ents of pottery are scarce, and
other evidences of long habitation difficult to find, the house walls
give every evidence of being extremely ancient, and most of the rooms
are filled with red soil out of which grow trees of considerable age.

Descending from this ruin-capped mesa, I noticed on the first terrace
the remains of a roundhouse, or lookout, in the middle of which a
cedar tree had taken root and was growing vigorously. Although the
walls of this structure do not rise above the level of the ground,
there is no doubt that they are the remains of either a lookout or
circular tower formerly situated at this point.

Many similar ruins are found throughout this vicinity, yet but little
more is known of them than that they antedate the advent of white men.
The majority of them were defensive works, built by the house
dwellers, and their frequency would indicate either considerable
population or long occupancy. Although many of those on the hilltops
differ somewhat from the habitations in the valleys, I think there is
little doubt that both were built by the same people.[24] There are
likewise many caves in this region, which seem to have been camping
places, for their walls are covered with soot and their floors strewn
with charred mescal, evidences, probably, of Apache occupancy. This
whole section of country was a stronghold of this ferocious tribe
within the last few decades, which may account for the modern
appearance of many of the evidences of aboriginal habitation.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XCVI

RUIN ON THE BRINK OF MONTEZUMA WELL]

There are some good pictographs on the foundation rocks of that great
pinnacle of red rock, called the Court-house, not far from Schuermann's
ranch.[25] Some of these are Apache productions, and the neighboring
caves evidently formed shelters for these nomads, as ash pit and
half-burnt logs would seem to show. This whole land was a stronghold
of the Apache up to a recent date, and from it they were dislodged,
many of the Indians being killed or removed by authority of the
Government.

From the geological character of the Red-rocks I was led to suspect
that cavate dwellings were not to be expected. The stone is hard and
not readily excavated by the rude implements with which the aborigines
of the region were supplied. But the remarkable erosion shown in this
rock elsewhere had formed many deep caverns or caves, with
overrea