XXXII INTRODUCTION. 
their traditional genesis it is stated that the people climbed up 
from the third house (stage) by a ladder of pine, and through 
such an opening as the kiva hatchway. The outer air is the 
fourth world, or that now occupied. 
Another apt observation is connected with the evolution of 
ornament, and was prompted to the author by the common use 
of small chinking stones for bringing the masonry to an even 
face after the larger stones forming Fite body of thé wall had 
been laid in place. This method of construction in the case of 
some of the best built ancient pueblos resulted in the produc- 
tion of marvelously finished stone walls, in which the mosaic- 
like bits are so closely laid as to show none but the finest joints 
on the face of the wall, with but little trace of mortar. The 
chinking wedges necessarily varied greatly in dimensions to 
suit the sizes of the interstices between the larger stones of the 
wall. The use of stone in this manner probably suggested the 
banded walls that form a striking feature in some of the Chaco 
houses. In connection with these walls the seams of stone of 
two degrees of thickness, which are observable in the cliffs, 
aeipestite suggested to the builders their imitation by the use 
of stones of Serie thickness in continuous bands. The orna- 
mental effect of this device was originally an accidental result 
of adopting the most convenient method of using the material 
at hand. 
The author exhibits the result of thoughtful study in his 
expressed views upon the mooted questions of racial origins 
and diffusions. He noted that some of the ruins connected 
traditionally and historically with Tusayan and Cibola differ 
in no particular from those stone pueblos widely scattered over 
the southwestern plateaus which from time to time have been 
invested by travelers and writers with a halo of romance and 
regarded as the wondrous achievements in civilization of a van- 
ished but once powerful race. These abandoned stone houses 
found in the midst of desert solitudes excited the imaginations 
of early explorers to connect the remains with “Aztecs” and 
other mysterious peoples. From this early implanted bias 
arose many ingenious theories concerning the origin and dis- 
appearance of the builders of the ancient pueblos. 
In connection with the architectural examination of some of 
