173 



ing, and the accurate lines of the angles were remarkable. The 

 fourth wall had fallen in and covered the floor of the building with 

 a compact mass of rocks. Not a stick of timber could be found; 

 but the sockets of the cross-beams were still distinct. Of the 

 mortar, Avhich Avas most likely the kind ordinarily used — clay and 

 fine sand — not a trace was left. 



The broad blocks of sandstone on which the house stood, and 

 most of the smooth faces in the vicinity, were covered Avith inscrip- 

 tions ; accounts, probabh', of notable events which had occurred 

 here. 



-"""^ 



^55 



Fi!'. I. 



But it Avas just beneath the uppermost stratum of the cliff that 

 the main portion of the fortification was discovered. Nature had 

 assisted the Shinumos in forming a cozy retreat. A level shelf, 

 varying from about six to ten feet in Avidth, ran along for a hundred 

 and fifty feet or more. In most places the rocks above protruded 

 as far as the edge of the lower rocks — sometimes further — thus 

 leaving a sort of gallery, generally seven or eight feet high. Walls 

 that extended to the roof had been built along the outer edge of 

 the natural floor, and the enclosed space being subdivided by stone 



