638 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



piles of debris, broken from the cliffs, had filled up a portion of the space below ; 

 now approaching each other, narrowing the canon to a mere crevice in the earth 

 less than loo feet in width, and again spreading out half a mile apart. 



Proceeding on foot three miles beyond the camp, the explorers found the 

 ruins of a cliff village, so vt'ell preserved and remarkable that it more than 

 fulfilled Ihe promises of the guide. The place must have been the home of 

 between 2,000 and 3,000 human beings. It occupied two 'caves" under 

 the same roof, but partially separated by a projection of rock. The ex- 

 tremes of the habitable floor were 1,500 feet apart, while the width from the 

 rear wall of the cave to the edge of the precipice below might have been one- 

 twelfth that distance. The floor of the two wider portions of the cave was 

 studded thick with dwellings built of square stones laid in mortar, all of which 

 were in a state of ruin. An edifice of grander proportions, and almost as well 

 preserved as in the day of its occupation, nearly filled up the narrow space in 

 front of the dividing rock projection to the edge of the precipice. 



The fortress-like structure referred to consisted of along, narrow building one 

 story in height, divided into many rooms or dwellings, opening into each other, 

 but having no communication with the outside except through the towers which 

 stood at either end. The largest of these towers — that at the southern end— was 

 three stories in height, with the joists for each of the upper floors projecting two 

 or three feet beyond the outer walls. Holes through the floors formed the means 

 of communication between the different stories, while window-like openings from 

 the second story of the towers, looking out upon the roof of the connecting one- 

 story structure, formed the only mode of exit from the fortress, if such it was. 

 An inhabitant of one of the central apartments of this building, jivishing to emerge 

 to daylight and pure atmosphere, must have been compelled to pass through the 

 bed-rooms and kitchens of all his fellow-tenants upon one side into the tower ; 

 then to climb up through the ceiling to the second story of the tower, swing him- 

 self by a wooden bar which still remains in place, out of one of the windows up- 

 on the roof of his dwelling, and thence pass by a ladder down to the floor of the 

 cave — the "street " of the village. If his duty or pleasure led him to a greater 

 distance, he still had the perilous journey before him down the rocky ladder, 300 

 feet to the bottom of the canon. 



Many interesting architectural designs were noted by the explorers, which can 

 not be described here. No evidence of the use or knowledge of metals was 

 found; stone implements fashioned all the materials out of which the structure 

 was built, of which fact the rough but careful chiseling of the stone gave abun- 

 dant evidence. Cross-pieces were laid upon the joists for the flooring of the tow- 

 ers, and upon these pieces twigs about the diameter of a man's finger were ar- 

 ranged side by side, but in series which formed a curious mosaic of angles and 

 squares. In the larger division of the cave, and in the smaller division, one of 

 the curious circular structures which might have been the places of worship, or 

 perhaps of amusement, of the cave-dwellers, was found. 



The structures are common enough in that section of the country, but these 



