12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 35 



usually composed of layers of dense, jointed, almost shaly clay and 

 sand. A third terrace and sometimes a fourth may be seen, as on 

 the San Francisco near the mouth of Blue river. The third terrace 

 rises rapidly against the inclosing wall, its rear portion being filled 

 with angular masses from the rim rock. These terraces Were gen- 

 erally the sites of habitations. On the plateaus large areas are cov- 

 ered with soil, and in depressions this soil is often very deep from 

 constant additions in the basins of temporary lakes or in cienagas 

 (marshes). Much of the plateau country would be dotted with lakes 

 were the precipitation greater. 



In the basin country, below the edges of the plateaus and mesas and 

 in the beds of streams, springs burst forth, forming the sources and 

 supplies of the water courses. Some of these springs are mineralized, 

 and frequently the water is warm and even hot. Comparatively 

 speaking, there is abundance of water. 



This region furnished an adequate and, in some cases, an abundant 

 supply of minerals needful for the primitive arts of the Indians. 

 For house building basalt or other volcanic rock of convenient size 

 was always at hand. Frequently near building sites were found thin 

 slabs of strong creamy-white stone, which was used in construction 

 of flooring, lintels, and fire boxes. Obsidian, chalcedony, quartzite, 

 quartz, and chert were found, together with fine-grained diorite 

 suitable for axes; and that these useful minerals were prized by the 

 aborigines is abundantly shown in both the finished implements and 

 the rejects occurring on the village sites. Chalcedony, which owing 

 to the conditions of its deposition has assumed remarkable forms, is 

 somewhat common and had widespread use. Clays for the potter 

 and for house building were everywhere obtainable, and though not 

 of the quality found in the Jura-Trias and Cretaceous formations 

 of the Little Colorado valley, they were serviceable. In several 

 localities white kaolin is found, and a disintegrated white quartz 

 rock, metamorphosed by heat, was procurable for the paste of gray 

 pottery. Steatite, thin sheets of drip lime, turquoise, and fluorite 

 were sufficiently abundant for the manufacture of beads and other 

 ornaments, of which a profusion is found in the ruins. Pigments 

 consisting of iron-bearing earths, stones for pottery decoration, as 

 well as copper ore, micaceous hematite, ocher, kaolin and charcoal for 

 the painting of weapons, ceremonial paraphernalia, and other pur- 

 poses, could be had for the searching. 



Metal working was riot practised, but in course of trade bells of 

 copper were brought from Mexico. One of these, a remarkable 

 pyriform specimen 3 inches long, was taken from a ruin on the 

 Tularosa river. Rich copper was occasionally fashioned, but merely 

 as a stone, and was never smelted or otherwise worked bv fire. 



