170 DAVEXPORT ACADEMY OF XATURAL SCIEXCES. 



of these so-called moulds, Mr. Potter showed me lying in his door-yard. 

 They were evidently only pieces of clay which had formed part of the 

 roof-covering, as above described when speaking of the ''cement" 

 around the " stone-box," 



A " neatly carved tombstone" was said to have been found at the head 

 of a second skeleton. This being shown me proved to be only a long 

 narrow piece of rock, neither carved nor cut, and showing that it was 

 broken accidentally into its present shape. It appeared to me like half 

 of a slab of stone used for baking bread, which being broken was dis- 

 carded. Besides a people who destroy with the dead everytUing they 

 possess have no use for tombstones. They keep nothing to commemorate 

 the dead, and even destroy the houses over them. In this letter the fol- 

 lowing statement differs from that by Miss Wirt : "■ Upon one large stone 

 jug or vase can be traced a perfect delineation of the mountains near 

 here for a distance of twenty miles." If this had really been found, an 

 article of so much value would certainly have been cared for. Yet, while 

 Mr. Potter has carefully preserved all sorts of things from the mounds of 

 little or no value, the valuable ones were not on hand. "• Stone lasts" 

 were shown me by the correspondent of the Eureka Sentinel, but they 

 proved to be only rudely shaped natural stones. 



In referring to the ancient people of Utah Mr. Potter says : " Tha in- 

 habitants here say a race of people existed here fourteen hundred years 

 ago, and belonged to a tribe known as the Xephites, who were often re- 

 ferred to in the Book of Mormon, which also speaks of terrible encoun- 

 ters these people had with their ancient enemy, the Lamanites. We 

 find houses in all the mounds, the rooms of which are as perfect as the 

 day they were built. All the apartments are nicely plastered, some in 

 white, others in red color." This is correct only so far as the fact of there 

 being ruined houses in the mounds, but an examination of the walls re- 

 ferred to in Mr. Potter's letter, showed no traces of either white or red 

 plaster, nor could any be found in the debris thrown out of the interior of 

 the room. 



As Mr. Potter's letter d')es not explain the formation of these mounds, 

 I will do so in order to give a better idea of the simple habitations of the 

 people that once inhabited Payson. Tlie mounds prove on examination 

 to be debris of many dwellings successively built in the same location. 

 Often walls were found most perfect at the base of the mound, the one 

 above much broken, and often one side wall was found inside the ruins 

 of the lower house, while the opposite wall was outside. As no walls 

 were found of the original height tnat point must remain unknown, but 

 it appears to me that about six feet was the most probable height. The 

 walls were too thin to admit of an upper story, besides if two story houses 

 were built they would require large timbers, which would necessitate im- 

 plements to cut them with, none of which have as yet been found in 

 Utah. The houses have generally two rooms with an alley or partition 

 between. One room was usually smaller than the other, and the fact of 

 its containing the debris of lires would suggest its use as a kitchen. 



The size of the largest rooms may be said to be about twelve feet long 



