Glimpse of the Southwest (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ...though prosaic existence. The pueblo is built on a rocky mesa that lies six hundred feet above the valley, and the houses are made of rough stones plastered with mud, and extending in terraces around a central plaza. Like their neighbors, the Moquis, they are expert manufacturers of blankets and pottery, and have accumulated considerable wealth, represented by sheep and cattle. Of the prehistoric dwellings in Northern Arizona those found in the cliffs that border waterless canons, and in lava cones, are the most interesting and curious. Eight miles from Flagstaff a mountain of lava, rising to a height of some six hundred feet, contains a succession of cells that were evidently occupied in some past age. The dwellings usually consist of three or four apartments, entered through a hole barely large enough to admit a single person. The first chamber is the largest of the suite and the only one that is lighted. From it narrow openings lead into other rooms, floored with dust, in which are buried Indian implements of stone. The mountain is honeycombed with apartments, and is surmounted by a wall bearing strong resemblance to a fortification, and which was possibly a Spanish defence during the visit of the explorers. Flagstaff is also in near proximity to several cliff dwellings built in the solid walls of a canon. Though tenantless to-day the huts are still well preserved, and contain many relics of the former inhabitants. There are several canons in Arizona containing these prehistoric homes, and their presence has caused much discussion. That they formerly stood beside deep rivers seems certain from the strata of the canons' rock, which everywhere exhibits the mark of water. That they were inhabited by a people familiar with many arts is...