Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-06-10

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over the widest regions of the south
western United States forty years ago
when the Indians of that section were
still on the war-path. He carried nc
weapons but a light stick a meter
long, that was graduated for making
measurements. He was beset repeat
edly by hostile Indians. and once only
saved his life by playing on a we'll
known Indian superstition and pre-
tending to be insane. The Indians
have a superstititious fear of insan-
ity. and will never harm a lunatic.
on another occasion he was stricken
with smallpox on one of his solitary
journeys and almost perished. Again
he was caught in winter blizzard on
the great plains of eastern New Mexi-
co. Two companions who were with
him succumbed to the storm, but Ban
delier's own physical strength and de-
termination pulled him through after
a ninety-mile ride and thirty-fve mile
walk through deep snow. He went
wherever there was u promise of find
ing something that could forward his
work, regardless of risk
Danger from hostile Indians, from
hunger or exposure had no terrors for
him. His one fear was of thirst-the
relic of a stern experience when he lost
himself in the rocky waterless hill
country of New Mexico and wandered
for days under a blazing sun, pursuing
mocking ,mirages of water until he fell
from his horse at the point of death.
At the last moment his life was saved
by party from Santa F'e who had set
out to look for him.
The unique feature of Bandelier's
work was the method he employed.
He had the typical scientific tempera-
ment-eXact, patient and careful, will
ing to pay any price for truth But
he believed that the truth was to be
found among the living Indians and
their communities as well as in old
ruins and dusty documents. So he
went and lived among them, learned
their dialects and carefully collected
and collated their traditions and
stories. He exploded a score of es-
tablished and erroneous beliefs by this
method.
For instance, the tract just set aside
as the Bandelier National Monument
includes certain old cliff ff-dwellings,
near Santa F'e, New Mexico. It was
long believed that the inhabitants of
these caves in the rock belonged to a
race since dead and vanished. Ro-
mantle tradition ascribed all manner of
improbable characteristics to these
people. Bandelier proved that the
cllf-dWellers were simply the fore
fathers of the present Pueblo Indians,
and very much the same sort of peo-
pie. He CLEANED his evidence while
living in the Pueblos of Cochiti, of
Zuni and Isleta. He was made a
member of the tribe at Cochiti. The
scene of his novel, "The Delight Max
ers" is laid in these old cliff-dwellings,
and the characters are drawn from
real Isleta Indians, whom he knew in
timately.
In the same way he exploded all
manner of myths relating to life in
the southwest before the landing of
Columbus. He had the foundation
for real history of one of the most
romantic and colorful sections of the
United States. The work he did later
in Peru and Bolivia was of the same
nature. BY living among the Indians
there he showed that many of the ac-
cepted romantic notions of the ancient
Inoas were founded on nothing more
than the imagination of Indians and
old Spanish chroniclers. He did more
than tear down accepted beliefs: he
worked until he found the truth to put
in their places.
The importance of Bandelier's con-
tribution to the sciences of history and
archaeology can hardly be over esti