g stones. Dressmakers and tailors still go a-begging among
the Pueblo people, and no attention whatever is paid to Parisian
dictators of fashion. The good Pueblo squaw cuts, fits, and sews all the
clothing for the family, which used to be composed mostly of leather.
Her husband's wardrobe consists now of a few multi-colored shirts, a
pair or two of leather pantaloons, with silver buttons, mocassins and a
shoulder blanket.

The head gear, if any be worn, as is often the case, is simply a large
colored handkerchief. Girls are usually dressed like the daughters of
Southern farmers, but they refuse to discard the bloomers, over which
the petticoats are worn a little below the knees. These leather
pantalettes are a necessity in a country where poisonous snakes and
insects abound in gardens and fields. To see a Pueblo girl at her best,
she must be surprised in animated gossip in a bevy of girl friends, or
when engaged in mirthful laughter while at work. Then the expressive,
deep black eyes sparkle and the white teeth offer a glittering contrast
to her fine black tresses, eyes and eyebrows. The Pueblo Indians are to
be congratulated on one fact especially, that they permitted their moral
improvement through the agency of the black-frocked missionaries and
school teachers who came from the East, but also that they are one of
the few tribes who resisted the conscienceless rascals who would wreck
their homes through "fire water" and gambling devices.

A large number of ancient many-storied, many chambered communal houses
are scattered over New Mexico, three of the most important of which are
Isletta, Laguna and Acoma. Isletta and Laguna are within a stone's throw
of the railroad, ten miles and sixty-six miles, respectively, beyond
Albuquerque, and Acoma is reached from either Laguna or Bubero by a
drive of a dozen miles. The aboriginal inhabitants of the pueblos, an
intelligent, complex, industrious and independent race, are anomalous
among North American natives. They are housed to-day in the self-same
structures in which their forefathers were discovered, and in three and
a half centuries of contact with Europeans their manner of life has not
materially changed.

The Indian tribes that roamed over mountain and plain have become wards
of the Government, debased and denuded of whatever dignity they once
possessed, ascribe what cause you will for their present condition. But
the Pueblo Indian has absolutely maintained the integr