ANCIENT CLIFF DWELLING 
The arid region of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and 
Few Mexico abounds in canyons and plateaus; and the rocky 
walls have been carved by the elements into many fanciful 
shapes. Here also were left shelves, shelters, aiid caverns, 
and these were extensively utilized by the ancient tribes for 
dwelling purposes, from which circumstance^ they derive their 
name, "Cliff Dwellers." Along the face of the natural re¬ 
cesses, walls of stone were built up, behind which rooms of 
various sizes were formed by partitions of rude masonry. These 
were reached by natural pathways, by steps cut into the rock, 
and by wooden ladders, and they served for defense as well as 
for abodes. By the remains of industrial arts found in the 
cliff structures, their builders are shown to have been the 
ancestors of the Pueblo tribes. 
This group forms one of a series designed to set 
forth the dwellings and home life of native tribes in the 
Western Hemisphere. Model of a small cliff house in canyon 
de Chelly, Arizona, modeled by W. H. Holmes for the Survey 
Exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, 1876. 
