucasian influence
SURVEYING THE MESA.
I'm company with James S. Judd,
now of Middletown, Conn, he visited.
in 1895, the pueblo of Acoma, where
the story of KatZimo, as the natives
term the Enchanted Mesa, was re-
peated to him by Acoma lips in the
very words in which it was related
to Lummis several years before While
approaching the Mesa he determined
to verify the story by as thorough an
examination of the height as the alb
sence of scaling apparatus would per-
nit. Next to the great precipitous
mass itself, the first thing that ap-
pealed to him was the great body of
talus, or sloping heap of rocky frae- :
mentS, piled half way up the cliff, be-
low the cleft through which the ira
ditional pathway wound it's course, Il
large proportion of which consisted of
soil covered with comparatively rich
vegetation. While clambering over
this detritus numerous pOtsherds of
very ancient ware were observed.
vitrous glaze, an art long since lost
to Pueblo potters. Now these frag
ments, Mr.. Hodges experience taught
him, could have occurred there in only
one way-they We're internixed with
soil on a slope 224 feet high, that must
the Mesa. The tradition OF the former
occupancy of Katzinlo was thus veri-
fed by substantial evidence without
even a visit to the summit
During the same trip he proceeded
from the apex of the talus, without
artificial aid, to climb the rocky cleft
which now forms one of scores OF
drainage ways from the top during
periods of storm. By this means he
succeeded in reaching a sloping ter
race, some fifty feet from the sum-
nit, where he was confronted by a
sheer sandstone wall some thirty feet
in height, and absolutely unscalable
save by artificial means. The return
to the talus was somewhat more diff
cult than the ascent, and in feeling
for hand and foot holes over the more
precipitous places Mr.. Hodge discov-
cred what appeared to be the much
worn remains of artifcially picked
holes in the ancient pathway.
''In the light of these researches, Mr..
Hodge has hesitated to regard the re-
suits of the Princeton expedition as in
any degree conclusive. The very sub
stantial evidence of the former occu-
pancy of the Mesa presented by the
fragments of ancient earthenware in
the talus had been completely neglect
ed by the latter party, and no testi-
| niony whatever had been obtained on
the summit in support Of the eonclu-