44 ANIMAL LIFE OF CARLSBAD CAVERN 



fire stones, flint chips, bits of bone, and clam shells 

 uncovered among the sand dunes along the river banks, 

 can be accepted as evidence. 



The Mexican beaver and the Pecos muskrat found 

 in the Pecos and Black rivers doubtless furnished both 

 food and warm clothing, as may also have done to some 

 extent the raccoon, the ring-tail, the gray fox, the bob- 

 cat, the coyote, and three genera of skunks; so with 

 buffalo skins for moccasins and tepees, and with buck- 

 skin, antelope, and mountain sheep skins for general 

 clothing, there was no lack of dress material. 



Important as was the animal food to a primitive 

 people, the plant food was no less so. Of edible, un- 

 cultivated plants, few regions could be more bountiful. 

 First and foremost in inexhaustible abundance over 

 hundreds of square miles of rocky ridges grows to this 

 day the little mescal, the lechuguilla of the Mexicans, 

 a small century plant, or agave, with spiked and jagged 

 leaves clustered around a large heart stored with choicest 

 plant food, intended to produce a tall stalk of nectar- 

 laden flowers and a million seeds as the crowning effort 

 of the plant before dying and shriveling away to make 

 room for its progeny. Just before this final triumph 

 of its many years of growth and storage, the storehouse 

 being full to bursting with rich food, the mescal head 

 was gathered by the Indians, and with dozens of other 

 similar heads was thrown into a dying bonfire of coals 

 and ashes, which was then buried under a pyramid of 

 small stones. Dry wood was then piled over this and 

 set on fire and the mescal heads were left to cook for a 

 couple of days and nights. The half-cooled mound 



