22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Ibfll. 51 



fallen rock and debris, piled against the canyon side in front of these 

 buildings and below these huge blocks of stone, extends many feet 

 down the cliff in a gradual slope, covering the terraced buildings and 

 burying their retaining walls from sight." A great part of this 

 talus is composed of fallen walls, but considerable earth and small 

 stones are contained in it, probably precipitated over the rim of the 

 cave roof by the torrents of water which sometimes fall during heavy 

 rains. It is probable also that the foresting of the talus has been due 

 more or less to bushes and small trees washed over the cliff from the 

 mesa summit. 



Three terraces or tiers containing rooms, as shown in the accom- 

 panying ground plan, were revealed by excavations in this talus. At 

 the western extension, where the second and third terraces cease, the 

 tops of large rocks begin at the level of the fourth terrace, and on 

 the southern end the first terrace is absent. At the western extremit3\ 

 the large blocks of rock having dropped down entire from the side of 

 the clifT. fill the interval elsewhere occupied by the lower terraces, and 

 their tops now form a ledge upon which rest the foundations of rooms 

 level Avitli the plaza. It is thus evident that Avhereas the front wall of 

 Spruce-tree House is simple, the level of the kiva roofs and floors 

 of buildings above ground being continuous, the front of Cliff Palace 

 is complicated, being at different levels, consisting of ten-aces in the 

 talus. As one aproached Cliff Palace, when inhabited, it must 

 have presented, from below, an imposing structure, the lower ter- 

 races l)(>ing occupied b}' many large kivas above which rose lofty 

 buildings arranged in tiers, several being four stories high. Although 

 the height was much increased by the presence of huge foundation 

 blocks of sandstone, from the lowest terrace to the highest i-oom there 

 were seven floor levels, including those of the kivas in the terraces. 



An exninini.tion of ClifT Palace cave shows that fi-om the southern 

 end to the section over the main entrance its roof arches upward and 

 tliat the part over the rear of the ruin is lower than that over its 

 front. Between the lower and upper roof levels there is a sharp 

 break formed by a vertical cleavage plane. ^V^lere this plane joins 

 the upper level there is a shelf forming a recess in which has been 

 constructed a row of ledge rooms.^ 



The great rock roof arching over Cliff' Palace is broken about mid- 

 way between the vertical plane above mentioned and the rim by 

 anothei' and narrower vertical plane where no ledge exists. Here 

 multitudes of swallows had made their home, and there are wasps' 

 nests in several places. 



" Access to Cliff Palace from the bottom of the canyon, aUhough difficult, is possible, 

 and a pathway misht be constructed down its sides or along the top of the talus to 

 several other cliff-dwellings, ni the vicinity of Cliff Palace there are at least 20 ruins, 

 large and small. 



'' One of IJiesc rooms had been chosen by eagles for their nests, liut lioth nests and eggs 

 were abandoned by the birds after the repair work was begun. 



