October
8 [1851]. Camp No. 14. -- ...Leaving the river then, we
passed along the base of high table lands, the lava sand lying
several inches deep upon the ground, filling up the hollows, and
forming ridges across the plain; and, ascending the plateau,
found it also covered with the lava detritus, and all the
prominent points occupied by the ruins of stone houses of
considerable size, and in some instances of three stories in
height. They are evidently the remains of a large town, as they
occurred at intervals for an extent of eight or nine miles, and
the ground was thickly strewed with fragments of pottery in all
directions. The fact that no vestige of water could be
discovered in the vicinity sufficiently accounts for their
present depopulation. The encroachment of the lava-sand blown
down from the adjacent mountains may have gradually filled up
the springs and water-courses; it is certain, at any rate, that
the heaviest rains would now be rapidly absorbed by it, and
after a day or two leave no trace of water upon the surface.
The
houses resemble in all respects (except that adobes do
not appear to have been at all used in their construction) those
of the existing pueblos in New Mexico; and the pottery, of a
great variety of fabric and pattern, is similar to that now in
use among them.
