42 



a space, generally, of 100 feet square ; they are seldom subdivided into 

 more than two or four apartments. Relics were abundant, broken pot- 

 tery and arrow-points being especially plenty, and of excellent quality; 

 at one place, where the wash had partially undermined the foundations 

 of one of the large buildings, it exposed a wall of regularly-laid masonry 

 extending down six feet iDeueath the superincumbent debris to the old 

 floor-level, covered with ashes and the remains of half-charred sticks of 

 juniper. From this rubbish a fine example of a stone ax, about the 

 size of one's hand, was found, with a smooth and sharp-cutting edge, 

 formed by grinding it down to an acute angle ; its head was roughly 

 chipped to the required shape foii binding on a handle. At another 

 point a small earthen bowl, of the superior ware characteristic of the 

 people, was found entire. ISTo special burial-places were observed, but 

 a number of bones of the lower extremities were unearthed at the edge 

 of the wash, without any stone-work above them. There were no cave- 

 dwellings in the neighborhood of this group, but two or three miles 

 below several occurred, one of which is built in a huge niche in the 

 solid wall of the cailon, with its floor level with the valley. (See Fig. 

 2, Plate 17.) 



From the last camp the caSon expanded into occasional valleys from 

 500 to 800 yards across, and then contracting again to a mere narrow 

 passage, but still all shut in by the high escarpment of the mesa. From 

 either side long narrow tongues or promontories extended out 100 yards, 

 and from 20 to 100 feet high, sometimes connected with the main wall 

 by a mere comb or wall of rock, its extremity, however, spreading out to 

 an irregularly oval shape. In the valleys are occasional isolated mesas, 

 the remnants, probably, of former promontories, left here by the great 

 erosive powers which channeled out these cafious. Within a distance of 

 15 miles there are some sixteen or eighteen of these promontories and 

 isolated mesas, varying in height, and every one of them covered with 

 ruins of old and massive stone-built structures. They will average in 

 size from 100 by 200 feet square down to 30 by 50 feet, always in a solid 

 block, and, with one exception, so nearly similar that a description of 

 one- will fairly represent all. This exceptional instance is explained in 

 the sketch (Fig. 1, Plate 20), and the ground-plan, (Fig. 1, Plate 10). 

 The peculiarity here consists principally in the size and shape of the 

 stones employed, as well as in the design of its ground plan. The ruin 

 occupies one of the small isolated mesas, whose floor is composed 

 of a distinctly laminated sandstone, breaking into regular slabs 

 from 18 to 24 inches in thickness; these have been broken again into 

 long blocks, and then placed in the wall upright, the largest standing 

 five feet above the soil in which they are planted. The sketch in Plate 

 ( 20 ) is a view along the line a a a, looking toward the round tower. 

 Very nearly the entire length of this wall is made up of the large upright 

 blocks of even thickness, fitting close together, with only occasional 

 spaces filled up with smaller rocks. In one place the long blocks have 

 been pushed outward by the weight of the debris back ofit. One side 

 of the large square apartment in the rear is made of the same kind of 

 rocks, standing in a solid row. The walls throughout the rest of the 

 building are composed of ordinary-sized rocks, with an occasional large 

 upright one. Judging from the debris, the walls could not have been 

 more than 8 or 10 feet in height. The foundation-line was well pre- 

 served, enabling us to measure accurately its dimensions. The large 

 square room was depressed in the center, and its three outside walls 

 contained less material than in the rest of the building. 1:^0 sign of 

 any aperture, either of window or door, could be detected. 



