266 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. VI., No. 138. 



for twent}^ rods or so more ; then for a con- 

 siderable distance I could get water by digging 

 a few inches ; then that indication failed, and 

 beyond the stream-bed was entirely dry. 



Not all such streams terminate thus in the 

 middle of their bed : some terminate in a small 

 shallow lake, some in a marsh ; and either lake 

 or marsh is pretty sure to be brackish, due to 

 constant concentration b}^ evaporation of the 

 alkalies held in solution. Other lost streams 

 fill up after a rainfall, and complete above the 

 ground their course to the main stream. After 

 a heav}' rain in the mountains the}' are apt to 

 change their ' lost ' character with a sudden- 

 ness and decision which ma}' prove dangerous. 

 The water occasionally pours down with an 

 advancing wave or head, which is described 

 as sometimes five or six feet high. 



There is one remarkable case in New Mexico 

 where the lost tributaries are plentiful, but the 

 main stream does not exist. This is in a val- 

 ley which lies between the Rio Grande and 

 the Pecos River. The valley begins near the 

 Sandia Mountains, and is shut out from the 

 streams on each side by broken mountain- 

 chains. It is a well-defined valley, not very 

 broad, but having a length of perhaps three 

 hundred miles. It is somewhat obscured by 

 the small scale, and inaccuracies, of the smaller 

 maps ; but on a larger and correct map of 

 the territory its valley-character is unmistak- 

 able. It lies much nearer the Rio Grande 

 than the Pecos. Flowing into it, especially on 

 the western side near the upper end, and on the 

 eastern toward the lower, are numerous lost 

 tributaries ; but the primary stream has so 

 completely disappeared that its bed can only 

 be found at intervals. 



In this valley lie the ruins of the Gran 

 Quivira, the existence of which is not only at- 

 tested by the ruins themselves, but also by the 

 accounts of the earliest Spanish travellers. 

 The records of the Spanish up to the latter 

 part of the seventeenth century, when they 

 were expelled by the Indians, are incomplete, 

 as the Indians destroyed all that was left be- 

 hind. That the Gran Quivira was well known 

 to them, however, is shown by the fact that 

 the most prominent ruin there is that of a 

 church. There is now no water for many 

 miles from the ruins. That there must have 

 been once, can well be granted ; for no large 

 city would have been built by human beings 

 at a distance of fifteen or twenty miles from 

 a scanty water-supply. The valley may be 

 named from this city, and would then be the 

 Gran Quivira valley. 



About half-way down the valley it is broken 



by a long, narrow, thin layer of lava, now 

 much broken up, and making a desolate region, 

 locally khown as the Mal-pais, or ' bad land.* 

 The crater from which the lava was derived 

 was near the northern end of the Mal-pais. 

 Just above the Mal-pais an old river-bed is 

 reached at the depth of about two hundred 

 and fifty feet: below it, the river-bed, when 

 found, is at a slight depth. South-west of 

 the Apache reservation the old river-bed runs 

 into a large salt-marsh. 



A stream of no mean size seems to have 

 once run down this valley. Not only has it 

 now disappeared, but its bed is covered by 

 lava and loose soil sometimes to great depths. 

 As to the cause of the disappearance, it may 

 have some connection with a tradition of the 

 Indians which tells of a year of fire, when this 

 valley was so filled with flames and. poisonous 

 gases as to be made uninhabitable. When this 

 occurred, the chronology of the Indians is not 

 perfect enough to tell us. That it was long 

 ago, is attested by the depth to which the old 

 bed is covered by detritus, probably washed 

 down from the mountains, and by trees of con- 

 siderable size which are found in some places 

 in it. But that it was not so extremely long 

 ago that it had become entirely uninhabitable, 

 is made probable by the comparatively late 

 desertion of the Gran Quivira. It is entirely 

 possible that the Indian year of fire may have 

 long preceded the drying-up of the part of the 

 valley in which Gran Quivira was situated. 



M. W. Harrington. 



ZUNIAN CONCEPTIONS OF ANIMAL 

 FORMS AS SHOWN IN POTTERY. 



Several months ago I visited the Pueblo of 

 the Zuiiis, and while there enjoyed the oppor- 

 tunity of watching a group of five or six Zuiii 

 women painting some of their pottery. 



To show the degree of merit of the Zunis in 

 their copies of animal forms, one needs no 

 better illustration than their attempts to repro- 

 duce the figure of the owl. It is probable that 

 the species of this bird they have used as their 

 model, from time immemorial, is Bubo virgini- 

 anus, the great American horned owl. All 

 the Zunian clay effigies of owls have horns 

 on their heads ; and Bubo virginianus is not 

 only the most common owl in the region, but 

 the only one that is thus conspicuously tufted, 

 being characterized by a prominent pair of 

 feather-horns. 



