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Show 21 labor, and mast owe its completion to strong arid enduring motives. With a very few exceptions the engraving bears undoubted evidence of age. Such new figures as occur are quite easily distinguished, both by the freshness of the chipped surfaces and by the designs themselves. Figure 11 gives a specimen of the modern work; it is evidently intended to represent a horse, and is done in the manner of the Navajoes. It will readily be seen that among all the figures given of the ancient work there is no animal that resembles a horse, and we can hardly sap-pose tfrat artists who could so cleverly delineate birds and deer and men, would fail in an attempt to represent an animal of so marked a character. The carious designs given in figure 10 have a very perceptible resemblance to many of the figures used in the embellishment of pottery. The most striking group observed is given in figure 1, Plate XII. It consists of a great procession of men, birds, beasts, and fanciful figures. The whole picture as placed upon the rock is highly spirited, and the idea of a general movement toward the right, skillfully portrayed. A pair of winged figures hover above the train as'if to watch or direct its movements; behind these are a number of odd figttrcs, followed by au antlered animal resembling a deer, which seems to be drawing a notched sledge containing two figures of men. The figures forming the main body of the procession appear to be tied together in a continuous line, sod in form resemble one living creature about as little as another. Many of the smaller figures above and below are certainly intended to represent dogs, while a number of men are stationed about, here and there, as if to keep the procession in order. As to the importance of the event recorded in this picture no conclusions can be drawn; it may represent the migration of a tribe or family wthe trophies of a victory. A number of figures are wanting in the drawing at the left, while some of those at the right may not belong properly to the main group. The reduction is, approximately, to one-twelfth. Figures 2 and 3 of the same plate represent only the more distinct portions of two other groups. The complication of figures is so great that a nomber of hours would have been necessary for their delineation, & nd an attempt to analyze them here would be fruitless. PLATE XIH- POTTERY. It is generally conceded that the ancient tribes of the San Juan produced fictile fabrics superior to those of the town building tribes of to- day. There is, however, great similarity between the ancieut and modern work, both in material and execution, and the differences are not greater than could be expected in the manufactures of the same tribe at periods separated by two or three centuries of degeneration. The study of the fragmentary ware found about the ruins is very interesting, and its immense quantity is a constant matter of wonder. On one occasion, while encamped near the foot of the Mancos Canon, I undertook to collect all fragments of vessels of manifestly different designs within a certain space, and by selecting pieces having peculiarly marked rims I was able to say with certainty that within ten feet square there were fragments of fifty- five different vessels. In shape these vessels have been so varied that few forms known to civilized art coold not be found. Fragments of bowls, cups, jugs, pitchers, urns, and vase^ in infinite variety may be obtained in nearly every heap of dibris. The art of ornamentation seems to have been especially cultivated, as |
