y of Casas
Grandes. After bidding him good-bye, I made an excursion of a week's
duration to the north of our camp, to look for possible antiquities,
especially a _casa blanca_, of which I had heard considerable from
the people in Nacori.

The woods, considering that it was midwinter, were quite lively
with birds. Everywhere I saw bluejays; crested titmice, too, were
plentiful, as well as crossbeaks. A large yellowish squirrel also
attracted my attention. It was of the same kind as that recently found
by our expedition. The country was hilly and full of small canons,
and well watered by springs. Outcroppings of solidified volcanic
ash looked in the distance like white patches in the landscape. We
searched diligently for some twenty-five miles to the north of the
main camp, and also toward the east and west, but no trace of former
habitation was found except trincheras and house ruins such as we had
seen before. Near one of the group of houses I saw three metates in
an excellent state of preservation.

While out on this trip I was one day surprised by the appearance of
a Mormon in my camp. It was really a pleasure to see someone from
the outside world again; and this was a frank and intelligent man,
very pleasant to talk to. He told me that he had never been farther
north than where he was now; nor had he ever been farther west than
the little creek about two miles west of the place where he met me,
which he called the "Golden Gulch." This creek probably originates
in the mountains near by; there was still another creek west of us
which joined the Golden Gulch near the Mormon's tent, and this he
called "North Creek." The ranch near our main camp he had taken up
only about three years ago, and he considered agriculture in this
region successful, especially with potatoes. Maize, too, may also
ripen. Furthermore, he told me of some interesting cave dwellings
near the Mormon settlement on the eastern edge of the sierra, which
I decided to investigate.

When the Mormons had come to colonise parts of northern Mexico, an
American called "Apache Bill," who had lived for a number of years
with the Apaches, told them of a large, fertile valley showing many
evidences of former cultivation. Probably he referred to a locality
that had once been inhabited by a remnant of the Opata Indians,
who had become christianised and had received fruit trees from the
missionaries. The trees, when found, were said to be still bearing
fruit, wh