Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-01-16

Washington, d. c., Jan. 9. "A proc
lamation issued by President Wilson
sets aside tract of land in central
New Mexico for national monument
The tract is to be known as the Ban
delier monument To all but a lew
Americans the name of Bandelier
means little or nothing Yet Adolph
Bandelier was one of our great men
a man whose career was as cOlonul
and adventurous as that of some
medieval knight Grant, man who
accomplished things that are destined
to live, who occupied a unique place
as an American historian and an
American author.
Have you ever fead novel called
The Delight Makers? The chances are
that you have not. The book was
published twenty-six years ago, ran
through two small editions and today
is out of print. It is practically i'm.
possible to secure copy now. YET
The Delight Makers is one of the
most remarkable contributions to
American literature less than
a romance whose scene and plot are
laid in pre-Columbian days, whose
characters are all Pueblo Indians
They are the only true and life like
American Indian characters in hterar
ture. They are drawn not from the
Imagination, but from flesh and blood
For that was Bandelier's great work
the reconstruction of vanished age
by study of its living remnants. In
that work he braved hundred perils,
risked his life scores of times.
Bandelier laid the foundation for a
real history Of our Indian and Spanish
southwest. He lived among the In
dams for years, leading their rude life.
sharing their good times and bad,
speaking their language, adopted by
them into their tribes. He had the
mind of scholar and scientist with
the temper of pioneer.
He travelled on foot and horseback
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 no
weapons but a light stick meter
long. that was graduated for making
measurements. He was beset repeated
ly by hostile Indians, and once only
saved his life by playing on a well
known Indian superstition and pretend
ing to be insane. The Indians have a
superstitious fear of insanity, and will
never harm lunatic.
On another occasion he was stricken
with small pox on one Of his solitary
journeys and almost persisted. Again,
he was caught in winter blizzard on
the great plains of eastern New Mex
leo. 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-five mile
walk through deep SHOW. He went
wherever there was a promise Of ind
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 = stern experience when he
lost himself in the rocky wateriess hill
country Of New Mexico and wandered
for days under blazing sun. pursuing
hooking mirages Of water until he fell
from his horse at the point Of death.
At the last moment his life was saved
by q party from Santa Fe 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 temperament
exact, patient and careful, willing to
pay any price for truth. But he be-
lieved that the truth was to be found
among the living Indians and their
communities as wen Is 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 established and
erroneous beliefs by this method.
For instance. the tract just set aside
as the Bandelier national monument in
cludes certain old clih dwellings, near
Santa Fe, New Mexico II was long
believed that the inhabitants Of these
caves in the rock belonged to a race
since dead and vanished. Romantic
tradition ascribed all manner of i'm
probable characteristics to these
people. Bandelier proved that the
cliff dwellers were simply the fore
fathers of the present Pueblo Indians,
and very much the same sort of