A legend of Montezuma’s coming has been attributed to the Pueblos of New Mexico, but this is an error, for they knew nothing about Montezuma till the whites came into the country. There are a great many legends concerning the occupation of this or that place, and one of these, the legend of the former occupation of the _Mesa Encantada_, or, “Enchanted Mesa,” New Mexico, has recently caused a lively discussion between two distinguished ethnologists, as to whether some Puebloans did or did not once live on top of the mesa as related. Both succeeded in reaching the top. One found no evidence of any continued occupation of the mesa top; the other found what he accepted as sufficient evidence of the truth of the legend that Pueblos had once lived there and had been cut off from the world below and destroyed by a fearful storm. Large portions of the Maya chronicles relate the predictions of the astrologers, seers, or prophets, and after the habit of the class they foretold all manner of evil, but strangely enough they seem to have foretold the arrival of the Spaniards, for they said that white and bearded strangers would come and control the land and alter the prevailing religion. What was it that instilled them with this faith or fear? Was it coincidence, or was it what is now termed telepathy? Whatever it was, the terrible fulfilment came upon their race like a cyclone; and when one more century has passed away the Amerind race will be more truly even than now, the North-Americans of Yesterday.[362] [Illustration: GOD-HOUSES OF THE HUICHOLS AT TEAKÁTA, NEAR SANTA CATARINA, STATE OF JALISCO, MEXICO Photographed by Lumholtz ] [Illustration: ESKIMO MASK OF WOOD, PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, ALASKA] CHAPTER XV ORGANISATION AND GOVERNMENT Tribes often had a definite organisation and a regular government, and each held sway over a territory with fixed boundaries. When the limits were not placed at a river, lake, or mountain range they were marked by certain trees or stones, or other natural features along the trails. When at peace, those who entered another domain were considered visitors, and they were expected to be friendly with all friends of the occupants of the region. “Both the Kuchins and the Eskimos are very jealous,” says H. H. Bancroft, “regarding their boundaries.”[363] When I was once coming out of the Shevwits country, my Uinkarets guide exclaimed as we passed a certain bowlder near the trail, “Now we are out of the Shevwits land.” Beyond that point the Shevwits would not venture except in a friendly way, so long as they were friendly with the owners of the land. I rejoiced in this fact at the time because the Shevwits had not been entirely agreeable, and I was glad to pass the point where I was certain they would not bother us. We were now in the country of the Santa Clara tribe.