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A little lower, the current plunges, roaring, into a circular chasm like a well, surrounded on three sides by a chimney-like hollowness of polished rock, down which the foam slips in detached snow-flakes.
There can be little doubt that the chimney-like structures were not chimneys, and no doubt at all that they did provide an efficient means of ventilation, no matter what the intention of the builders may have been.
The principal kiva in Mummy Cave ruin has an elaborate structure of the kind under discussion. The bench extended only partly around the interior, which had a continuous surface at the floor level, except on the southwest. At this point it is interrupted to give place to an elaborate chimney-like structure.
There is a suggestion here, which is further borne out by the chimney-like structures to be discussed later, that only the idea of these structures was brought here, without detailed knowledge of how to carry it out as if, for example, they were built by novices from description only.
In the absence of such work we can only speculate on the problem. The occurrence of two chimney-like shafts in connection with the rectangular rooms west of the tower is significant. Nowhere else in the canyons, except in the Casa Blanca ruin, do these structures occur, so far as known, except in connection with circular kivas.
The rooms are small, sometimes three deep against the back of the cove, and many of them could only have been used for storage. The principal structure is the western kiva, with its chimney-like attachments. This is described at length on pages 177, 179, 186, and 187. Adjoining it on the east is another kiva, part of whose wall is still two stories high, and clearly shown in the illustration.
In the present state of our knowledge, we can explain such appearances only by supposing that the heated materials within the earth's crust poured out frequently, meeting little resistance, that they then scattered and were precipitated in the ocean around, settling in successive strata at its bottom, that through such strata the heated masses within continued to pour again and again, forming for themselves the chimney-like outlets above mentioned.
The wall surface on the southern side of the kiva has been extended inward, as shown on the plan by a lighter shaded area. This was done at some period subsequent to the completion of the kiva, but whether it had any connection with the chimney-like structure could not be determined. The curtain or screen before the opening, which seems to be an invariable feature, is shown in both figures.
Setting fire to a bunch of dry grass, he inserted it in the hollow of the tree and confidently awaited results. A sound like the snort of a steam-engine followed, and presently flames were seen bursting from the top of the chimney-like trunk.
The walls show small box work crumbling to dust, and Ray climbed high into the chimney-like opening above our heads, but reported that it ended suddenly and had no attractions to offer.
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