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by some white people. As they grow in places not contiguous to water, the moist leaves are used to quench thirst.

Aphyllon californicum and A. ludovicianum, are parasitic plants that grow upon the roots of many species. All the plant except the bloom grows under ground, and consequently is nearly all very white and succulent. The Pah-Utes consume great numbers of them in summer while on their hunting excursions after rabbits. Being succulent they answer for food and drink on these sandy plains, and, indeed, are often called "sand-food."

Hemizonia fasciculata, Tar-weed-This plant in case of hunger is eaten by the Indians of Southern California after being cooked in the following manner: A quantity of the plants are boiled down until the liquid is of a thick tarry consistency, when it is ready for the stomach of the Indian. Its tar-like taste is objected to by some. A youthful brave was very careful to inform me that young Indians never eat that stuff. If the procuring and cooking of the same depended upon the young Indians (males), they would go hungry a long time, for their laziness scarcely stimulates them to collect food; even if hungry they expect everything to be done by the older females.

Madaria elegans.-The seeds of this species of tar-weed are ground into flour, made into thin cakes, and baked in hot,ashes by the California Indians. When cooked the bread has a gray but not very inviting look, yet the Indian eats it without complaint though he prefers corn bread.

Arundo phragmitis, a species of cane growing along water courses and about springs in Southern Utah. Numerous small insects puncture the leaves of this plant and a liquid exudes. While in a soft state it is scraped off by the Indians with their long finger nails and eaten. At first it has a paste-like softness, but hardens like gum arabic, with a sugar candy density and color, having a rather sweet, gummy, licorice taste. When the exudations are sufficiently hardened the cane is cut and laid in bundles on blankets, the manna-like food is then easily shaken off. This substance if mixed with water forms a pleasant, nutritious drink, highly prized by the Indians who call it Pah-gumppea-abbah.

Honey. Since the introduction of bees to the Pacific coast the Indians have acquired a taste for honey. The climate being mild the bees increase rapidly and many swarms yearly escape to trees

and rocks, thus giving the Indian a chance to obtain the honey. Some California Indians have domesticated the wild bees. In Southern California the Indians cut down the trees containing bees, put them in a sack, carry away the honey to eat and sell the bees for one dollar a swarm, the purchaser taking all risks of getting a queen. Bees in a sack, for sale by an Indian, are surely a novel article of trade.

[To be Concluded.]

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THE ANCIENT PUEBLOS, OR THE RUINS OF THE VALLEY OF THE RIO SAN JUAN.

A

BY EDWIN A. BARBER.

PART II.

MOST peculiar style of architecture prevails in the Montezuma cañon, in south-eastern Utah, which is entirely dif ferent from anything that occurs elsewhere. For instance, on a little island-plateau, rising from the middle of the valley to a height of forty feet, are the walls of a considerable edifice. Long narrow stones, measuring from four to seven feet in length and a foot or so in their other dimensions, have been set up like posts in a fence, standing at different distances apart, from two to ten feet. Between these the spaces have been filled in after the usual style of masonry. Some of the slabs are now standing at an inclination of several degrees, having been pushed outward by the accumulating debris inside. These are imbedded in the earth only to a depth of a few inches or a foot (See fig. 1, plate v., also fig. 1, plate vi).

Further down the cañon a somewhat similar ruin may be seen. Along the eastern side of a great parallelogram stand seven of these upright stones, some of them measuring, above the surface. of the soil, nine feet. In their general appearance they somewhat resemble the dolmens or sacred stones of the Eastern Hemisphere, but evidently they had not been used for religious purposes. They had been built in the walls like pillars for the purpose of strengthening the original structures (See fig. 2, plate v).

The remaining figure on this plate (3), represents a group of

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ancient Pueblo graves, marked off by stones set on edge in the earth.

In one of the side cañons, near an isolated group of mountains, in south-eastern Utah, called on the map the Sierra Abajo, some diminutive store-houses or caches are perched in the bluffs, between the layers of rocks. They are supposed to have once been used for the storage of supplies, as their small size precludes all possibility of their ever having been occupied as places of abode. They have been made to resemble the surrounding rock-formation so closely that only the sharpest eyes can detect them, and then only when in the closest proximity. Nothing can now be discovered in them save the mouldering bones and debris of small animals, and in some instances traces of fire. If their builders left anything when they departed, all such objects have been removed by the vandal Indians who still infest the country.1

In passing down the valley of the Rio San Juan, some miles below the mouth of Montezuma cañon, a most interesting structure may be observed on the south bank of the river. This is a long, narrow building, extending around the back of a hemispherical cave, two hundred feet in diameter. The house consists of a number of rooms arranged around the arc of the semicircumference of the cavern, and the walls in some places still attain the height of two stories, which, together, measure about twelve feet. Above the masonry, on the sand-stone walls, many pictures or outlines of human hands had been painted. These were accomplished by placing hands against the rock and spattering mud around them. This was evidently done by the laborers in idle moments as they rested from their work. In one of the small compartments, a circular fire-place, two and a half feet in diameter, had been cut in the stone floor. In an open space separating two of the rooms, four post holes had been drilled in the rock, in which, doubtless, the looms of the inhabitants had been placed (See fig. 3, plate vi). Many fragments and impressions of corn-cobs were observed in the mortar, and cedar twigs, bent in the form of loops, were still protruding from the external walls, from which, formerly, water-vessels and other utensils might have been suspended. The windows of the house were small apertures about eighteen inches square, while there were 1 Vide "American Antiquarian," Vol. i, No. 1.

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