ANCIENT DWELLINGS OF THE RIO VERDE VALLEY. 751 



and rnore nearly perfect building near the same locality, which an 

 old settler had found many years ago. There are many others on 

 Beaver Creek, and in the " box canons " of the Upper and Lower 

 Verde. 



The building known as "Montezuma's Castle," on the right 

 bank of Beaver Creek, in sight of and three miles from Fort 

 Verde, is (perhaps excepting a building near Salt River) the finest 

 that I have seen, and typical of this class of structures. This casa, 

 doubtless a fortress, is fitted into a natural depression, high up in 

 a vertical limestone cliff, the base of which is distant three hun- 

 dred and forty-eight feet from the edge of the stream and about 

 forty feet above it. The casa is accessible only by means of lad- 

 ders, its lowest foundations being forty-two feet above the bottom 

 of the cliff. The post quartermaster of Fort Verde has provided 

 four substantial wooden ones, which make the ascent easy from 

 one narrow ledge to the next. After ascending three ladders a 

 ledge is reached upon which six cave-rooms open (Fig. 3). 



On a ledge eight feet below this one, and eighty feet to the 

 northeast, are two cave-dwellings, neatly walled up in front, with 

 a well-made window in each for entrance. There are many other 

 cave-dwellings in the cliff, at either side of the casa, long lines of 

 them extending toward the southwest. One or two isolated cham- 

 bers, walled in front and windowed, may be seen far up the side 

 of the cliff, where they are altogether inaccessible. These, to- 

 gether, constituted the settlement. 



Ascending the fourth ladder (Fig. 6, z), the casa is reached. 

 The foundation rests upon cedar timbers laid longitudinally upon 

 flat stones on the ledge. The projecting ends of these timbers 

 show plainly the marks of stone axes used in cutting them. The 

 front wall (Fig. -4, a b) is a little over two feet wide at the bot- 

 tom and thirteen inches wide at the top. It leans slightly in 

 toward the cliff. One part of this wall (Fig. 5) rests on what ap- 

 pears to be a very precarious footing, although it has stood for 

 centuries. The timbers are so placed that in the middle they 

 project beyond the edge of the ledge. 



The casa is entered at a projecting angle (Fig. 6, c), through a 

 window of sub-Gothic form (Fig. 7), measuring three feet and 

 three inches in height by two feet and four inches in width at 

 the bottom. This small apartment (Fig. 6, a) is smoothly plas- 

 tered within, and blackened by fire. The plastering bears finger- 

 marks and impressions of the thumb and hand, showing that it 

 was laid on and smoothed by the hands. The roof is formed by 

 willows laid horizontally across eleven rafters of ash and black 

 alder ; upon this a thick layer of reeds is placed transversely, and 

 the whole plastered on top with mortar, forming a floor to the 

 chamber above it. The rafters are peeled, except one or two that 



