SOME RUINS ALONG THE TAPASITA. 59 
not accord with this general fact, and 
have led some to believe that this race 
was destroyed by an earthquake or other 
violent action of nature. 
I had a long talk with Mr. Davis, 
superintendent of the Corralitos Com¬ 
pany, who has made a study of these 
ancient ruins from having them almost 
forced upon his attention. That gentle¬ 
man not only believes they were cut off 
by a violent earthquake, as I have sug¬ 
gested, but that this great cataclysm 
caught them at their evening meal. He 
infers the latter fact from a consideration 
of the customs of the present almost pure- 
blooded Indians here, who must have 
descended from the older race, although, 
singularly enough, knowing nothing of 
their ancient progenitors. The evening 
meal is the only occasion when they are 
