It is evident that the prehistoric farmers of Cliff Palace repeatedly visited their fields among the cedars on top of the mesa, and well-worn trails led from their habitation to these clearings. Several such trails have long been known, one of which was formerly exclusively used by white visitors and was facetiously called "Fat Man's Misery." To another ancient pathway, near which ladders were placed, the name "Ladder Trail" may be applied. The pathways now used by visitors follow approximately these old trails, which were simply series of shallow footholes cut in the cliff. Although the lapse of time since they were pecked in the rock has somewhat diminished their depth, they can still be used by an adventurous climber. GENERAL FEATURES Cliff Palace (pls. 1, 2), the most instructive cliff-house yet discovered in the Mesa Verde National Park, if not in the United States, is one of the most picturesque ruins in the Southwest. While its general contour follows that of the rear of the cave in which it is situated, its two extremities project beyond the cavern. The entire central part is protected by the cave roof; the ends are exposed. The general orientation of Cliff Palace is north and south, the cave lying at the eastern end of the canyon of which it is an extension. The southern end is practically outside this cave, and the few rooms westward from kiva V are unprotected. An isolated kiva, W, with high surrounding walls, is situated some distance beyond the extreme western end of the ruin. Although not in the same cave as the main ruin, certain other rooms in the vicinity of Cliff Palace may have been ceremonially connected with it. They are built in shallow depressions in the cliffs and may have been shrines or rooms to which priests retreated for the purpose of performing their rites. In the category of dependent structures may also be mentioned numerous rings of stones on top of the mesa. The existence of calcined human bones in the soil over which these stones are heaped indicates the practice of cremation, of which there is also evidence in the ruin itself. DESTRUCTION BY THE ELEMENTS The constant beating of rain and snow, often accompanied in winter by freezing of water in the crevices of the masonry, has sadly dilapidated a large part of the front walls of Cliff Palace, especially those at the northern and southern ends (pl. 3) where they do not have the protection of the overhanging roof of the cave.