From the church-yard wall, all along the edge of the mesilla, descending into the depression mentioned, and again rounding the highest northern point, then crossing over transversely from west to east and running back south along the opposite edge, there extends a wall of circumvallation, constructed, as far as may be seen, of rubble and broken stones, with occasional earth flung in between the blocks. This wall has, along its periphery, a total length of 983 m.—3,220 ft.—according to Mr. Thurston's measurement.[99] It was, as far as can be seen, 2 m.—6 ft. 6 in.—high on an average, and about 0.50 m.—20 in.—thick. There is but one entrance to it visible, on the west side, at its lowest level, where the depression already mentioned runs down the slope to the south-west as the bed of a rocky streamlet. There a gateway of 4 m.—13 ft.—in width is left open; the wall itself thickens on each side to a round tower built of stones, [p. 47] mixed with earthy fillings. These towers, considerably ruined, are still 2 m.—6 ft. 6 in.—high, and appear to have been at least 4m.—13 ft.—in diameter; at all events the northern one. At the gateway itself the walls curve outward,[100] and appear to have terminated in a short passage of entering and re-entering lines, between which there was a passage, as well for man as for the waters from the mesilla into the bottom and the stream below. But these lines can only be surmised from the streaks of gravel and stones extending beyond the gateway, as no definite foundations are extant. [Pl. I.], Fig. 3, is a tolerably correct diagram of this gateway.
The face of the wall at each side of the gate is 1.3 m.—4 ft.—wide. Whether there was any contrivance to close it or not it is now impossible to determine; but there are in the northern wall of the gate pieces of decayed wood embedded in and protruding from the stone-work. For what purpose they were placed there it is not permitted even to conjecture.
Having thus sketched, as far as I am able, the topography of the mesilla, and described its great wall of circumvallation, I now turn to the ruins which cover its upper surface, starting for their survey from the transverse wall of the old church-yard, 10 m.—33 ft.—north of the church, and proceeding thence northward along the top of the tabulated bluff.[101]
Sixty-one metres—200 ft.—north of our point of departure we strike stone foundations running about due east and west and resting almost directly on the rock, since the soil along the entire plateau which I have termed the neck is scarce, and has nowhere more than 1 m.—39 in.—in depth. The eastern corner of this wall, as far as it can be made out, is 12 m.—39 ft.—from the eastern wall of circumvallation. From this point on there extends one continuous body of[p. 48] ruins, one half of which at least (the southern half), if not two-thirds, as the ground plan will show, exhibits nothing else but foundations of small chambers indicated by shapeless stone-heaps and depressions. The northern part is in a better state of preservation; a number of chambers are more or less perfect, the roofs excepted,[102] and we can easily detect several stories retreating from east to west. About 9 m.—30 ft.—from its northern limits a double wall intersects the pile for one half of its width. The ruins beyond it, or rather the addition, is in a state of decay equal to that of the southern extremity. The western side is, generally, in a better state of preservation than the eastern, especially the north-western corner. Along the eastern side upright posts of wood, protruding from stone-heaps, often are the only indications for the outline of the structure. Along the north-west, however, such posts are enclosed in standing walls of stone, at distances not quite regularly distributed, but still showing plainly that here, at least, the outer wall presented an appearance similar to [Pl. II.], Fig. 4.
At the place where I measured, the upright posts stood at about 1.39 m.—4 ft. 6 in.—from each other; the projecting wall was 2 m.—6 ft. 6 in.—long, and 0.63 m.—2 ft.—thick; the retreating wall 1.40 m.—4 ft. 6 in.—long, and 0.33 m.—13 in.—thick. The posts themselves were sometimes, but not always, backed, or even encased in adobe sheaths, built up like little chimneys in the wall itself. This mode of construction was possibly peculiar to the western side alone, and gives it a slight appearance of ornamentation, as well as more strength, the projecting walls acting like buttresses.
The whole structure, taking the sides of the débris as they[p. 49] are now scattered, extends nearly north and south 140 m.—460 ft.—and east and west about 16 m. to 26 m.—50 ft. to 80 ft.—thus forming a rectangle of 140 m. × 20 m.—460 ft. × 65 ft. To determine the exact size of the building I proceeded to measure each compartment for itself, judging that the total number of these apartments, adding to their sizes the thicknesses of the walls, would finally give, within a few decimetres, the exact length and width of the house. On the ground plan I have numbered this building B.[103]
Beginning at the north-west corner, I ran my line almost due east to within 10 m.—33 ft.—of the circumvallation, where I found the north-east corner indicated by a broken post of wood. Along this line I met the following sections from west to east: 2.92 m.—9 ft. 6 in.; then a gangway, 1.55 m.—5 ft.; chamber, 3.22 m.—11 ft.; gangway, 1.21 m.—4 ft.; and three chambers, 2.09 m., 2.72 m., and 2.72 m.—7 ft., 9 ft., and 9 ft.—respectively, thus giving, adding to it eight walls of a uniform thickness of 0.33 m.—13 in.,—a total width of 19.07 m.—63 ft. Its length was easily found to be 8.56 m.—28 ft.; the northern appendix, therefore, forming a rectangle of 8.5 m. × 19 m.—28 ft. × 63 ft.,—and containing, as the ground-plan shows, ten rooms and two corridors, the latter running through the structure from north to south. It will also be noticed that the two middle rooms are the largest, measuring each 4.28 m. × 3.22 m.—14 ft. × 10 ft. I must also advert, here, to the fact that this structure is extremely ruined, and that the east part of it exposes the surveyor to dangerous errors.
The line a b, and its continuation eastwardly to c, appears to form the main northern wall of the whole structure. Here the annex, just described, terminates. This wall is of unequal thickness. In the north-westerly projection[p. 50] from a to b, a length of 8 m.—26 ft.,—its thickness is 0.63 m.—2 ft.; from b to c, on the eastern line, it is only 0.33 m.—13 in.—thick. This inequality indicates also a division of the structure to the southward, as far as the line d d d, into two longitudinal sections. The western one, whose four corners are respectively a b d d in the diagram, contains eighteen rooms of equal size, measuring each 3.71 m. × 2.25 m.—12 ft. × 7 ft.; it is consequently, inclusive of the rear wall and the sides, 24.24 m. × 8.08 m.—80 ft. × 27 ft. The eastern division, comprised within the area b c d d, has fifteen rooms, or five longitudinal rows of three, whereas the western has six rows of three. The rooms east must therefore be larger than those west, and we see that they measure from east to west respectively, 2.25 m., 2.28 m., and 2.28 m.—7 ft., 7 ft. 6 in., and 7 ft. 6 in.: from north to south, 3.60 m., 5.07 m., 4.43 m., 4.13 m., and 3.43 m.—12 ft., 17 ft., 15 ft., 14 ft., and 11 ft. It is a rectangle, or rather trapezium, 22.31 m. × 7.81 m.—70 ft. × 25 ft.,—consequently the width of the building B is somewhat less on the line d d d than on the line a b c. The cause of this singular contraction I have found, and shall afterwards indicate.