FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE OF VILLAGRÁ’S RHYMED HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO 70 THE FORTRESS HOUSE OF ÁCOMA 78 ÁCOMA, LOOKING NORTHWARD 88 EL MORRO, OR INSCRIPTION ROCK 118 INSCRIPTION OF DE VARGAS ON EL MORRO 118 A NAVAJO HOGAN 136 THE PUEBLO OVEN 140 ON THE OLD TRAIL TO ZUÑI 160 THE CLIFFS OF ÁCOMA; KATZÍMO IN THE DISTANCE 166 ASCENT OF THE GREAT CLEFT OF KATZÍMO, 1897 172 THE ILLIMITABLE DESERT 176 THE INHERITED DANCE COSTUME 250 ÁCOMA ON FEAST-DAY OF ST. STEPHEN, SEPTEMBER 2 256 PROCESSION OF THE DANCERS, ÁCOMA 260 ÁCOMA GIRL RETURNING FROM THE RESERVOIR 272 THE GUARDIAN CLIFFS OF ÁCOMA 284 MAP FROM NORDENSKIÖLD’S CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE MESA VERDE (_End-papers_) ÁCOMA, THE SKY CITY Chapter I MESA LAND _The vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended_ _And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars._ The first effect of the desert upon any human being must be one of surprise—surprise at the contrast between the preconceived idea which the word suggests and its variety of beauty—a beauty which becomes for many an irresistible fascination, a magnet that allures and brings its lovers back again and again. The simplicity of great spaces and great masses is one of the supreme influences of life. Together with limitless vistas of possibility, there is in them a serenity that brings calm and meditative repose. However far the eye is carried in the desert of the Southwest, one is never wearied by monotony. Everywhere the undulating sands, hardly held in place by scanty vegetation when the winds blow their wildest, are driven into long rippling waves, or into hillocks, by the Spaniards called _lomas_. Even while you watch, this shifting, drifting sand takes on many hues. Sometimes it is grey, or pale buff, or almost white, more rarely golden. Out of it grows, here and there, the pungent greasewood, the stunted cedar and the thorny, freakish cacti unfurling gay flags of color to catch the wandering bee.