Note XI-8 — Chapter XI · ANTIQUITIES OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO.

Padre Garcés says, 'on this river is situated the house which they call Moctezuma's, and many other ruins of other edifices with very many fragments of pottery both painted and plain. From what I afterwards saw of the Moqui, I have formed a very different idea from that which I before entertained respecting these buildings,' referring to Padre Font for more details. Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 242. Font's account is substantially as follows:—'We carefully examined this edifice and its ruins; the echnographical plan of which I here lay down [The plan does not accompany the translation, but I have the same plan in another MS. which I shall presently mention] and the better to understand it I give the following description and explanation. [Here follows an account of the building of the Casa by the Aztecs when the Devil led them through these regions on their way to Anáhuac]. The site on which this house is built is flat on all sides and at the distance of about one league from the river Gila, and the ruins of the houses which composed the town extend more than a league towards the East and the Cardinal points; and all this land is partially covered with pieces of pots, jugs, plates, &c., some common and others painted of different colours, white, blue, red,' &c., very different from the work of the Pimas. A careful measurement made with a lance showed that 'the house forms an oblong square, facing exactly the four Cardinal points ... and round about it there are ruins indicating a fence or wall which surrounded the house and other buildings, particularly in the corners, where it appears that there has been some edifice like an interior castle or watch-tower, for in the angle which faces towards the S.W. there stands a ruin with its divisions and an upper story. The exterior place [plaza] extends from N. to S. 420 feet and from E. to W. 260 feet. The interior of the house consists of five halls, the three middle ones being of one size and the two extreme ones longer.' The three middle ones are 26 by 10 feet, and the others 38 by 12 feet, and all 11 feet high. The inner doors are of equal size, two by five feet, the outer ones being of double width. The inner walls are four feet thick and well plastered, and the outer walls six feet thick. The house is 70 by 50 feet, the walls sloping somewhat on the outside. 'Before the Eastern doorway, separate from the house there is another building,' 26 by 18 feet, 'without counting the thickness of the walls. The timber, it appears, was of pine, and the nearest mountain bearing pine is at the distance of 25 leagues; it likewise bears some mezquite. All the building is of earth, and according to appearances the walls are built in boxes [moldes] of different sizes. A trench leads from the river at a great distance, by which the town was supplied with water; it is now nearly buried up. Finally, it is perceptible that the Edifice had three stories, and if it be true what the Indians say it had 4, the last being a kind of subterranean vault. For the purpose of giving light to the rooms, nothing is seen but the doors and some round holes in the middle of the walls which face to the East and West, and the Indians said that the Prince whom they call the "bitter man" used to salute the sun through these holes (which are pretty large) at its rising and setting. No signs of stairs remain, and we therefore suppose that they must have been of wood, and that they were destroyed when the building was burnt by the Apaches.' Font's Journal, MS., pp. 8-10; also quoted in Bartlett's Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 278-80; also French translation in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 383-6.