My Mexicans from Sonora called it olla, a jar, and insisted that it was a vessel used for keeping water; but this is entirely improbable, for several reasons, mainly because the river is in close proximity and easy of access.  It was without the slightest doubt a granary.  Similar structures, used for that purpose to the present day, may be seen in the States of Vera Cruz and Tlaxcala.  In a cave only a short distance away, the rear portion of which also contained a group of houses, we found between the mouth of the cave and the house walls the remains of five of these peculiar buildings which I call granaries.  They, too, were made of straw and plaster, similar to the one described, but the walls here were only two inches thick.  The remains showed that they had not been set up in any special arrangement, nor were all five alike.  Two of them were deeply sunken into the floor of the cave, and inside of them we found, between the rubbish and debris that filled them, several grains of corn and some beans.

The other caves which we examined in this valley were of the same general character as these two, although we found no granaries in them.  On this page is shown the ground plan of a cave on the east side of the river, and attention is drawn to the singular concrete seats or blocks against the wall in the house on the west side of the cave.  A floor of concrete had been made in this cave extending inward and fairly level.

Evidence of two-storeyed groups of houses was clearly noticeable in many caves; but our investigations were somewhat impeded by the destruction wrought by some Mormon relic-hunter, who had carried off almost everything removable.  He had even taken away many of the door lintels and hand-grips, in fact, most of the woodwork, from the houses.

In the rear of some of the caves it was so dark that we had to light a candle to find our way, crawling from house to house.  In one instance we found a stone stairway of three steps.

In spite of the tremendous dust which is raised by digging into the ground, and which makes the work very arduous, we searched diligently and succeeded in bringing to light a number of objects which fairly welt illustrate the culture of the ancient people.  Among them were needles and awls of bone; a complete fire drill with a stick showing drilling, basketry work covered with pinon pith mats and girdles, threads of fibre or hair, and sandals plaited of yucca leaves.  Wads of cotton and pieces of pottery were found in many places; and an interesting find was a “boomerang” similar to that used to this day by the Moqui Indians for killing rabbits.  The handle is plainly seen, but the top is broken.  The implement, which is made of very hard, reddish wood, has but a slight curve.  We discovered many smooth pieces of iron ore that had probably been used for ceremonial purposes, and a bow that had been hidden away on a ledge.

That the ancient cave-dwellers were agriculturists is evident from the numerous corncobs, as well as grains of corn and beans, that we came upon.  Datems, a green, sweet fruit still eaten by the Mexicans, were identified everywhere in the cave-dwellings.