that of a mother holding a child in her arms, and two other bodies,
all lying on their left sides, their knees half drawn up, and their
faces turned toward the setting sun. All were in a marvellous state
of preservation, owing to the presence of saltpetre in the dust. This
imparted to the dead a mummy-like appearance, but there was nothing
to suggest that embalming or other artificial means of preservation
of the bodies had been used. The entire system was simply desiccated
intact, merely shrunken, with the skin on most of the bodies almost
unbroken. The features, and even the expression of the countenance,
were in many cases quite distinct. Some had retained their eyebrows and
part of their hair, and even their intestines had not all disappeared.

The hair of these people was very slightly wavy, and softer than
that of the modern Indian; in fact, almost silky. The statures were
quite low, and in general appearance these ancients bear a curious
resemblance to the Moqui Indians, who have a tradition that their
ancestors came from the south, and who, to this day, speak of their
"southern brethren"; but it would be very rash to conclude from
this that the cave-dwellers of northwestern Chihuahua are identical
with the Moqui ancestors. I afterwards brought to light several
other bodies which had been interred under similar conditions. The
bottom of the burial caves seems to have always been overlaid with
a roughly level, concrete floor. There was no trace here of cysts,
or other formal sepulture.

None of the remains wore ornaments of metal, but various shell
ornaments, anklets and bracelets of beautifully plaited straw, which,
however, crumbled into dust when touched. Their clothing consisted of
three layers of wrappings around the loins. Next to the body was placed
a coarse cotton cloth; then a piece of matting, and over that another