illustration of communal living.
Not only did the Pecos Indians live together, and build their houses
together, but they raised their crops in one common field (though
divided into individual or rather family plots, according to Ruiz),
irrigated from one common water source which gathered its contents of
moisture from the inhabited surface of the pueblo grounds. "The lands,"
said Mariano Ruiz, "belong to the tribe, but each man can sell his own
crops." ("Las tierras son del pueblo, pero cada uno puede vender sus
cosechas.") It forcibly recalls the system of "distribution and tenure
of lands" among the ancient Mexicans.

I now cross the Arroyo de Pecos, and on its western bank, in the
triangle formed by the creek with the military road to Santa Fe, nearly
opposite the site of the old church, I met with a ruined enclosure and
with remains of structures whose purposes are yet unexplained to me.

The distance from _M_ to the arroyo is 40 m.--130 ft. Its E. line is 75
m.--246 ft.,--the S. line 70 m.--230 ft.,--the W., up to where the curve
begins, 55 m.--180 ft. The distance from _M_ to _N_ is 15 m.--50 ft. At
the north end of _N_ is a mound of stone and _debris_, like a conical
tower, 5 m.--16 ft.--in diameter; the other lines are distinct
foundations only. Both _M_ and _N_ are scattered over with broken
pottery, chips of obsidian and flint, and I also found a fragment of a
stone implement.

Mariano Ruiz told me that the enclosure _M_ was the corral of the
pueblo; that is, the enclosure where they kept whatever herds they
possessed. It was at all events but an enclosure, and no building.
Still, why were their herds, their most valuable property, kept on the
opposite side of the creek, so far from the dwellings themselves?

There are other ruins yet further south on the western bank of the
arroyo, which, however, I shall not mention here. They are so important
as to deserve special discussion in a later portion of this report. I
therefore cross the creek back again to its eastern shore, and thence to
the south side of the old church, proceeding thence southwards. From the
church a grassy slope, very gentle and with almost imperceptible
undulations, extends to the road which runs almost due W. and E. from
the creek towards the Rio Pecos. The distance is about 300 m.--1,000
ft.,--of which 74 m.--240 ft.--are taken up by the embankments, walls,
and foundation lines already described as pertaining to the church
building. Pl