smoke has
left upon the walls. Broken pottery and corn-cobs are scattered
profusely about the building. How safe these ancient people must
have felt in this retreat, where they were protected, both from
the storms and from their enemies!

[Illustration: FIG. 75.--MONTEZUMA'S CASTLE, BEAVER CREEK CANON,
ARIZONA]

Near some of the ruined dwellings in this region there are remains
of buildings which are supposed to have been watch-towers. We can
picture to ourselves the sentinels' alarm given to the workers in
the fields at the approach of the savage Apaches, and the hasty
flight of the Cliff Dwellers to the castle far up the canon wall,--the
pulling up of the ladders and the retreat to the upper rooms from
which they could look down in perfect safety. They must have kept
water and food stored in the cave houses. As long as these supplies
held out no injury need be feared from the attacking party.

But apparently there came a time when the Cliff Dwellers either
abandoned their gardens and fortresses or were killed. It is possible
that the climate of the plateau region became more arid and that
many of the springs dried up, for there is no water now within
long distances of some of the ruins. It is, perhaps, more probable
that the attacks of the savages became so frequent that the Cliff
Dwellers were driven from their little farms and were no longer
able to procure food.

Those who were not killed by enemies or by starvation retreated
southward and gathered in a few large villages, or pueblos, where
they were still resisting the attacks of their enemies at the time
of the coming of the early Spanish explorers.

[Illustration: FIG. 76.--PUEBLO OF TAOS, NEW MEXICO]

A careful study of the early inhabitants of America reveals the
fact that the Pueblo Indians are the descendants of the race of
Cliff Dwellers. Their houses, their pottery, and their religious
ceremonies are, so far as can be determined, very similar to those
of the Cliff Dwellers. If you travel through northwestern New Mexico
and northeastern Arizona, you will find the villages situated upon
commanding rocks which are often surrounded by almost inaccessible
cliffs. To these elevated villages all the food and water has to
be carried from the valleys below. The houses are solidly built
of stone, and rise, terrace-fashion, several stories in height,
each succeeding story standing a little back of the one below.
These houses can be entered only by a ladder