. Some strange corners of our country; the wonderland of the Southwest . esouth side of the canon, is the largest, and has many hun-dreds of cave-rooms. They are burrowed out everywhere inthe foot of the perpendicular white cliff, in tiers one abovethe other to a height of three stories. The caves are small,generally round rooms eight to twelve feet in diameter, witharched ceihngs and barely high enough to allow a man tostand upright. The old smooth plaster on the walls remainsto this day, and so do the little portholes of windows, andthe niches for trinkets. In some places there is even a sec
. Some strange corners of our country; the wonderland of the Southwest . esouth side of the canon, is the largest, and has many hun-dreds of cave-rooms. They are burrowed out everywhere inthe foot of the perpendicular white cliff, in tiers one abovethe other to a height of three stories. The caves are small,generally round rooms eight to twelve feet in diameter, witharched ceihngs and barely high enough to allow a man tostand upright. The old smooth plaster on the walls remainsto this day, and so do the little portholes of windows, andthe niches for trinkets. In some places there is even a sec-ond cave-room back of the first. Here, and at the Rito, theestufas were carved out of the cliff, like the other rooms, butlarger. Upon the top of the cliff, and in an almost impreg-nable position, are the ruins of a large square pueblo built ofblocks of tufa—evidently the fortress and retreat of thedwellers in the caves in case of a very desperate any ordinary assault, the masonry houses down-stairs, so to speak, mth their inner cave-rooms, were safe. THE WHITE HOUSE, CANON DE TsAv-EE. * THE NEW YORKPUBLIC LIBRARY A8T0R, LCMOX AND TILDEN F0UNDATK)N8. HOMES THAT WERE FORTS. 121 enough. These houses of masonry at the foot of the cliffhave all fallen; but in the rocks the mortises which held theends of their rafters are still plainly visible. In this same wild region are the only gi-eat stone idols (or,to speak more properly, fetiches) in the United States—themountain lions of Cochiti. They are life-size, and carved fromthe solid bed-rock on the top of two huge mesas. To thisday, the Indians of Cochiti before a hunt go to one of thesealmost inaccessible spots, anoint the great stone heads, anddance by night a wild dance which no white man has seen orever will see. X. 3iontezu]mas well.
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