I passed Pecos on my way to Santa Fe. Mr. Eicholtz's party saw the ruins of Quarra and Abo, on their journey through Abo Pass, and left the Gran Quivera a few miles to the eastward; for these three pueblos lie within a radius of ten miles.

The ruins of Quarra consist, like those of Pecos, of a church, a large Aztec building, which was probably several stories high, although now a heap of stones and rubbish, and numerous foundations of smaller houses, probably of Spanish or Mexican origin. The church is built of red sandstone, in the form of a cross ; the length of nave and chancel is one hundred and forty feet, that of the transept is fifty; the widths respectively are thirty-three to eighteen feet; the walls are about two feet thick and sixty feet high.

At Abo there is also a ruined church, cruciform in shape, the ams being respectively 27 and 129 feet; it is built of small, beautifully cut stones, placed together with the utmost nicety. Other extensive ruins are scattered around it.

At Gran Quivera there are extensive ruins of Spanish buildings, having upon them the arms of different families; but there are other ruins undoubtedly of Indian origin, which fully carry out the statement of the historian Venegas and others, that this ancient pueblo was a large fortress, consisting of seven terraces, rising in steps one from the other. The remains of large aeequias are to be seen in the vicinity both of Gran Quivera and Quarra. So much for the ruins of the Rio Grande basin.

There are not, to my knowledge, any ruined pueblos as far north as the main valley of the Rio San Juan; but there are several upon the two most southern tributaries, the Rio de Chelly and the Canon de Chaco. The most remarkable are the pueblos Pintado, Una Vida, Wegegi, Hungo Pavie, and Bonito, all on the latter stream. Besides these there are five others in a more ruined state. The Pueblo Pintado has three stories, its whole elevation being about 30 feet. The walls are built of small flat slabs of grey fine-grained sandstone, two inches and a half thick, and are put together with much art and ingenuity by means of a kind of mortar made without lime. At a distance they have the appearance of mosaic work. The thickness of the outer wall of the first story is one yard at the base, diminishing at each successive story, until the top wall scarcely exceeds one foot. There are, as usual, no external openings in the ground-floor. The length of the edifice is 390 feet; the ground-floor contains fifty-three rooms, which open into each other by means of very small doors, in many instances only thirty-three inches square. The floors are made of rough beams, over which transverse cross beams are laid, and above all is a coating of bark and brushwood covered over with mortar. The wood appears to have been cut with some blunt instrument.

The ruins of Wegegi are similar to those of Pintado, being 690 feet in length, and having ninety-nine rooms on the ground-floor. The Pueblo Una Vida is no less than 984 feet long, and the Pueblo Bonito is still more extensive. The estufa of the latter is very large, and in a fair state of preservation. It is 180 feet in circumference; and the walls are regularly formed of alternate layers of small and large stones, held together with mortar.

Next article   Next article
Back to main page

adapted from A. W. Bell
"On the Native Races of New Mexico"
1869 (Journal of the Ethnological Society of London)