cloak of cotton cloth (manta) painted to resemble the colouring of
the animal. This covered his body, arms, and legs. On his head he
placed the antlers of a stag, and by creeping on all fours he could
approach the antelopes quite closely and thus successfully shoot
them. The Apaches, according to the Mexicans, were experts at hunting
antelopes in this manner.

We excavated a mound near Old Juarez and found in it a small basin of
black ware. There were twelve or fifteen other mounds, all containing
house groups. The largest among them was 100 feet long, fifty feet
wide, and ten feet high; others, while covering about the same space,
were only three or four to six feet high. They were surrounded,
in an irregular way, by numerous stone heaps, some quite small,
others large and rectangular, inclosing a space thirty by ten feet.

From an archæological point of view, the district we now found
ourselves in is exceedingly rich, and I determined to explore it as
thoroughly as circumstances permitted. One can easily count, in the
vicinity of San Diego, over fifty mounds, and there are also rock
carvings and paintings in various places. Some twenty miles further
south there are communal cave-dwellings, resembling those in Cave
Valley, which were examined by members of the expedition at the San
Miguel River, about eight miles above the point at which the river
enters the plains. Inside of one large cave numerous houses were
found. They had all been destroyed, yet it was plainly evident that
some of them had originally been three stories high.

But the centre of interest is Casas Grandes, the famous ruin situated
about a mile south of the town which took its name, and we soon went
over to investigate it.