Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-11-21

so easily determined, but on Stats found
In ruins south of the Salt River are
splendid figures of IIamas now bred only
in Central and South America, and used
as beasts of burden there. These pens
might have been for the purpose of Sc
curing herds of sheep and without the
Stats on which the figures cannot be mis-
taken. one would be inclined to the opin-
ion that they were intended for sheep
or goats
In the ruins that have best withstood
the exposure of ages many interesting
specimens of the ceramic art have been
found. Ollas of all shapes and sizes,
urns containing the ashes of the dead
which were either placed in mausoleums
or kept in the houses of friends and Jars
partly filled with parched corn and beans,
were found in a remarkable state of
preservation.
Evidences of a Flood.
1t seems as IL the entire region had
been swept by n flood, or that the cities
were shaken by some terrible earthquake
and toppled into a thousand fragments,
giving the inhabitants barely time to es-
cape. Few of the skeletons that the
amateur diggers in the ruins have taken
out show signs of mutiaton or have
broken bones.
The largest Of these cities, the amateur
archaeologists of Arizona and California
have named Los Muertos-the dead city
The ruined walls protrudng through the
soil may be traced for three miles down
the valley. The outlines of the buried
city show that it was almost square.
Several streets are clearly traced by the
bits of walls still above the earth and
these show that the streets were very
narrow but regular-in which they differ
from the ancient Mexican pueblos of the
Southwest. Here and there were evil
t,ln or
unusual thickness of the ruined walls
shows that the buildings facing these
plazas were the biggest in the COM
munity-probably fortifcations or tenn
pies or meeting halls, several stories
high.
The ruin of a wall twelve feet thick
may be followed all about the city. In
some places 1t is two feet above the
earth, and In a few places the wall has
disappeared When Mr.. Cushing ex-
plored It. he found where the ruins
showed that enormous towers had been
built upon the walls, probably for pur-
poses of defence. Stone implements
of warfare are frequently unearthed
One of these articles found in great num-
bers is battle-axe of polished granite
and weighing from five to twenty pounds
| There Is also a peculiar sling found oc-
casionally in the dry sand. Long spears
of ironwood. wood indigenous to the arid
regions. tipped with flint-heads have been
found in Los Muertos by the dozen The
aborgines there evidently had not
reached the bow-and-arrow period.
Whoever the mysterious and wonderful
people who lived at Los Muertos may
have been, they belonged strictly to the
stone age. for not a bit of metal has
ever been dug up in the ruins The
little ornaments and gew-gaws that the
Indian mothers loved to wear and bedeck
their infants with were invariably bright
shells brought from the sea, or polished
stones of varied colors. Large quanti-
ties of these are found. such as turquois-
es, ruby, mother-of-pearl in the shape of
neck amulets or wristlets.
The extensive irrigating bitches were
dug with stone Implements, and the huge
rafters of the lofty buildings were worn
! OFF with the same rude TOOLS 1t must
have taken years of incessant toll and
patience beyond that of modern men to
complete the work these people accom-
plished with the crude means at hand
That they were a pastoral folk is GER
tain. In their fields grew the pumpkin
cotton, flax, tobacco. a species of potato
barley, and corn. OF domesticated ami
mails they had the COW. sheep, dog, and
turkey. They were not given much to
carnivorousness. The meal of their corn
or barley the wild acorn was more
toothsome, baked into cakes, than the
flesh of animals. 1t is not positively
known that they ate meat at all. The
Yuma Indians of this day are very care
full about eating flesh. They believe in
the TRANSPORTATION of souls into the ami
mails about them. No evidence has been
found that they lived upon other foods
than cereals. oysters. fish. and fruits
HELEN T. RISWOLD.