The Prehistoric World or Vanished races Part 34

Bandelier regards it as exceedingly well adapted to the wants of a horticultural people, and even traces in it some resemblance to Lower Egypt."

A very celebrated ruin on the Gila River gives us a fair idea of what this central stronghold of the village cl.u.s.ter, sometimes supported on a raised foundation, was like. This cut is a view of the princ.i.p.al ruin in this section, which, however, is only a portion of an extensive settlement, covering some five acres in all. The building is not very large, only fifty by forty feet, and four stories, of ten feet each, in height, with a possibility that the central portion of the building rose ten feet higher. The walls are built of adobe, five feet thick at the base, but tapering slightly at the top.

Ill.u.s.tration of Casa Grandee, on the Gila.----------

This house was surrounded by a court-yard which inclosed about two acres. Shapeless mounds, presumably the ruins of houses, are to be seen in various parts of this inclosure. "If the ground plan of this great house," says Mr. Bandelier, "with its surroundings of minor edifices, courts and inclosures is placed by the side of the ground plan of other typical ruins, the resemblance is almost perfect except in materials used." This settlement was separated into two divisions. In one place was noticed a large elliptical tank with heavy embankments, nearly eight feet deep.

As to other ruins on the Gila, Mr. Bartlett tells us: "One thing is evident, that at some former period the valley of the Gila was densely populated. The ruined buildings, the irrigating ca.n.a.ls, and the vast quant.i.ties of pottery of a superior quality, show, that while they were an agricultural people, they were much in advance of the present semi-civilized tribes of the Gila." Speaking of the ruins of the Gila east of the San Pedro River, Emory says: "Whenever the mountains did not infringe too closely on the river and shut out the valley, they were seen in great abundance, enough, I should think, to indicate a former population of at least one hundred thousand; and in one place there is a long wide valley, twenty miles in length, much of which is covered with the ruins of buildings and broken pottery. Most of these outlines are rectangular, and vary from forty to fifty feet to two hundred by four hundred feet."<32>

It is, however, necessary to be very cautious in judging population by the number of ancient ruins. Prehistoric people were naturally of a roving disposition. The mult.i.tude of ruins in Western New York is not regarded as evidence of dense population, but they were occasioned by the known customs of the Indians in changing the sites of their villages "every ten, fifteen, or thirty years; or, in fact, whenever the scarcity of firewood, the exhaustion of their fields, or the prevalence of an epidemic made such a step desirable."<33> Doubtless a similar remark may explain the difference of opinion as to the numbers of the Mound Builders.<34> And, finally, Mr. Bandelier concludes that the great number of ruins scattered through New Mexico and its neighboring territories is by no means evidence of a large population. The evidence of tradition is to the effect that a large number of villages were successively, and not simultaneously, occupied by the same people.<35>

We have about completed our survey of the Pueblo country. We might state that the large communal houses, known as pueblos, are found as far south on the Rio Grande as Valverde. Cl.u.s.ters of separate houses occur as far south as Dona Ana. A range of low mountains lies to the west of the Rio Grande; between it and the headwaters of the Gila evidences of ancient habitations were observed on the small streams. Though these occur sometimes in little groups, the court-yards are not connected so as to form a defensive village. Small inclosed surfaces, with no evidence that a house ever was connected with them, were also observed. Mr. Bandelier could only surmise that these were garden-plots, something like the ancient terrace garden-plots in Peru.

Take it all in all, this is, indeed, a singular region, and the Pueblo tribes were a singular people. Their architecture shows us a people in the Middle Status of Barbarism. That they practised agriculture is shown by the presence of old irrigating ditches. Corn and corn-cobs are found in the rubbish-heaps of old settlements. Mr. Morgan thinks that the valley of the San Juan and its numerous tributaries was the place where the Indian race first rose to the dignity of cultivators of the soil.<36> Cotton cloth has been found in the ruins on the Salado River.

"At the time of the Spanish conquests the Pueblo Indians along the Rio Grande used cotton mantles."<37>

As we have devoted considerable time to the pottery of the Mound Builders, we must see how it compares with the pottery of this region.

Fragments of pottery are very numerous all over the field of ruins. All explorers mention their abundance. Mr. Holmes on one occasion counted the pieces of pottery that by their shape evidently belonged to different vessels that he found in an area ten feet square. They numbered fifty-five, and we are led to believe they were not more numerous here than in other localities.

We recall that the ornamentations on the vessels of clay made by Mound Builders were either incised lines or indentations on the surface of the vessels. And, still further, the clay vessels themselves were frequently molded in the shape of animals or heads of animals. In this plate we have fragments of indented and corrugated ware, from the San Juan valley. This ware is only found under such circ.u.mstances indented and that we are justified in considering it very ancient. The ware made at the time of the conquest was always painted.

Ill.u.s.tration of Indented and Corrugated Ware.--------

At Zuni and some of the other pueblos, at the present day, they make vessels in the form of various animals and other natural objects. This is, however, a recent thing. Only one vessel is known that was found under such circ.u.mstances that we are justified in thinking it very old.

