424 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Two miles down tbe cauon of the Chelly we found the bouse shown in 

 Plate XLVII. Its situation is very similar to that of the town shown 

 in Plate 19, but it is overhung by a less height of the impending bluf3f. 

 It vras reached from the valley by a series of steps cut into the rock, 

 but now" so eroded away as to be impracticable. It is accessible now by 

 way of the ledge, some 10 or 12 rods in length, which extends to the 

 left from the house, but aflbrds a very narrow and precarious footing. 

 At the time of occupancy this was walled across, with possibly a way 

 for getting over or around, for this ledge communicated directly with 

 the plateau above, where there are the remains of what was possibly a 

 corral. 



The house, 20 feet in height, consists of two stories, built against the 

 sloping back wall of the bluff; the lower story is 18 by 10 feet square, 

 divided into two rooms, one slightly smaller than the other, with a com- 

 municating door between, and a large door opening outward from the 

 larger one. The upper floor appears to have been all in one room, with 

 one large window facing outward, and several smaller ones in the side 

 walls. Extensions existed upon either side, and also some kind of struct- 

 ure in front, probably a sort of platform-house, covering the lower door- 

 way. To the right the ledge grows narrower, and gradually merges into 

 the perpendicular blufl'; 40 feet from the house, on this ledge, are the 

 remains of a wall across it. About 20 rods above, at the foot of the 

 bluff, there is a deep natural reservoir of water, formed by the accumu- 

 lated rains upon the plateau above, pouring over the rocks and scooping 

 out a basin 30 feet in diameter and fully as deep, that seems to retain a 

 perpetual supply of water. 



ISear our camp, just at the junction of the two caiions, and on the flat 

 surface of the sage-covered valley, is a row of small squares marked out 

 by large stones, such as have already been described, standing on end. 

 In this case the squares were of such careful construction and size as 

 to encourage us to dig into them to a considerable depth. Beyond the 

 scattered bits of charcoal, very sparingly deposited in this instance, 

 however, nothing was found. 



Five miles above the caiion Bonito, the Chelly expands into a wide 

 valley that extends, with only slight interruptions, to the foot of the 

 caiion De Chelly, at the northern end of the Tunecha Mountains. It is 

 bordered by low but abrupt sandstone bluffs, which have been broken into 

 isolated monuments in some places, that stand like huge sentinels upon 

 either hand, as if to warn the traveller from the desolation surrounding 

 him. Although the bluffs contain numerous great circular caves, favor- 

 ite building-places of the ancient builders, we find only two or three ruins 

 of that kind, and these only in the lower end of the valley, the last we 

 noticed being about eight miles above the caiion Bonito. This was the 

 largest and most important one in this vicinity, occupying a large circu- 

 lar cave very similar to the one of the San Juan, divided into twelve or 

 fifteen rooms, with a large corral or court, and an elevated bench on one 

 side, with a low wall running around its front edge. This had been 

 occupied by the Navajos for corraling their sheep. 



Over the broad, flat, valley, sage covered, sandy, and monotonous, 

 and through which the wide shallow wash meandered from side to side, 

 we found frequent indications of its former occupancy by the old people 

 whom we have been following up. These indications extend southward 

 until they are lost in the cultivated region about the head of the valley. 



There were no more remains of stone-built houses, nor the slightest 

 sign of one ; all were probably of adobe, the only clew in many cases being 

 simply a slight mound with considerable quantities of broken pottery 



