284 POTTERY OF THE ANCIENT PUEBLOS. 



pies having very neatly or elaborately finished surfaces have appar- 

 ently not been used over a fire. Those of large size doubtless served 

 for the transportation and storage of water. 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF VESSELS.' 



As it is my desire to give this paper something of a monographic 

 completeness, I shall present a typical series of the best preserved ves- 

 sels of this class along with some notices of the circumstances under 

 which they were discovered. The treatment by districts or localities is 

 for convenience simply, and has no reference to distinctions in the 

 character of the ware. 



DISTRICT OF THE RIO SAN JUAN. 



Our first expeditions into the land of the cliff-dwellers were full of 

 interest. We were not, however, the first explorers. The miners of 

 the silver-bearing mountains to the north had made occasional excur- 

 sions into the sinuous canons of the plateau district, and failing to bring 

 back the coveted gold, told tales of the marvelous cities of the cliffs, 

 and speculated upon discovering in the debris of ancient temples and 

 tombs a portion of the fabled gold and jewels of the provinces of Cibola 

 and Tusayan. 



Notwithstanding our entire freedom from expectations in this direc- 

 tion, the thought gave color to our anticipations, and it was not an un- 

 common occurrence to hear, about the slumbering camp fire, half jocular 

 references to the " great pots of gold moous" that some one had whis- 

 pered might be hidden away in the inaccessible cliffs that over- 

 shadowed us. 



I shall not soon forget the incidents connected with the discovery of 

 a pair of fine water-jars — one of which is illustrated in Fig. 239. On 

 the occasion of our first passage down the canon of the Eio Mancos 4 1 

 made the discovery of a group of fine cliff-houses on the south side, 

 far up in the vertical walls. On our return I made it a point to camp 

 for I lie night directly below these houses, although a dense growth of 

 underbrush had to be cut away to give room for our beds by the side of 

 the sluggish stream. 



The two finest houses were set in shallow, wind-worn caves, several 

 hundred feet above the valley. One was almost directly above the 

 other, the upper being reached by a number of notches picked in the 

 nearly vertical rock-face. 



I had ascended alone and was busily engaged in studying the upper 

 house and tracing the plans of its fallen walls, when I heard a voice 

 echoing among the cliffs. Descending hastily to the lower house I found 



••Tenth Auuual Report U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories, p. X>4. 



