Dr. Edgar L. Hewett[14] briefly refers to Cliff Palace as follows (p. 54):
Il suffira de décrire les traits principaux d'un seul groupement de ruines, et nous choisirons Cliff Palace, qui en est le spécimen le plus remarquable (pl. I b). Il est situé dans un bras de Ruin Canyon. La vue présentée ici est prise d'un point plus élevé, au sud, d'où l'on contemple les ruines d'une ville ancienne, avec des tours rondes et carrées, des maisons, des entrepôts pour le grain, des habitations et des lieux de culte. Le Cliff Palace remplit une immense caverne bien défendue et à l'abri des ravages des éléments. Un sentier conduit aux ruines. Le plan (Fig. 2) représente les restes de 105 chambres au plain-pied. On ne sait combien il y en avait dans les 3 étages supérieurs, mais il est probable que Cliff-Palace n'abritait pas moins de 500 personnes.
Nous remarquons à Cliff-Palace de grands progrès dans l'art de la construction. Les murs sont faits de grès gris, taillé avec des outils de pierre, dont on voit encore les traces. Lorsqu'on se servait de pierres irrégulières, les crevasses étaient remplies avec des fragments ou des éclats de grès, puis on plâtrait les murs avec du mortier d'adobe. On prenait de grosses poutres pour les plafonds et les planchers, et l'on peut voir que ces poutres étaient dégrossies avec des instruments peu tranchants.
Many newspaper and magazine accounts of the Mesa Verde ruins appeared about the time Mr. Chapin's description was published, but the majority of these are somewhat distorted and more or less exaggerated, often too indefinite for scientific purposes. References to them, even if here quoted, could hardly be of great value to the reader, as in most cases it would be impossible for him to consult files of papers in which they occur even if the search were worth while. Much that they record is practically a compilation from previous descriptions.
The activity in photographing Cliff Palace has done much to make known its existence and structure. Many excellent photographs of the ruin have been taken, among which may be mentioned those of Chapin, Nordenskiöld, Vreeland, Nusbaum, and others. Oil paintings, some of which are copied from photographs, others made from the ruin itself, adorn the walls of some of our museums. Almost every visitor to the Mesa Verde carries with him a camera, and many good postal cards with views of the ruin are on the market. Negatives of Cliff Palace taken before its excavation and repair will become more valuable as time passes, because they can no longer be duplicated. From a study of a considerable number of these photographs it seems that very little change has taken place in the condition of the ruin between the time the first pictures were made and the repair work was begun.
SITE OF CLIFF PALACE
Cliff Palace is situated in a cave in Cliff-palace canyon, a branch of Cliff canyon, which is here about 200 feet deep. It occupies practically the whole of the cave, the roof of which overhangs about two-thirds of the ruin, projecting considerably beyond its middle. This cave is much more capacious than that in which Spruce-tree House is situated, as shown by comparing illustrations and descriptions of the latter in the former report. The configuration of Spruce-tree House cave and that of Cliff Palace, and the relation of its floor to the talus, also differ. The canyon in which Cliff Palace lies is thickly wooded, having many cedars and a few pines and scrub oaks; the almost total failure of water at certain seasons of the year at Cliff Palace renders floral life in the vicinity less exuberant than in Spruce-tree canyon, a branch of Navaho canyon ([fig. 1]). On the level plateau above the ruin there are many trees—pines and cedars—but even this area is not so thickly wooded as the summit of the mesa above Spruce-tree House.[15]
| BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY | BULLETIN 51 [PLATE 7] |
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| PHOTOGRAPHED BY R. G. FULLER | |
| SOUTHERN END, AFTER REPAIRING | |
