46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 51 



SO that on entering it one descends by a step or two. Room 67 

 appears to have been more a passageway {lisomhi) than a room, a 

 step from it leading down to the level of the triangidar plaza in front 

 of the Speaker-chief's TTonse, sonth of room 70. 



Eoom 70 is a milling room, with two well-preserved metatakis in 

 one corner, each with a set of metates. In the wall above these meal- 

 ing troughs there is a small window through which the women en- 

 gaged in gi'inding corn could see the passers through the court east 

 of this room. The opposite corner is occupied by a fireplace, and the 

 adjacent wall is pierced by a doorway with elevated threshold, 

 through which one passed from the milling room to the broad 

 kSpeaker-chiefs platform south of rooms 71 and 72. 



The inclosed space west of rooms 71 and 73 is separated from the 

 rear of the cave by a high wall which shuts off entrance on this side. 

 The series of rooms numbered 71 to 74, and the two rooms west of 

 these, form, with the banquette and the neighboring plaza, wdiat is 

 here arbitrarily designated the Speaker-chief's House, the walls of 

 which consist of some of the finest masonry in Cliff Palace. It is 

 protected on the western side by a high, w^ell-plastered w^all extending 

 southward from the corner of room 72, so placed as to shield the 

 plaza from storms from this side. The banquette south of rooms 72 

 and 73 is also finely plastered, and is approached from the plaza by a 

 single step. This banquette probabh^ was designed for the use of the 

 Speaker-chief, but a similar structure on the eastern side of the 

 plaza quarter served another purpose. 



The masonry, the doors and w^indows, and other structural features 

 of the Speaker-chief's House are the best in Cliff Palace. Lintels, 

 jambs, and door and window sills are of smooth-dressed stones and 

 project beyond the wall. The rear rooms of this cluster extend to 

 the roof of the cave, being three stories high, wdiile those in front 

 are tAvo stories in height. The line of holes shown in plate 15 indi- 

 cates the former position of rafters, but all signs of woodwork have 

 disappeared from this section of the ruin. 



On the western side of the Speaker-chief's House are two rooms, 79 

 and 80, likewise well built. The former has a banquette extending 

 across the eastern side, and the latter is triangular in shape, Avith the 

 exterior side rounded. The foundations of these rooms rest upon a 

 large rock that 'has settled and cracked, the crack extending vertically 

 into the walls, showing that it has developed since the wall Avas 

 constructed. 



The inclosures 76 to 78, extending to the cave roof, are more like 

 granaries for the storage of corn. They are built of flat stone slabs 

 placed on edge, and rest on boAvlders that have fallen from the cave 

 roof, Avhich is here loAver than in the middle part of the cavern. Of 

 these inclosures, 78 is the best preserved, all holes in its angles being 



