334 ANTIIROPOLOGY. 



if they were walls, must have been made of adobe, and the heavy rain- 

 falls of the canon, aboul 30 inches this year, would have destroyed all 

 traces, as this building was erected on the incline of the ridge, while the 

 circles arc on the level ground. The large circles, all about ;;:> feet in 

 diameter, have the walls much better preserved than the squares. The 

 mounds arc from 12 inches to 2 feet higher than the surrounding land, 

 and, in some cases, spread out some 4 to 10 feet. The walls seem to have 

 been made of adobe and stones. 



Near the center of most of the mounds is quite a depression, caused, I 

 suppose, by the washing down of the walls. lean see no evidence of 

 special construction in the center. The materials could be obtained in 

 abundance in the immediate vicinity. None have been explored, as 

 labor is so high here that I have not been able to bear the expense, and, 

 indeed, had but little hope of finding anything worth the while. On the 

 ground I have found an abundance of [tottery in small pieces, some of 

 it glassy, one piece ornamented in colors, many bits carved or marked. 



For eight or nine months of the year White River would afford, at the 

 present period, abundance of water. Rainfall begins in the latter part 

 of June or the first of July, and continues almost every afternoon for 

 sixty days, and the river remains full many months after. 



These mountains have long been the stronghold of the Apaches, and, 

 so far as 1 can learn, none of our scouts ever noticed the remains. The 

 Indian .scouts have a tradition that this canon has evil men living in it. 

 There are no recent signs of occupation by Apaches. 



In conclusion, I would remark that 1 have thought that the quad- 

 rangles and the circles were to be attributed to different peoples and 

 different dates. The circles, seemingly more recent, may have been 

 built by the Apaches in ages past, or by people less advanced in civili- 

 zation than the first inhabitants. The small circles, about 3 feet in 

 diameter, were ovens. They have a floor of flat stones well fitted, around 

 which a wall is built up 8 to 12 inches high. There is no indication of 

 a covering. In one I discovered some charred juniper-wood. 



I found here a stone mortar weighing about 100 pounds. The cavity 

 is tour inches in diameter and as many dee]), perfectly round. It is con- 

 veniently located near the four ovens. On the hillside I also found 

 another mortar that had been turned over, and two broken metates. 



Near the mouth <>!' the canon, and distant from camp about miles, 

 are some ruins that I have not examined with care. They consist prin- 

 cipally of quadrangles of small size, 15 by 20 feet, and but few together. 

 One group that I came across was at some distance from permanent 

 water. There is a small ravine close by that now affords water in the 

 wet season. This last group was on a high hill, and no agricultural 

 ground was near, the ravine having precipitous banks. Other ruins are 

 scattered along the banks of White River after it reaches the open 

 plain outside the canon; but where they are placed no water is to be 

 found in the dry season, it being at least 2 to 5 miles to the nearest 

 permanent supply. 



