[Illustration: THE SUMMIT OF A MESA.]

[Illustration: THE MESA ENCANTADA.]

As times became more peaceful, the Pueblos located their villages
upon the plains, and one of these, called Laguna, is now a station
of the Santa Fé railway. But a mere glance at this, in passing, was
far too brief and unsatisfactory for our purpose, aside from the fact
that its proximity to the railroad had, naturally, robbed the
settlement of much of its distinctive character. We therefore
resolved to leave our train, and go directly into the interior, to
visit a most interesting and typical _pueblo,_ known as Ácoma.
Arriving at the station nearest to it, early in the morning, we found
a wagon and four horses waiting to receive us, and quickly started
for our destination over a natural road across the almost level
prairie. At the expiration of about two hours we saw before us, at a
distance of three miles, a _mesa_ of such perfect symmetry and
brilliant pinkish color, that it called forth a unanimous expression
of enthusiasm. Although the form of this "noblest single rock in
America" changes as one beholds it from different points of view, the
shape which it presented, as we approached it, was circular; and
this, together with its uniform height and perpendicular walls,
reminded me of the tomb of Cæcilia Metella on the Appian Way,
magnified into majesty, as in a mirage. It was with added interest,
therefore, that we learned that this was the Enchanted Mesa, about
which there had been recently considerable scientific controversy.
Enchanting, if not enchanted, it certainly appeared that morning,
and, as we drew nearer, its imposing mass continued to suggest old
Roman architecture, from Hadrian's Mausoleum by the Tiber to the huge
circle of the Colosseum.