M:NDELEFF] SITES DIFFICULT OF ACCESS n59 
above the junction of Monument canyon. At first glance, and at a 
distance, this site appears to be really inaccessible, but a close inspec- 
tion of the figure will show that it could be reached with comparative 
little difficulty over the rounded mass of rock shown to the left. By 
cutting off that side of the figure it could be made to serve as an illus- 
tration of a wholly inaccessible ruin. 
MASONRY 
The ancient pueblo builder, like his modern successor, was so closely 
in touch with nature, so dependent on his immediate physical surround- 
ings, that variations in some at least of his arts are more natural and to 
be expected than uniformity. Especially is this true of the art of con- 
struction, and variations in masonry are more often than not the result 
of variations in the material employed, which is nearly always that 
most convenient to hand. Yet there were other conditions that neces- 
sarily influenced it, such, for example, as the character of the struc- 
ture to be erected, whether permanent or temporary. The summer 
village of Ojo Caliente presents a type of masonry much ruder than 
any found in the home village of Zuni, although both were built and 
occupied by the same people at the same time. 
Within the limits of Canyon de Chelly, where the physical conditions 
and the character of material are essentially uniform, a considerable 
variation in the masonry is found, implying that some conditions other 
than the usual ones have influenced it. Werethe masonry of one class 
of ruins inferior or superior throughout to that of another it might be 
easily explained, but variations within each class are greater than those 
between classes. Conditions analogous to those which prevailed in the 
case of Ojo Caliente and Zuni may have governed here, or there may 
have been other conditions of which we now know nothing. It may be 
that sites originally occupied as farming shelters subsequently became 
regular villages, as has happened in otherregions. The position of the 
kivas in many of the ruins suggests this. As a whole the masonry is 
inferior to that found in the Mancos canyon and the Chaco, and supe- 
rior to that of Tusayan, but, asin Tusayan, where the masonry is some- 
times very roughly constructed, the builders were well acquainted with 
the methods which produced the finer and better work. 
The highest type of masonry in the pueblo system of architecture 
consists of small blocks of stone of nearly uniform size, dressed, and 
laid in courses, and rubbed down in situ. No attempt was made to 
break joints. This system requires the careful preparation of the 
material beforehand, and examples of itare not very common in Canyon 
de Chelly. As a variant we have walls composed of stones of fairly 
uniform size, laid with the best face out and with the interstices 
chinked with small spalls. The chinking is carried to such an extent 
in some places, as in the Chaco ruins, that the walls present the ettect 
of a mosaic composed of small spalls. Chinking is almost a universal 
practice, and in some localities had passed, or was passing, from a mere 
