620 ARCH^OLOGICAL FIELD WORK IN ARIZONA IN 1897. 



the Pueblo Viejo. As a rule, however, they were more elaborately 

 made than those from the north. Their use is apparently identical, 

 viz, to smooth, by rubbing, wooden sticks or arrows. Similar stones 

 are at present used, in the Hopi pueblos in the manufacture of prayer 

 sticks. 



SACRIFICIAL CAVE IN THE GRAHAM MOUNTAIN. 



Both the Graham and Bonita mountains have many caves of consid- 

 erable size which were formerly used for sacrificial and other purposes. 

 One of these I will designate Adams Cave, from my friend Mr. B. B. 

 Adams, of Solomonville, who guided me to it, and assisted me in many 

 ways during my work in Pueblo Viejo. 



This cave lies on the northern slope of Mount Graham, near a saw- 

 mill, south of Thacher. The entrance is difficult to find, and is said to 

 have been discovered by following an Apache Indian who used it as a 

 hiding place. 



Descending the cave by a perpendicular passageway, through which 

 one had to lower himself as if in a well, one enters a large chamber, 

 from which horizontal passages drifted in different directions. One of 

 the largest of these extended about 100 feet into the side of the hill. 

 At its end the cave is enlarged and the floor covered with prayer 

 sticks, examples of which are shown in the accompanying cut. I 

 gathered possibly a peck of these sticks, but many bushels were left 

 behind. The sides of the rock at this point, as elsewhere, show signs 

 of smoke, and the smooth surface of the passages indicate frequent 

 visits of the Indians to their shrine. 



Following another and narrower cleft we came upon a place where 

 there was a similar collection of prayer emblems on the ground. In 

 order to enter this passage one was forced to swing himself to the floor 

 by means of a rock artificially wedged in between the two walls. The 

 upper surface of this wedge was worn smooth by human hands which 

 had grasped it many times. At one place, where the two walls of the 

 cleft approached so closely that it was impossible to pass between them 

 without rubbing the body on either side, the rock surface had been 

 worn smooth by constantly passing human bodies. 



Fragments of basketry were found with the prayer sticks, one of the 

 best of which was a small basket plaque. I was much surprised not 

 to find any objects of pottery in this cave, but my examination was 

 necessarily a hurried one, and no excavations were made. According 

 to Mr. Adams, the only person in Solomonville m4io had visited this 

 cave, pottery had never been found in it. 



OBJECTS FROM A SACRIFICIAL CAVE IN THE NANTACKS. 



The mountainous region north of the Pueblo Yiejo is designated on 

 maps as the Natanes Plateau, portions of which are called by cowboys, 

 the Nantacks. It is rough and broken, cut with deep canyons and 

 mountain streams, and forms the northern part of Graham County, 



