The Honanki ruin ([figure 248]) extends along the base of the cliff for a considerable distance, and may for convenience of description be divided into two sections, which, although generally similar, differ somewhat in structural features. The former is lineal in its arrangement, and consists of a fringe of houses extending along the base of the cliff at a somewhat lower level than the other. The walls of this section were for the greater part broken, and at no place could anything more than the foundation of the front wall be detected, although fragments of masonry strewed the sides of the declivity near its base. The house walls which remain are well-built parallel spurs constructed at right angles to the cliff, which served as the rear of all the chambers. At the extreme right end of this row of rooms, situated deep in a large cavern with overhanging roof, portions of a rear wall of masonry are well preserved, and the lateral walls of one or two chambers in this portion of the ruin are still intact. Straggling along from that point, following the contour of the base of the cliff under which it lies, there extends a long row of rooms, all destitute of a front wall.
The first division ([plate cii]), beginning with the most easterly of the series, is quite hidden at one end in a deep cavern. At this point the builders, in order to obtain a good rear wall to their rooms, constructed a line of masonry parallel with the face of the cliff. At right angles to this construction, at the eastern extremity, there are remnants of a lateral wall, but the remainder had tumbled to the ground. The standing wall of z is not continuous with that of the next room, y, and apparently was simply the rear of a large room with the remains of a lateral wall at right angles to it. The other walls of this chamber had tumbled into a deep gorge, overgrown with bushes which conceal the fragments. This building is set back deeply in the cave, and is isolated from the remaining parts of the ruin, although at the level which may have been its roof there runs a kind of gallery formed by a ledge of rock, plastered with adobe, which formerly connected the roof with the rest of the pueblo. This ledge was a means of intercommunication, and a continuation of the same ledge, in rooms s, t, and u, supported the rafters of these chambers. At u there are evidences of two stories or two tiers of rooms, but those in front have fallen to the ground.
The standing wall at u is about five feet high, connected with the face of the cliff by masonry. The space between it and the cliff was not large enough for a habitable chamber, and was used probably as a storage place. In front of the standing wall of room u there was another chamber, the walls of which now strew the talus of the cliff.
The highest and best preserved room of the second series of chambers at Honanki is that designated p, at a point where the ruin reached an elevation of 20 feet. Here we have good evidence of rooms of two stories, as indicated by the points of insertion of the beams of a floor, at the usual levels above the ground. In fact, it is probable that the whole section of the ruin was two stories high throughout, the front walls having fallen along the entire length. From the last room on the left to the eastern extremity of the line of houses which leads to the main ruin of Honanki, no ground plans were detected at the base of the cliffs, but fallen rocks and scattered débris are strewn over the whole interval.
The eastern part of the main ruin of Honanki, however, lies but a short distance west of that described, and consists of many similar chambers, arranged side by side. These are lettered in the diagram h to u, beginning with h, which is irregularly circular in form, and ends with a high wall, the first to be seen as one approaches the ruin from Lloyd canyon. This range of houses is situated on a lower foundation and at a lower level than that of the main quarter of Honanki, and a trail runs along so close to the rooms that the whole series is easily visited without much climbing. No woodwork remains in any of these rooms, and the masonry is badly broken in places either by natural agencies or through vandalism.
Beginning with h, the round room, which adjoins the main quarter of Honanki, we find much in its shape to remind us of a kiva. The walls are in part built on foundations of large bowlders, one of which formed the greater part of the front wall. This circular room was found to be full of fallen débris, and could not be examined without considerable excavation. If it were a kiva, which I very much doubt, it is an exception among the Verde valley ruins, where no true kiva has yet been detected.[27]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY—— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CI
FRONT WALL OF PALATKI (RUIN II)
Following h there is an inclosure which originally may have been a habitable room, as indicated by the well-constructed front wall, but it is so filled with large stones that it is difficult to examine its interior. On one side the wall, which is at right angles to the face of the cliff, is 10 feet high, and the front wall follows the surface of a huge bowlder which serves as its foundation.