xceptions occur in some of the inhabited pueblos.<13> This is only one
of many towns in ruins thereabouts. According to Dr. Loew there are no
less than twenty-five or thirty.

It is not our purpose to describe any more of the pueblos of this
section of New Mexico than is required to enable us to understand the
customs, manners, and habits of the Pueblo tribes. We learn that in
New Mexico we are brought face to face with feeble remnants of former
tribes, and that these were probably in their most flourishing condition
when the Spaniards first invaded the country, and though in a few
instances the ruins imply a great antiquity, as at Inscription Rock,
still we may be reasonably sure that the majority of them date but a
few centuries back. The ruins of Catholic churches established by the
Franciscan monks in the sixteenth century occur in several places, five
being found around Jemez.

The story of the decline of the Pueblo tribes may be illustrated by
the history of Pecos. This pueblo was situated on the Rio Pecos, about
twenty-five miles south-east of Santa Fe. With the exception of the
present inhabited town of Taos, it was the most eastern point reached
by the pueblo building tribes. This, though a very large pueblo, has
nothing especial to attract attention, except that the entire mesa was
inclosed by a stone wall about six feet and a half high, and twenty
inches thick, having a total length of three thousand, two hundred and
twenty feet.<14> Its history is, however, interesting and instructive.
Coronado, with his army, visited Pecos before he abandoned the country
in 1543. His reports mention it as a prosperous pueblo. Several raids
were made into New Mexico by Spanish parties, but the conquest proper
occurred in 1598, when the Pecos pledged fidelity to the crown of Spain.

The Catholic Church at once set about establishing missions at various
pueblos. The Pecos Church was established in 1629, though missionary
work had been done here before that time. One of the priests who
accompanied Coronado remained behind at Pecos. He was never afterwards
heard from. This church became one of the most renowned in New Mexico.
The inhabitants became herders as well as agriculturists. It was
prosperous. In 1680 the Pueblo of Pecos sheltered two thousand Indians.
"But a storm was brewing from whose effects the Pueblo tribes never
recovered." In 1680 the Indians rose against the Spanish and drove them
from New Mexico. The priests