52 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 



chamber, from which the ruin takes its name, being in excellent con- 

 dition, although constantly exposed to the snow and summer rains. 

 After excaA'ating this cave considerable restoration was attempted in 

 order that walls weakened by action of the elements and by thought- 

 less visitors might be preserved for years to come. At the suggestion 

 of Mr. B. A. Riggs a fence was constructed around the house to keep 

 cattle from that portion of the cave. 



Buildings with masonry walls were also found in " Ruin Cave," 

 but in this case were built directly upon remains of other structures 

 of an entirely different character. The latter are usually circular 

 and their walls w^ere formed of posts to which horizontal willows 

 were bound at intervals of 7 or 8 inches; adobe mud was pressed 

 between these posts and over the willows, but additional and larger 

 supports were required to take the great weight of the roof. Al- 

 though these structures lie generally beneath the stone houses, it is 

 evident that both types were built by the same people and the oc- 

 cupancy of the cave was at no time long interrupted. 



Prehistoric house remains were also found in each of the other 

 three caves excavated, but they consisted chiefly of small rooms with 

 walls constructed entirely of adobe. Still other ruins were discovered 

 high up under the ledges that lie on either side of Cottonwood Canyon, 

 but unusual conditions prevented examination of these. 



Upright sandstone slabs invariably form the inner base of the walls 

 in ruins throughout the region under consideration, a fact which con- 

 nects them with the so-called " slab-house " people of the San Juan 

 drainage. Whether there is, in fact, any justification for this term re- 

 mains yet to be proven, but the cultural relationship of the prehistoric 

 peoples in soutliAvestern Utah with those south of the Rio Colorado 

 is at last definitely established. 



The bureau purchased from Miss Frances Densmore papers on 

 " Chippewa Remedies and General Customs " and " Chippewa Art." 

 The latter article has 164 pages, with 42 pages of old Chippewa de- 

 signs and numerous photographs pertaining to industries, medicinal 

 plants, customs, and toys of children, games, processes of weaving, 

 tanning, and other industries. The lists of plants were identified by 

 Mr. Paul C. Standley. 



Miss Densmore likewise submitted much new manuscript material 

 on the music of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Pawnee. With this addi- 

 tion her account of the Mandan-PIidatsa music contains 340 pages, 

 more than 40 illustrations, and two new forms of graphic representa- 

 tion of their progression. This article is now ready for publication. 



An important field of aboriginal music thus far not sufficiently in- 

 vestigated is among the Pawnee. While engaged in the study of the 

 music of this tribe at Pawnee, Okla., Miss Densmore witnessed a 

 Hand Game, the Buffalo, Lance, and t\ro Victory dances, and later 



