418 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



wall of the first two. No possible means of access were discernible, and 

 if ladders were ever used they were taller than any of the trees avail- 

 able for that purpose now growing in this vicinity. 



About twelve miles below the Montezuma we discovered, far away 

 upon the opposite side of the river, a great circular cave, occupying 

 very nearly the entire height of the bluff in which it occurred, and in 

 which, by close inspection with the glass, we were enabled to make out 

 a long line of masonry. Fording the river and approaching it, we found 

 that the bluff-line at this place was a little over 200 feet in height, the 

 upper half alight-colored, firm, massive sandstone, and the lower a dark- 

 reel and shaly variety. The opening of the cave is almost i)erfGctly cir- 

 cular, 200 feet in diameter, divided equally between the two kinds of 

 rocks, reaching, within a few feet, the top of the bluff above and the 

 le\rel of the valley below. It runs back in a semicircular sweep to a 

 depth of 100 feet ; the top is a perfect half dome, and the lower half only 

 less so from the accumulation of debris and the thick brushy foliage, 

 the cool dampness of its shadowed interior, where the sun never touches, 

 favoring a luxuriant growth. A stratum of harder rock across the cen- 

 tral line of the cave has left a bench running around its entire half- 

 circle, upon which is built the row of buildings which caught our 

 attention half a mile away. Figure 3, Plate XLVIII, is a plan of a 

 horizontal section of the cave, showing the ledge and the manner of the 

 disposition of the buildings upon it, and in Plate XLIX, the ruins as 

 they now appear. 



The houses occupy the left hand or eastern half of the cave, for the 

 reason, probably, that the ledge was wider on that side, and the wall 

 back of it receded in such a manner as to give considerable additional 

 room for the second floor, or for the upper part of the one-story rooms. 

 It is about 50 feet from the outer edge of the cave to the first building, 

 a small structure 16 feet long, 3 feet wide at the outer end, and 4 at the 

 opposite end; the walls, standing only 4 feet on the highest remaining 

 corner, were nearly all tumbled in. Then came au open space 11 feet 

 wide and 9 deep, that served probably as a sort of workshop. Four 

 holes were drilled into the smooth rock floor, about 6 feet equidistantly 

 apart, each from 6 to 10 inches deep and 5 in diameter, as perfectly 

 round as though drilled by machinery. We can reasonably assume that 

 these people were familiar with the art of weaving, and that it was here 

 they worked at the loom, the drilled holes supporting its posts. At 6, 

 in this open space, are a number of grooves worn into the rock in various 

 places, caused by the artificers of the little town in shaping and' polish- 

 ing their stone implements. The main building comes next, occupying 

 the widest portion of the ledge, which gives an average width of 10 feet 

 inside ; it is 48 feet long outside, and 12 high, divided inside into three 

 rooms, the first two 13^ feet each in length, and the third 10 feet, divided 

 into two stories, the lower and upper 5 feet in height. The joist-holes 

 did not penetrate through the walls, being inserted about six inches, 

 half the thickness. The beams rested upon the sloping back wall, 

 which receded far enough to make the upper rooms about square. 

 Window-like apertures afforded communication between each room all 

 through the second story, excepting that which opened out to the back 

 of the cave. There was also one window in each lower room, about 12 

 inches square, looking out toward the open country, and in the upper 

 rooms several small apertures, not more than 3 inches wide, were pierced 

 through the wall, hardly more than peep-holes. The walls of the large 

 building continued back in an unbroken line 130 feet farther, with an 

 average height of 8 feet. The space was divided into 11 apartments. 



