440 EEPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



covered up with saud. I was alone at the time, with no implement 

 •whatever suited to an excavation, or I would have investigated further. 

 The masonry of this ruin is remarkable for the effect of fine finish 

 imparted to its general appearance. It consists almost entirely of small 

 tabular pieces of stone, although in some portions of the building the 

 material is selected as to size, and laid in parallel courses. The exterior 

 walls, however, are composed entirely of very small pieces, arranged 

 •without order, but so compactly and solidlj' as to give the impression 

 of a homogeneous surface, and this is secured without the aid of any 

 cement or adobe mortar appearing between the joints. I measured off 

 at random a square yard on the back wall just behind the estnfas, and 

 found that 450 pieces of stone appeared on the surface witnin that space. 

 The opposite surface was formed in like manner, but as these stones 

 would form less than one-half the thickness of the walls, the rest was 

 made up of larger and more irregular pieces laid in an abundance of 

 clay cement. Imagine the industry and patience required to build such 

 a wall. 



In this ruin there was at one time a line of wall running around three 

 sides ofthe building, 935 feet in length and about 40 feet in height, giving 

 37,400 square feet of surface, and as an average of 50 pieces of stone 

 appeared within the space of every square foot, this would give nearly 

 2,000,000 pieces for the outer surface of the outer wall alone; multiply 

 this by the opposite surface, and also by the interior and transverse 

 lines of masonry, and, supposing a symmetrical terracing, we will find 

 that it will swell the total up into more than 30,000,000, embraced 

 within about 315,000 cubic feet of masonry. These millions of pieces 

 had to be quarried, dressed roughly to fit their places, and carefully 

 adapted to it; the massive timbers had to be brought from a consider- 

 able distance, cut and fitted to their places in the wall and then covered 

 with other courses ; and then the other detailsof window and roof making, 

 plastering, and construction of ladders, must have employed a large 

 body of intelligent, well-organized, patient, and industrious people, 

 under thorough discipline, for a very long time. The remains of the 

 wall that enclosed the court show it to have been of stone and to have 

 been divided into apartments, for at regular intervals of about 10 feet 

 there are lines of stone-work at right angles to its trend, the same as 

 in two other ruins at least in which a number of these apartments are 

 in good preservation, showing clearly their character. The centre was 

 broken, as if for an opening or gateway, and upon either hand outside 

 were long mounds of rubbish, the refuse of the town. Within about 

 20 yards of the northwest angle of the ruin, and built upon a slight 

 mound at the base of the bluff, are the ruins of a structure that bears 

 about the same relation to this pueblo as the similar one which appears 

 in connection with the Pueblo Pintado. These adjacent structures 

 alsoai)pear in connection with most of the ruins about to be described. 

 Although very ruinous, enough remains to show the large circular room 

 in the interior, with probably two or three other rectangular rooms. 



PUEBLO BONITO. 



Five hundred yards below and also close under the perpendicular 

 walls of the caSon are the ruins of the Pueblo Bonito, the largest and 

 in some respects the most remarkable of all. Its length is 544 feet and 

 its width 314 feet. By referring to the plan it will be seen that it only 

 roughly approximates the usual rectangular shape. The two side wings 

 are parallel with each other, and at right angles to the front wall, for a 



