which the corn or wheat is spread. The other is a hand stone of the size and shape of a rolling-pin, with which the women crush the corn and grain into flour or meal. There seems little doubt that the women will have their grain ground in the Government mill, and thus another of the picturesque Zuni institutions will give way to modern methods. This may be sad news to scientists, artists, and writers with whom the Zuni have been favorite subjects and topics, but it marks a decided advance toward civilization of these backward Indians.

The Blackrock storage reservoir, which has become one of the most important factors in the civilization of these Indians, has back of it 606 square miles of watershed. This is practically the Zuni Valley with its branches, of which the Nutrias Valley and Horsehead Canyon are the principal. Most of the reservoir supply comes from the Zuni, Nutrias, and Horsehead Valleys. The dam which was built by the Irrigation Division of the Indian Service is 870 feet long with a spillway 200 feet wide. The dam is of rugged construction and a fine piece of work, built of stone from a quarry near by. Its exposed portion stands 70 feet high, but it is 110 feet from the crest to the bottom of core wall. The reservoir covers 620 acres, and it had a supply of water, when I was there, sufficient to irrigate all of the land in the project for two years. The average elevation of the irrigable area is 6,300 feet and of the watershed 7,500 feet. The average annual rainfall on the watershed is 12 inches and on the irrigable area 8 inches, and the temperature ranges from 24° below zero to 100° above.

The total area of land under the Blackrock project is 7,120 acres, and 10 miles of main ditches and 30 of lateral ditches now irrigate 5,500 acres. This is one of the most successful of the irrigation projects in the Indian Service, and a comparatively small expenditure of money will put several thousand more acres of land under irrigation. The reservoir is menaced by silt deposited by the flood water, but the dam can be raised several feet, so there is little cause for apprehension that silt will fill up the reservoir for a number of years. The Indians are successful dry farmers and raise considerable corn outside of the irrigated area. The women have gardens on the bank of the Zuni River, in the pueblo of Zuni, which are miniatures of their husbands' irrigated farms, and an astonishingly large amount of garden truck is raised in these little patches.

In many ways the Zuni Indians have changed but little since the Spaniards under Francisco Coronado, in 1540, entered that country and forced the Indians to take refuge on Taaiyalone (Corn Mountain), which continues to be the center of old Zuni ceremonial and religious rites. This picturesque mountain stands near Blackrock. The land is divided among the Zuni by mutual agreement and communal consent. A family "owns" by right of selection, occupancy, and use, and this right passes within the tribe as if the lands were owned in fee simple. Houses have the same character of ownership. If the irrigated lands there are allotted, this system of holding property will complicate matters unless the allotment is made by some one who is quite familiar with the Zuni land matters. The Zuni government is hierarchical; four religious groups dominate the tribal government. The principal group is the Ashiwani, the rain priests, who nominate the governor and his four assistants and the lieutenant gov

140923°-INT 1919-VOL 2—20

ernor and his four assistants. The Ashiwani claim they have no part in civic affairs, but their influence is so strong they actually are the governors. Naturally the rain priests are reactionary and the Zuni will advance on the road to civilization more rapidly when the power of the rain priests weaken. The cane which President Lincoln gave to the governor of each of the pueblos in New Mexico is the staff of office of the governor of Zuni.

The greater part of the marriages within the tribe is tribal. Of 49 marriages last year 46 were tribal and 10 of the 12 divorces or separations were tribal. I was told that as far as morality is concerned the Zuni were moral according to their own standards. The tribe is somewhat off the beaten track of transcontinental travel and is not visited by many tourists, nor do the Zuni Indians come in contact with many white men. Their nearest neighbors are Mormons who live in the little village of Ramah, 25 miles east of Blackrock, just outside of the reservation.

There are two Christian Reformed Church missionaries at Zuni, and they conduct a very good day school and a Young Men's Christian Association room. There is but one church building, the Christian Reformed at Zuni, on the reservation. A Catholic missionary from Gallup visits these Indians occasionally. Years ago the Catholic fathers maintained a mission in the Zuni country; they were followed by the Presbyterians and then the Christian Reformed Church. I was told that the net result of all of these missionary efforts was two church members at present.

