he mounds which are met with everywhere
prove that this was already the case in ancient times. In fact,
mounds, in groups or isolated, are numerous as far north as Ascension.

How richly the apparently poor soil repays the labour which man
expends on it may be seen in the flourishing colony the Mormons have
here. Wherever they go, the Mormons transform waste land into scenes
of prosperity, so much so that the Mexicans attribute the success of
these indefatigable developers to a gold mine, which they are supposed
to work secretly at night.

As I found it imperative to return to the United States in the interest
of the expedition, I considered it expedient to reduce my scientific
corps to three. My camp at San Diego I left in charge of Mr. H. White,
who later on was relieved by Mr. C. V. Hartman. During my absence
they conducted excavations of the mounds along the southern bank of
the Piedras Verdes River, near its junction with San Miguel River,
and in convenient neighbourhood to the camp. Neither the mounds
themselves nor the houses inside of them differ much from those
already described on the upper part of the river, except that some
of the mounds here were somewhat larger. Judging from the beams
left, they probably contained a few three-story houses. However, in
either locality most of the mound houses were only one story high,
and where second or third stories were indicated, they were never
found intact. In neither place were circular houses observed. The
mounds here were located on a rich, alluvial clay soil.

Here, as on the upper part of the river, the treasures we secured
were taken from underneath the floors of the houses, where they
had been buried with the dead. Here, as there, they consisted of
beautifully decorated earthenware jars and bowls, some of them in
bizarre representations of animal and human forms, besides stone
implements, shell beads, pieces of pyrites and turquoise, all being
generally unearthed intact.

The things were found alongside of skeletons, which were huddled
together in groups of from two to five in one of the corners. The
jars, bowls, etc., had generally been deposited close to the body,
as a rule near the head. The skulls of the skeletons were mostly
crushed, and crumbled to dust when exposed to the air. There was no
trace of charring on the bones, although in some cases charcoal was
found close to the skeletons.

To excavate such mounds is slow and tedious work, requiring mu