hammered out from seam to seam of the rocks along the side of the
precipice. At various points of the ascent, where a projecting rock
permitted, were barricades of stone walls, from which the old man<7>
told us they had hurled rocks upon the invading Spaniards. Having
ascended one thousand feet, we found ourselves upon a level surface,
covered with thick cedars.... The top of the mesa was of an irregular
figure, a mile in width, bounded upon all sides by perpendicular
bluffs.... The guide hurried us on half a mile further, where appeared
the ruins of a city, indeed. Crumbling walls, from two to twelve feet in
height, were crowded together in confused heaps, over several acres of
ground.... Upon examining the pueblo, we found the standing walls rested
upon ruins of greater antiquity.<8> The primitive masonry, as well as
we could judge, must have been about six feet thick. The more recent
was not more than a foot or a foot and a half, but the small sandstone
blocks had been laid in mud mortar with considerable care."<9>

The descriptions of ruins have so much that is similar that repetitions
become tiresome. We will not, therefore, delay much longer with Zuni.
A few miles east of Old Zuni we come to Pescado Springs, near which are
the ruins of several pueblos. "This spring bursts from a broken point of
the lava bed, and at once becomes a pretty stream, glittering with great
numbers of the finny tribe, which gives name to it. The circular wall
which once inclosed the fountainhead is now partly broken down. Upon
each side, and almost tangent, are ruins of pueblos so ancient that the
traditions of present races do not reach them. They are nearly circular
in form, and of equal dimension. One measured three hundred and fifteen
short paces, about eight hundred feet, in circumference. They were of
stone; but the walls have crumbled, leaving only a heap of rubbish."<10>

Following up this stream, other ruins were found. It seems, then, that
in the pueblo of Zuni we have left a pitiful remnant of a numerous
people. When the Spaniards first appeared on the scene they were
apparently prosperous. The rapid decrease of the Pueblo tribes was owing
to several causes. In 1680 they made an attempt to throw off the Spanish
yoke. At first this was successful. But inter-tribal warfare at once set
in. At this time also the inroads of the Apaches and Navajos became
so troublesome that the Pueblo tribes could not successfully cultivate
their la