1876.] Ancient Ruins in Southwestern Colorado. 33 
“ The house itself, perched up in its little crevice like a swal- 
low’s nest, consisted of two stories, with a total height of about 
twelve feet, leaving a space of two or three feet between the top 
of the walls and the overhanging rock. We could not determine 
satisfactorily whether any other roof had ever existed or whether 
the walls ran up higher and joined the rock, but we incline to 
the first supposition. The ground plan showed a front room 
about six by nine féet in dimensions, and back of it two smaller 
ones, the face of the rock forming their back walls. These were 
each about five by seven feet square. The left hand of the two 
back rooms projected beyond the front room in an L. The cedar 
beams, which had divided the house into two floors, were gone, 
with the exception of a few splintered pieces and ends remaining ` 
in the wall, just enough to show what they were made of. We 
had some little doubt as to whether the back rooms were divided 
in the same way, nothing remaining to prove the fact excepting 
holes in the walls, at the same- height as the beams in the other 
portion. In the lower front room were two apertures, one serv- 
ing as a door and opening out upon the esplanade, about twenty 
by thirty inches in size, the lower sill twenty-four inches from | 
the floor, and the other a small outlook, about twelve inches 
Square, up near the ceiling, and looking over the whole cañon 
beneath. In the upper story, a window corresponded in size, 
shape, and position to the larger one below, both commanding 
an extended view down the cañon. The upper lintel of this 
window was of small, straight sticks of cedar, of about the size of 
one’s finger, laid close together, the small stones of the masonry 
resting upon them. Directly opposite this window was a similar 
one, as shown in the figure, but opening into a large reservoir, or 
cistern, the upper walls of which came nearly to the top of the 
window. It was semicircular, inclosing the angle formed by the 
wall against the rock, with an approximate capacity of about two 
and a half hogsheads. From the window and extending down 
to the bottom of the reservoir was a series of cedar pegs, about a 
foot apart, enabling the occupants to easily reach the bottom. 
“ The entire construction of this little human eyrie displayed 
wonderful perseverance, ingenuity, and some taste. Perpendic- 
ulars were well regarded, and the angles carefully squared. The 
Stones of the outer rooms or front were all squared and smoothly 
faced, but were not laid in regular courses, as they are not uni- 
form in size, ranging from fifteen inches in length and eight in 
thickness down to very small ones. About the corners and the 
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