BUINS ON THE EIO VEEDE. 197 



r 



to tlie junction of the Salinas with tlic Eio Ycrcic (also called 

 Eio de San Francisco), ascended the latter stream, and crossed 

 fr-om it to the 35th parallel route along the Colorado Chiquito, 

 He represents the Rio Yerde as a fine large stream, in some 

 places rapid and deep ; in others, spreading out into wide 

 lagoons. The ascent was hy gradual steppes, stretching out 



either side into plains which abounded in timber 



— pmc 

 hanks 



fortificati 



hut 



ash, walnut, sycamore, and cotton- wood. The ri^ 

 covered with ruins of stone houses and regular 

 which were evidently the work of a very civil 

 did not appeal- to have been inhabited for centiuies. They 

 were built on the most fertile tracts of the valley, where were 

 signs of acequias and of cultivation. The walls were of solid 

 niasoni-y, of rectangular form, some twenty or thirty j)aoes 

 in length, and from 10 to 15 feet in height. They were 

 usually of two stories, with small apertm-es or loopholes 

 for defence when besieged, and reminded him strongly of 

 the Moqui pueblos. The large stones of which these struc- 



tures' were built must often have been transported from a 

 great distance. At one place he encountered a well-built 

 fortified town, ten miles distant from the nearest water. 



Other travellers and prospectors report many rimied pueblos 

 along the Salmas, others on the San Carlos, and several very 

 extensive ones in the fertile Tonto basin, which is drained by 

 a tributary of the Salinas. Of many of the ruins on the 

 Crila itself, and in the valleys of its southern tiibutarics, I can 

 speak from personal knowledge. A little west of the northern 



■emity of the Burro Mountains, the Eio Gila 



Saut 



from 



^ A 



of considerable width. This long strip of fertile bottom-1 

 is studded throughout with deserted pueblos, which, at 



