part they were fifteen feet high.  After all the great labour expended in their construction, the builders of these terraces had secured in each only a space thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide; in other words, these eight terraces yielded together barely 3,000 square feet, which means space enough for planting five or six hundred hills of corn.  People who do not know the Indians would consider this too small a result to favour the theory that these terraces were erected for agricultural purposes.  But the Indian’s farming is, in proportion to his wants, conducted on a small scale, and he never thinks of raising more corn than he actually needs; in fact, many tribes, as for instance the Tarahumares, seldom raise enough to last the family all the year through.

Further groups of cave-dwellings were found some ten miles higher up the river, in what is called the “Strawberry Valley,” probably through the prevalence of the strawberry tree, of which several beautiful specimens were seen.  The largest cave there contained fourteen houses.  Unlike the dwellings in the Cave Valley, here a gallery ran in front of the houses.  The woodwork here was fresher than that of the Cave Valley houses, and as the walls had only three coats of plaster and whitewash, and the corners did not show much wear, these dwellings were undoubtedly of more recent origin.  But the general character of the structures was similar to those we first investigated.  No implements were found in these caves.  In the same locality were quite a number of smaller caves containing houses in demolition.  In one of them the walls were composed of stones and mud, and here we also saw the first circular-shaped house in a cave.

By digging below the concrete floor of one of the rooms, we came upon the skeletons of five adults.  This was a singular fact, showing that these ancient cave-dwellers observed the custom of burying their dead under the floors of their houses when conditions permitted it.  Cave-dwellings comprising twenty rooms were also seen by the Mormons at the head of Bavispe River.

My relations with the Mormons continued to be friendly, and in my dealings with them I found them honest and business-like.  While thriftily providing for the material requirements of this life, they leave all their enjoyment of existence for the future state.  Their life is hard, but they live up to their convictions, though these, in some points, date from a by-gone stage in the development of the human race.

They were much interested in our work, never doubting but that it could only be to their advantage to have light thrown upon the mysteries buried in their caves, as, in their opinion, our researches would only confirm the statements made in the “Book of Mormon,” which mentions the prehistoric races of America.  They told me that the book speaks of the arrival of three races in America.  The first landing was made at Guaymas in Sonora, the people being fugitives from the divine wrath that destroyed the Tower of Babel.  They were killed.  The second race landed in New England, coming from Jerusalem; and the third, also coming from Jerusalem, landed in Chile.