MINDELEFF] 



DEFENSIVE SITES. 



207 



site. Here there is a groui) of eight dusters extending half a mile up 

 and down the river, and some of the clusters have walls still standing 

 to a height of 8 and 10 feet. The relation of these clusters to each 

 other is shown iti the sketch map, figure l!84. 



The principal ruiu of the group is situated on the northern side of a 

 small valley running eastward from the river up to the foot of a prom- 

 inent mesa, which here bounds the eastern side of the river bottom. 

 The valley is jierhaps half a mile long and about an eighth of a mile 

 wide. The ruiu is located on a butte or knoll connected with the hills 

 back of it by a low saddle, forming a sort of promontory or tongue of 

 land rising from a flat space or bench, the whole some 200 feet above 

 the river bottom. One of the clusters of I'ooms is located in the saddle 

 mentioned and is connected with the main ruin. At the foot of the 



Fig. 284. — Skett'h iii;ii» allowing location td' luiua upposite \"erde. 



butte on the western side there is a similar cluster, not connected, 

 however, with the main ruin; and south of the main ruin, on the 

 extreme edge of the little mesa or bench, there is another small clus- 

 ter. The ruin shown on the sketch map southwest of the main ruin 

 consists of but two rooms, with no wall now standing. All these clus- 

 ters are shown in their proper position on the ground plan, plate xvii. 

 Plate XVIII, which is a general view from the east, shows the main ruin 

 on the butte, together with the connected cluster east of it in the sad- 

 dle. The modern settlement seen in the middle distance is Verde. 



About a quarter of a mile west of the main ruin there is another 

 small but well-preserved cluster of rooms. It occupies the narrow 



