The most remarkable cliff-dwellings, discovered by Mr. Holmes, are shown in the cut.
Cave-Fortresses of the Rio Mancos.
These extraordinary fortresses, lodged in caves eight hundred feet above the level of the valley, are situated in the cañon of the Mancos, a few miles from its mouth. The first five hundred feet of the ascent from the level of the stream, is over a rough cliff-broken slope, the remainder of massive sandstone, full of niches and caves. The upper house is situated in a deep cavern with overhanging roof about one hundred feet from the cliff’s top. The front wall of the house is built upon the very edge of the giddy precipice. The larger house is lodged in a niche or cave thirty feet below. The lower house was easily accessible. The wall was built flush with the precipice and remained standing to a height of fourteen feet at the highest point, though other portions had crumbled away considerably. The house occupied the entire floor of the niche, which measures sixty feet long by fifteen feet wide. Mr. Holmes described these structures as follows; of the first he says:
“The arrangement of the apartments is quite complicated and curious, and will be more readily understood by a reference to the ground-plan (figure 1). The precipice line or front edge of the niche-floor, extends from a to b. From this the broken cliffs and slopes reach down to the trail and river, as shown in the accompanying profile (figure 3). The line b c d represents the deepest part of the recess, against which the walls are built. To the right of b, the shelf ceases, and the vertical face of rock is unbroken. At the left, beyond a, the edge is not so abrupt, and the cliffs below are so broken that one can ascend with ease. Above, the roof comes forward and curves upward, as seen in the profile.
FIG. 1. FIG. 3. FIG. 2.
“The most striking feature of this structure is the round-room, which occurs about the middle of the ruin and inside of a large rectangular apartment. * * * Its walls are not high and not entirely regular, and the inside is curiously fashioned with offsets and box-like projections. It is plastered smoothly, and bears considerable evidence of having been used, although I observed no traces of fire. The entrance to this chamber is rather extraordinary, and further attests the peculiar importance attached to it by the builders, and their evident desire to secure it from all possibility of intrusion. A walled and covered passage-way, f, f, of solid masonry, ten feet of which is still intact, leads from an outer chamber through the small intervening apartments into the circular one. It is possible that this originally extended to the outer wall, and was entered from the outside. If so, the person desiring to visit the estufa would have to enter an aperture about twenty-two inches high by thirty wide, and crawl, in the most abject manner possible, through a tube-like passage-way nearly twenty-feet in length. My first impression was that this peculiarly-constructed doorway was a precaution against enemies, and that it was probably the only means of entrance to the interior of the house; but I am now inclined to think this hardly probable, and conclude that it was rather designed to render a sacred chamber as free as possible from profane intrusion. The apartments l, k, m, n, do not require any especial description, as they are quite plain and almost empty. The partition walls have never been built up to the ceiling of the niche, and the inmates, in passing from one apartment to another, have climbed over. The row of apertures indicated in the main front wall are about five feet from the floor, and were doubtless entered for the insertion of beams, although there is no evidence that a second floor has at any time existed. In that part of the ruin about the covered passage-way, the walls are complicated, and the plan can hardly be made out, while the curved wall enclosing the apartment e is totally overthrown. * * * * The rock-face between this ruin and the one above is smooth and vertical, but by passing along the ledge a few yards to the left a sloping face was found, up which a stairway of small niches had been cut; by means of these, an active person, unincumbered, could ascend with safety. On reaching the top, one finds himself in the very doorway of the upper house (a, figure 2) without standing-room outside of the wall, and one can imagine that an enemy would stand but little chance of reaching and entering such a fortress if defended, even by women and children alone. The position of this ruin is one of unparalleled security, both from enemies and from the elements. The almost vertical cliff descends abruptly from the front wall, and the immense arched roof of solid stone projects forward fifteen or twenty feet beyond the house (see section, figure 3). At the right the ledge ceases, and at the left stops short against a massive vertical wall. The niche-stairway affords the only possible means of approach.
“The house occupies the entire floor of the niche, which is about one hundred and twenty feet long by ten in depth at the deepest part. The front wall to the right and left of the doorway is quite low, portions having doubtless fallen off. The higher wall f g is about thirty feet long, and from ten to twelve feet high, while a very low rude wall extends along the more inaccessible part of the ledge, and terminates at the extreme right in a small enclosure, as seen in the plan at c.
“In the first apartment entered, there were evidences of fire, the walls and ceiling being blackened with smoke. In the second, a member of the party, by digging in the rubbish, obtained a quantity of beans, and in the third a number of grains of corn; hence the names given. There are two small windows in the front wall, and doorways communicate between rooms separated by high partitions.