110 nAVKNPf>RT .\<AI)KMY OF XATURAI, SCIEXCES. 



below, is greater than could have been reached by the most ingenious 

 contrivance made of w^ood is apparent, and it would be impossible to 

 know definitely how their mode of" communication was carried on but 

 for the discovery of some jjieces of rope and cords made of the fibre 

 of the i'ucca {sp?) and in several instances the remains of notches cut 

 into the sloping rock below. 



Agriculture was carried on, as we learn from the discovery of 

 charred corn, as well as the ears, and also from the existence of large 

 irrigating canals along the ridges flanking extensive valleys over 

 which lie scattered hundreds of little hillocks, consisting of hard clay 

 containing a sprinkling of broken pottery, which, no doubt, mark the 

 sites of the temporary habitations <jf the agriculturalists. These set- 

 tlements are found in fav()ral:)le localities in close proximity to the 

 clift-dwellings, which formed their mutual resort for defense. 



The face of a continuous escarpment filled with little houses as they 

 exist in the Verde valley, containing but one or two openings each, 

 present an appearance resembling the deserted nests of a colony of 

 cliff-swallows i-ather than the abode of human beings. 



One of the most singular sele(,'tions for such buildings is a large 

 circular depression known as Montezuma's Well, eight miles northeast 

 of Camp Verde, A. T. For miles below, the valley of Beaver Creek 

 c(jntains the remnants of what was once a flourishing settlement, al- 

 though the ruins all appear to have belonged to the cliff-dwellers, the 

 Well forming the northern terminus of the series. This depression, 

 or Well, is several hundred feet in diameter, about seventy feet deep, 

 with vertical walls exposing horizontal strata of limestone, while about 

 one-half of the bottom is covered with water, no bottom being reached 

 with a seventy foot \\\m\ There is a border of debris lying around 

 the base of the wall, ovit which there is a tolerable growth of cotton- 

 wood and sycamore ,trees, ^^'ith an occasional cluster of grass and 

 reeds along the shore line. A udii'ow tunnel was discovered at the 

 base of the eastern wall, leading irregularly out to the bank of Beaver 

 Creek, a total distance of about fifty feet. The excavation, forming 

 what has been termed the Well, was undoubtedly formed through 

 the solution of the limestone l)y the carbonic acid with which the 

 water was charged, the tum)el at one time forming the outlet. The 

 flow of water had ceased, no doubt, and was stationary as it is now, 

 when the "ancient" people conceived the idea of building their tempo- 

 rary habitations in the niches and cavities in the face of the wall, the 

 remains of which are still visible, and, in several instances, in excel- 



