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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 70 



At intervals along- the trail through this country of majestic pic- 

 turesqueness are ancient ruins of considerable size and hidden in the 

 canyon walls are cliff-houses (fig. 102), showing that in ancient times 

 the environment furnished sustenance for an aboriginal population. 

 Entering Tonto L'asin the landscape assumes a wilder aspect, the 

 region becoming drier and exhibiting a great variety of cacti and 

 thorny growths among bristling rocks. North of the Sierra Ancha 

 the covmtry opens out into park-like stretches, in which the towns 



Fig. 105. — White Mountain Apache, Oak Creek, Arizona. 



of Young" and Payson are located. As the character of the geog- 

 raphy changes gradually from Fort Apache to Payson in the Tonto, 

 it is seen that the ruins represent a gradual diminution of culture, 

 those of the northern Tonto Basin being ruder in art than those to 

 the east. The latter are generally of large compact pueblos, the art 

 affiliations of which, judging from the pottery, are with those of the 

 north in the basin of the Little Colorado, but plainly showing a 

 rather high development. As the exploration proceeded west it was 

 found that coincidences of southern culture appeared, while in the 

 northern portion of the Tonto Basin the culture appears to affiliate 

 entirely with the lower Gila and west of that river. 



