The general plan of this pueblo is quite different from that of the

present villages, and approaches the older types in symmetry and

compactness. There is a notable absence of the arrangement of rooms into

long parallel rows. This typical Tusayan feature is only slightly

approximated in some subordinate rows within the court. The plan

suggests that the original pueblo was built about three sides of a

rectangular court, the fourth or southeast side--later occupied by the

mission buildings--being left open, or protected only by a low wall.

Outside the rectangle of the main pueblo, on the northeast side, are two

fragments of rude masonry, built by Navajo sheep herders. Near the west

corner of the pueblo are the vestiges of two rooms, outside the pueblo

proper, which seem to belong to the original construction.

Awatubi is said to have had excavated rectangular kivas, situated in the

open court, similar to those used in the modern village. The people of

Walpi had partly cleared out one of these chambers and used it as a

depository for ceremonial plume-sticks, etc., but the Navajo came and

carried off their sacred deposits, tempted probably by their market

value as ethnologic specimens. No trace of these kivas was visible at

the time the ruins were surveyed.

The Awatubi are said to have had sheep at the time the village was

destroyed. Some of the Tusayan point out the remains of a large sheep

corral near the spring, which they say was used at that time, but it is

quite as likely to have been constructed for that purpose at a much

later date.

HORN HOUSE.

The Horn House is so called because tradition connects this village with

some of the people of the Horn phratry of the Hopituh or Tusayan. The

ruin is situated on a projecting point of the mesa that forms the

western flank of Jeditoh Valley, not far from where the Holbrook road to

Keam’s Canyon ascends the brink of the mesa. The village is almost

completely demolished, no fragment of standing wall remaining in place.

Its general plan and distribution are quite clearly indicated by the

usual low ridges of fallen masonry partly covered by drifted sand. There

is but little loose stone scattered about, the sand having filled in all

the smaller irregularities.

It will be seen from the plan, Pl. VII, that the village has been built

close to the edge of the mesa, following to some extent the

irregularities of its outline. The mesa ruin at this point, however, is

not very high, the more abrupt portion having a height of 20 or 30 feet.

Near the north end of the village the ground slopes very sharply toward

the east and is rather thickly covered with the small stones of fallen

masonry, though but faint vestiges of rooms remain. In plan the ruin is

quite elongated, following the direction of the mesa. The houses were

quite irregularly disposed, particularly in the northern portion of the

ruin. But here the indications are too vague to determine whether the

houses were originally built about one long court or about two or more

smaller ones. The south end of the pueblo, however, still shows a well

defined court bounded on all sides by clearly traceable rooms. At the

extreme south end of the ruin the houses have very irregular outlines,

a result of their adaptation to the topography, as may be seen in the

illustration.

[Illustration: Plate XX. Plan of Walpi.]

The plan shows the position of a small group of cottonwood trees, just

below the edge of the mesa and nearly opposite the center of the

village. These trees indicate the proximity of water, and mark the

probable site of the spring that furnished this village with at least

part of its water supply.

There are many fragments of pottery on this spot, but they are not so

abundant as at Awatubi.

Two partly excavated rooms were seen at this ruin, the work of some

earlier visitors who hoped to discover ethnologic or other treasure.

These afforded no special information, as the character of the masonry

exposed differed in no respect from that seen at other of the Tusayan

ruins. No traces of adobe construction or suggestions of foreign

influence were seen at this ruin.

SMALL RUIN BETWEEN HORN HOUSE AND BAT HOUSE.

On a prolongation of the mesa occupied by the Horn House, midway between

it and another ruined pueblo known as the Bat House, occur the remains

of a small and compact cluster of houses (Fig. 3). It is situated on the

very mesa edge, here about 40 feet high, at the head of a small canyon

which opens into the Jeditoh Valley, a quarter of a mile below.

[Illustration: Fig. 3. Ruin between Bat House and Horn House.]

The site affords an extended outlook to the south over a large part of

Jeditoh Valley. The topography about this point, which receives the

drainage of a considerable area of the mesa top, would fit it especially

for the establishment of a reservoir. This fact probably had much to do

with its selection as a dwelling site. The masonry is in about the same

state of preservation as that of the Horn House, and some of the stones

of the fallen walls seem to have been washed down from the mesa edge to

the talus below.

BAT HOUSE.

The Bat House is a ruin of nearly the same size as the Horn House,

although in its distribution it does not follow the mesa edge so closely

as the latter, and is not so elongated in its general form. The northern

portion is quite irregular, and the rooms seem to have been somewhat

crowded. The southern half, with only an occasional room traceable,

as indicated on the plan, Pl. VIII, still shows that the rooms were

distributed about a large open court.

The Bat House is situated on the northwest side of the Jeditoh Valley,

on part of the same mesa occupied by the two ruins described above. It

occupies the summit of a projecting spur, overlooking the main valley

for an extent of more than 5 miles. The ruin lies on the extreme edge of

the cliff, here about 200 feet high, and lying beneath it on the east

and south are large areas of arable land. Altogether it forms an

excellent defensive site, combined with a fair degree of convenience to

fields and water from the Tusayan point of view.

