THE MUSEUM. 



has been so fortunate as to make some 

 valuable additions to the little that is 

 known about the cliff men and their 

 ways. 



During the summer Dr. Cole and 

 his party visited cliff cities whose 

 walled gateways had been seen before 

 only by wandering miners or cattle- 

 men. Never before had any white 

 man climbed the thousand-foot preci- 

 pice on which stands the largest of all 

 the cliff dwellers' habitations yet known 

 in the United States, save only the 

 prospector who had discovered it three 

 years before, and who served as the 

 Cole party's guide. This ruin, four- 

 teen miles from Espanola, N. M., is 

 as yet without a name, but it promises 

 to become famous when explored. 



The Cliff Dweller wished his home 

 to be inaccessible. He burrowed a 

 dwelling in the face of a precipice or 

 built a communial house on some me- 

 sa attainable only by closely guarded 

 paths. The American cliff dwellings 

 are not easy to find. It takes a keen 

 eye to pick out the cave openings. 

 Often a bunch of shrubs has rooted on 

 the bench or the detritus from the 

 cliff has masked the entrance. Hard- 

 er still is it to find the ruins above the 

 cliffs. The mesa summits are out of 

 view from the valley and sheltered 

 from sight of neighboring heights. 



During Dr. Cole's expedition — the 

 fourth which he has made for study of 

 aboriginal antiquities — he spent some 

 time among the cliff ruins of the Man- 

 cos, in Southeastern Colorado. 



Many years ago the Wetherel family 

 established itself near Mancos, Col., 

 in the cattle business. One day the 

 Wetherel vaqueros wandered over a 

 mesa in search of mavericks — unbrand- 

 ed stray cattle, which belong to the 

 man who picks them up. They came 

 by accident upon a height from which 

 they could see masonry walls. They 

 clambered down and found the first of 

 the Mancos cliff dwellings. Further 

 search revealed the existence of village 

 upon village along the cliffs. 



The news of the discovery spread, 



and it was apparent that vandals would 

 carry away everything of interest and 

 tear down all the walls in search of 

 buried relics. So the Wetherels took 

 visitors only to the cliff dwellings near- 

 est the house. If they were persistent 

 it was admitted that there was another 

 ruin. This second cliff village was 

 enough to satisfy the most ardent 

 sightseer and the remaining cliff dwell- 

 ings were left undisturbed. 



The "Cliff Palace" is strangest of 

 the Mancos habitations. To reach it 

 one must have sinew and grit and a 

 steady head. One may stand in the 

 canyon bottom, seven hundred feet 

 below, and look up at the bench on 

 which the ruins stand, but only bal- 

 loons or kites would make the direct 

 ascent possible. To reach the bal- 

 cony one must descend several hun- 

 dred feet from the mesa above it. So 

 there must be a detour of fifteen miles 

 up the canyou to a practicable bit of 

 wall, and then back along the mesa 

 until the "Cliff Palace" can again be 

 seen. 



When the attempt to descend be- 

 gins realization comes of the wisdom 

 with which the Cliff Dwellers chose 

 their home. Only by a single difficult 

 trail can the "Cliff Palace" be ap- 

 proached. At last the crumbling walls 

 are in sight. A smooth rock surface, 

 tilted at an angle of 75 degrees, must 

 be passed. Once there were deep 

 finger and toe holes, but wind and 

 rain erosion have worn the edges, and 

 it is no easy matter to cling to the in- 

 sufficient foothold. For a hundred 

 feet this is the highway. 



Keep your face to the cliff; don't 

 look down, else the knowledge that 

 800 feet of almost sheer declivity lies 

 below may unsettle your nerves. Creep 

 cautiously along, working on from 

 hole to hole; cling to the finger holes 

 until your nails are worn — and now at 

 last the platform is reached. 



The photographer of the party, Fay 

 C. Cole, made the climb down the 

 cliff, carrying a heavy camera. Three 

 times Dr. Cole himself started on the 



