The marvellous country, or, Three years in Arizona and New Mexico.: Containing an authentic history of this wonderful country and its ancient civilization ... together with a full and complete history of the Apache tribe of Indians .../ By Samuel Woodworth Cozzens. Illustrated by more than one hundred engravings.

CAUSES WHICH LED TO IT.
extent of country, from the Cafion de Chaco on the north,
to the Casas Grandes in Chihuahua, on the south, the
Abbe6 says: "These vast monuments of New Mexico and Arizona are
known to but few travellers; consequently, but few writers
have speculated about their origin. Certain it is that all the
pueblos of this wilderness are of an incontestable, homogeneous character; they are the work of a great people, of an
intelligent nation, whose civilization was far superior to
that of the actual tribes. But the question is, what became
of this vast population who have left the land covered with
such numerous and wonderful constructions?
"It is known that all agglomerations of men and families,
on settling in a new land, build their dwellings in wooded
parts, or near streams, in order to ensure these indispensable
elements. Many of this population were suddenly deprived
of wood and water.
"Perpetual droughts followed the clearing of the woods,
compelling the inhabitants of high plateaus to emigrate into
the plains; when rain failed, the wells and cisterns dried up,
and the horrors of thirst drove the people from their abodes.
Both rivers and their sources dried up. I have known a
multitude of rivers in both Texas and Arizona which have
ceased to flow; some for centuries, others only within a few
years, and the banks formerly gay with verdure, plants,
flowers, and trees, have now disappeared under heaps of sand,
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