jackson] ANCIENT RUINS IN S. W. COLORADO. 377 



straction, and what we had not noticed before, the doorway facing east 

 is a little over 6 feet in height, tall enough to enable a person to stand 

 up in it. 



With these, we finished our observations of the ruins in the Cation de 

 los Mancos. We were now at its mouth, the mesa ending as abruptly 

 as it began; the river turning well westward and following approxi- 

 mately the course of the San Juan, joins it near the southwestern cor- 

 ner of the Territory, at the foot of El Late. 



Striking off to the right from the stream, and following close under 

 the bold escarpment of the mesa, we could still discern, as we bore 

 away, group after group of standing walls and mounds, extending down 

 the valley into the broad open plain of the San Juan. It was with 

 many regrets that we turned our backs upon these relics of a forgotten 

 race. Our trail now lay over the peculiar marly earths lying under 

 the sandstones of the table-land, soft, friable, and dusty, without vege- 

 tation, our mules' feet sinking into it to the fetlocks at each step. At 

 our right, portions of the mesa have become separated and weathered 

 into peculiar pinnacled turrets. One particularly stands out detached 

 some fifty rods; the trail passing between it and the mesa, forming an 

 old and well-known landmark on the old Spanish trail from Santa Fe 

 to Salt Lake. A little farther on, and to the right, is another mass, 

 bearing a curious resemblance to a matron standing with a child beside 

 her, the alternating bands of red and white strata marking off the fig- 

 ure into its different proportions and into flounces and trimmings. 



Away to the south and west, over the broad plains of the San Juan, 

 where roam the great flocks of sheep. and goats belonging to the Nava- 

 jos, the Callabassas Mountains rear themselves into distinct view ; 

 while between them and the river, a great cristone thrusts itself up out 

 of the earth to a height of at least 2,000 feet, as veritable a needle as 

 was ever christened such. 



Striking into this old trail, we bore around to the western side of the 

 mesa, and, near nightfall, arrived at the extensive group of ruins about 

 "Aztec Springs," lying out upon the northeastern flanks of El Late, 

 and close upon the divide between the waters of the Mancos and the 

 McElmo. It was our intention to have camped here and worked up 

 the surroundings at our leisure ; but, very much to the surprise of our 

 guide, the spring was perfectly dry, not even the least moisture remain- 

 ing to tempt us to dig for it, for others before us had dug to the depth 

 of three or four feet with no reward for their labor. At its best, it 

 could have been but a very insignificant source of supply; the surplus 

 oozing away through a few yards of wiry grass into the dry sand. The 

 basin of the spring lay in quite a depression, that had evidently been 

 excavated for the purpose. A well may have existed ; for it cannot 

 be reasonably supposed that the very large settlements which at one 

 time existed in the neighborhood were supplied from it in anywhere 

 near its present condition. The nearest running water was 12 or 13 

 miles away, and none of the surroundings indicated that this spring 

 ever had any very considerable volume of water. Immediately adjoining 

 the spring, on the right, as we face it from below, is the ruin of a great 

 massive structure of some kind, about 100 feet square in exterior dimen- 

 sions ; a portion only of the wall upon the northern face remaining in 

 its original position. The debris of the ruin now forms a great mound 

 of crumbling rock, from 12 to 20 feet in height, overgrown with arti- 

 misia, but showing clearly, however, its rectangular structure, adjusted 

 approximately to the four points of the compass. Inside this square is 

 a circle, about 60 feet in diameter, deeply depressed in the center. The 



