. Some strange corners of our country; the wonderland of the Southwest . other(like a series of shelves, not like steps), ten to fourteen feetapart, and fairly overhang. The aborigines had first to buildstrong ladders, and lay them from ledge to ledge; and thenup that dizzy footing they carried upon their backs the un-counted tons of stones and mortar and timbers to build thatgreat edifice. What do you imagine an American architectwould say, if called upon to plan for a stone mansion in sucha place ? The original ladders have long ago disappeared;and so have the modern ones once put there by a
. Some strange corners of our country; the wonderland of the Southwest . other(like a series of shelves, not like steps), ten to fourteen feetapart, and fairly overhang. The aborigines had first to buildstrong ladders, and lay them from ledge to ledge; and thenup that dizzy footing they carried upon their backs the un-counted tons of stones and mortar and timbers to build thatgreat edifice. What do you imagine an American architectwould say, if called upon to plan for a stone mansion in sucha place ? The original ladders have long ago disappeared;and so have the modern ones once put there by a scientist atthe fort. I had to climb to the castle by a crazy little frameof sycamore branches, dragging it after me from ledge toJedge, and sometimes lashing it to knobs of rock to keep itfrom tumbling backward do^Ti the cliff. It was a veryticklish ascent, and gave full understanding how able werethe builders, and how secure they were when they had re-treated to this high-perched fortress and pulled up their lad-ders—as they undoubtedly did every night. A monkey. Montezumas castle, from the foot of the cliff. THE NEW YORKPUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX ANDTiLDEN FOUNDATIONS, MONTEZUMAS CASTLE. 141 could not scale the rock • and the cliff perfectly protects thecastle above and on each side. Nothing short of modernweapons could possibly affect this lofty citadel. Down in the valley at its feet—as below MontezumasWell and the hundi^eds of other prehistoric dwellings in thecanon of Beaver—are still traces of the little fields and ofthe acequias * that watered them. Even in those far days thePueblos were patient, industriouSj home-loving farmers, butharassed eternally by wily and merciless savages—a factwhich we have to thank for the noblest monuments in ournew-old land. * The characteristic irrigating-ditches of the southwest.
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