REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 59 



the remains of a large cburch, built of adobe. A series of widely scat- 

 tered house clusters, occurring about 2J miles west of Ojo Oalieute, was 

 also examined, but the earth had drifted over the fallen wa/ls and so 

 covered them over that the arrangement of rooms could scarcely be 

 traced at all. 



The modern village of Ojo Oaliente was also surveyed and diagrams 

 and photographs made. 



Towards the end of September camp was moved to the vicinity of 

 Zuiii. Here we examined four other villages of the Cibola group and 

 the old villages on the mesa of Ta-ai-ya-lo-ne. Camp was then moved 

 to Nutria, a farming pueblo of Zuni. From this camp Nutria was sur- 

 veyed and i)hotographed, and also the village of Pescado ; the latter 

 is occui)ied only during the farming season. Both of these modern 

 farming pueblos appear to be built on the ruins of more ancient villages, 

 the remains of which were esj^ecially noticeable in the case of Pescado, 

 where the very carefully executed masonry, characteristic of the ancient 

 methods of construction, could be seen outcropping at many points- 

 Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff was ordered to report at the Moki towns, Ari- 

 zona, for field duty, and left AVashiugton July G. He was placed in 

 charge of the surveying work necessary in the Stone Village region, 

 and his work is included in the general report of that division. 



He assisted in collecting from the present inhabitants of the region 

 legendary information bearing upon the ruins and in observing the 

 snake-dance of the Moki Indians, a description of which was ])reparcd 

 for i)ublication. 



Following the return of the main party to Washington some prelim- 

 inary exi^loration was carried on by Mr. E. W. Nelson, who made an 

 examination of the headwaters of the South Fork of Salt Eiver, but did 

 not find anj'^ ruins. Thence the Blue Ridge was crossed and the valley 

 of the Blue Fork of the San Francisco Eiver visited. Here ruins were 

 plentiful, increasing in number towards the south. Farther south three 

 sets of cliff ruins were also located. 



General field studies. — Dr. Washington Matthews, assistant surgeon 

 U. S. Army, was stationed in the Navajo country as post surgeon of 

 Fort Wingate, N. Mex., from 1880 to 1884, during which time he de- 

 voted himself to studying the language, customs, &c., of this tribe as 

 much as his official duties would permit. 



In the autumn of 1881 he was given an opportunity, under the aus- 

 pices of the Bureau of Ethnology, to return to the Navajo country and 

 devote himself for a considerable time entirely to the anthropologic 

 study of the people. 



He first visited the Navajoes who dwell in the neighborhood of the 

 San Mateo Mountains, the Tsotsildine, or people of the Great Peak, a 

 local division or subtribe, living much farther to the east and having 

 longer and more intimate associations with Mexicans and Americans 

 than the main body of the nation. While at this place he ascended 



