20 



almost isolated fragment of terrace near Caliente Creek. It has been 

 constructed chiefly of adobe, and has consisted of rows of apartments 

 surrounding a number of large open courts. Individual walls cannot 

 be traced, and the rows of houses are reduced to smooth rounded ridges 

 of earth. These are indicated on the plan, and are often as much as 

 8 feet high, and 30 feet wide at the base. The courts contain a num- 

 ber of small circles and mounds, a, a, and the single estufa is iden- 

 tical in appearance with those among the ruins of Colorado. A 

 number of openings, &, &, through the walls indicate the location of 

 gate-ways. Metates, arrow-heads, and many fragments of pottery were 

 found. Many other groups of ruins similar to this occur in this as 

 well as in the neighboring valleys. 3^ear Abiquiu, a large pueblo occurs, 

 at which I found a stone axe and a number of arrowheads and 

 metates. A couple of skeletons were also obtained here. This ruin is 

 described at length by Dr. Yarrow, in his report for 1874.* 



PLATES XI AND XII. 



Although it is quite impossible to read the curious rock-inscriptions of 

 unknown tribes, or even to conjecture to any extent their meaning, yet 

 it is conceded that in most cases they have a meaning and represent an 

 idea or record an event. Aside from this, however, they are valuable to 

 the historian as records of the grade of civilization reached by the 

 tribes who executed them. 



That the examples given in the two following plates, belong to .the 

 age of the cliff-builders cannot be satisfactorily proved, but, at the same 

 time, evidence that they do, is not wanting. Some are found on the 

 cliffs and in the niches with the cliff-dwellings, while all are in localities 

 that must have been frequently visited by these people. Some are 

 found in the caiion of the Mancos, others on the bluffs of the San Juan, 

 and many in the canons farther west. 



Figures 1, 2, and 3, Plate XI, occur on the Mancos near the group 

 of cliff'-houses figured in Plate Y. They are chipped into the rock, evi- 

 dently by some very hard implement, and rudely represent the human 

 figure. They are certainly not attempts to represent nature, but have 

 the appearance rather of arbitrary forms designed to symbolize some 

 imaginary being. 



Figures 4, 5, and 6 were found in the same locality, not engraved, but 

 painted in red and white clay upon the smooth rocks. These were 

 certainly done by the cliff-builders, and probably while the houses 

 were in process of construction, since the material used is identical with 

 the plaster of the houses. The sketches and notes were made by Mr. 

 Brandegee. The reproduction is approximately one-twelfth the size of 

 the original. 



The examples given in figures 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, as well as those in 

 Plate XII, occur on the Eio San Juan about ten miles below the mouth 

 of the Eio La Plata. A low line of bluffs, composed of light-colored 

 massive sandstones, that break down in great smooth-faced blocks, rises 

 from the river-level and sweeps around toward the north. Each of 

 these great blocks has offered a very tempting tablet to the graver of the 

 primitive artist, and very many of them contain curious and interesting 

 inscriptions. Drawings were made of such of these as the limited time 

 at my disposal would permit. They are all engraved or cut into the 

 face of the rock, and the whole body of each figure has generally been 

 chipped out, frequently to the depth of one-fourth or one-half an inch. 

 The work on some of the larger groups has b^en one of immense 



* Eeport of the Chief of Engineers for 1875, page 1064. 



