about the same date, there is a long account of the early explorations, the old missions, and of the Indians then in Pimeria Alta, who were estimated at 75,000. In 1694 the Padre Eusebius Francis Kino, accompanied by Padre Mange, (who wrote an attractive history of the expedition) visited the Gila river, entering from Sonora by the Santa Cruz valley, passing by the Santa Rita mountain, and by the sites of the present towns of Tubac and Tucson, visiting the Pima Indians, and thoroughly examining and exploring for the first time the Casa Grande ruins; a most interesting account of which his secretary, Father Mange, has preserved to us. The Pima traditions extended back nearly four centuries, and it was then a ruin. Father Mange's description shows the ruins to have been in a remarkable state of preservation, and to have been quite extensive. Ruins of dwellings, acequias, etc., were found for many miles along the Gila. Mention is made in this narrative of the CocoMaricopas, as having their homes on the Salt and Gila rivers, but not with the Pimas. The reverend explorers passed down the Gila to its junction with the Colorado. Father Kino made five journeys in all to the region named, between 1694 and 1706, a period of twelve years. Two missions were established by him, one at the mouth of the Colorado among the Cocopahs, and the other at the mouth of the Gila, or opposite thereto, for the benefit of the Yumas. This last mission was in existence for nearly a century, though not supplied. In 1720 the missions were prosperous and flourishing, and in Sonora, including what is now Arizona, there were twenty-nine, with seventy-three pueblos or villages, in charge of the Jesuits. In Arizona proper there were, besides that of Tubac, the missions of San Xavier del Bac, Joseph de Tumacacori, San Miguel Sonoita, Guavavi, Calabasas, Arivaca, and Santa Ana. There was an outbreak of Indians in 1751, who destroyed some of these churches and killed most of the priests. In 1769 the Marquis de Croix, Viceroy of Mexico, sent to the Superior of Santa Cruz in Europe, and had fourteen priests sent out to the new world to fill the places of those killed by the Indians in this outbreak, one of whom afterwards founded the mission church of San Augustine at Tucson. The first mission church of San Xavier del Bac was founded at a very early date, now unknown; and on its ruins was commenced, in 1768, the present church building, the only one of the old missions still in use. Since 1720 to date forty-seven priests of the Jesuit and Franciscan orders have been stationed in Arizona, of whom more than one-half have been murdered by the Indians or died from FONT, GARCIA, ESCALANTE, AND DOMINGUEZ. 393 privation and suffering. In 1776, when a new era of missionary activity began, Fathers Pedro, Garcia and Elrarch arrived and replenished the mission; Father Garcia was killed soon after by the Yumas, and the mission edifice was finally abandoned. A part of the materials were used by Major Heintzelman in the construction of Fort Yuma in 1851. The next missionary explorer, (and the priests seem to have been the only adventurers of the day) is mentioned by Schoolcraft as a Jesuit Father who visited the Gila and the Casa Grande ruins in 1764. No name is given. Spanish records speak of Father Jacobi Sedalman, a German Jesuit, who made such a visit. Different dates are given for Father Jacobi's travels, one being 1744 and another 1774. Probably Schoolcraft's reference is to this priest. Whatever was the year of his journey, he evidently explored a large area, going as far north as the Rio Verde, in the neighborhood of the present United States camp or post of that name. He wrote at length of the ruins found in that latitude. The next travelers of whom mention is made are Fathers Pedro Font and Francisco Garcia, who made a careful exploration of the Gila from the vicinity of Florence westward. Spanish rule was then established as far north as Tucson, which under the name of Tulquson had been a small presidio and trading post for several generations. Padre Font prepared a narrative and map, which is still valuable. The missionaries left central Mexico on the 20th of April, 1773, and reached the Colorado the next spring. They gave a minute account of the Casa Grande, and of the Indians they met. Two towns were found on the present Pima reservation, called Uturituc and Sutaguison, one containing 1,000 and the other 5,000 inhabitants. Two other villages were found, one-Opas-being fifty miles to the west, and the other occupied by Maricopas, thirtyfive miles below the Pimas. The only other exploration of importance was that of Padre Sylvester Velez Escalante, accompanied by Francisco Atanaco Dominguez. They were both Franciscans. This order divides with the Jesuits the honors of missionary explorations in this region. Escalante was the first Spaniard to visit the Moqui towns since Coronado's visit and defeat. It is from the narratives of Fathers Font and Dominguez that Humboldt derived his knowledge of the old Arizona ruins and of the