Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1874 — A Newly-Discovered Nation. [ARTICLE]

A Newly-Discovered Nation.

The campaign of Gen. Crook against , the Apaches last year opened to research a tract of land 200 miles square, which is rich in relics of our country’s unknown past. It contains a chain of ancient cities in ruins and a eojterie of ancient towns still inhabited by a ,race which holds itself aloof from Indian and Mexican and American, prides itself on its descent from the ancient inhabitants of the country, and maintains a religion and a government both of which are peculiar to itself. We are indebted to Capt. W. C. Manning, of the regular army, for the facts in our possession concerning this newly-discovered race. Capt. Manning, who was with Gen. Crook during the whole campaign, and was recommended for promotion'My the latter on account of gallantry in the field, explored in the intervals of fighting. He visited the inhabited towns, talked with their rulers, akid informed himself concerning their-customs. The largest settlement is in New Mexico, about thirty miles south of the bor-der-line. It is a type of the rest. A strong wall surrounds it. Within are houses for about 4,000 people. The population has dwindled, however, to about 1,800. The place was mentioned bv a .Spanish Jesuit who published, in 1529, a description of his wanderings in America. About 1535 another Jesuit wrote a minute account of it. This 1 account is

true in nearly e-Uery detail to day. The language resembles the Chinese. So an ardent arclucologist who visited the city a year ago says. Some of the minor correspond to those of the Chinese. The women are of the true Celestial t type —almond eyes, protuberant bodies, little feet, etc. They dress theii hair and themselves in Chinese fashion. Their religion is barbarously magnificent. Montezuma is their deity. His coming is looked for at sunrise each day. Immortality is part of their creed. The priests have heavily-embroided robes which have been used for unnumbered years. The ceremonies of worship are formal and pompous. The morality of this strange people, as far at least as foreigners are concerned, is irreproachable. It is probable that they keep a record oi events by means of tying peculiar knots in long cords. This, if true, seems to establish some kinship* or remote acquaintanceship between them and the Aztecs. Their government is a conservative republic. Power is vested in a council of thirteen caciques. Six of them are selected for life. Old men are generally chosen, in order that their terms of office may not be inordinately long. The remaining seven are elected from time to time. One of them is the Another is a sort of VicePresident. T here is a War-Chief, a Chief iof Police, etc. These seven caciques arc | usually young men. They serve but a few months. Suffrage is universal. It is scarcely necessary to supplement these facts with the statement that these dwellersin towns are quite far advanced in civilization. On this point, one fact speaks volumes. 'Woman is not a Vast of burden among them, as she is with all Indian tribes. She is held in high respect. Her tasks are confined tc those of housekeeping. 'I lie written records which we have mentioned show that this isolated community lias maintained its traditions unbroken for at least three-and-a-half centuries. Its history, carefully studied, may prove a clew to the problem of the aboriginal Americans. The mound-build-ers of the North and the city-builders of tlie South may be represented in the town-dwellers of New Mexico and Arizona.—Chicago Tribune.