ae discover another large ruined structure, built on a miniature mesa 
= pee in the center of the valley, rising to a height of fifty 
On this the walls Of å fortress or community errog aT 
532 The Ancient Puéblos. [ August, 
about ten or twelve feet in diameter, and the walls of the former 
may still reach a height of ten feet. This was undoubtedly used 
as a watch-tower by its builders, and the situation chosen for it 
was an admirable one for overlooking the gulch many miles both 
above and below. From this point, signals could be telegraphed 
to distant stations, in times of danger, while the miniature castle 
itself was so sheltered by the surrounding trees and débris as to 
escape the notice of careless observers. 
The natural depression through which winds the parched bed 
of the Rio McElmo is particularly rich in all varieties of these 
architectural relics. In the vicinity of the ruins just described, 
and near the Utah border, is a peculiarly interesting cluster 
of fortifications. A mass of dark-red sandstone, a hundred feet 
in height, stands in the midst of an open plain, on the top of 
which the remnants of several walls are still visible. Around the 
base of the jagged butte are other indications of masonry, but 
the most perfectly preserved portion of the group is a rectangu- 
lar apartment, built half-way up in the northern face of the bowl- 
cer, which has been named Battle rock or Legendary butte, because 
a legend exists amongst some of the tribes of that section relative 
to a great battle which had been fought there (Fig. 2). 
In the immediate neighborhood of Battle rock may be seen a 
series of diminutive cave dwellings or store-houses. The natural 
caverns of the crumbling sandstones, formed by atmospheric 
erosion, were utilized by the Ancient Puéblos as they retreated 
southward. Little hollows scarcely exceeding six feet in diame- 
ter, were walled up at the mouths and occupied possibly as 
dormitories, or, more probably, as magazines or caches, in which 
provisions were stored for safe keeping. Scores of these are 
found through all of the adjacent cañons, and in many instances 
they are situated hundreds of feet above the beds of the streams 
and were originally approached by niche-steps cut in the perpen- 
dicular cliffs, but which have been so worn away by time that they 
no longer present foot-holds for the adventurous climber. 
If we advance in a westward direction some fifteen miles, to 
the dry valley of the Hovenweep (the name signifying, in the 
euphonious tongue of the Utah Indians, deserted cañon) we shal 
aS 
