The New Student's Reference Work/Pueblos

Pueblos (pwĕb′lṓs) (Spanish pueblo, village), a semicivilized family of Indians in New Mexico and Arizona, dwelling in single habitations, which sometimes are large enough to contain a whole tribe. These buildings, which sometimes are five or six stories high and from 100 to 500 yards in length, are generally made of sun-dried brick; the ground-floor is always without doors or windows, entrance being effected by a ladder to the second story. Each family has a separate apartment, and there also are large rooms for general council chambers and for tribal dances. Under Roman Catholic missionaries the Pueblos are making steady progress in education and civilization, although they have grafted upon their Christianity many of their old pagan beliefs and customs, to which they cling. The cliff-dwellers doubtless were the ancestors of the Pueblos, ruins of their dwellings being seen in the canons of the Rio Mancos, Rio Plata and San Juan Rivers in southwestern Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. In these cliffs the strata of sandstone or limestone were separated by layers of soft clay which had worn away, leaving ledges of rock with caverns between. Upon these terraces are remains of clusters of dwellings, one ledge forming the floor and another the roof, the opening being faced so skillfully as to resemble the rock of the cliff. Some of these dwellings are now inaccessible. The marks of dangerous, doubling paths, hardly a foot wide, formerly used, can be seen on the cañon walls. San Juan cañon is shut in by walls of rock several thousand feet high, and one settlement is 1,000 feet above the Rio Mancos. Cliff villages or towns are found in the bottom-lands, with round stone towers near them, evidently used as watch towers.