49 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



vcned to obstruct the view ; the clear-cut and sharply defined peaks 

 stand in an unbroken file, an army of Nature's monarchs, clad in 

 Nature's livery, a uniform of perpetual green, and crowned with hel- 

 mets of eternal snow. 



We finally reached the summit our objective point and began 

 winding our way around huge obelisks of sandstone, and through a 

 perfect net-work of passages and crypt-like fissures. We felt as 

 though we had entered the Cretan labyrinth, but, not so fortunate as 

 Theseus, had no thread to guide us, until we came upon the first an- 

 cient habitation. 



Climbing through a narrow crevice with some exertion, we ob- 

 served a cave-like opening in the rock fronting us, and of course were 

 but an instant in gaining an entrance, where we were delighted to find, 

 , upon examination, the evident handiwork of man. 



Here was an apartment about six by eight feet in size, where nature 

 had formed two sides and the sloping roof. One side had been left open, 

 and the other, from the yet remaining fragments, showed plain evi- 

 dences of having been roughly walled up with loose stones. A fissure 

 in one corner of the room, leading out through the roof, showed traces 

 of discoloration by fire, and digging down with some sticks through 

 the rubbish, we found that corner had been used as a fireplace, and at 

 a depth of eighteen inches we still found the wall with strong evi- 

 dences of the action of heat on the stones, finally unearthing seme 

 charcoal, and from a repository in the wall about a half peck of chips 

 of chalcedony : judging from this latter find that we were in the 

 workshop of the former inhabitants of the place. 



We were not prepared for excavating through the dust of ages 

 which Time had caused to settle on the floor, so started out eager to 

 find other places of habitation. Our search was rewarded by finding 

 during: the afternoon some twelve or fifteen more houses or caves, 

 many of them, however, especially those along the face of the cliffs, 

 having nearly disappeared from the effects of the disintegration of 

 the rocks. 



We found no more dwellings as large as the workshop, the major- 

 ity of them being very small, the rough traces of walls nearly always 

 visible, but the caves so circumscribed in extent it seemed impossible 

 that human beings could have lived in them. Yet each one had its 

 fireplace plainly to be seen, and each one had certainly been at some 

 time a dwelling or shelter from the elements. 



Continuing our search, we also found two furnaces primitive, 'tis 

 true, but none the less furnaces showing the effects of great heat, and 

 a deposit of dirt-covered ashes several feet in depth. These furnaces 

 were hollowed out of immense bolwders by man or nature we could 

 not decide which, owing to the action of the fire and the interior of 

 each almost exactly resembled the interior of a Dutch oven, having in 

 like manner a small orifice for draught. 



