30 



In Fig. 11 of Plate II, 1 have sketched a grouud-plan of the '' city," 

 showing its general arrangement. The stream referred to, and shown in 

 the sketch, sw^eeps the foot of a rocky sandstone ledge, some 40 or 50 

 feet in height, upon which is built the highest and better-preserved por- 

 tion of the settlement. Its semicircular sweep conforms to the ledge ; 

 each little house of the outer circle being built close upon its edge. Be- 

 low the level of these upper houses some 10 or 12 feet, and within the 

 semicircular sweep, were seven distinctly-marked depressions, each sepa- 

 rated from the other by rocky debris, the lower or first series probably of 

 a small community-house. Upon either flank, and founded upon rocks, 

 were buildings similar in size and in other respects to the large ones on 

 the line above. As paced off, the upper or convex surface measured one 

 hundred yards in length. Each little apartment was small and narrow, 

 averaging 6 feet in width and 8 feet in length, the walls being 18 inches 

 in thickness. The stones of which the entire group was built were 

 dressed to nearly uniform size and laid in mortar. A peculiar feature 

 here was in the round corners, one at least appearing upon nearly every 

 little house. They were turned with considerable care and skill ; being 

 two curves, all the corners were solidly bound together and resisted the 

 destroying influences the longest. 



With this last our observations of these interesting relics came to an 

 end. Our trip was short and rapid, and instituted in the first place, 

 as I have said, for a quest of the picturesque, and we found it. For a 

 much more complete and faithful exposition of this interesting subject, 

 the reader is referred to the series of views, a catalogue and descriptive 

 list of which will be found appended. 



It does not seem worth while for me to advance any theories, or to spec- 

 ulate either upon the age of these ruins or of the ancestry of the builders. 

 The subject is fraught with exceeding great interest, and there is much 

 yet to learn and to discover ; for the field of their operations is, as yet, 

 but partially explored. In :N'ew Mexico and Arizona, the whole country 

 iscoveredwith somewhat similarremains,that havebeen described again 

 and again, from the early part of the sixteenth century, when Yaca saw 

 many of them occupied, down to the present day : while over in Utah, 

 upon the great plateau bordering the canons of the Colorado, are many 

 other groups, spoken of by Powell and Xewberry, Avhich resemble more 

 closely these I have described than those to the south. I have not been 

 able to find any published record of the cliii-houses and towers of Colo- 

 rado, or, for that matter, of any of the others. In 1859, an expedition 

 under Captain Macomb passed both the head and the mouth of the Eio 

 Mancos, and must have seen many ruins similar to the ones I have spoken 

 of. The older forms, out on the open land, were so abundant, that any 

 traveler would notice them ; but those hid away in the canons, I can 

 safely assert, have been seen by ^'ery few eyes, indeed, of the present 

 time. 



I cannot close without extending thanks to Captain John Moss, of La 

 Plata, our volunteer guide, who accompanied us over the route compris- 

 ing the ruins. To his accurate knowledge of their locality, and the best 

 way to reach them, as well as of the language of the Indians, is due 

 much of the success of the trip ; for it enabled us to make every day 

 count, and no false moves. 



