THE BANDELIER NATIONAL FOREST 



569 



A HIGH AND STEEP CLIMB 

 One of the ladders by means of which the Ceremonial Cave is reached. 



about fiftten miles below in the valley, these lions were 

 carved by their people and represented a shrine to which 

 they came year after year to hold some of their peculiar 

 and interesting ceremonies. Among all the pueblos the 

 mountain lion is the symbol of one of their secret cults 

 or clans and doubtless these carved lions were peculiarly 

 sacred to the ancients. 



For some unknown reason these ceremonies are not 

 now celebrated at the Lions' shrine and the place is 

 seldom visited by the Cochitis unless as guides to people 

 desiring to see them. 



Ten miles further down the canyon is the well known 

 "painted cave," "El Cuervi pintada" of the Spanish, a 

 huge natural ampitheatre high up on the walls of the 

 canyon. On the rear wall of the cave are many odd 

 designs in colors, some red, some blue and others black. 

 Most of them are very old and were there when the 

 cave was first visited by early explorers centuries ago. 

 Others are frankly modern, the work of thoughtless 

 tourists and some done no doubt by the Indians them- 



selves within the last decade. Here as elsewhere the 

 vandal has done his work and one finds emblems of 

 secret societies, initials of visitors, and such wretched 

 evidences of man's thoughtlessness and lack of decency 

 all over the walls of the cave. Since the forest rangers 

 have been in charge of the region, however, such work 

 has been stopped and they tell with great joy of one 

 visitor who cut his name and address deep into the stone 

 wall only to be overhauled and brought back by the 

 ranger and forced to erase the whole matter by rubbing 

 it with a hard stone until not a single trace of his self 

 advertising scheme was visible. The cliff being almost 

 perpendicular you must be almost a lizard to reach the 

 shelf above, shallow "toe holds" cut into the rock offer- 

 ing a very precarious footing. One of the more adven- 

 turous of the party however climbed up taking with him 

 a long rope which when looped over a handy projecting 

 point of rock enabled the rest to scramble up in com- 

 parative safety. 



The ladies, however, declared they could see all that 

 was worth seeing from the ground and while we were 

 examining the cave they went searching for arrow heads. 



THE RESTORED "KIVA" IN THE CEREMONIAL CAVE 



The heart of the Ceremonial Chamber cleared of the debris of ages and 

 carefully restored to its original condition. 



