54 PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE. 
from earth, indicating that adobe has been sparingly used. The walls, 
in places standing to a height of 2 or 5 feet, as may be seen in the illus- 
tration, Pl. x, show unusual precision of workmanship and finish, re- 
sembling in this respect some of the ancient pueblos farther north. 
This is to some extent due to the exceptional suitability of the tabular 
stones of the mesa summit. The almost entire absence of pottery frag- 
ments and other objects of art which are such a constant acecompani- 
ment of the ruins throughout this region strongly suggest that it was 
occupied for a very short time. In Chapter m1 it will be shown that a 
similar order of occupation took place at Ojo Caliente, one of the Zuni 
farming villages. This ruin is probably of quite recent origin, as is the 
present village of Moen-kopi, although it may possibly have belonged 
to an earlier colony of which we have no distinct trace. This fertile 
and well watered valley, a veritable garden spot in the Tusayan deserts, 
must have been one of the first points occupied. Some small cliff- 
dwellings, single rooms in niches of a neighboring canyon wall, attest 
the earlier use of the valley for agricultural purposes, although it is 
doubtful whether these rude shelters date back of the Spanish invasion 
of the province. 
A close scrutiny of the many favorable sites in this vicinity would 
probably reveal the sand-encumbered remains of some more important 
settlement than any of those now known. 
RUINS ON THE ORAIBI WASH, 
The wagon road from Keam’s Canyon to Tuba City crosses the Oraibi 
wash at a point about 7 miles above the village of Oraibi. As it enters 
a branch canyon on the west side of the wash it is flanked on each side 
by rocky mesas and broken ledges. On the left or west side a bold 
promontory, extending southward, is quite a conspicuous feature of the 
landscape. The entire flat mesa summit, and much of the slope of a 
rocky butte that rises from it, are covered with the remains of a small 
pueblo, as shown on the plan, Fig. 5. All of this knoll except its east- 
ern side is lightly covered with scattered debris. On the west and 
north sides there are many large masses of broken rock distributed 
over the slope. There is no standing wall visible from below, but on 
closer approach several interesting specimens of masonry are seen. 
On the north side, near the west end, there is a fragment of curved 
yall which follows the margin of the rock on which it is built. It is 
about 8 or 10 feet long and 3 feet high on the outer side. The curve is 
carefully executed and the workmanship of the masonry good. Farther 
sast, and still on the north side, there is a fragment of masonry exhib- 
iting a reversed curve. This piece of wall spans the space between two 
adjoining rocks, and the top of the wall is more than 10 feet above the 
rock on which it stands. The shape of this wall and its relation to the 
surroundings are indicated on the plan, Fig. 5. On the south side of 
the ruin on the mesa surface, and near an outcropping rock, are the re- 