The tribe is divided into about 15 clans and a number of fraternities. Each clan and fraternity has dances, and in the late fall of the year a week is given over to the annual festival called the Shalako, which from all accounts is a much more pretentious and important celebration than the Hopi snake dance. For a time there seemed to be less dancing, but within recent years the dancing has increased, and I was told this was because some of the returned students became quite active in the clans and fraternities and revived. some of the dances. Supt. Bauman told me he did not think the dances interfered with the work of the Indians and that most of them attracted but little attention. The Shalako dance, however, brings to the pueblo a large number of spectators from outside. It is interesting to know that no Mexicans are permitted in the pueblo the first day of this dance.

The houses of these Indians are typical pueblo homes, built of adobe. Some of the houses have as many as eight rooms; most of them have windows. Sewing machines and beds are seen in many houses. Some of the homes of the richer Indians are rather expensively furnished, with the floors covered with Navajo and fur rugs. The women make pottery from the black clay which they get on Corn Mountain and on the mesas near Ojo Caliente and Pescado. They weave some blankets and dresses, but most of the rugs are Navajo and most of the short narrow skirts worn by Zuni women are made by the Hopi Indians.

The Zuni Indians seem to be in good health. There is some tuberculosis and trachoma, but the percentage of the Indians so afflicted is small. These Indians have a well-fed look. They eat beef, mutton, pork, chicken, corn, wheat, beans, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, and other garden truck. The old mission fathers years ago

planted peach trees on the slopes of Corn Mountain and when the peaches are ripe the whole tribe moves to the mountain to gather and dry the peaches, for the Zuni are strong on conservation of food products. They are adepts in drying squash, beans, and other products, and every family keeps a year's supply of corn on hand.

In

In 1917 approximately 73,000 acres were added to the Zuni Reservation by Executive order, increasing its area to 288,000 acres. this extension are a number of sections of railroad land. Negotiations for the exchange of these lands are pending, but the war checked the negotiations and it is highly desirable, now that the war is over, that the exchange of these railroad lands should be carried forward as rapidly as possible.

Respectfully submitted,

MALCOLM MCDOWELL,

Member, Board of Indian Commissioners.

Hon. GEORGE VAUX, Jr.,

Chairman, Board of Indian Commissioners.

APPENDIX P.

REPORT ON THE PUEBLO INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO, BY GEORGE VAUX, JR.

BRYN MAWR, PA.

June 28, 1919.

The BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

GENTLEMEN: In accordance with your request, made at the annual meeting of the board held in January last, that I should continue my investigations among the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico, I have the honor to report that I devoted nearly five weeks to this subject in April and May last, covering the period both before and after the sessions of the board held in New Mexico on April 16-18. My report, however, covers nothing with regard to Zuni, as I was not there, but is devoted entirely to the Pueblos under the jurisdiction of the superintendent at Albuquerque, N. Mex. Most happily Commissioner Ketcham was able so to arrange his plans as to accompany me in almost all the visiting that I did after the meeting of the board. I believe that the recommendations of this report are fully concurred in by him. At least at some of the points visited, where problems were very serious, there was great advantage in having two commissioners present.

In all there are 17 of these pueblos. Each of these comprises one recognized village, and, in addition, there are 2 dependent villages at Acoma, 6 at Laguna, and 1 at Isleta, and 1 at Santa Ana. I was at all of the main pueblos except Picuris and at all of the other villages except four. In addition I was at Pajuaque, which has been abandoned comparatively recently, most of the Indians having gone to live at Nambe.

At each of the pueblos that I visited, except San Felipe, there were conferences held to which the more important Indians were invited. At all of these the governors were present as well as the other officers and principales of the pueblos, and in addition a very considerable number of the leading men. We had full discussions of their needs,

and they made to us numerous representations concerning them. The prospects for the future were also discussed. In this report and the recommendations which I shall make, the results of these interviews are embodied. In all of these conferences we were most cordially received except at Santo Domingo, where there is a strong reactionary spirit and the Indians are absolutely unwilling to cooperate with the efforts of the Government to improve their conditions.

