248 AT THE COCO-MARICOPA AND 
canals extending miles in length; but they seem to 
have left no trace or tradition by which we can tell 
who they were, or what was their fate. I made fre- 
quent inquiries of the Pimos and Coco-Maricopas as to 
the builders of these and the ruins on the Gila, but 
could obtain no other than the ever-ready, Quien 
sabe? These, as well as the ruins above the Pimo 
villages are known among the Indians as the ‘‘ houses of 
Montezuma,” an idea doubtless derived from the Mexi- | 
cans, rather than from any tradition of their own. We 
asked our Indian guide, who Montezuma was. He. 
answered, ‘‘ Nobody knows who the devil he was; all 
we know is, that he built these houses.” 
After spending an hour here, we took a strongly 
marked trail, which looked as though it had been 
travelled for a century, and which led due south 
towards the Fimo villages. There were other trails, 
leading in various directions; showing that the plain 
is much traversed, and the ruins often visited. e 
journeyed rapidly over the plain, which was a portion , 
of the great plateau or desert. It was a perfect level 
without an undulation. Not a hill or a ravine inter 
cepted our path. The vegetation was the same 
found on the plateau in our journey up the south side 
of the Gila. Larrea and small mezquit bushes predom- 
inated; while now and then the graceful petahay% 
raised its tall head far above the dwarfish plants of the- 
desert, often startling us with its sudden appearance. 
It was near midnight when we entered a thick grove 
of mezquit, from whose branches were pendent large 
quantities of the beans of which the mules are so fond. 
As we had now travelled from twenty-three to twenty- 
