appearance, but there was nothing to suggest that embalming or other artificial means of preservation of the bodies had been used.  The entire system was simply desiccated intact, merely shrunken, with the skin on most of the bodies almost unbroken.  The features, and even the expression of the countenance, were in many cases quite distinct.  Some had retained their eyebrows and part of their hair, and even their intestines had not all disappeared.

The hair of these people was very slightly wavy, and softer than that of the modern Indian; in fact, almost silky.  The statures were quite low, and in general appearance these ancients bear a curious resemblance to the Moqui Indians, who have a tradition that their ancestors came from the south, and who, to this day, speak of their “southern brethren”; but it would be very rash to conclude from this that the cave-dwellers of northwestern Chihuahua are identical with the Moqui ancestors.  I afterwards brought to light several other bodies which had been interred under similar conditions.  The bottom of the burial caves seems to have always been overlaid with a roughly level, concrete floor.  There was no trace here of cysts, or other formal sepulture.

None of the remains wore ornaments of metal, but various shell ornaments, anklets and bracelets of beautifully plaited straw, which, however, crumbled into dust when touched.  Their clothing consisted of three layers of wrappings around the loins.  Next to the body was placed a coarse cotton cloth; then a piece of matting, and over that another cotton cloth.  Between the legs was a large wad of cotton mixed with the feathers of the turkey, the large woodpecker, and the bluejay.  In a few instances, the cotton cloth was dyed red or indigo.  Near the head of each body stood a small earthenware jar of simple design; in some cases we also found drinking gourds placed at the head, though in one instance the latter had been put on the breast of the dead.  Buried with the person we found a bundle of “devil’s claws” (Martynia).  These are used by the Mexicans of to-day for mending pottery.  They drill holes through the fragments to be joined and pass into them one of these claws, just as we would a rivet.  The claw is elastic and strong, and answers the purpose very well.  My Mexicans understood at once to what use they had been put.

As already alluded to, trincheras were also found in Cave Valley, where they were quite numerous.  There was one or more in every ravine and gully, and what was a new feature, some were built across shallow drainages on the very summit of a hill.  This summit was a bald conglomerate, about 150 feet above the valley.  In one place we observed eight trincheras within 150 feet of each other, all built of large stones in the cyclopean style of masonry.  The blocks were lava and hard felsite, measuring one and a half to three feet.  As a rule, these trincheras had a lateral extent of thirty feet, and in the central