FOREST AND STREAM. 
305 
means of splendid masonry, and behind it had been built a 
cistern bolding 2.j gallons of water. Protected from the 
direct action of storms this house had withstood the wear 
and tear of ten centuries, and seems good for many more. 
As these valleys become settled up, the citizens should pass 
laws guarding these monuments of antiquity from any van¬ 
dalism with the most jealous care. 
Prom this point all the niches in the cliffs on the west¬ 
ern side of the canons—never on the eastern—were tilled 
with the remains of such houses, although generally of 
ruder construction. Occasionally odo structure would en¬ 
tirely fill up a ledge, and a number of families would live 
together. One such block of houses on a shelf several 
hundred feet above the valley, was 350 feet long. A model 
of about one-third of this ruin has been made by Mr. 
Holmes, and also a truthful restoration of it. Sometimes 
—particularly farther down the Rio San Juan—numerous 
pockets or grottos of various sizes had been eaten into the 
face of the sandstone cliffs by the water. Often the en¬ 
trance to these would be simply walled up and the cave 
then made a warm house. Here and there the ruins were 
found grouped into densely populated colonies. It is not 
probable that they were inhabited continuously, hut were 
resorted to by the shepherds and their families in times of 
alarm, and perhaps duriDg the stormy season. They are 
in maDy eases entirely inaccessible, except by ladders, 
which the aborigines used everywhere; and traces of steps 
cut in the rock may yet be found leading to many of them, 
as, for example, to this cliff-house shown in Pig. 12. “When 
it is considered that the house occupies on its cliff the same 
ledge as appears in the cut to be continuous with its roof 
on the next cliff in the rear, the necessity for some 
aid in climbing will be apparent. Such a position was of 
course one of the greatest safety when the garrison could 
hold out against a seige, for one man could defend the ap¬ 
proaches against a thousand. But the continual destruc¬ 
tive incursions which the inhabitants suffered from the 
north at last compelled them, no doubt; with reduced 
ranks, to retreat southward, fighting as they went. The 
traditions of that warfare, and the fortified places pointed 
out as battle-grounds, tell a story of the most intense and 
poetic interest; and a great fame awaits the man who shall 
immortalize in epic or drama the sad and thrilling history 
of this almost extirpated people. There are passages in it 
which afford material for an Iliad. Finally, decimated in 
numbers, the remnants of the tribe halted on the lofty 
bluffs, or mesas, on the shores of the Little Colorado in 
central Arizona, and built new villages now known as the 
Beven Towns of the Moquis. There are numerous photo¬ 
graphs also of these villages as seen from a distance and 
close by; of the interior of the houses; of their curiously 
irrigated fields; and of the people at their work. The 
whole history of these nations is one of profound interest, 
and I leave it reluctantly, feeling as though I really had 
said nothing at all about it. 
I cannot close, however, without alluding to their art. 
Their architecture, which accomplished the arch —a height 
to which the power of building never rose among any 
other people on this continent, but the Peruvians (except¬ 
ing the ice-domed huts of the Eskimos)—manifests their 
skill in the manipulation of blocks of stone. All this was 
done of course, with only stone tools; no trace of metal 
was discovered. The stone implements, which are few, 
because the ruins have been ransacked by ITtes and Nava- 
joes over aud over again, exhibit an advanced style of 
workmanship and a high polish. Many ornaments of fine 
stone, polished beads of imported sea-shell, stone and pot¬ 
tery, turquoises, pendants for the ears, and rings were 
found. The rocks were in many places elaborately engrav¬ 
ed to represent notable events in their history, the general 
character of which it is not difficult to determine usually, 
Ho horse is shown among all their good drawings of birds 
and animals. They constructed very nice matting of 
rushes, aud made cord, etc., of the fibrous yucca bark. 
They manufactured strong and gayly-ornamented cloth of 
wool, and probably also, some cotton. In ihe making of 
pottery they excelled. The shapes included all the forms 
of plates, bowls, jars, and pitchers, but not many were 
found with very narrow necks. Much of it was glazed, 
and ornamented all over with red, black, and white lines 
aud bands, disposed in zig zags, diamonds, running Greek 
squares, scrolls, and various other patterns. A ruder way 
w as not to glaze the ware, but indent the outside and 
smooth the inside. The manner in which they manufac¬ 
tured their pottery was peculiar. They rolled their pre¬ 
pared clay into long cords, which they coiled into the 
shape of the intended vessel, increasing and decreasing the 
diameter of the coil to suit the required shape. The ad¬ 
hesive cords were then welded together with the thumb¬ 
nail or a stick, aud the vessel was ready for ornamenting 
and baking. A similar method is now practiced by the 
Indians af the Amazon River, according to Hartt. 
I intend in my next letter to describe the exhibit of the 
costumes and utensils of the modern Indians, of which the 
Smithsonian sends a fine collection. 
Ernest Ingerboll. 
-»>*■- 
Excursions to New Haven. —Many of our citizens 
have been, during the last few warm days, seeking for a 
quiet and pleasant excursion from the city. It would 
seem, if numbers are any indication, that they have select¬ 
ed the elegant steamers of the New Haven Line, leaving 
Pier 25, E. lb, (Sundays excepted) at 3 and 11 P. M., and 
Twenty-third street, E. R., at 3:15 P. M. The cost is but 
$1.50 for round trip, including berth. Parties leaving at 
3 P. M. have four hours in New Haven, and are landed in 
New Twk early next morning. 
