Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
INDIANS RETAIN
AS|AT|C ASPECT
Taos Tribe in New Mexico
Preserves Traces of Re-
mote Ancestry.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
The great Aztec civilization has per-
ished, but a contemporary culture re-
xembling it in many ways and at the
same time showing clear traces OF ex-
tremely remote Asiatic ancestry has
been preserved throughout the modern
development of America by the proud,
handsome, conservative tribe Of In
dams that has lived for countless gen.
erations in the Taos puebloS in New
Mexico.
j. p. Harrington of the bureau Of
American ethnology, who studied the
Taos Indians last Summer in the course
OF an effort to record the languages,
cultures and histories of the South
western tribes before the aged members
carry with them to the grave their van
ishing lore of the past. found that they
! have retained their primitive culture in
much purer form than any of the other
pueblo groups
Most of the Pueblos." he observes,
"are getting to follow the white way,
! and such Indians are looked down upon
by the Taos. They are the most North
ern of all the Pueblo Indians and ARE
/ the largest. tallest and finest looking.
They keep themselves and their houses
and town very clean and are hand
some group Of people"
North Of Santa Fe.
The town, which attracts artists and
| tourists as well as scientists from all
parts of the world is go miles north
OF Santa Fe in the hart of the Rockies
and has a population of about 900
Indians, who still observe the customs
| of their ancestors most rigidly, wearing
white blankets. leggings and long hair.
| They have two communal dwellings
OF abode, separated by beautiful, clear
creek spanned by primitive bridges Ct
foot logs hewn with old Indian axes.
The houses are relatively new. hav-
, ing been constructed after a fire de-
stroyed a similar group early in the
seventeenth century.
The northern pueblo retains its or
iginal five stories, but that on the
southern side of the creek has been
reduced to three by falling in of the
upper part The Indians like to loaf
on their roofs, always wearing their
white blarEets.
Wall Surrounds Village.
A mud wall surrounds the village,
and outside are the fields and the
places where the Indians obtain their
clay. paints and various roots and
herbs. To the northeast rises q magic
mountain called by an Indian name
which means "the high one" and far
to the west rises another known as
the Coyotes Ears" because of its two
little peaks.
The Indians, Mr.. Harrington found,
know all the surrounding places by
curious old names in their own Ian
guages, "some of which are certainly
many centuries old"
THE civilization of these, Indians"
he says, resembles In not few points
that of the Aztecs of Mexico, and the
Asiatic aspect of their life impresses
one vividly.
1T is perfectly clear that Eastern
Asiatic peoples spilled over into Amer
lea, crossing the Bering Strait without
even knowing they were leaving Asia.
They followed the coast southwark
bringing their old Asiatic languages
and customs with them, but taking on
variations in their way of life as they
came into the environments dominated
by the mountains, the buffalo or the
coast.
Nevertheless the Indians, being
Asiatics, may be expected to have
rich and ancient civilization, and this
Is precisely what is being found among
them"