nde Valley were collected.
From San Juan we proceeded to Santa Clara, situated a few miles below
on the right bank of the Rio Grande. This pueblo proved to be so
interesting in its surroundings that some time was spent here in
making investigations. We found the people extensively engaged in the
manufacture of that black polished pottery of which so little has been
known heretofore, especially in regard to the process of baking and
coloring it, which is fully described in the text accompanying the
catalogue of last year in this volume. The larger portion of the
specimens of earthenware obtained here was of this kind, though several
specimens of the red and some few of the ornamented class were also
secured.
Most of the pottery manufactured at this village is the black polished
ware. That of the decorated class is ornamented with the juice of
_Cleome integrifolia_, which is fixed in the ware in the process of
burning. Mineral substances, so far as I could learn, are not used by
the Indians of Santa Clara in decorating their pottery.
Among the specimens are a number of interesting stone implements, nearly
all of an older kind than any made by this people at the present day.
During our stay at this pueblo some interesting archaeological
discoveries were made of which a brief mention in this connection may
not be out of place, and which will certainly prove of great interest
to future investigators. Between the Rio Grande and Valle Mountains,
commencing about 12 miles below, or south, of Santa Clara, and extending
south, to within ten miles of Cochiti, a distance of about 65 miles,
is an extensive area, the intermediate elevated portion of which
is composed of a yellowish volcanic tufa, of coarse texture and
sufficiently soft and yielding to be readily worked or carved with rude
stone implements. Over this entire area there are irregular elevations,
somewhat circular in outline, from 50 to 200 feet in height, the faces
of which have been worn away by the elements, and are in nearly all
instances perpendicular. These consecutive elevations extend back from
the Rio Grande from five to fifteen miles. Over this whole expanse of
country, in the faces of these cliffs, we found an immense number of
cavate dwellings, cut out by the hand of man. We made no attempt to
count the number of these curious dwellings, dug like hermit cells out
of the rock, but they may be estimated with safety among the thousands.
I made many inqui
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