Another apt observation is connected with the evolution of ornament, and was prompted to the author by the common use of small chinking stones for bringing the masonry to an even face after the larger stones forming the body of the wall had been laid in place. This method of construction in the case of some of the best built ancient pueblos resulted in the production of marvelously finished stone walls, in which the mosaic-like bits are so closely laid as to show none but the finest joints on the face of the wall, with but little trace of mortar. The chinking wedges necessarily varied greatly in dimensions to suit the sizes of the interstices between the larger stones of the wall. The use of stone in this manner probably suggested the banded walls that form a striking feature in some of the Chaco houses. In connection with these walls the seams of stone of two degrees of thickness, which are observable in the cliffs, naturally suggested to the builders their imitation by the use of stones of similar thickness in continuous bands. The ornamental effect of this device was originally an accidental result of adopting the most convenient method of using the material at hand. The author exhibits the result of thoughtful study in his expressed views upon the mooted questions of racial origins and diffusions. He noted that some of the ruins connected traditionally and historically with Tusayan and Cibola differ in no particular from those stone pueblos widely scattered over the southwestern plateaus which from time to time have been invested by travelers and writers with a halo of romance and regarded as the wondrous achievements in civilization of a vanished but once powerful race. These abandoned stone houses found in the midst of desert solitudes excited the imaginations of early explorers to connect the remains with “Aztecs” and other mysterious peoples. From this early implanted bias arose many ingenious theories concerning the origin and disappearance of the builders of the ancient pueblos. In connection with the architectural examination of some of these remains many traditions were obtained from the living members of the tribes, several of which are published in the present paper, and which clearly indicate that some of the village ruins and cliff dwellings have been built and occupied by ancestors of the present Pueblo Indians at a date well within the historic period. Both architectural and traditional evidence are in accord in establishing a continuity of descent from the ancient Pueblos to those of the present day. Many of the communities are now made up of the more or less scattered but interrelated remnants of gentes which in former times occupied villages on the present or neighboring sites. Mr. Mindeleff’s conclusions may be condensed as follows: