8 PEOCEEDIN"GS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 77 



in 1909 ; its story, in so far as this could be read from the remains, 

 had been patiently recorded. Ours was the work of mending 

 broken and insecure walls; of patching roofs; of providing ladders 

 to facilitate access by those less agile than primitive folk. In the 

 period between 1909 and 1917 the Kayenta district had become a 

 veritable magnet attracting, in ever increasing numbers, persons who 

 value solitude and weird desert beauty. 



While fulfilling our mission at Betatakin we sought also to pre- 

 serve the prehistoric atmosphere of the place ; to so disguise our own 

 handiwork that it would be unobtrusive thereafter. During our 

 clearing operations we noticed that some of the old mud mortar had 

 outlasted the friable sandstone it bound together. After brief ex- 

 periment we were able to duplicate this mortar with a half-and-half 

 mixture of clean sand and the compact red clay that occurs in rela- 

 tively thin layers beneath the massive Jurassic sandstone of the cliffs. 

 Stones and timbers from shattered dwellings were salvaged and re- 

 used. In repairing or reconstructing house walls we took pains 

 to eliminate the marks of our tools ; at the same time, we deliberately 

 broke joints in our stonework, a precaution with which the ancient 

 masons did not concern themselves. This slight difference in method 

 will, in most instances, serve to identify the walls we built. While 

 nearly every room received some measure of attention, the notes 

 which follow will guide future students to our major repairs. 



NOTES ON BETATAKIN ROOMS. 



As Plate 10 of his " Preliminary report on a visit to the Navaho 

 National Monument," Doctor Fewkes (1911) publishes a ground plan 

 of Betatakin prepared by W. B. Douglass. This plan I naturally 

 assumed to be correct ; it forms the basis of that which appears herein 

 as Plate 3.^^ House numbers previously assigned are retained in each 

 instance, but since these end with room 96 those additional dwellings 

 disclosed in 1917 have been designated rooms 100-135. Perhaps a 

 dozen others, evidenced by characteristic wall seatings, might have 

 been included had we found opportunity carefully to examine and 

 delineate their respective sites. 



The notes which now follow were made during the course of our 

 excavations. Room measurements taken at the same time will be 

 found in the table beginning on page 72. 



Room i, above and west of room 2 in the extreme western end of 

 the cave, was obviously designed for storage. Its floor is the rough, 



" Although without instruments of precision, we observed certain minor discrepancies 

 in the Douglass survey. This, it should be borne in mind, was made under pressure of 

 time and before all the house walls were exposed. The principal differences between his 

 plan and ours will be manifested By direct comparison of the two and by our description 

 of the individual rooms. 



