Page:All the Year Round - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/550

540[May 8, 1869] the Old Hall, ready to pilfering fingers, not one was missed. Our gipsy guests had been strictly honest.

LYRICAL INTERLUDES.

THE QUID PRO QUO.

THE AZTEC RUINS OF NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA.

I now say a few words about the ruins which are to be found scattered throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and Northern Mexico. There is scarcely a valley in the Rio Grande basin in which the stone or adobe foundations of villages are not to be found; there is scarcely a spring, a laguna, or a marsh upon the plateau which is not overlooked by some ruined fortress. Usually these relics crest a commanding eminence, not always in close proximity either to the fertile land which supported the community, or even to the spring which supplied them with water. If a stream runs near them, the remains of acequias, or irrigating canals, are generally to be found. There are many places, however, where cultivation was successfully carried on without them, the rainfall alone being relied upon, while some ruins show signs of reservoirs and terraces similar to those still in use amongst the Moquis.

The ruins may be classed under three heads:

First. Ruins of many-storied Indian strongholds.

Second. Ruins of buildings evidently constructed under Spanish rule.

Third. Ruins, the foundations of which alone remain.

East of the Rio Grande, there are at least four ruined towers of the first order deserving of special notice; these are the ruins of Pecos, Quarra, Gran Quivera, and Abo; all, however, contain ruins of Spanish as well as Indian origin.

The early Spaniards tell us that Pecos was a fortified tower of several stories. It was built upon the summit of a mesa, which juts out into the valley of the stream of the same name, and overlooks the low lands for many miles in both directions.

The only conspicuous buildings amongst the ruins are the Spanish church and the Mexican temple. For probably a century the two religions flourished side by side; the incense ascended from the altar of the one, and the fire of Montezuma burned day and night in the estufa of the other. The church is a cruciform adobe structure, the greater part of the walls of which are still standing. Montezuma's church is much more decayed; it shows signs of having been at least three stories in height, and in the centre the large circular estufa is quite perfect.

The pueblo was called by the early Spaniards Tiguex, and was the chief town of a district called by the same name. According to Indian tradition, it was built by Montezuma himself on his way southward from Toas; he placed his sacred fire in the estufa, and warned his people that death would come upon them if they allowed it to go out. Before leaving them, he took a tall tree and planted it in an inverted position, saying that when he should disappear a foreign race would rule over his people, and there would be no rain. "They were not to lose heart, however, under the foreign