THE CLIFF-DWELLERS OF COLORADO.

Bush Advocate, Volume V, Issue 354, 16 August 1890, Page 8

THE CLIFF-DWELLERS OF COLORADO.

(WROT.vroii.) Anuing the aayieut r.u.-e.s ol the A.moiio:in ivaititiout thoi\) are, porhup.*, 110110 \vho:-e remains have ox<itod greater interest than I th^so of tlie Grange people who at sonic veinoto period oi antiquity inhabited the mountain reives between Mexico and Colorado. Here, in tho deep rece<so.« of the mountains, lived a race to whom the uso of me'ail was unknown, av)io made themselves •strongholds in tho sides of goi\,'e.i so steep Htid difficult; ©f access that they ; can be reached only by the aid of ropes and ladicrs. These oJifl'-dwelHngs consist of caverns in tho rock', faced externally with massive walis, mid bear a general rosunibhtncu to the houses of wild tribes in Syria. They ;ue found in such v;i;.f. numbers, mid extend over «> a space oi' country, that tho total m.-apjiearauco of their owners haM always boon a su'ijoct of woudor. In the diverted rooms an; found the implements of a people ignorant of the uso of metal, their simple household goods, remains of choir food, and even articles of their dress. Tins people thomselvcs have vanished. A few months siffo, the world was startled by tho news that somewhere among the mountains of. Chihuaj hua, in Mexico, bed been, found at last the slender remuaut, of a race whose works rnuk high among the wonders of a continent. The men are described by their discoverer, Sehvvatka, a.s belonging still, to all iutontn and purpose?', to tho Stone Ago; .'snd it in possible that from them may be gleaned some knowledge of the manners and customs of the lost CHii-Dwellcrs. Since then, explorations have been contiuuod among tlie mountains some few hundred miles north of the scene of Schwalka's discovery, and in March a party of eei'.rcher.s rolmned to Durango, having collected much interesting information, and bringing with them many rolics of thi:i singular people. The explorers relate that they, found the sides of ono canon, which was the principal scone of their investigations, honoycombed for a hundred miloa with cliff-dweller*. It appears that natural hollows in the rock havo been supplemented by massive walls of stone ; and if the accounts are to be relied on, some of the habitations thus formed aro spacious enough to hold several hundred mou. One dwelling described in which the rooms now existing are said to number more than a hundred, while remains of iti uppor storeys indicate an oven greater amount. A building, supposed from ' its construction to Ikivo been meant for public ' assemblies, contains, among others, a chamber* ; 40ft. long. Tho floon are strewn with sand, on which remain tho evidence of frequent ; fires. The timers of ';his house, as in many other instances lira still in place, and must have cost the iv.'i Mr. 3 no small toil, with their rude appliance.'-, beioro tho wood was shaped and smoothed for use. Soiao buildings aro said to show traces of a siege. Others appear to have been purposely dismantled . It is clear that the Cliff -Dwellers wore not i a warlike race. Tho only martial relics , yet discovered consist of armour made of aspen • bark, and a few slender arrow-heads of flint. 1 Tho i,:-.£my implements which havo been 1 fouur : joint to the peaceable pursuits of ■ husbrV'.ry. Nearly every house contains its . granu:.y and rude hand-mill, and in addition to the masonry of the dwellings, many \ reservoirs of stone are yet to be seen, cvi- . dently intended for irrigation. Ono of these, , some fifty yards across, has water in it still. 1 Most of tho implements are of bone, from 1 which the Cliff-Dwellera contrived to mako 1 knives, boring-tools, needles, and even saws. 1 Their axes are of stone — in some cases of , granite, with a deep grove near the blunt 1 end round which to fix the handle. Tho . handleß in many instances remain. The leaves of tho yucca appear to. have 1 been to thia 6imple race much what 1 the bamboo is to the rude nations of the East. From its fibres they plaited baskets, often with coloured patterns; they wove mats, ropes, and string. With looms, of which parts in perfect preservation still remain, they wove into cloth wool and hair and ; yucca-fibre. Their pottery, liko their iraple- ' ments, is already widely known, for many searchers have visited the more easily accessible of tho dwellings ; hut the recent ■ expedition has brought homo a great number , and many varieties of cups and jars of clay. The most striking kind is decorated with conventional designs, in black upon a white ground. Tho uryness of tho . district, and particularly of tho rocky chambers where these remains wero discovered, is tho reason given for their romarlable preservation. Of the inhabitants themselves wo learn but little. We may examine their houses, their dress, . food, implements, and weapons, but of the men themselvca there aro but scanty traces. i The few skulls which have been found prove to us, from their shapo, that they belonged to a people among whom prevailed the practice of flattening the backs of thoir children's heads by tying them down upon boards. Theso boards are still to bo seen, and are said to show plain marks of the cords with which the skulls of these unfortunate victims of fashion wero forced into the correct shnpo. Of traces of pictorial art we hear nothing. No musical instruments have been found, unless it bo something doubtfully alluded to as " an instrument liko a flute." Such is the account ofthemoßt recent discoveries in the cliff-dwellings of Colorado. Tho world-wide intorost now felt ' in archaeology will not allow tho question to pause here ;. and if those accounts are 'genuine,

] as we sco no reason to doubt, we shall goon \ hear more of exploration und discovery in tho footprints of a vamslied ruco.