Peublo Indian tribe of North America. Joliet engraving c1860.

by Auguste Joliet/Emmanuel Domenech

Antique print of American Indian nation, Peublo Indian c1860.

900 miles north of Mexico, there was a collection of Indian tribes at the time of the conquest by Hernán Cortéz. Less advanced than that of the ancient Mexicans, they were still very superior to that of all the other tribes of North America. Most Pueblo Indians live in New Mexico, in well-built towns. They cultivated and irrigated maize, beans, and pumpkins which were of tropical origin which indicated that they came from the south. Pueblo Indians were distinguished by their peaceable disposition, their acknowledged honesty, the purity of their morals, and their sobriety. They showed foresight and wisdom in laying up more provisions than required, to provide against the eventualities of bad seasons or years of famine. They remember Montezuma as their first legislator; a kind of prophet-king who endowed them with the first elements of civilization. Their religion was a mix of catholic rites and recollections of their former paganism.

Small original wood engraving by Auguste Joliet (fl. 1861-1878), colour-printed on white background with tinted margin, for Seven years' residence in the great deserts of North America by Apostolical Missionary, Canon of Montpellier (Barbados), member of the Pontifical Academy Tiberina, and of the Geographical and Ethnographical Societies of France, &c., the abbé Emmanuel Domenech (1826-1903). Published by Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts in 1860.

Image approx. 18.5 x 12.5 cm (7 3/8 x 4 7/8 inches). Page 22 x 14 cm (8 3/4 x 5 1/2  inches)