F. GEOGRAPHY. 281 



run back over satre-covered benches to the sandstone bluffs, 

 picturesque in outline and color, which rise from five hun- 

 dred to one thousand feet above the river. They gradually 

 close in upon the stream, until it is finally lost in the great 

 caiion below the mouth of the De Chelly. 



Twelve or fifteen miles down the river brought the party 

 to the first important ruins, although the older, almost un- 

 recognized "indications" were abundant every where. At 

 that point the bench land juts up over the river, and almost 

 upon the brink is a quadrangular structure one hundred and 

 sixty by one hundred and twenty feet square, with a small 

 open court facing the river. A singular feature in its con- 

 struction was a semicircular apartment in the centre of the 

 building and rear of the court, about the outer circle of 

 which was ranged a series of seven other apartments, each 

 about four by six feet square. There were six other rooms 

 averaging thirty-five by fifty feet. Under the bluffs and 

 almost overhansfing the stream were a row of little cave 

 houses. Other cave houses were niched in the cave-like re- 

 cesses of the bluffs for some distance above and below. 



Some ten miles farther and the bordering bluffs came down 

 quite near the stream, in some places overhanging it. Cave 

 and cliff ruins ocgurred frequently in them. Upon the south 

 side of the river an important cave ruin was discovered, 

 which was quite remarkable in its way. Imagine a perpen- 

 dicular bluff nearly three hundred feet in height, the upper 

 half of which is a firm white sandstone, and the lower half 

 a dull red, soft and friable variety. Time has excavated an 

 almost perfectly hemispherical cave from this bluff, equally 

 divided between the two kinds of rock. It is two hundred 

 and fifty feet wide, two hundred feet deep, and the same 

 from top to bottom at its outer face. Midway from top to 

 bottom, and running completely around the half circle, which 

 formed the back of the cave, are two benches, upon the upper 

 of which is built the town or series of rooms, two hundred 

 feet in length in the aggregate, the lower serving as a walk 

 or promenade, from which access could only be had by lad- 

 ders. A little to the left of the centre is the principal build- 

 ing, consisting of three rooms, each two stories in height, and 

 now standing twelve feet high. Adjoining it on the right is 

 a long row of twelve apartments, built as a solid block, and 



