4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 50 
visited by soldiers, prospectors, and relic hunters. The earliest 
white visitor of whom there is any record was Lieutenant Bell, of 
the 2d (?%) Infantry, U.S. A.,¢ whose name, with the date 1859, is still 
to be seen cut on a stone in a wall of ruin A. 
A few years ago information was obtained from Navaho by Richard 
and John Wetherill of the existence of some of the large cliff-houses 
on Laguna creek and its branches; the latter has guided several par- 
ties to them. Among other visitors in 1909 may be mentioned Dr. 
Edgar L. Hewett, director of the School of American Archeology 
of the Archeological Institute of America. A party® from the 
University of Utah, under direction of Prof. Byron Cummings, has 
dug extensively in the ruins and obtained a considerable collection. 
The sites of several ruins in the Navaho National Monument,° 
which was created on his recommendation, have been indicated by 
Mr. William B. Douglass, United States Examiner of Surveys, Gen- 
eral Land Office, on a map accompanying the President’s proclama- 
tion, and also on a recent map issued by the General Land Office. 
Although his report has not yet been published, he has collected con- 
siderable data, including photographs of Betatakin, Kitsiel (Keetseel), 
and the ruin called Inscription House, situated in the Nitsi (Neetsee) 
canyon. While Mr. Douglass does not claim to be the discoverer of 
these ruins, credit is due him for directing the attention of the Inte- 
rior Department to the antiquities of this region and the desirability 
of preserving them. 
The two ruins? in Nitsi (Neetsee),¢ West canyon, are not yet 
included in the Navaho Monument, but according to Mr. Douglass 
these are large ones, being 300 and 350 feet long, respectively,’ and 
promise a rich field for investigation. That these ruins will yield 
large collections is indicated by the fact that the several specimens of 
minor antiquities in a collection presented to the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution by Mr. Janus, the best of which are here figured (pls. 15-18), 
came from this neighborhood, possibly from one of these ruins. 
The ruins in West canyon (pl. 2) are particularly interesting from 
the fact that the walls of some of the rooms are built of elongated 
a Probably Lieut. William Hemphill Bell, of the Third Infantry, United States Army. 
b Since the writer’s return to Washington this party has spent several months at Betatakin. 
c Mr, Douglass has furnished the writer the following data from his report regarding the positions of 
the most important ruins in the Navaho National Monument: 
LATITUDE LONGITUDE 
Kitsiel, 36° 45’ 33’’ north. 110° 31’ 40” west. 
Betatakin, 36° 40’ 57’” north. 110° 34’ 01’” west. 
Inscription House, 36° 40’ 14’”” north. 110° 51’ 32’” west. 
d One of these is designated Inscription House on Mr. Douglass’s map (pl. 22). 
e According to one Navaho the meaning of this word is ‘‘antelope drive,” referring to the resemblance 
of the canyon to such a structure. 
For photographs of Kitsiel (pl. 1) and of Inscription House (here pl. 2), published by courtesy in 
advance of Mr. Douglass’s report, the writer is indebted to the General Land Office. Acknowledgment 
is made to the same office for ground plans of Kitsiel and Betatakin, which were taken from Mr. Douy- 
lass’s report, 
