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Show 62 now. If we were to take the pattern of the primitive ornaments as a criterion- which is, however, not permissible, as certain figures are found in all part< s of our planet, wherever people are far enough advanced to invent and to use ornaments- we would meet with the same designs in both instances, only that in the majority of cases the ancient ornamentation is more careful, and exhibits besides more artistic feeling on the part of the workman than that of the modern. The most striking peculiarity of a large number of fragments of pottery found near the ruins, and hitherto never noticed in America, is the existence of a regular glazing of great hardness. How this glazing was produced cannot be ascertained without considerable difficulty. In some instance*), it is rather opaque, whitish, and covers the surface of the fragment in a thick layer, while in others it is perfectly transparent or shows a slight bluish hue. The colors used iu painting the pottery are the same as now, namely, a reddish- brown, brown, and black; the former being produced by iron and manganese, the latter consisting of an organic substance, the character of which could not be determined. Until we shall have some accurate analysis, which will be rather difficult to make, we may perhaps call this organic substance charcoal, mixed intimately with fine clay before it was used for painting, and prevented by the silicious cover from being destroyed by the heat while the vessel was being baked. A closer examination of the different pat- * terns demonstrates that the paiuting was done in a very careful, in some instances hesitating, manner, and it seems that a great deal of time was devoted to this process. There are several fragments on which we may easily recognize the method followed by the artist, and notice how be drey his outlines and how he afterward painted the rest of the square or triaugle. The facts bearing upon the probable age of the human remains are rather contradictory, and it is difficult to make them agree and to draw some satisfactory conclusions. Evidently, the buildings near which they were found represent different ages of perhaps considerable periods of time. How far back the earliest ones may date can scarcely be surmised, but there are some instances, resting however on rather unsatisfactory bases, that might give us some clew as to the approximate time the buildings were abandoned. Mr. Jackson states that he noticed several places that appeared to have been used as corrals, and from Dr. Eq'dlich I learn that he discovered a stratum ten feet below the surface of the soil, containing, besides fragments of pottery, numerous bones of sheep. Now, nothing would be more tempting than to combine these two facts, and to conclude that the people in question domesticated sheep, which could not have been done during the pre- Columbian period, as this animal does not belong to the American fauna. Among a collection of arrow- heads and minor stone chips, I noticed a glass bead, which is, beyond doubt, of Venetian workmanship, and very similar to beads exhumed lately from the grave- mounds at Santa Barbara, Lower California, and preserved at the National Museum. If tbe bead in question did not find its way accidentally to the ruins through some Indian of a later period, we might consider it as a proof iu favor of our view; but at the same time we must not forget that no trace of any metal was found in the graves, as we might have reasonably expected, since the cliff- house builders communicated directly or indirectly with the inhabitants of the Pacific coast. This latter fact is supported by the presence of a considerable quantity of shells of Olivella gracilis |
