he creek-bed. Upon reaching the
creek, the road divides,--one branch crossing over directly to the west,
and the other proceeding along the arroyo about 200 m.--630 ft.--to the
south ere it turns across. The main military line of travel intersects
there-about the one to the Pecos River, and thence, striking almost due
south, forms a very acute angle with the creek. In this angle ledges of
rock protrude, sheltered by a fine group of cedar-shrubs; and here, in
what may be termed a snug little corner, the rocks bear some Indian
carvings.

Expecting daily a supply of paper for "squeezes," I have until now
deferred taking any exact copies of these vestiges. Therefore this
report contains but superficial notice of them. It would have been
useless labor to make sketches and take measurements when I knew that,
within the period of time I shall spend in New Mexico, I should
certainly be able to secure fac-similes. The carvings are certainly old;
they are much worn, and represent mainly so-called footprints (of adults
as well as of children), turkey tracks, a human form, and a circle
formed by small cup-shaped holes, of the patterns about which I hope
that my friend Professor C. C. Rau, of Washington, will by this time
have finished his elaborate and very interesting work. The human figure
is as rude and childlike an effort as any represented on the plates
accompanying the reports of General Simpson and of my friend Mr. W. H.
Holmes; the footmarks are fair, and the circle is rather perfect.
Something like a "diamond" appears within its periphery, but I am not
yet quite certain whether it is a carving or the result of decay. Some
of the tracks seem to point to the high mesa, others to the north.[126]
By the side of these original efforts there are recent additions,
destined, perhaps, to become at some future time as successful
archaeological frauds as many of the most interesting products of
excavation in the States of Ohio and Iowa. About the sculptured stones I
again met with fragments of painted pottery. Still further down, on the
east bank of the Arroyo de Pecos, about a mile from the church in a
southerly direction, and on a low promontory of red clay jutting out
into the creek-bed, there are vestiges of other ruins,--a low, flat
mound covered with stones. I saw no pottery about it.

Directly opposite the sculptured rocks, on the other bank of the arroyo
to the west, the cliffs of clay bordering it form a huge cauldron, out