396 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



mattiDg, and beneath this a quantity of fine vegetable tissue from the 

 interior bark of some kind of tree. The vessels are illustrated in Plate 

 XLIV, and the matting in Plate XL VI. 



The rock-face between this ruin and the one above is smooth and ver- 

 tical, bi|,t by passing along the ledge a few yards to the left a sloping 

 face was found, up which a stairway of small niches had been cut ; by 

 means of these, an active person, unencumbered, can ascend with 

 safety. On reaching the top, one finds himself in the very doorway of 

 the upper house {a, Figure 2) without standing room outside of the wall, 

 and one can imagine that an enemy would stand but little chanceof 

 reaching and entering such a fortress if defended, even by women and 

 children alone. The position of this ruin is one of unparalleled security, 

 both from enemies and from the elements. The almost vertical cliff 

 descends abruptly from the front wall, and the immense arched roof of 

 solid stone projects forward 15 or 20 feet beyond the house (see section, 

 Figure 3). At the right the ledge ceases, and at the left stops short 

 against a massive vertical wall. The niche-stairway affords the only 

 possible means of approach. 



The house occupies the entire floor of the niche, which is about 120 

 feet long by 10 in depth at the deepest part. The front wall to the 

 right and left of the door-way is quite low, portions having doubtless 

 fallen off. The higher wall,/<7, is about 30 feet long, and from 10 to 12 

 feet high, while a very low rude wall extends along the more inaccessi- 

 ble part of the ledge, and terminates at the extreme right in a small 

 enclosure, as seen in the plan at c. 



In the first apartment entered, there were evidences of fire, the walls 

 and ceiling being blackened with smoke. In the second, a member of 

 the party, by digging in the rubbish, obtained a quantity of beans, and 

 in the third a number of grains of corn, hence the names given. There 

 are two small windows in the front wall, and door- ways communicate 

 between rooms separated by high partitions. 



The walls of these houses are built in the usual manner, and average 

 about a foot in thickness. 



The upper house seems to be in a rather unfinished state, looking as 

 if stone and mortar had run short. When one considers that these 

 materials must have been brought from far below by means of ropes, or 

 carried in small quantities up the dangerous stairway, the only wonder 

 is that it was ever brought to its present degree of finish. 



Figure 3 is given for the purpose of making clear the geologic condi- 

 tions that give shape to the cliffs as well as to show the relations of these 

 houses to the cliffs. The hard and massive beds of rock resist the 

 erosive agents ; the soft and friable beds yield, hence the irregularity — 

 the overhanging cliffs, the niches, and benches, a is a section of the 

 lower house, b of the upper. 



It has heretofore been supposed that the occupants of these houses 

 obtained water either from the river below or from springs on the 

 mesa above; but the immense labor of carrying water up these cliffs, as 

 well as the impossibility of securing a supply in case of a siege, made me 

 suspect the existence of springs in the cliffs themselves. In three or 

 four cases these springs have been found, and it is evident that with a 

 climate a very little more moist than the j)resent, a plentiful supply 

 could be expected. Kunning water was found within a few yards of the 

 group of houses just described, and Mr. Brandegee observed water 

 dripping down the cliffs near a group of small houses on the opposite 

 side of the caSon. 



About one mile farther up the caiion, I came upon the ruin photo- 



