JACKSON.] ANCIENT RUINS IN S. W. COLORADO. 371 



firmly. It was not, however, anything more than an adobe or clay- 

 cement. 



As we progressed down the caiion, the same general characteristics 

 held good; the great majority of the ruins consisting of heaps of 

 debris, a central mass considerably higher and more massive than the 

 surrounding lines of subdivided squares. Small buildings, not more 

 than 8 feet square, were often found standing alone apparently ; no trace 

 of any other being detected in their immediate neighborhood. 



We now commenced to note another peculiar feature. Upon our right, 

 the long slopes of protruding strata and debris formed promontories, 

 extending out into the caiion. Upon these, and not more than 50 feet 

 above the stream, we found frequent indications of their having been 

 occupied by some sort of works, the foundations of which in every case 

 were circular, with a deep depression in the center, and generally occur- 

 ring in pairs, two side by side, ranging from 10 to 20 feet in diameter. 

 There was no masonry of any kind visible, but thickly strewn all about 

 any quantity of broken pottery. Above, were indications of habitations 

 in the face of the cliif, but not marked enough to warrant further search. 



At those places where the trail ran high up, near the more precipitous 

 portion of the bluff, we found remnants of stone walls, inclosing spaces 

 of from 5 to 12 feet in length, in the cave-like crevices running along 

 the seams. They were pretty well demolished, the stones undressed 

 and imbedded in mud mortar. In many places, little niches or crevices iu 

 rock had been walled up into cupboard-like inclosures of about the size 

 of a bushel- basket. We searched them eagerly, but they had all been 

 despoiled before us. ]!:^othing of any greater importance was found up 

 to the time we made camp at night-fall. All that we had seen during 

 the day was of exceeding interest, but came far short of our expecta- 

 tions. 



Our camp for the night was among the stunted piSons and cedars 

 immediately at the foot of the escarpment of the mesa; its steep slopes 

 and perpendicular faces rising nearly 1,000 feet above us. Quantities 

 of broken pottery were strewn across the trail, to the edge of the stream, 

 and as ruins of some sort generally followed, close attention was paid to 

 the surroundings ; but, with the exception of a small square inclosure 

 of rough slabs of stone, set in the earth endwise, and indicating, possi- 

 bly, a grave, nothing was found to reward our search. Just as the sun 

 was sinking behind the western walls of the canon, one of the party de- 

 scried far up the cliff what appeared to be a house, with a square wall, 

 and apertures indicating two stories, but so far up that only the very 

 sharpest eyes could define anything satisfactorily. We had no field- 

 glass with the party, and to this fact is probably due the reason we had 

 not seen others during the day in this same line; for there is no doubt 

 that ruins exist throughout the entire length of the canon, far above 

 and out of the way of ordinary observation. Cedar and pines also 

 grow thickly along the ledges upon which they are built, hiding com- 

 pletely anything behind them. All that we did find were built of the 

 same materials as the cliffs themselves, with but few, and then only the 

 smallest apertures toward the canon ; the surface being dressed very 

 smooth, and showing no lines of masonry, it w^as only upon the very 

 closest inspection that the house could be separated from the cliff. 



The discovery of this one, so far above anything heretofore seen, 

 inspired us immediately with the ambition to scale the height and 

 explore it, although night was drawing on fast, and darkness would 

 probably overtake us among the precipices, with a chance of being de- 

 tained there all night. All hands started up, but only two persevered 



