Note XI-5 — Chapter XI · ANTIQUITIES OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO.

In Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 282-3. Mange's description is as follows:—'One of them is a large edifice, the principal room in the centre being four stories high, and those adjoining it on its four sides, three stories; with walls two varas thick, of strong argamasa y barro [that is, the material of which adobes are made] so smooth on the inside that they resemble planed boards, and so polished that they shine like Puebla pottery. The corners of the windows, which are square, are very straight and without supports or crosspieces of wood, as if made with a mold; the doors are the same, though, narrow, and by this it is known to be the work of Indians; it is 36 paces long by 21 wide, and is well built. At the distance of an arquebuse-shot are seen twelve other buildings half fallen, also with thick walls; and all the roofs burned out except one low room, which has round beams apparently of cedar, or sabino, small and smooth, and over them otates (reeds) of equal size, and a layer of hard mud and mortar, forming a very curious roof or floor. In the vicinity are seen many other ruins and stories, and heaps of rubbish which cover the ground for two leagues; with much broken pottery, plates, and ollas of fine clay painted in various colors and resembling the Guadalajara pottery of New Spain; hence it is inferred that the city was very large and the work of a civilized people under a government. This is verified by a canal which runs from the river over the plain, encircling the settlement, which is in the centre, three leagues in circumference, ten varas wide and four deep, carrying perhaps half the river, and thus serving as a defensive ditch as well as to supply water for the houses and to irrigate the surrounding fields.'