Although the Indians have voluntarily accepted much of the Christian practice of religion, their ancient paganism has never been uprooted. A concrete illustration of their reluctance to accept the faith of their conquerors is found in an _Entrada of Moqui_ by Mariano Rodríguez de la Torre, 1755, entitled: A PECULIAR STORY CONCERNING MOQUI CONVERSION[100] I have told the series of events and will not omit one which happened in Ácoma, with an old Indian of another pueblo, who told me this:—The Moqui have set the time when they may be Christians, which will be when they have finished making a board upon which they put a mark each year. This board was started with a mark the year of the uprising [1680]. While it is not filled up with marks they will not submit. May the Holy Will of His Majesty be fulfilled. Amen. _Santa Domingo Mission. 11th July, 1770._ Chapter IX ÁCOMA AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Once only Indians lived in this land. Then came strangers from across the Great Water. No land had they. We gave them of our land. No food had they; we gave them of our corn. The strangers are become many and they fill all the country. They dig gold—from my mountains; they build houses—of the trees of my forests; they rear cities—of my stones and rocks; they make fine garments—from the hides and wool of animals that eat my grass. None of the things that make their riches did they bring with them from beyond the Great Water; all comes from my land, the land the Great Mystery gave unto the Indian.—It was meant by the Great Mystery that the Indian should give to all peoples. But the white man has never known the Indian.—HIAMOVI, CHIEF AMONG CHEYENNES AND DAKOTAS.[101] In 1863 seven of the pueblo governors went to Washington to see the Great Father and to settle with him the question as to the boundaries of their land grants, and very probably other Indian problems. After their conference, Lincoln presented each governor with a silver-headed cane, upon which was engraved as below, varying only as to the name of the pueblo: A. Lincoln Prst. U.S.A. Ácoma 1863. The cane is passed to each succeeding governor upon his election in January, and constitutes his badge of office. When he is absent it is given to the man who represents him. On our second visit to Ácoma in 1922 we saw it hanging on the wall of our host’s living-room, since the governor was temporarily away from the pueblo. In a sense, therefore, the government of the United States is represented in the election ceremony each year at seven of the New Mexico pueblos, of which I have learned the names of only four, besides Ácoma—Isleta, Tesuque, Taos, and Zuñi.