272 INDIANS OF THE GILA, 
covered with mezquit-trees from twelve to twenty feet 
in height; among those on the plateau, the tall and 
graceful petahaya occasionally thrusts forth its thorny 
arms, like so many solitary columns or giant candela- 
bra. The bright walls of the ancient edifice presented 
a striking contrast with the deep green foliage of the 
trees which surrounded it. | 
The ‘Casas Grandes,” or Great Houses, consist of 
three buildings, all included within a space of one hun- 
dred and fifty yards. The principal and larger one is 
in the best state of preservation, its four exterior walls 
and most of the inner cnes remaining. <A considerable 
portion of the upper part of the walls has crumbled 
away and fallen inwards, as appears from the great 
quantity of rubbish and disintegrated adobe which fills 
the first story of the building. Three stories now stand 
and can plainly be made out by the ends of the beams 
remaining in the walls, or by the cavities which they 
occupied; but I think there must have been another 
story above, in order to account for the crumbling 
walls and rubbish within. The central portion or tower 
rising from the foundation, is some eight or ten feet 
higher than the outer walls, and may have been several 
feet, probably one story, higher when the building was 
complete. The walls at the base are between four 
and five feet in thickness; their precise dimensions 
could not be ascertained, so much having crumbled 
away. ‘The inside is perpendicular, while the exterior 
face tapers towards the top,ina curved line. These walls, 
as well as the division walls of the interior, are laid 
with large square blocks of mud, prepared for the pur- 
pose by pressing the material into large boxes about two 
