The Indians of the Terraced Houses

ome three hundred and fifty feet out of the midst of a sandy solitude of plain. Beyond the plain and encircling it is a rim of mountains, touched morning and evening with the mysterious colours of the desert; and if there is a world beyond the mountains, it is not evident to Acoma. To reach this village of the upper air, one leaves the train at Laguna, where also is an Indian pueblo. Close by are a few homes of white people with whom arrangements can be made for transporta- ' Pronounced Ah'co-ma. tion to Acoma, which lies fifteen miles to the south. Most tourists who take the trip are, after the manner of their kind, in haste about getting home, and pare the time down to one day; but a week is none too much to devote to the sights of this miniature wonderland?which has been described as "the Garden of the Gods multiplied by ten plus a human interest"?and to experience the spirit of its simple life and its primitive people. There is, however, no accommodation available except that offered by Indian homes, and, as few travellers care for that sort of adventure, it is advisable for intending sojourners to take their own blankets and provisions, and if it be in the season when rain is likely, a tent. The road from Laguna is through a characteristic northern New Mexico landscape, dotted with piflon and cedar and black lava blocks, around and among which, in summer, an ocean of sunflowers flows and ebbs; and near and far rise red and purple mountains f...