1876.] Rock-Inseriptions of “* Ancient Pueblos.” TIT 
when they go on hunting or when they remove from place to 
place with their flocks and herds.” 
he horse was not known to the natives of America at the 
time of the conquest, although remains of it occur in a fossil state. 
Therefore we find no representation of this animal in the ancient 
inscriptions. 
Throughout this entire country the Navajo Indians and the 
Utes and Pah-utes have covered the walls of bowlders with rep- 
resentations of more recent date, in which the horse figures con- 
spicuously ; but these inscriptions can be readily distinguished, 
by an experienced eye, from those possessing on their very faces 
the impress of centuries. Indeed, some of them have become 
entirely effaced, and others are so nearly obliterated that it is 
only after the most careful study and the most attentive observa- 
tion that they can be at all distinguished. We do not find in 
this section many painted or colored representations ; the major- 
ity of them are etched or engraved in the rock by the agency of 
stone implements, such as chisels, awls, etc. In the vicinity of 
nearly every important congregation of structures these are com- 
mon on the cliffs and vertical rock-faces. Often they are found 
in the most inaccessible places and in the neighborhood of the 
More dangerously located cliff-dwellings. Sometimes they can 
be descried on a perpendicular wall at a height of hundreds of 
2 feet, between the valley below and the summit of the mesa above, 
_ but how they could have been cut there we are at a loss to con- 
= jecture. They must have been engraved in such cases either . 
_ from the top of a very long ladder, or by the operator bin e 
pended from above by a long rope of rawhide or sinew; OT ; ne 
_ May have been, long ago, ledges in the now smooth re of e 
_ Teck, and steps may have led up to the summit. Suc 5 os s 
= “essible inscription I noticed on a high wall on the north ba 
the San Juan River, above the Rio de Chelly. The -L 
resented three immense centipedes, being several feet each m 
length, and situated at least two hundred feet above the L 
The snake, turtle, and frog are common objects in wi me 
: glyphics, and these animals were probably held in veneration : y 
the ancients, just as they are now by their descendants 1n j 
i i ; he lesser divinities 0 
exico and Arizona, being looked upon as t Cois ea 
_ Water. Rude human figures and hands, and feet 0 dea 
Animals, such as the eagle or bear, are numerous, but -e 
T Monest and most suggestive likeness is that of the aunn Nee 
A many of the ruins and frequently sae the walls abov 
