And there is precedent for this fascination with Orientalism in the Grand Canyon. Namely: Ancient Egypt and Tibetan Buddhism. The most evident answer is that if you were going to try to capture people's imaginations with ideas of lost, exotic cultures of antiquity, you'd pick reference points they've actually heard of. There is also slag and stuff similar to matte, showing that these ancients smelted ores, but so far no trace of where or how this was done has been discovered, nor the origin of the ore. On a bench running around the workroom was some charcoal and other material probably used in the process.
These people undoubtedly knew the lost art of hardening this metal, which has been sought by chemicals for centuries without result. In the opposite corner of this cross-hall were found tools of all descriptions, made of copper. All this is carved out of hard rock resembling marble. There are two large cactus with protruding arms, one on each side of the dais on which the god squats. Surrounding this idol are smaller images, some very beautiful in form others crooked-necked and distorted shapes, symbolical, probably, of good and evil. Taking into consideration everything found thus far, it is possible that this worship most resembles the ancient people of Tibet. The idol almost resembles Buddha, though the scientists are not certain as to what religious worship it represents. The cast of the face is oriental, and the carving this cavern. "Over a hundred feet from the entrance is the cross-hall, several hundred feet long, in which are found the idol, or image, of the people's god, sitting cross-legged, with a lotus flower or lily in each hand. Following this, the explorations were undertaken. I gathered a number of relics, which I carried down the Colorado to Yuma, from whence I shipped them to Washington with details of the discovery.
One of these I stood up and photographed by flashlight. During that trip I went back several hundred feet along the main passage till I came to the crypt in which I discovered the mummies. When I saw the chisel marks on the wall inside the entrance, I became interested, securing my gun and went in. There are steps leading from this entrance some thirty yards to what was, at the time the cavern was inhabited, the level of the river. Above a shelf which hid it from view from the river, was the mouth of the cave. There was no trail to this point, but I finally reached it with great difficulty. Some forty-two miles up the river from the El Tovar Crystal canyon, I saw on the east wall, stains in the sedimentary formation about 2,000 feet above the river bed. The story of how I found the cavern has been related, but in a paragraph: I was journeying down the Colorado river in a boat, alone, looking for mineral. A trip there would be fruitless, and the visitor would be sent on his way.
The scientists wish to work unmolested, without fear of archeological discoveries being disturbed by curio or relic hunters. It is located on government land and no visitor will be allowed there under penalty of trespass. The entrance is 1,486 feet down the sheer canyon wall. "First, I would impress that the cavern is nearly inaccessible.
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