traditions given in relation to the Aztecs having lived in latitude 35 to 37 deg., during the thirteenth century. From the manuscript of the Abbe Dominguez, as well as from that of Font, it appears that Father Escalante's party began their journey on July 29th, 1776, and ended it in January, 1777. They started from Santa Fe, traveling northwest, intending to reach Monterey, California. The extreme northern point of their journey skirted the Uintah mountains, in Utah, then bending south again very near the outlet of Salt Lake. From thence they travelled nearly south-by-west, until they reached a point one degree from the great Colorado Cañon. Their extreme northern point was in latitude north 41 deg., and longitude 112 deg. The extreme western point reached was at longitude 114 deg., and latitude 37 deg. The extreme southerly point touched was at El Moro, New Mexico, on the 35th degree, and 108 deg. latitude. This comprised a journey of at least 1400 miles. Of this about 360 miles were within the present boundaries of Arizona. Another journey was made at the same time by Padres Font and Garcia in 1777, who travelled from San Gabriel, California, to Oraybe, one of the Moqui villages, and thence to the Rio Mojave. Regular communication was had, according to Gen. J. H. Simpson, as THE MOQUI MISSION. 395 early as 1716 between Santa Fé and San Gabriel, via the Colorado plateau and Moqui villages, termed the province of Tusayan, a name which has lately been revived by Major Powell. At about latitude (October and November, 1776) 36 deg. 20 min., Escalante received confused information about the Colorado. He got near the Great Cañon at last, searched for a ford, and finally crossed, November 8th, in or about latitude 37 deg. and between longitude 111 deg. and 112 deg. west of Greenwich. The party lived on their horses. They found good trails, however, on the high table lands all the way to the Moqui. From thence they went to Zuni, where there was a Mission, which they reached January 2nd, 1777. Escalante found the Moqui opposed to Christianity. They had partially accepted it and then apostatized. He interviewed their chiefs or caciques at length, but they would not accept either it or Spanish rule. The Moqui were kind, but did not like his visit or that of Father Garcia. This journey seems to have ended the work of missionary exploration. The labors of the reverend Padres were confined in Arizona to the Santa Cruz valley, that of the San Pedro and the vicinity. The section was first traversed in 1683. In 1776, at the date of American Independence, forty missions were in existence within the Gadsden purchase, some eighteen being within the confines of Arizona itself. The work of the missionaries is still seen in the industry, fidelity and chastity of the Papago Indians, and in a less degree testified to by the Pimas. Elsewhere ample tribute has been paid their zeal, and no more remains to be added, except to say that the narratives left by them of travels and observations are not only quaint and attractive, but illustrate forcibly how pursuit of one object can warp judgment and pervert reports. CHAPTER XVIII. THE ANCIENT PEOPLE OF ARIZONA. WHO WERE THE ANCIENT PEOPLE; TOLTEC OR AZTEC. DIFFERENT THEO. CLOSED HOUSES; COMMUNAL DWELLINGS. No more interesting pursuit can be found by any one desirous of uniting study and activity, provided other qualifications of education, experience and readiness justify application, than a field examination of the very remarkable ruins which are found in the Territory of Arizona, the valleys of the Rio Grande, Chelly, Zuni, and a few other small streams in the northwestern portions of New Mexico; in the San Juan valley, that of the Rio Animas and their vicinity in south-western Colorado; along the cañon region of the Colorado river, and in the extreme northern portion of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Mr. Bancroft, the historian of the "Native Races of the Pacific Coast," estimates the area sparsely covered by the remarkable ruins to which reference is made, as having a base of 400 miles and a perpendicular of 300, the first being located along the Gila river on the 33rd, while the 38th parallel forms the northern line. The east and west lines are located on longitudinal degrees of 107 and 113° 40′ west. In order to embrace all the ruins known as related to each other, the southern Dase must be pushed south to very nearly the 31st parallel of latitude, and thereby include the ruins of Chihuahua. The origin of these remarkable evidences of a marked, if not far advanced, industrial civilization is, so far as present research extends, lost to us. Nothing has been found, as yet, of sufficient distinctiveness to enable the most intelligent of students and observers to more than speculate or form an ingenious hypothesis. So far, enquirers and observers, with a few exceptions, have contented themselves by dismissing the subject with the suggestion that the ruins of Arizona are the work of the Aztecs, who were found by Cortez and his compatriots the |