"Pecos was situated twenty-five miles South of East from Santa Fé on a small tributary of the river of the same name. In the time of Vargas it contained a population of about fifteen hundred, but now is entirely in ruins. A few years ago the remnant of the Pecos Indians left their pueblo and joined the people of Jemez who speak the same language. There houses and lands were given them. Many curious tales are related of the superstitious customs of the Pueblos, among which is the following told of the Pecos Indians. It is said that Montezuma kindled a sacred fire in the eatufa of that pueblo and commanded that it should be kept burning until he came back to deliver them from the Spaniards. He was expected to appear with the rising sun, and every morning the Indians ascended to the house tops and strained their eyes looking to the East for the appearance of their deliverer and king. The task of watching the sacred fire was assigned to the warriors, who served, by turns, for a period of two days and two nights without eating or drinking, and some say that they remained upon duty until death or exhaustion relieved them. The remains of those who died from the effect of watching are said to have been carried to the den of a great serpent, which appears to have lived upon such delicacies. The tradition, that the sacred fire was kept burning until the village was abandoned, is generally believed by both Indians and Mexicans; but their great deliverer never came, and when the fire went out, from what cause is not known, the survivors of Pecos found new homes West of the Rio Grande."