That was molded into a shape resembling some kind of an animal. This was found on the Rio Gila, in New Mexico; and even that has some peculiarities about it that renders its age uncertain. Mr. Bandelier says: "No vessel of ancient date, of human or animal shape, has ever been found." This is a most important point for us to consider, when we recall how numerous were animal-shaped vessels among the Mound Builders.

Ill.u.s.tration of Painted Pueblo Pottery.---------

In this plate we have specimens of the ordinary painted ware from the ancient ruins. The most of these are restorations, but so many fragments have been obtained of each vessel that we have no doubt of the accuracy of the drawings. They decorated their pottery by painting. Even in many cases where they were further ornamented by indentations they still painted it, showing that painting was regarded as of the most importance. We notice that the ornamentation consists almost entirely of geometrical figures, parallel lines, and scrolls. Over the entire field of ruins the body of the vessels is of one of two colors; it is either white or red. The color employed to produce the ornamentation is black. There is almost no exception to this rule, though sometimes the ornamentation is of a brownish color with a metallic l.u.s.ter. Along the Rio Grande and the Gila some changes are noticed. The ornamentation is not strictly confined to two colors. Symbolical representations of clouds, whirlwind, and lightning are noticed. The red ware has disappeared, and a chocolate-colored ground takes its place.

All have noticed the superiority of the ancient pottery over that of the present tribes. Says Prof. Putnam. "A comparison of this ancient pottery with that made by the present inhabitants of the pueblos shows that a great deterioration has taken place in native American art, a rule which I think can be applied to all the more advanced tribes of America. The remarkable hardness of all the fragments of colored pottery which have been obtained from the vicinity of the old ruins in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, and also of the pottery of the same character found in the ruins of adobe houses, and in caves in Utah, shows that the ancient people understood the art of baking earthenware far better than their probable descendants now living in the pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona."<38>

We have learned that the remnant of an aboriginal people, now living in the inhabited pueblos of the West, present us, in their primitive usage, with the fading outlines of a culture once widespread in the section of country we have examined. Many of the early sedentary tribes have vanished completely. Traditions state that other tribes have moved southward into regions unknown. "The picture which can be dimly traced to-day of this past is a very modest and unpretending one. No great cataclysms of nature, no wave of destruction on a large scale, either natural or human, appear to have interrupted the slow and tedious development of the people before the Spaniards came. One portion rose while another fell, sedentary tribes disappeared or moved off, and wild tribes roamed over the ruins of their former abode." At present but a few pueblos are left to show us what the people once were. But the fate of the Pueblo of Pecos hangs over them all. The rising tide of American civilization is rapidly surrounding them. Before many decades, possibly centuries, the present Pueblo tribes will yield to their fate. They, too, will be numbered among the vanished races of men.

REFERENCES

(1) The ma.n.u.script of this chapter was submitted to Mr. Ad. F.

Bandelier, of Highland, Illinois. As agent for the Archaeological Inst.i.tute of America, he spent three years in explorations in the Pueblo country.

(2) See an excellent historical account by Bandeliers: "Papers of the Archaeological Inst.i.tute of America." American series No. 1.

(3) The term "City of Zuni" is scarcely correct; it should be Pueblo of Zuni.

(4) Pacific Railroad Report; Whipple, Vol. III., pp. 67 and 68.

(5) "Archaeological Inst.i.tute of America," Fifth An. Rep., pp.

55 and 56.

(6) Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. I., p. 534.

(7) His guide.

(8) The ruins on the top were, however, built after 1680, when the inhabitants of Flavona, the Spanish "Alvona," fled to the top of the mesa to escape the forays of the Navajos. The ruins were abandoned before 1705. Zuni is partly built on the ruins of Flavona, which is still its aboriginal name. (Bandelier.) (9) Pacific Railroad Reports, Whipple, Vol. III., p. 69.

(10) Pacific Railroad Reports, Whipple, Vol. III., p. 65.

(11) "Simpson's Report," p. 124.

(12) Dr. Loew, in "U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian," Vol. VII, p. 343.

(13) "Fifth An. Rep. Archaeological Inst. of America," p. 61.

(14) Bandelier's "Papers of the Archaeological Inst." p. 46.

(15) These facts are drawn from Mr. Bandelier's article already referred to.

(16) "Colorado River of the West," p. 119, _et seq._ (17) U.S. Survey, Hayden, 1876, p. 390.

(18) Bandelier, "Fifth Annual Report Archaeological Inst. of America," pp. 62, 68, and 65.

(19) "Contributions to North American Ethnology," Vol. IV, p.

172, _et seq._ (20) Holmes.

(21) U.S. Survey, Hayden, 1876, p. 419.

(22) Rendered by Ingersoll, in _N.Y. Tribune,_ Nov. 3, 1874.

(23) Bandelier, in Fifth Ann. Rep., Arch. Inst., p 79.

(24) U.S. Survey West of 100th M., Vol. VII, p. 358.

