e turkey was the only domestic animal known to them. Hence, in
ancient American society there was no such thing as a pastoral stage
of development; and the absence of domestic animals from the western
hemisphere is a very important reason why the progress of mankind in
this part of the world was not more rapid. Still it is a remarkable
fact that the most ancient race, of which we have any actual
knowledge on this continent, is, also, the most peaceful,
self-supporting, and industrious, subsisting principally on the sale
of their curiously decorated pottery, and the products of their arid
soil. We saw here a young man who had been educated in the Government
School at Carlisle; but, like most of his race, after returning to
his village he had reverted to the ways of his ancestors,
disqualified by his birth and instincts of heredity from doing
anything else successfully.

[Illustration: MOQUI CART AND PLOW.]

[Illustration: MOQUI CHILDREN.]

It was late on the night succeeding our visit to Acoma that we
arrived at Flagstaff, and our entire party was asleep. Suddenly we
were aroused by a prolonged shout and the discharge of half a dozen
revolvers. Five minutes later there came a general fusillade of
pistol shots, and near and distant cries were heard, in which our
half-awakened faculties could distinguish only the words: "Hurry up!"
"Call the crowd!" "Down the alley!" Then a gruff voice yelled just
beneath my window: "Let her go," and instantly our locomotive gave a
whistle so piercing and continuous that all the occupants of our car
sprang from their couches, and met in a demoralized group of
multicolored pajamas in the corridor. What was it? Had the train been
held up? Were we attacked? No; both the whistle and the pistol shots
were merely Flagstaff's mode of giving an alarm of fire. We hastily
dressed and stepped out upon the platform. A block of buildings just
opposite the station was on fire, and was evidently doomed; yet
Flagstaff's citizens, whose forms, relieved against the lurid glow,
looked like Comanche Indians in a war dance, fought the flames with
stubborn fury. The sight of a successful conflagration always thrills
me, partly with horror, partly with delight. Three hundred feet away,
two buildings formed an ever-increasing pyramid of golden light. We
could distinguish the thin streams of water thrown by two puny
engines; but, in comparison with the great tongues of fire which they
strove to conquer, they a