168 THE CLIFF. RUINS OF CANYON DE CHELLY [et ann. 16 
whole width of the rock. An exceptionally large amount of mud plas- 
ter was used on the walls, which are better finished outside than inside. 
Access was had by hand-holes in the rock, now almost obliterated. 
Originally the structure consisted of two or more rooms, 
A littlé below this site there are some well-executed pictographs, and 
on some rocks immediately to the right some crude work of the Navaho 
of the same sort. To the left of the cist a round hole 6 or 8 inches in 
diameter has been pecked into the almost vertical face of the rock. The 
purpose of this is not clear. 
The storage of water was so seldom attempted, or perhaps so seldom 
necessary, that only one example of a reservoir was found. This has 
already been described (page 126). If the cliff ruins were defensive 
structures, a supply of water must have been kept in them, and where 
this requirement was common, as it would be under the hypothesis, cer- 
tainly some receptacle other than jars of pottery would be provided. 
Few, if any, of the cliff outlooks are so situated that a supply of water 
could be procured without descending to the stream bed, and without 
a supply of water the most impregnable site in the canyon would have 
little value. 
The number of burial cists in the canyon is remarkable; there are 
hundreds of them. Practically every ruin whose walls are still stand- 
ing contains one or more, some haye eight or ten. They are all of Navaho 
origin and in many of them the remains of Navaho dead may still be 
seen. Possibly the Navaho taboo of their own dead has brought about 
the partial taboo of the cliff dwellers’ remains which prevails, and which 
is an element that must be taken into account in any discussion of the 
antiquity of the ruins. 
The burial cists are built usually in a corner or against a wall of a 
cliff dweller’s house, but sometimes they are built against a cliff wall, 
and occasionally stand out alone. The masonry is always rough, much 
inferior to the old walls against which it generally rests, and usually 
very flimsy. The structures are dome-shape when standing alone, or 
in the shape of a section of a dome when placed against other walls. 
The natural bedding of the stone is sometimes wholly ignored, and in 
some cases the walls consist merely of thin slabs of stone on edge, held 
together with masses of mud, the whole presenting an average thick- 
ness of less than 3 inches. Such structures on ordinary sites would 
not last six months; protected as they are they might last for many 
years. 
Not all the Navaho dead in the canyon find their last resting place in 
the ruins. Graves can be seen under bowlders and rocks high up on 
the talus; and in one place in De Chelly a number of little piles of 
stones are pointed out as the burial places of ““‘many Americans,” who, 
it is said, were killed by the Navaho in their last war. It is also said 
that in the olden days, when the Navaho considered De Chelly their 
stronghold and the heart of their country, the remains of prominent 
