148 MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



of causation, they suppose not that the waters shape and deposit the pebbles, but that the pebbles 

 control and direct the flow of the waters. For this reason they place such stones on the margins 

 of their artificial water courses to hasten and direct the current. The presence of these pebbles 

 disposed in lines, at the surface of the ground, caused the explorer to surmise that they marked 

 the sites of irrigating ditches, and excavation proved the surmise to be correct. Pebbles which 

 had once been used as implements and become worn out or broken in service were those most 

 usually employed for this purpose. 



Within the past twenty years, since the wild Indians of western Arizona have been subdued 

 and order has been established within that region, the locality in which Los Muertos and its 

 neighboring cities lay has been again restored to cultivation this time by the white race, who 

 utilize, through new channels, the waters of the same Salt River that fed the fields of the departed 

 races. The canals of the moderns follow straight lines; those of the ancients were tortuous; but 

 the ancient people used the water to greater advantage than their successors and covered with 

 their system a wider territory. In the old canals the fall was about 1 foot to the mile, in the new 

 it is 2 feet to the mile. The ancients constructed great reservoirs to store the excess of water 

 when the river was high; the present occupants have no such works. Since this region has 

 been reclaimed it has proved one of the most fruitful within the boundaries of the United States 

 and is adapted to a wide range of vegetation, temperate and tropical. 



In one place, near the present Mormon settlement of Mesa City, about 10 miles from the 

 ruins of Los Muertos, the canal was dug through a hard, rocky layer. The Mormon community 

 made use of the prehistoric cut when constructing their own irrigating ditch. I have heard on 

 good authority that the Mormons estimate the labor thus saved to them at $20,000. Who will 

 calculate the equivalent of this in human hands and days of work during the age of stone and 

 when man was his own beast of burthen ? 



In addition to the river irrigation the ancient Saladoans had a system of rain-water irrigation. 

 In the woodless mountains immediately surrounding their homes, the Superstition Mountains, the 

 Estrellas Mountains, etc., brief but heavy rains sometimes fall, which flow at once into the plain, 

 causing heavy floods and doing more damage than benefit to the crops. In these mountains there 

 are neither springs nor constant water courses and only a desert flora. The heights which give 

 birth to the Salado and the Gila are farther away and of much greater altitude. To conserve the 

 waters of these sudden rains in the neighboring hills the people built dams in the ravines and 

 large reservoirs in suitable places in and near the neighboring foothills. From these reservoirs 

 the waters were, when needed, allowed to flow gradually over the fields. This may be regarded as 

 evidence that the waters of the rivers, abundant though they were, were not sufficient for the needs 

 of the population. 



BURIALS. 



The bodies of the .dead were buried both with and without previous cremation. Those buried 

 without cremation were always buried in the houses, either under the ground floors or in the 

 walls. The cremated remains were interred outside of the houses. 



The wall or mural burials were found mostly in the priest temples, in what remained of the 

 first and second stories ; a few were discovered in the communal dwellings. The body in such a 

 burial was inclosed in an adobe case, and a niche was cut in the wall for its reception, which was 

 afterwards filled and plastered over with mud, so as to leave no external evidence of the burial. 



The burials under the floors were confined to the communal dwellings. The graves were 

 constructed with different degrees of care; the more perfect being rectangular holes carefully 

 plastered on the sides with mud and sealed over with the same material. The dead were usually 

 placed with their heads to the east and slightly raised or pillowed so that the faces were turned 

 toward the west. The hands were laid at the sides or over the breast. The lower extremities were 

 placed as we place those of our dead except in one instance, that of an adolescent female who was 

 supposed to have been sacrificed to the gods to avert earthquake. She was buried with the limbs 

 abducted. 



In a few instances in the communal dwellings the body was buried partly under the floor and 

 jpartly in the wall. This was supposed to be for the purpose of economizing space. The trunk, 



