■274 . KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
crest of the ridge and extend down its face, which descends at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees, for about too feet. 
The largest cave, which is about fifteen feet square, is nearest the crest of the 
ridge, occupying the post of honor, overlooking all the balance of the village, 
and was undoubtedly the habitation of the governor, chief, or head man ; the 
other caves are stuck in below each other so close that the rear of some of them 
are nearly under the front of those higher up the hill. As the descent is made 
the caves become smaller and are rudely constructed, or excavated, until they 
degenerate almost to ordinary bears' dens. This shows conclusively that even 
among the ancient cave-dwellers the autocrat from his fifteen-foot parlor, with 
its alcove sleeping quarters, looked down with contempt upon the ignorant poor 
folks whose six by eight single room was found a hundred feet below him on the 
hillside. 
All the larger and more respectable dwellings have from one to three or four 
little alcoves excavated from the sides of the main room ; they are about four 
feet wide, three feet high, and extend back five feet, and furnished the sleeping 
accommodations for the family. 
The excavation of these caves was probably quite a tedious operation, but 
■certainly not a difficult one, as the material gives way readily to light blows of 
any pointed tool, and when a solid rock was encountered, it was either dug ou^ 
and removed whole, or if part of it projected from the wall it was broken off by 
•blows from a heavy stone. The only tools used by the excavators of these caves 
were rude hammers made by selecting a stone near the size and shape wanted, 
and then by rubbing or grinding, completing for use, and cutting a groove 
around it sufficiently deep to sustain a handle lashed to it with rawhide thongs. 
Some of these rude hammers are still found about the mines. 
In constructing the cave a narrow approach is made, inclining downward 
until a sufficient elevation is presented, when a doorway about two feet wide by 
three or four feet high is formed ; after leaving walls of about one foot the rooms 
are commenced and excavated of the required size. 
Some of the large caves have a small passage-way leading from one to 
another ; they are only large enough to allow a human body to crawl through, 
and as they are near the top of the rooms were properly more for convenience of 
neighborly gossip than anything else. The loose earth and broken stones taken 
from the caves was carried out and deposited over on the rear face of the ridge; 
the solid piles of stone were used to erect rough stone walls about the entrance 
to the caves, and along the ridge a wall is built continuously back of the whole 
village about three feet high. No mortar or plaster of any kind or description 
was ever used by these people. 
The caves, considering what their age must be, are still in a remarkable state 
of preservation. The rains and winds have partially filled some of them but they 
can nearly all be entered without difficulty, and the walls and roofs are found in 
.as perfect condition as the day they were abandoned. 
As to the people who excavated and inhabited these dwellings, it is utterly 
