360 JANOS TO CORRELITOS, 
ruins, which are very numerous along the margin of 
the Casas Grandes and Janos rivers, for a length of 
twenty leagues and a breadth of ten. Ata short dis- 
tance, he says, they uniformly have the appearance 
of small hills or mounds, and in all that have been 
excavated, there have been found jars (cantaros), 
pitchers, ollas,* etc., of pottery, painted with white, 
blue, and scarlet colors; corn grinders (metates), and 
stone axes, but no instrument of iron. 
The builders of this edifice, and the occupants of 
the rich valley in the vicinity, showed much sagacity 
in their choice of so fine a region for agricultural 
purposes. ‘There is none equal to it from the low lands 
of Texas, near San Antonio, to the fertile valleys of 
California, near Los Angeles; and, with the excep- 
tion of the Rio Grande, there is no river of equal size 
between those of Hastern Texas and the Colorado of 
California. The water, too, is clear and sweet, unlike 
the muddy waters of the Rio Grande, the Pecos, and 
the Colorado, which are charged with vegetable mat- 
ter and earth. 
Many beautiful articles of pottery have from time 
to time been found here, the texture of which is much 
superior to that made at the present day by the Mex- 
icans. This pottery has chiefly a white or a red 
‘ground, ornamented with a variety of angular figures: 
* Ollas (pronounced oyas) are the most common of all the utensils 
of pottery used by the Indians or present Mexicans. They are of various 
capacities, from half a pint to six gallons. Suspended by a cord over 
the fire they are used for cooking in, and are in universal use for carrying 
water. The household utensils of the poorer Mexicans consist entirely 
of an assortment of these useful articles. 
