KEPOET OF THE SECRETARY 63 



objects were received at a time when material from that region of 

 the Southwest was particularly desirable. The chief has prepared 

 an illustrated report on this collection in which he calls attention 

 to its importance. The collection contains unique specimens and 

 is accompanied by a good catalogue by Mr. Clarke. One of the most 

 interesting of these is a black and white pottery ladle, the handle 

 of which is molded into a cradle containing a clay figure. There is 

 also a finely incised head-ornament of bone, recalling those worn 

 by the Bow priesthood at Zuiii, and suggesting similar ornaments of 

 the Hopi idol of th« war god. The collection shows evidence of 

 cremation and urn burial. 



The pottery objects are archaic, and the interiors of certain black- 

 and-white food bowls are decorated with artistic figures similar to 

 those on polychrome ware from Tokonabi, near March Pass, in 

 northern Arizona. It is probable from the pottery that the people 

 who buried their dead at Youngs Canyon were related to a population 

 antedating pueblos, which was scattered over a great area in Arizona 

 from the Little Colorado north to the San Juan, and from the west- 

 ern boundary of the state into New Mexico. This people had no 

 circular kivas or ceremonial rooms like those at the Mesa Verde, or 

 the San Juan area, but they were fine potters who decorated their 

 ware with artistic geometrical designs. 



The number of written requests for information on ethnological 

 subjects the last few years has more than doubled, and the time of 

 the chief, as well as of the members of the staff, is correspondingly 

 absorbed. 



During the past year Mr. Earl H. Morris, under the direction of 

 the chief of the bureau, did necessary repair work on the famous 

 tower of the Mummy Cave House in the Canyon del Muerto, Ari- 

 zona, which once contained three rooms. All woodwork on the 

 first ceiling has been torn out; only the haggled ends of a few sup- 

 ports remain embedded in the walls. The cleanly peeled poles which 

 supported the second ceiling are in place, and the third ceiling, or 

 original roof, is still intact. It is probably the most beautiful ceiling 

 remaining in any ruin in the Southwest, its only rivals being the 

 coverings of one or two rooms in the north side of Pueblo Bonito, 

 and in Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde. 



This tower has been in a dangerous condition for a long time. 

 There was originally a retaining wall below it, rising from the very 

 brink of the ledge, which held in place the fill of loose rock and 

 refuse upon which the House of the Tower stands. Eventually, 

 through erosion, all but the eastern end of this wall collapsed, prob- 

 ably because of the insecure foundation afforded by the abruptly 

 sloping rock, and much of the material behind it washed over the 



