Fig. 13—Ground plan of a small ruin on bottom land.

The example illustrated occurs at the point marked [43] on the map. It is situated in a cove in a point of rock jutting out from the main cliff. The rock is about 60 feet high and the cove about 30 feet deep, and the remains are but a few feet above the level of the bottom land outside. The walls are composed of rather small stones; the interstices were chinked with spawls, and the masonry was laid up with an abundance of mud mortar. The back wall of the cove is considerably blackened by smoke.

[Horizontal View][Horizontal View]
Fig. 14 [left]—Ground plan of thelower part of Casa Blanca ruin.
Fig. 15 [right]—Ground plan ofthe upper part of Casa Blanca ruin.

One of the most striking and most important ruins in the canyon is shown in plan in figures 14 and 15. This is the ruin seen by Lieutenant Simpson in 1849 and subsequently called Casa Blanca. It is also known under the equivalent Navaho term, Kini-na e-kai or White House. The general character of the ruin is shown in plate XLVII, which is from a photograph. At first sight this ruin appears not to belong to this class, or rather to belong both to this class and the succeeding one composed of villages located with reference to defense; but, as will appear later, it has nothing in common with the latter.

Plate XLVII. Casa Blanca Ruin, Canyon De Chelly

In its present condition the ruin consists of two distinct parts—a lower part, comprising a large cluster of rooms on the bottom land against the vertical cliff, and an upper part which was much smaller and occupied a cave directly over the lower portion and was separated

from it only by some 35 feet of vertical cliff. There is evidence, however, that some of the houses in the lower settlement were four stories high against the cliff, and in fact that the structures were practically continuous; but for convenience of description we may regard the ruin as composed of two.

The lower ruin covers an area of about 150 by 50 feet, raised but a few feet above the bottom land, probably by its own debris. Within this area there are remains of 45 rooms on the ground, in addition to a circular kiva. On the east side there are walls still standing to a height of 12 and 14 feet. It is probable that the lower ruin comprised about 60 rooms, which, with a liberal allowance for the rooms in the cave, would make a total of 80. This would furnish accommodations for a maximum of 10 or 12 families or a total population of 50 or 60 persons. It is probable, however, that this estimate is excessive and that the total population at any one time did not exceed 30 or 40 persons.