Uope.] '±Ov^ [June 18, 



dian. The obsidian knives are similar to those which I have seen as 

 commonly found in Mexico. 



At the head of the Caiioucita das Heguas there are numerous low 

 hills of the Eocene marl, covered with piiion forests of adult trees. On a 

 low slope of one of these, I found the burial place of one of the inhabit- 

 ants, as indicated by his bones, and trinkets doubtless buried with him. 

 His tibia was a marked example of the platycuemic type. Close to them 

 were some good quartz crystals, of course intruded in such a formation, 

 a piece of chalcTiuitl, an apparently transported scaphite, some implements 

 of obsidian, flint, etc., and a single perfect lower molar of a large mam- 

 mal of the genus Batlimodon, attached to a piece of the jaw, which looked 

 as though the ancient proprietor had not been ignorant of the peculiar 

 products of the neighboring bluffs. 



In traversing the high and dry Eocene plateau west of the bad-land 

 bluff's, I noticed the occurrence of crockery on the denuded hills for a 

 distance of many miles. Some of these localities are fifteen and twenty 

 miles from the edge of the plateau, and at least twenty-five miles from 

 the Gallinas Creek, the nearest permanent water. In some of these 

 ' localities the summits of the hills had been eroded to a narrow keel, 

 destroying the foundations of the former buildings. 



In no locality did I observe inscriptions on the rocks or other objects, 

 which were probably the work of the builders of these stone towers ; but 

 I give a copy of figures which I found on the side of a ravine near to 

 Abiquiu, on the river Chama. They are cut in Jurassic sandstone of 

 medium hardness, and are quite worn, and overgrown with the small 

 lichen which is abundant on the face of the rock. I know nothing re- 

 specting their origin. 



It is evident that the region of the Gallinas was once as thickly inhab- 

 ited as are now the more densely populated portions of the Eastern States. 

 The number of buildings in a square mile of that region, is equal to, if 

 not greater than the number now existing in the more densely populated 

 rural districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Whether this is the 

 case to the south and west, I do not know, as I was unable to devote the 

 necessary time to the examination. I found, however, that without in- 

 vestigation, it is very easy to pass the ruins by unnoticed, since their ele- 

 vated position, ruinous condition, and concealment by vegetation, ren- 

 der them almost invisible to the passing traveler. In general, I may say 

 that the number of ruins I found, was in direct proportion to the atten- 

 tion I gave the matter ; where I looked for them I invariably found them 

 in suitable situations. 



Perhaps the most remarkable fact in connection with these ruins is 

 the remoteness of a large proportion of them from water. They occur 

 everywhere in the bad-lands to a distance of twenty-five miles from any 

 terrestrial source of supply. The climatic character of the country then 

 has either undergone material change, or the mode of securing and pre- 

 serving a supply of water employed by these people, differed from any 

 known to us at the present time. I found no traces of cisterns, and the 



