FEWKESj ANTIQUITIES DF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 45 



dermiiied and tottering when the work of repair was commenced, 

 so that its foundations had to be built up from the floor of kiva M. 

 To make this difficult repair work effective it was necessary to enlarge 

 the base of the wall, making the side of kiva M curve slightly inward 

 and thereby insuring a good foundation. 



The walls of rooms 41 and 42 are well preserved; the top of the 

 cave served as the roof. These rooms were entered from the plaza 

 containing kiva M. In room 42 a stepping-stone is set in the outer 

 wall below the doorway, the object being to facilitate entrance. It 

 is said that this room,-the roof of which shows signs of smoke, was 

 occupied by camjDers while engaged in rifling the ruin of its contents. 



The cluster of rooms numbered 43 to 45 have well-constructed 

 walls, but they have been considerably mutilated. Pegs from which, 

 no doubt, objects were formerly hung, project from the smoothly 

 plastered interior walls of one of these rooms. 



Rooms 47 and 48 show the holes of floor joists, so placed as to indi- 

 cate two stories. These rooms form the southern side of the court, 

 which extends from the main plaza of the settlement to the round 

 rooms at the northern extremity. In front of room 50 there is a low 

 platform from which one steps into the room through an entrance 

 situated about midway of its length. 



Room 51 has a very well preserved fireplace in the northwestern 

 corner and a doorway about midway in the northern wall. Its well- 

 plastered walls show impressions of the hands and fingers of the 

 plasterers. 



The eastern side of the "' street " ^ is bordered by rooms GO to OS., 

 inclusive, which open into it. In the wall of the last room (Gl) to 

 the south there is a small peephole that enabled the owners to see 

 from within the room anyone entering the street from the court. 

 Room 59, probably the largest angular room in Cliff Palace, is with- 

 out an entrance. Its high walls form a part of the northern and 

 eastern ends of the court and almost the wdiole western side of the 

 street. A large embrasure in its southern wall had been repaired by 

 the ancient masons before Cliff Palace was deserted. North of 

 room 59 remains of the foundations of rooms (not numbered on 

 the plan) were found, and it may be possible that at this point there 

 M'as a small open space, without a ki^'a ; if so, it Avould have been 

 exceptional in Cliff Palace. 



Rooms G6 and 68 are round rooms, not kivas, although possibly 

 ceremonial in character. From the roof of room 66, the walls of 

 which are now lower than formerly, it was possible to pass on a level 

 into one of the series of ledge rooms previously described. The floo!' 

 of room 68 is exceptional in being lower than that of the cave outside, 



"A passage or inclosure surrounded by high walls is called kisomM by the Hopi. 