The pueblos are very much scattered. The most northern is Taos, which is about 150 miles in an air line north of Albuquerque, while Acoma, the one farthest to the southwest, is about 75 miles in that direction. Geographically the pueblos may be arranged according to their location in four main groups:

Northern:
Taos.

Picuris.

Central:

Tesuque.

Nambe.

Pajuaque (discontinued).

San Ildefonso.

Santa Clara.

San Juan.

South Central:

Jemez.

Sia.

Santa Ana.
Cochiti.

Santo Domingo.

San Felipe.
Sandia.

Southern:

Isleta.
Laguna.
Acoma.

The pueblos vary very much in size as well as in the advancement of the people and their desire to be progressive. They speak several different languages, although they come near to having a common tongue in the Spanish. About one-half of these Indians speak no English, although this condition is improving, and I thought I saw indications of advancement in the two years that had elapsed since I last visited some of them.

As a matter of administration, probably the outstanding feature which was the most noticeable was the absolute impracticability of a superintendent located at Albuquerque having charge of all of these different villages giving proper attention to them. It is impossible for any man, no matter how competent he is, to do justice to such a task-for one reason if for no other, that the distances to be covered are so great that no one can possibly visit the various localities with any degree of regularity. For example, to reach Taos and return is a three-day trip from Albuquerque, and an additional day is required if any time is to be allotted to the Indians there; while a visit to Picuris, which is adjacent to Taos, would require two days more. Taos is some 30 miles from the nearest point on the railroad, over not very good roads, and Picuris is much farther. Its inaccessibility is

shown by the fact that when I was at Taos the last week in April I could get no conveyance whatever to take me to Picuris because the roads were considered impassable owing to heavy rains and snow in the mountains which would have to be crossed in order to reach it. The average elevation of the Picuris grant is about 7,000 feet above sea level. Again, to reach Jemez and Sia, which are but 7 miles apart, requires a two-day trip by motor from Albuquerque. Nambe would require a day trip by motor from either Santa Fe or Espanola. After considering carefully these points, I would most strongly urge that this jurisdiction be divided and a new superintendency be created with headquarters at Espanola, to which should be attached the seven pueblos which I have classified above as the northern and central groups. San Juan, Santa Clara, and San Ildefonso are all within a very few miles of this point, while Nambe and Tesuque can easily be reached from there by motor and the railroad which runs from Santa Fe north continues through Espanola on to Taos Junction, the railroad point for both Taos and Picuris. A superintendent at this point would be conveniently located so as to be reached by all of these Indians, and it would be possible for him to give the personal supervision to them which they require and which is entirely out of the question when the superintendency headquarters are so very far removed as Albuquerque. To my mind Espanola is a more available point to locate such a superintendency than Santa Fe.

I have no sympathy with the idea that the duties of a superintendent are principally to sit in his office and make himself familiar with multitudinous and ever-changing regulations, but rather that he should be so situated that he can come in daily touch with the Indians who are under him, become personally acquainted with them and their problems, in order that he may advise them helpfully at every turn of their careers. This does not mean to baby them or belittle their own efforts, but it does mean that they shall have the advice and assistance which the Government has promised them and which in too many instances it is failing to give. In most cases this failure. does not arise from lack of capacity or willingness on the part of superintendents, but because their attention is required to be given so much to office affairs that the human side of the question must necessarily be entirely subordinated. No administration of Indian affairs can be a success which views the problems from the end of the office organization in Washington. That organization is essential, but is merely a means to an end, and Washington must view the problems through the eye-end of a telescope and not through the big end, or else Indian administration will be largely a failure. There are probably as many or more complex problems arising among the Pueblos as among any other of the Indians that we have. This is because of the great diversity that there is among them and their unique legal position arising from the variety of ways in which their lands are held-Spanish grants, purchases by the Indians themselves, Executive order reservations, and perhaps some othersbringing up a diversity of questions which require the utmost skill and patience in their adjustment. As before stated, it is impossible for any one man to do what ought to be done in the wide territory that is covered by all these different pueblos.