that they were a peaceful, agricultural people.

The oldest ruins are probably those in the open and less protected
valleys. It is evident that after these dwellings had been occupied
for an indefinite time the more fierce and warlike Indians began
to overrun the plateau region and make attacks upon the primitive
inhabitants. These people, peacefully inclined and probably not
strong in numbers, could find no protection in the valleys where
they irrigated little patches of land and raised corn and squashes;
so, retreating to the more inaccessible canons, they became cliff
dwellers. Seeking out the caverns so abundant in these canons,
they went to work with tireless energy to build for themselves
impregnable homes and fortresses to which they could retreat when
the savage Indians appeared.

The canon of Beaver Creek in central Arizona contains one of the
most interesting of these fortresses, known as Montezuma's Castle.
Many small buildings nestle along the sides of the canon upon the
ledges and under over-hanging rocks, but Montezuma's Castle is
the most magnificent of them all, and must have given protection
to a number of families.

Halfway up the face of a cliff two hundred feet in height, there is
a large cavern with an upward sloping floor and jagged overhanging
top. Here with infinite toil the Cliff Dwellers constructed a fortress,
the front of which rose forty feet from the foundation and contained
five stories. This front was not made straight, but concave, to
correspond to the curve of the cliff.

What an effort it must have been for these people, who had nothing
but their hands to work with, to quarry the stone. To carry their
materials from the bottom of the canon, by means of rude ladders,
up the steep and rugged wall to the foot of the cavern, and then
to lay the foundation securely upon the sloping floor, must have
been a still harder task.

The stones were laid in mud, and in most cases were also plastered
with it. Here and there little holes were left to let in light,
but the rooms, with their low ceilings, would have seemed very
dismal and dark to us. Beams were set in the walls to support the
different floors. Smaller sticks were laid upon the beams, and
then a layer of earth was placed over the top.

To pass through the openings between the different rooms the inhabitants
had to crawl upon their hands and knees. The places where they built
their fires are indicated by the dark stains which the