like hogans, were built slightly underground or on level ground, about in diameter. The structures were supported by wooden posts and covered with hides or other materials. In the center of their homes were hearths. Bell-shaped baking pits were found in the villages, which sometimes contained remains of human burial. Culture The people of the Dismal River culture hunted, primarily bison, using small side-notched, triangular or unnotched projectile points made of stone. They supplemented their diet with cultivated corn and squash and gathered nuts and berries. Stones and bones were used for tools and they made pottery, called Dismal River pottery, which was distinctly gray-black. Much of the pottery were plain bowls, but there were also ollas, or jars, that were stamped with simple designs and had lips that were punctuated or incised. Contact with Europeans In October 1719, the Spanish governor of New Mexico, Antonio Valverde y Cosio ventured onto the Great Plains with a large force of Spanish and Indian soldiers to attempt to punish the Comanche and Ute Indians who were raiding Spanish and Jicarilla settlements. Valverde found no Comanches, but he met with El Cuartelejo Apaches (the Dismal River people) on the Arkansas (Napestle) River in what is now eastern Colorado. The Cuartelejo complained to him that the French were giving firearms to the Pawnee and "Jumano" (Wichita) peoples to their east. Valverde gives few details about the Cuartelejo but notably does not mention the existence of horses among them, commenting that they transported their goods with dogs. In October 1724, the experienced French frontiersman, Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, visited the Dismal River people at an encampment in Central Kansas, probably located south and west of Salina. He called the people "Padoucas." On approaching the encampment, Bourgmont was met by 80 mounted men illustrating that some of the Dismal River people possessed horses by this time. Bourgmont described the encampment as having a population of more than 4,000 people, the people living in large dwellings occupied by about 30 persons each. The population was probably swollen by visitors who came from other villages to meet with Bourgmont. His observation that they lived in large dwellings (type of dwelling not described) is at odds with archaeological data. Bourgmont distributed gifts to the Indians, including a few guns. The Padouca had never seen such a variety of European goods. They were frightened of the guns. Bourgmont