The Lobster and the Oyster,—A friend of Forest 
and Stream, writing from Chatham, New Brunswick, 
says that some of the people in that locality seem to have 
a very high opinion of the sagacity of the lobster. One 
story on which they found it is as follows:— 
Down at Escuminac, which is on the southeast side of 
the Mirimichi, there is an oyster bed known only to one 
Harrington, locally known as “Stormy,” on account of 
dirty weather invariably following his visits, with oysters 
to sell, to Chatham. He had gained a great reputation on 
account of the superiority of his oysters, but during the 
past two years those he has brought to market have not 
been quite up to the mark. Last season, however, he gave 
his theory of the cause of the deterioration. He says that 
not far from the oyster bed there is a “gravel knoll” 
formed by an eddy on the edge of the channel of the Miri¬ 
michi. Happening to scan the bottom of this kooll with 
his “water glass," he observed several large lobsters. Two 
of them were just leaving it, each having iu one claw a 
pebble about the size of a small hen egg. He directed the 
lad who was with him to scull the boat along in the direc¬ 
tion taken by the cwistacea, and the one he was particu¬ 
larly watching crawled directly to and upon the oyster 
bed. Soon it approached a large oyster, which, on feeling 
the water stirred, immediately closed its shell. The lob¬ 
ster lay, however, with the pebble poised in its claw, and 
within half an inch of the thin end of the oystoqshell, 
and in two or three minutes the latter began to open again. 
As soon as it had opened sufficiently, the lobster, with a 
quick movement, darted the pebble into the open shell, 
rendering the oyster powerless to close it. The animal’s 
feelers were then used to extract the contents of the shell, 
which it ate quite deliberately, and then lay on the spot as 
if digesting the sweet morsel, and contemplating a similar 
operation on the next oyster. 
Mr. Harrington says that nearly all the largest oysters 
are destroyed in this way, but the smaller ones cannot 
open far enough to permit the pebble to be inserted. Mr. 
Harrington has never yet been convicted of experimenting 
carelessly with his innate veracity. 
Acknowledgment. —We are under more than ordinary 
obligation to that standard journal, the Richmond Whig, 
for its friendly endeavors to extend the circulation of For¬ 
est and Stream throughout the State of Virginia, which 
we are glad to say are not without their effect, many prom¬ 
inent names of Virginia having been recently added to the 
list of our subscribers. Alex. Mosely, Esq., one of its ed¬ 
itors, is a member of the Virginia State Fishery Commis¬ 
sion, and his journal is naturally the promoter of fish cul¬ 
ture and angling in the Old Dominion. We find its con¬ 
tents as valuable to us as the politicians do for their especial 
needs. No doubt the Whig would he more than gratified 
should the next President of the United States be a skillful 
angler and fish culturist. It is said that a good angler and 
lover of ihe wildwoods cannot bo a had man, although 
given to tricks and strategems for the circumvention of 
fish. 
—We have received the compliment of a crate of very 
fine new potatoes from the estate of Chas. G. Kendall, 
Esq., on Palmetto Island, near Port Royal, South Caroli¬ 
na. The Colonel enjoys the good things of this life; his 
domain is fruitful of melons, oranges, figs, strawberries, 
and other semi-tropical fruits. He maintains that, being 
insulated, he is less exposed to frosts than the main-land is; 
Jack seldom making his appearance there. We trust that 
our friend’s potato bin may never be empty. 
- < * *■ 
Catfish Skin Gloves.— The Canadians are talking of 
starting a kid glove factory at Port Colborne, the gloves to 
be manufactured of the skins of catfish (Siluridm), which 
are found there in great quantities. The fish, after being 
Bldnned, will he salted and exported to other places, where 
they will find a ready market under some other name. 
■4 1 » - - 
To Tote a Deer.—I n dragging the carcass of a deer to 
camp, never draw it by the hind legs. This is against the 
grain of the hair, making the load heavy and damaging the 
meat. If a sapling is handy sling the deer to it with its 
feet tied in pairs, and the nose secured to the pole, so that 
it will not swing and sling blood all over. 
. « »- - - 
—The Vivisection bill introduced into the British House 
of Lords by Lord Carnarvon to prevent cruel experiments 
on animals provides: 1. That the experiments must be 
made with the sole view to the acquisition of knowledge 
which will be useful for saving or prolonging human life 
or alleviating human suffering. 3. The experiments must 
be performed in registered places. 3. They must be made 
by duly licensed persons. 4. The animal operated upon 
must, during the whole of the experiment, he placed under 
the influence of ansesthetics sufficiently powerful to prevent 
it from feeling pain. 5. The animal must be killed before 
recovering consciousness. 6. The experiments must not 
be made at lectures as illustrations. 7. they must not he 
made to obtain manual skill in an operation. 
— The Florida orange crop for the present season is 
25,000,000, worth on an average at the groves $15 per thou¬ 
sand, making $375,000. It is estimated that there are now 
not more than 8,000 acres of young trees from four to six 
years old from the hud, some bearing as many as 100 
oranges the past fruit seasou. For the next five years it is 
believed the crop will gradually increase from the growth 
of trees to 150,000,000, yielding a product of $2,250,000, or 
about one seventh of the product of Palermo. 