(25) "First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology," p. 74.

(26) "Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.," pp. 42, 78.

(27) Morgan: "Contribution to N. A. Ethnology," Vol. IV, p. 163.

(28) "Smithsonian Report," 1863, p. 313.

(29) Whipple, Pacific R. R. Report, Vol. III.

(30) Wherever reference is made to Mr. Bandelier's discoveries, it is taken from the oft-quoted Fifth Annual Report, Archaeological Inst.i.tute.

(31) Whipple, Pacific R. R. Reports, Vol. III., p. 14.

(32) Bartlett's "Personal Narrative."

(33) Carr's "Mounds of the Mississippi Valley."

(34) Morgan's "House and House Life," p. 218.

(35) Fifth Annual Report, p. 84.

(36) "Contributions to N. A. Ethnology," Vol. IV., p. 192.

(37) Bandelier's "Fifth Annual Report Arch. Inst.," p. 76.

(38) U.S. Survey West of 100th Meridian, Vol. VII., p. 381.

Chapter XII

THE PREHISTORIC AMERICANS.<1>

Different views on this subject--Modern system of government--Ancient system of government--Tribal government universal in North America--The Indians not wandering Nomads--Indian houses communal in character--Indian methods of defense--Mandan villages--Indians sometimes erected mounds--Probable government of the Mound Builders--Traditions of the Mound Builders among the Iroquois--Among the Delawares--Probable fate of the Mound Builders--The Natchez Indians possibly a remnant of the Mound Builders--Their early traditions--Lines of resemblance between the Pueblo tribe and the Mound Builders--The origin of the Indians--America inhabited by Indians from a very early time--Cla.s.sification of the Indian tribes--Antiquity of the Mound Builders' works.

The attempts to explain the origin of the numerous tribes found in possession of America at the time of its discovery by Europeans have been many and various. There are so many difficulties attending the solution of this problem that even at this day no theory has received that full a.s.sent from the scientific world deemed necessary for its establishment as an ascertained fact. New interest has been thrown around this question by the discoveries of late years. In our south-western territories we have clearly established the former wide extension of the village Indians, remnants of which are still to be found in the inhabited pueblos; and, as we have seen, the wide expanse of fertile soil, known as the Mississippi Valley, has undoubtedly been the home of tribes who are generally supposed to have attained a much higher stage of culture than that of the Indians--at least, of such culture as we are accustomed to ascribe, whether justly or not, to Indian tribes. It becomes an interesting question, therefore, to determine what connection, if any, existed between the Mound Builders and the Indian tribes on the one hand, and the Pueblo tribes on the other.

As to the works of the Mound Builders, one cla.s.s of critical scholars think they see in them the memorials of a vanished race, and point out many details of construction, such as peculiarities in form, in size, and position, which they think conclusively prove that the works in question could only have been produced by races or tribes far more advanced in culture than any Indians. This belief finds expression by a well-known writer in the following words: "A broad chasm is to be spanned before we can link the Mound Builders to the North American Indians. They were essentially different in their form of government, their habits, and their daily pursuits." This is substantially the opinion of a great many writers on this subject.<2>

But this conclusion has not been allowed to pa.s.s unchallenged. We have on record the convictions of a few careful investigators that there is no necessity for supposing that only an extinct or vanished race could have built the mounds and thrown up the embankments which we observe in the valley of the Ohio and elsewhere; that there is nothing, in fact, either in the construction of the mounds themselves or in the remains of art found in them, which we may not with safety ascribe to the ancestors of our present Indians.<3> It will be seen that we may, indeed, be at a loss to know what conclusion to adopt; hence, as an aid to us in this direction, it may be well to inquire into the organization of Indian tribes and their customs and manners at the time of their discovery.

It is not necessary to sketch their history, as this has been done many times. Moreover, it is but a dreary recital of the gradual encroachment of the Whites on the lands of the Indians, the vain endeavors of the latter to repress them, and a record of many cruel acts of savage warfare, burning villages, midnight ma.s.sacre, and scenes of terrible sufferings. The uniform result was that the Indian tribes were steadily driven away from their ancient homes, until we now find them but a sorry remnant on scattered reservations or grouped together in the Indian Territory. Their ancient inst.i.tutions are nearly broken down, and it is with difficulty that we can gain an understanding of their early condition; and yet this seems to be necessary before we are prepared to decide on the origin of the mound-building people.

It seems necessary here to briefly describe the two great plans or systems of government, under one or the other of which mankind, as far as we know them, have always been organized, though, theoretically, there must have been a time, in the very infancy of the race, when there was either no government or something different from either of them. At the present day, in all civilized countries, government is founded upon territory and upon property. A person is described as living in such a township, county, and state.<4> This seems to be a very simple and natural division, but, like every thing else, it is the result of growth--of a development. It took nearly three centuries of civilization and a succession of able men, each improving on what the other had done, to fully develop this system among the Greeks.<5> This is the basis of the modern form of government. Whenever it was organized, it marked the termination of ancient government. The other plan of government is founded on personal relations.