The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-09-14

corning the characteristics of the alb
| origines and the religious and social clas-
ses among them. Hundreds Of skeletons
have been recovered. The people were
small in stature and their skulls were
| broader than those Of the Aztecs and
Peruvians. To secure the Liberation OF
the soul after death the body was burned
| and the ashes were inclosed in an urn
placed ar the foot OF the pyral mound.
| Priests and warriors of distinguished
prowess were not crernated. but were
/ buried IN sepulchres beneath the house
where they died. Recently a relic hunter
urearthed four skeletons of priests. the
bodies were thickIy wrapped in cotton
cloths and over this a thick coating of
adobe was put. When the earth had dried,
i formed an air-tight covering. Then the
| bodies were placed in a shallow grave and
| covered over. Like al sun or nature
worshippers, these people endowed each
object with its spirit counterpart and
either buried or burned the individual
belongings beside the owners body. that
they might accompany him on his spirit
journey.
South of Phoenix, some thirty-eight
OF the ordinary occupations Of the inhabi-
tants. There are the outlines of ruined
corrals or stock-pens, in which domestic
animals were kept. Many finds prove the
purposes for which they were used.
What the animals were is not so easily
determined, but on states found in the
ruins south of the Salt river are splendid
figures of namas, now bred only in
Central and South America and used as
beasts Of burden there. These pens
might have been for the purpose Of secur-
ing herds Of sheep; and without the
states, on which the figures cannot be
mistaken, one would be inclined to the
opinion that they were intended for
Sleeps or goats.
In the ruins that have best withstoOd
the exposure of ages, many interesting
specimens Of the ceramic art have been
found. Olias Of all shapes and sizes, urns
containing the ashes of the dead. which
were either placed in the houses Of
friends and jars. partly filled with
parched corn and beans. were found in a
remarkable state of preservation.
It seems as if the entire region had been
swept by a flood or that the cities were
toppled into a thousand fragments, giving
the inhabitants barely time to escape.
Few Of the skeletons that the amateur
diggers in the ruins have taken out show
signs of multilation or have broken
bones
The largest of these cities, the amateur
archaeoIogists of Arizona and California
have named Los Muertoes-the dead city.
The ruined walls protruding through the
soil may be traced for three miles down
the valley The outlines of the buried
city show that if 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
IDENTIFY plazas or public squares and the
unusual thickness of the ruined build
ings facing these plazss were the biggest
in the ommunity-probably Notifications
or temples or meeting halls, several
stories high.
The ruin of a wall twelve feet thick
may be followed all about the city. In
some places it is two feet above the earth
and in few places the wall has disap-
peared. When Mr. Gushing explored il
he found where the ruins showed that
enormous towers had been built upon
the walls, probably for purposes of
defence. Stone implements Of warfare are
frequently unearthed. One of these
articles found in great numbers is a
battIe-axe of polished granite and weigh
ing from FIVE to twenty pounds. There
is also a peculiar sling found occasion
ally n the dry sand. Long speers of iron
wood wood indigenous to the arid regions
tipped with flint heads have been found
in Los Muertos by the dozen. The alb
origines 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 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 quantities OF these are
found, such as turquOises. 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
of with the same rude tools It must
have taken years of incessant toll and a
patience beyond that of modern men to
complete the work these people accom-
pished with the crude means at hand /
That they were pastoral folk is certain. !
IN their fields grew the pumpkin. cotton
fax. tobacco. a species Of potato, barley
and corn. OF domesticated animals they
had the COW, sheep, dog and turkey.
They were not given much to carni- |
vorousness. The meal of their corn or
barley or the wild acorn was more /
tcothsoome. baked into cakes. than the 1
flesh of animals Ii is not positively !
known that they ate meat at all The (
Yuma Indians OF this day are very care /
ful about eating flesh. They believe in /
the Reconsideration Of souls into the /
animals about them. No evidence has /
been found that they lived upon other /
foods than cereals. oysters. fish and I
fruits.-Helen T. Griswold, in New York I
Evening Post.
STRANGE TALE OF LETTERS.