30 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 68 



On account of the difficulty in reaching their tops, the ground plan of 

 many could not be observed, but with a glass it was seen that as a 

 rule they conform to the shape of the rim of the rock on which they 

 stand. Considering the unusual sites of these inaccessible buildings, 

 the question naturally arises, How could the ancient dwellers enter 

 these rooms? Had they ladders or ropes, or were footholes cut in 

 the side of the cliff to aid them ? If the theory of footholes be correct 

 we may suppose that these have been worn away, for no trace of them 

 could be found. 



A geological question might likewise suggest itself to anyone seeing 

 the evidences of erosion between the cliffs and pinnacles. Has the 

 gap between the latter and the edge of the plateaux been ploughed 

 out by the water since the building on the former were constructed ? 

 Although the cliffs show that the amount of the erosion has been 

 enormous, it must be borne in mind that the prevailing rock is soft 

 sandstone, the wearing away of which would not necessarily require 

 a great period of time. It is not probable that these pinnacles have 

 been separated by erosion from the cliff since man constructed the 

 walls upon them, but this question involves the knowledge of a 

 geological expert. 



To the same group of ruins as the mushroom type belongs one 

 from a wholly different locality, shown in plate 12, a, a photograph 

 of which was given the author by Mr. Chubbock. In this case the ruin 

 is not built on top of a rock pinnacle, in the shape of an inverted cone, 

 but in the horizontal fissure or constriction worn out vmder the harder 

 stratum above it. The building in this cleft is in fact a kind of cliff" 

 house in which the front wall extends from top to bottom of the 

 crevice, the rooms occupying a recess back of this wall. A somewhat 

 similar form of habitation found in the side of a cliff has been 

 described by the author.^ It was discovered in the Verde Valley, 

 Arizona, near Jordan's ranch, about 6 miles from Jerome, Arizona. 

 In his description it is classified as a " ledge house," a type where the 

 opening into the cave is completely walled up. Unlike a true cliff 

 dwelling the rooms occupy the whole of a natural cave the top of 

 which is its roof. It is not possible to determine from the illustration 

 here shown whether or not the recess has been enlarged by artificial 

 means, and as the author has not visited the ruin he has no idea of the 

 arrangement of rooms. 



^28th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 198, 199. 



