d been accustomed to receive strangers every day.

Mr. Nelson was quite a charming old man, more than seventy years old,
but hardy. In spite of the cold, he walked out in his shirt sleeves
in the full moonlight to select a camping place for me. The animals,
he suggested, might be left in the field for the night; he would see
about them in the morning, and he did not think there would be any
difficulty about keeping them there. We got a fine camp on top of a
hill with a view of the valley in which the caves are.

Mr. Nelson told us of two interesting caves on this side of the river;
also, that there were numerous "inscriptions" (petroglyphs), that the
country was full of mounds, and that skeletons and mummies had been
found but had been buried again. From his statement it was evident
that we had a rich field before us, and the results of the following
day more than came up to our expectations.

The old man, acting as our guide, showed us on the way to the valley
a primitive kind of corn-mill driven by water power, and with some
pride he pointed out to us an "infant industry," the product of which
so far was a dozen wooden chairs with seats of interwoven strips of
green hide, instead of cane.

A number of caves were found to contain houses. One of them
especially made a great impression on us on account of an extraordinary
cupola-shaped structure, which from a considerable distance sprang into
view from the mouth of the cave. Most of the caves were found on the
western side of the river; but there were also some on the eastern
bank, among them a number of burial caves. In one of the latter a
well-preserved mummy was shown to us. It had already been taken up
two or three times to be looked at; but our guide intimated that the
influential Mormons in Utah did not want to have the skeletons and
caves disturbed. I therefore left it for the present, but thought that
in time we might get this, with whatever others might be found there.

I was introduced to a Mormon in the neighbourhood, who invited me to
excavate a large mound close to his house. He would even help to dig,
he said, and I was free to take whatever I might find inside of it. He
was sure that there would be no difficulty about the mummies I might
want to remove from the burial caves.

Chapter IV

A Splendid Field Prepared for Us by the Ancient Agriculturists
of Cave Valley--House Groups in Caves Along a Pretty
Stream--Well-preserved Mumm