fewkes] PREHISTORIC VILLAGES, CASTLES, AND TOWERS 41 



group, where the walls show superior construction, the lowest courses 

 of rock are larger than those above, but in Hovenweep Castle small 

 stones are found below those of larger size; the Hound Tower in 

 McLean Basin shows small and large stones introduced for orna- 

 mentation. 



The ambitious constructors of several towers have built the foun- 

 dations of these towers on bowlders sloping at a considerable angle, 

 and it is a source of wonder that these walls have stood for so many 

 years without sliding from then- bases. Although so well constructed 

 in many instances, the courses were weak from their want of binding 

 to the remaining wall. As a consequence many corners have fallen, 

 leaving the remaining walls intact. The builders often failed to tic 

 in the partitions to the outer walls, by which failure they lost a 

 brace and have sprung away from their attachment. 



In a general way we may recognize masonry of two varieties. 



l.'That in which horizontal courses are obscure or absent. This 

 has resulted from the use of stones of different sizes, the intervals 

 between which are filled in with masses of adobe. These stones are 

 little fashioned, or dressed only on one side, that forming the face 

 of the wall. 



2. That constructed of horizontal courses, constituting by far the 

 larger number of these buildings. Each course of this masonry is 

 made of well-dressed stones, carefully pecked, and of the same size. 

 In this horizontal masonry the thickness of stones used may vary 

 in different courses (pi. 11, b). They may be alternately narrow or 

 thick, or layers of thick stones may be separated by one or more 

 layers of tabular or thin stones. This method of alternation may be 

 so regular as to please the eye and thus become decorative, a mode 

 of decoration that reached a high development in the Chaco Ruins. 

 The stones in the horizontal style of masonry are equal in size through- 

 out the whole building in some cases, and show not only care in 

 choice of stones but also in dressing them to the same regulation 

 size. In these cases the joints fit so accurately that chinking has 

 not been found necessary and a minimum use of adobe was required. 



The inner walls of kivas are much better constructed than the 

 outer walls of the same or of the walls about them. The masonry 

 here is regular horizontal. The sides, lintels, and thresholds of door- 

 ways are among the finest examples of construction. With the 

 exception of walls sheltered by overhanging cliffs, the plastering has 

 completely disappeared, but there is no reason to doubt that the 

 interiors of all the great houses and towers were formerly plastered. 



It is instructive to compare the masonry of the great houses and 

 towers of the Mancos with that of the towers in Hill Canyon (pi. 1 1, c) 

 in Utah, the most northern extension of these two types. In Eight 

 Mile Ruin, one of the largest of these buildings in Hill Canyon, we have 



