Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-12-28

the country. The cliff jewellers were !.
a light-colored people, as are the Mo- .
quis of the present day. =
Some of the lodges on which the
houses were built are 1900 feet in
height and are overhung by masses of
rocks running up SUI feet higher.
Ropes were let down from above which
enabled the people to reach their
homes. These houses were built OF
stone fastened by cement and the en-
tire outside was plastered over. The
people were decidedly gregarious, liv-
ing together in large buildings which,
perhaps. were the precursors of the
modern apartment-h houses.
The cliff palace in the Nance Can
yon. Colorado, is from three to seven
stories in height, ESQ feet long and con-
tains 100 rooms. The latter are from
fifteen to twenty feet in size, having
cement floors and walls, and they GER
tainly did not lack for ventilation or
unobstructed view The cliff houses
are much more carefully constructed
considerable pretensions to architef
tural effects.
The cliff jewellers lived in the stonS
age, and although inhabiting a coun-
try rich in mineral wealth, there is no
evidence that it was ever put to any
practical use. Their weapons were
bows and arrows tipped with obsidian
nr 70 he
able skill was shown in the pottery
and basket work. The pottery, says
Mr.. Cooper, was all hand made, no
knowledge of the potter's wheel being
in evidence.
Few attempts were made at fanciful
shapes which so distinguished the
Peruvian product, but their ornamen-
tation was strictly up to date. The
pigments were applied and rubbed in,
and then the article was heated or
fired. This was repeated three times,
resulting In a glazed surface that has
stood the wear Of centuries. The bas-
ket work greatly resembles the pro-
ducts of Mexico and Arizona. Weaving
wool and cotton was another art pos
and samples of cloth and blankets sim
liar to those made by the Navaioes
show that the cliff climber could have
clean boiled shirt for Sunday in ad-
dition to sleeping warm at night
No inscription has ever been found
among the remains of this people, wall
carvings attributed to them having
been cut according to Mr.. Cooper by
the Navajoes. Religious were they.
but in most unpleasant way. They
worshiped the sun as the source of all
life and the moon as representing
darkness, which brings rain, without
which nothing can live But in or
der to square themselves with the sun
and wash away their own shortcom-
ings, they restored to the dismal prac-
tice of human sacrifice.
Evidence goes to show that the
sacred pollen known among the South
west Indians as hooddentin was priced
among this people and used in their
ceremonies. They believed as do the
Moquis, that they were descended from
snakes, hence, as the lecturer says the
SIldhe uduGe is tll SluCeSJldl "OISulp, d
sort of Shinto performance, so to
speak, only the Cinnamon go in on q
larger scale and select dragons.
Commissions of nature and the nat
ural decay of the race have swept this
people out of existence. Mr.. Cooper
states that the cliff dweller lives today
in the Moqui Indian; not only by d.
rect descent, but in language and arts.
Another branch, moving to the east
ward became the mound builders, the
sinuous lines of whose earthworks
preserve the form of the sacred snake.
The line of descent then went south
to Colthuna thence to the Toltecs, the
Aztecs, the Pueblos and the Zuni, and
so back to the starting point.
The root of the language of these
people, so far as it is known, is identl-
cal, and a scientific classification of
facts and fancies of tangible material
and NEUROLOGICAL lore makes the cliff
dWeller the Adam of the southwest
ern country: No epics have marked
the progress of this race, but their
simple homes, perehed on the rocky
lodges, have been q source Of greater
interest and instruction than the fallen
glores Of the Incas.