An Abandoned City.

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 1188, 29 February 1884, Page 2

An Abandoned City.

Fifty miles west of Winslow, A.T,, is a little station called Cosnino. It is suddenly lifted into importance from its proximity to a vast canon, once the abode of cliff dwellers. An hours' walk from the station and we stand upon the brink of a chasm so deep that the eye can hardly see its bottom. Actual measurement makes it 2000 ft deep. The width varies from 200 ft at the bottom to 1500 ft at the top. The sides are solid rock, but m layers of perhaps 80ft m depth each layer having a projecting or shelving edge extending from 6ft- to 20ft. It was under the shelving work that the cliff dwellers built their abodes. On the opposite side from where we stood we counted seven tiers of these dwellings. It is notable that none are lower than 200 feet from the bottom. The canon is irregular m its formation, but, from our stand-point, we could count more than 200 of these dwellings, and there can be no doubt that this was a city of many thousand inhabitants'. To what age of the world this race belonged, or the character and nature of the people who built these cities, neither history nor tradition gives a trace. We made a perilous descent, visiting several tiers of these houses. The front and side walls are of solid masonry, and m a state of good preservation. Doors, three feet by 18 inches, still remain, showing that these houses were for the accommodation of a very small race, The opening was small that it could be quickly closed by its inmates against any invading enemy. The canon was once, no doubt, filled to the depth of 100 feet by running water, for no houses appear below that level. The approach and, retreat of these dwellers were m boats or canoes. — Correspondence New York Sun,