All of the wild plants were utilized and especially when cultivated crops gave out. There were many in the valley growing wild along the fertile banks of the Rio de Los Frijoles. There were gooseberries, currants, the berries of sumac, onions, milkweed, strawberries, blazing star, horsemint, dandelions and prickly pears from the round leaf cactus. Even the ball cactus might have been eaten. And surely many of these were stored for later use. Little did these primitive dwellers know what might befall them. Raids by hostile bands often destroyed their fields. Fire might have been set to the roofs of their homes. A period of drought could have been one of their worries even here in the Valley of the Tyuonyi. Mother Earth gave the Indian everything. She lavishly produced juniper and piñon wood for fires, choke-cherry, juniper and oak for stout bows. And there was hard wood for the foreshafts of arrows and cane for the hind shafts to which turkey feathers were fastened as guides. She produced sticks for clubbing rabbits to death. There was rabbit brush for yellow paint. The leaves of yucca, when pounded up and dried, could be twisted into stout rope and cord. Extremely tiny cords were used in making fishnets. Strips of yucca were used in making baskets and also for making brushes used in painting and decorating pottery. Stout strips of the tough leaf were used for tying. And the Indian even knew how to extract the medicinal properties from plants. The Valley of the Frijoles produced for the primitive dweller most of the things he had to have for successful living. [Illustration: Making pottery] While Indian men, it seems, laid the walls of the houses and repaired them, and cut the heavy roof timbers—while they planted corn and hunted, the women were not idle. The art of pottery making has long been the pride of pueblo women. They did the whole job from beginning to end. They searched the river and arroyo banks for clay and they carried it to their homes where it was kneaded and rolled out into long rod-like strands. All pottery was coiled. They began at the very bottom and brought the long strands of tempered clay round and round in the general shape they desired. And then they patted and smoothed the vessel out with wood or gourd scrapers. When it was dry, they applied a slipping or wash coat over the outside. When this was done the vessel was decorated with various crude designs. It was then put into an open fire smothered with wood, corncobs, pine needles and grasses so that the heat would be retained. This was their method of firing. When a vessel was removed from the fire and the ashes wiped off, a dirty white background with black designs appeared. There were several different types of this ware made at Frijoles. Today we call this pottery a black-on-white ware. [Illustration: COURTESY MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO A SECTION OF LONG HOUSE] [Illustration: COURTESY NAT’L. PARK SERVICE RECONSTRUCTED CLIFF HOUSE]