116 DAVENPOKT ACADKMY OP NATUKAL SCIENCES. 



The Pueblo of Acouia is in precisely the same condition as noted 

 three and a half centuries ago, while on the other hand, some towns 

 appear to have sine*; been deserted and in ruins. 



As before stated, many of the modern dwellings are terraced from 

 without toward a central elevation, in the form of an oblong truncated 

 pyramid, being in this respect entirely the reverse of the ancient 

 structures. The lower rooms are entered through the roof, which is 

 reached from the outside by means of ladders, thus forming some de- 

 fense against wild beasts, but no effectual one against the attack of 

 an enemy. It appears from this mode of building, that, if they are 

 the descendants of the cliff-dwellers, and through them of the "An- 

 cient" Pueblos, the cause which led to the constructioii of forti- 

 fied dwellings had been renioved, and the consequent seiise of com- 

 parative safety induced them to construct the modern dwellings, of 

 the origin of which — regarding time — we have no historic data. 



POTTERY. 



In examining the oldest forms of pottery and iVagments of vessels, 

 one cannot but be surprised at the existence of gla/ing in greater or 

 less degree upon the various tyjies of specimens. By far the greater 

 nimiber of fragments bear <'()lor ornamentation upon a smooth surface, 

 others being either perfectly jjlain or ornamented with indented or 

 incised lines. The glazing upon some specimens is very pronounced, 

 which extended investigations and chemical analyses appeal- to dem- 

 onstrate was the result of accident rather than design. 



Knowing the country to abound in springs and pools of water rather 

 than running streams, and taking into consideration the general alka- 

 linity of such water in this region, resulting from the disintegration of 

 the rocks and the percolation of water throvigh formations containing 

 alkaline matter, and further the concentration of such solutions by 

 evaporation — which is very rapid in this climate — it would be only 

 natural for the natives to employ such water in the manufacture of 

 pottery as would lie x^nfit for any other jiurposes. Consequently, the 

 water used in producing a plastic condition of tht; clay, with that ab- 



mosaic of precisely this stone, and a flint knife with its handle elaborately 

 inlaid with it, in similar fragments. Various authors give rhalehimtl, c/iiit- 

 rhiJvdtl, or clutlchinUi-. The word cluilchkutl is defined by Molina in his Vo- 

 cabulnrio MexicdiH) (X'tlX), \o signify FJfoneralda Imjit, (ir an inferior kind of 

 emerald. The ]ire('ious emerald, or emerald propei-, was called quetzdlitztU, 

 from quetzal — tli»^ bird Tn>(i(t}i rcsplciulcnn (the teathei's of which served for 

 royal robes), and itzli — stone, /. c, the stone of quetzal. The enmeralda baja 

 is supposed to be nephrite, as Sahagun avers. 



