ANTIQUITIES IN COLORADO, 237 



Oue of these circles, on !North Table Mountain, appearetl so much like 

 a grave, that a party of excursionists made an ineffectual attempt to open 

 it, in hope of finding something to reward their pains, as Indians fre- 

 quently bury utensils and weapons with the dead. The wall surround- 

 ing the supposed grave differs from that of other circles in being con- 

 structed of flat slabs of basalt, instead of bowlders of quartzose rock, and 

 on the southern side of the inclosure stood a slab of trachyte, which had 

 probabl}^ been brought from the crater of an extinct volcano a mile or 

 more distant, and had the appearance of a tombstone. The ground for 

 some distance around gives forth a hollow sound, as if there were a 

 cavity beneath, and on a hill near by is a mound apparently intended 

 as a mark to guide in finding the grave. In connection with the circles 

 we sometimes find heaps of stones rudely piled together, whose use has 

 not as yet been conjectured. In many places are to be seen spots where 

 the Indians appear to have been encamping and making their arrow- 

 heads and tools. In most cases only a few scattered chippings of flint 

 and quartzite occur, as if they had encamped for the night and chipped 

 out a few arrow-heads for the morrow's chase, while other places appear 

 to have been occupied for quite a length of time, and the ground in their 

 neighborhood is thickly scattered with fragments and flakes of the 

 various stones used by the Indians in making their implements, accom- 

 panied occasionally by chipping-axes, hammers, skin-scrapers, mortars, 

 and pestles. These camps are usually situated in fields, in the vicinity 

 of running water, and also in the neighborhood of a hill or steep bluff, 

 to which they could retreat in case of attack. In a small grove of Cot- 

 tonwood trees near Apex, Colorado, the Indians appear to have made, 

 in former times, great quantities of tools and arrow-heads, for the ground 

 all around is thickly strewn with tools, chippings, and arrow-heads, some 

 of the latter made of beautiful stones and of the most exquisite work- 

 manship. Within the space of an acre or two we have found about a 

 hundred arrow-heads and ten axes and hammers. The Indians seem 

 to have c irried on quite a trade among themselves, in order to procure 

 the materials for arrow-head making, as some of the chippings found 

 in their encampments are from stones which cannot be found within 

 several miles of this place, and some, I think, have been brought from 

 distant localities. Although the Indians used several kinds of stone in 

 the manufacture of arrow-heads, yet they seem to have had a preference 

 for quartzite, chalcedony, and jasperized wood, probably on account 

 of their superior hardness, and may have made others from handsomer 

 but less durable stones only for purposes of barter, as the Indians of 

 California exchanged arrow-heads made of bottle-glass. 



The following minerals were employed in the manufacture of tools : 

 moss-agate, chalcedony, caruelian, wood-opal, sapphirine, petrified wood, 

 flint, red jasper, brown quartzite, agatized wood, obsidian, yellow quartz- 

 ite, purple and yellow jaspers, smoky quartz, chert, jasperized wood, 

 red quartzite, besides several undetermined silicates. While speaking 



