12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
western corners of the building proper, in order to give 
further protection. The length of this outer wall from angle 
to angle is about 132 feet. It exhibits one of the finest ex- 
amples of masonry to be seen in the ancient pueblo ruins of 
the Southwest, for not only have the building stones been 
dressed to shape, but their faces have been finished by peck- 
ing, with such labor as to confirm the belief that the ancient 
village was designed for permanent occupancy. The south- 
ern corner of the outer defensive wall is not only curved, but 
the stones of which it is built are rounded by careful pecking, 
a most unusual feature in pueblo architecture. That this 
last structure was designed to protect the most vulnerable 
part of the mesa is evident from the fact that the outer wall 
is without openings of any kind and extends beyond the rooms 
of the structure, and because the adjacent mesa rim is pro- 
tected by a rude low wall, especially at such points as re- 
quired ready defense against attack from below. As already 
noted, the walls of these ruins are noteworthy by reason of 
the excellence of their masonry, special effort having been 
made to produce a pleasing effect in the exterior faces. Of 
the inner walls so much can not be said; but as there is no 
question that when the houses were occupied the rooms were 
smoothly plastered, there was little need of the elaborate 
finish accorded the exposed masonry. Slight attention was 
paid either to regularity in the shape of the stones or to 
smoothness of surface in building the inner walls, nor was the 
aboriginal mason more particular in bonding the inner and 
outer courses than in “ breaking” the joints of the outer face. 
It seems remarkable that, possessed of such patience and ex- 
pertness as the buildings here display in other ways, they 
seem to have been unaware of the necessity of avoiding the 
construction of their walls in such manner that in places as 
many as six or seven vertical joints occur practically in line. 
In this brief report only mere mention can be made of many 
other interesting architectural features of these ruins, as well 
as of another pueblo ruin, more or less circular in shape, 
situated a few miles northeastward on a low mesa at the ex- 
treme head of Cebollita Valley, which here forms a small but 
beautiful canyon. 
