etimes draw with ochre clumsy figures of animals and women, and
on some rocks may be seen outlines of feet scratched with stone "in
order to leave their imprint in this world when they die." Tarahumare
pottery is exceedingly crude as compared with the work found in the
old cliff-dwellings, and its decoration is infantile as contrasted
with the cliff-dwellers' work. The cliff-dwellers brought the art of
decoration to a comparatively high state, as shown in the relics found
in their dwellings. But the cave-dweller of to-day shows no suggestion
of such skill. Moreover, he is utterly devoid of the architectural
gift which resulted in the remarkable rock structures of the early
cliff-dwellers. These people as far as concerns their cave-dwelling
habits cannot be ranked above troglodytes.

The Tarahumare never lives all his life in one house or cave;
nor will he, on the other hand, leave it forever. He rarely stays
away from it for more than two or three years. A family, after
inhabiting a house for a time may suddenly decide to move it, even
if it is built of stone. The reason is not always easy to tell. One
man moved his house because he found that the sun did not strike it
enough. After a death has occurred in a dwelling, even though it was
that of a distant relative incidentally staying with the family, the
house is destroyed, or the cave permanently abandoned; and many other
superstitious apprehensions of one kind or another may thus influence
the people. Very often a man moves for the sake of benefiting the
land, and after tearing down his house he immediately plants corn
on the spot on which the house stood. A family may thus change its
abode several times a year, or once a year, or every other year. The
richest man in the Tarahumare country, now dead, had five caves,
and moved as often as ten times in one year.

A never absent feature of the Tarahumare habitation, be it house or
cave, is a level, smooth place in front of it. This is the dancing
place, or patio, on which he performs his religious exercises, and
he may have more than one. The formation of the land may even oblige
him to build terraces to obtain space enough for his religious dances.

On this patio, which measures generally about ten yards in every
direction, one, two, or three crosses are planted, as the central
object of all ceremonies (except those in the cult of the sacred cactus
hikuli [3]). The cross is generally about a foot high; sometimes it
s