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Show 584 Ex. Doc. No. 41. ave this country a form, ~orne ~ephistic subs!ance wa~ produced ~ t't' t 's>n the sod for veg~tat10n. Th1s creosote 1n quan 1 1es o po1 \ . . lant shows something; and a shower of ra1n whtch fe 11 u17on us, ilthou<rh very slight made the atmosphflre smell of some vde gas . Oppos~te our journe;, th<' BlaC'k and lllu~ rivt•rs comc.on tbe northeastwardly; the Black cour~c:; outh, w1th a branch m the mountains called Bonita; the cour!;e of the Blue southe~st: th<'y head in the mountains north of the Gila, and m~y be 60 mdes long; they come into the Gila about six and a half mdcs apart. Near ou1: camp a small stream called th' St. Charles c~me. in; all !hrce of tl~l'se streams flow through canons. The dduv10n here ts very tlnck, an tl 0 f a r 0 c k y nat u r <' , which , wit h the bas a I t, m a 1~ e t h e w a 11 s . of the canon vertical. Near our camp are o 1 d hor~e s1 gns and t ra tl s, and old Indian wigwams of wdlows about 5 feet high, and covered with willows and gr~ss. Near where we left the Gila to-clay was the ru1ns of. two ancient houses, shown only by the foundation stones and the pteces of pottery. If I only had one of the younf ones that haJ been hoxed on the ears for some of the breakages . October 27.-Laid in .amp on account of the fatigue of Y.eslerday to the animals and to get up the howitzers; ne~r camp 1s an old ruin; the foun~lation of the building is as those gtven above; some quantities of broken pieces of pottery were lying about it; I got two men and some spades, and llug about it, in hopes of finding something, but found nothing but pottery; it appeared to be very ancient. October 28.-Marchecl at a quarter before 8; after coming two or three miles, we found the remains of an old settlement, the foundations of the houses covering a larger space than those before seen, but the plan of the houses only to be discovered by the rows of round stones; abundance of pottery; the place was overgrown with mesquite and chimezo; the rooms from 12 to 20 feet in dimensions; about 6 miles from camp, were other houses, the rooms of which- I y I Ex. Doc. No. 41. 585 some of them-appeared to have been round; a little 'further, and there was a circle of stones 90 pace in diameter, with an opening to the ea. t, with the r<!·ma ins of a house ne<tr the centre, and some foundations outside; there were no remains of wood; a mile further , and r mains of very exte nsive bui ldings were to bP sern; the rooms-·som e of them-n p p P a reel to lt ave been 40 by 50 feet; and, from the greater quantity of rubbish, the hou es must have been much larger; the pottery abundant; pieces marked thns. Further on , we c a m e t o a 1 a r g p 1 a in at t h e J u tl<: t i o n of a c r e e k w h i c h com e s from the southeast; arul here was found the remainf> of the most extensive settlement; the most of the house h;Hl cedar posts in a state of decay, standing in the ground; a nunpart had been raised in a circle of over 300 yards, and on parts of it, houses had been made; in the middle was a hole with three entra nces or slopes down to the bottom of it; probably an old well filled up, as the surface was probably not over 15 feet above the level of the river; pottery very abundant; our ro ad lay along the course of the Gi1:a, which we eros ed several tim es; the road was very du ·ty , ·o that our mules dug great holes as they stepped along, one after the other; t he tracks of a Mexican cannon were plain to be seen on the trail we were following; some expedition la t spring, probably against the Apaches, to the southeast; we can see a level c.ountry passing s outh of the Devil's turnpike; the creek coming from that direction can probably afford water; south of southwest of our camp is a high mountain, about five miles off, the top covered with trees; around the southeast base of this is a broad trail leading towards Sonora, where the Apaches go to steal; it l eads across to the head of ~an Pedro. Our route showed the action of fir e in the bottoms, wh1ch, in many places, had swept tl1e growth of veg tation o ff, for years of what the earth had attempted to c lothe h e rself with; the soil is so light, that fire kills the root , as well as t.he tops of the trees; mesquite is abundant on the bottoms· and here it is a large tree , two feet in diameter, but not I oft y; 'grass was scarce on our pa tl1 , so that WP had no place to camp except here ; the grass coarse, and of |