This ruin, near its northeastern extremity, contains a feature that is

quite foreign to the architecture of Tusayan, viz, a defensive wall.

It is the only instance of the use by the Hopituh of an inclosing wall,

though it is met with again at Payupki (Pl. XIII), which, however, was

built by people from the Rio Grande country.

MISHIPTONGA.

Mishiptonga is the Tusayan name for the southernmost, and by far the

largest, of the Jeditoh series of ruins (Pl. IX). It occurs quite close

to the Jeditoh spring which gives its name to the valley along whose

northern and western border are distributed the ruins above described,

beginning with the Horn house.

[Illustration: Plate XXI. View of Walpi.]

This village is rather more irregular in its arrangement than any other

of the series. There are indications of a number of courts inclosed by

large and small clusters of rooms, very irregularly disposed, but with a

general trend towards the northeast, being roughly parallel with the

mesa edge. In plan this village approaches somewhat that of the

inhabited Tusayan villages. At the extreme southern extremity of the

mesa promontory is a small secondary bench, 20 feet lower than the site

of the main village. This bench has also been occupied by a number of

houses. On the east side the pueblo was built to the very edge of the

bluff, where small fragments of masonry are still standing. The whole

village seems so irregular and crowded in its arrangement that it

suggests a long period of occupancy and growth, much more than do the

other villages of this (Jeditoh) group.

The pueblo may have been abandoned or destroyed prior to the advent of

the Spaniards in this country, as claimed by the Indians, for no

traditional mention of it is made in connection with the later feuds and

wars that figure so prominently in the Tusayan oral history of the last

three centuries. The pueblo was undoubtedly built by some of the ancient

gentes of the Tusayan stock, as its plan, the character of the site

chosen, and, where traceable, the quality of workmanship link it with

the other villages of the Jeditoh group.

[Illustration: Fig. 4. Ruin near Moen-kopi, plan.]

MOEN-KOPI RUINS.

A very small group of rooms, even smaller than the neighboring farming

pueblo of Moen-kopi, is situated on the western edge of the mesa summit

about a quarter of a mile north of the modern village of Moen-kopi. As

the plan shows (Fig. 4), the rooms were distributed in three rows around

a small court. This ruin also follows the general northeastern trend

which has been noticed both in the ruined and in the occupied pueblos of

Tusayan. The rows here were only one room deep and not more than a

single story high at any point, as indicated by the very small amount of

débris. As the plate shows, nearly the entire plan is clearly defined by

fragments of standing walls. The walls are built of thin tablets of the

dark-colored sandstone which caps the mesa. Where the walls have fallen

the débris is comparatively free from earth, indicating that adobe has

been sparingly used. The walls, in places standing to a height of 2 or 3

feet, as may be seen in the illustration, Pl. X, show unusual precision

of workmanship and finish, resembling in this respect some of the

ancient pueblos farther north. This is to some extent due to the

exceptional suitability of the tabular stones of the mesa summit. The

almost entire absence of pottery fragments and other objects of art

which are such a constant accompaniment of the ruins throughout this

region strongly suggest that it was occupied for a very short time. In

Chapter III it will be shown that a similar order of occupation took

place at Ojo Caliente, one of the Zuñi farming villages. This ruin is

probably of quite recent origin, as is the present village of Moen-kopi,

although it may possibly have belonged to an earlier colony of which we

have no distinct trace. This fertile and well watered valley, a

veritable garden spot in the Tusayan deserts, must have been one of the

first points occupied. Some small cliff-dwellings, single rooms in

niches of a neighboring canyon wall, attest the earlier use of the

valley for agricultural purposes, although it is doubtful whether these

rude shelters date back of the Spanish invasion of the province.

A close scrutiny of the many favorable sites in this vicinity would

probably reveal the sand-encumbered remains of some more important

settlement than any of those now known.

RUINS ON THE ORAIBI WASH.

The wagon road from Keam’s Canyon to Tuba City crosses the Oraibi wash

at a point about 7 miles above the village of Oraibi. As it enters a

branch canyon on the west side of the wash it is flanked on each side by

rocky mesas and broken ledges. On the left or west side a bold

promontory, extending southward, is quite a conspicuous feature of the

landscape. The entire flat mesa summit, and much of the slope of a rocky

butte that rises from it, are covered with the remains of a small

pueblo, as shown on the plan, Fig. 5. All of this knoll except its

eastern side is lightly covered with scattered débris. On the west and

north sides there are many large masses of broken rock distributed over

the slope. There is no standing wall visible from below, but on closer

approach several interesting specimens of masonry are seen. On the north

side, near the west end, there is a fragment of curved wall which

follows the margin of the rock on which it is built. It is about 8 or 10

feet long and 3 feet high on the outer side. The curve is carefully

executed and the workmanship of the masonry good. Farther east, and

still on the north side, there is a fragment of masonry exhibiting a

reversed curve. This piece of wall spans the space between two adjoining

rocks, and the top of the wall is more than 10 feet above the rock on

which it stands. The shape of this wall and its relation to the

surroundings are indicated on the plan, Fig. 5. On the south side of the

ruin on the mesa surface, and near an outcropping rock, are the remains

of what appears to have been a circular room, perhaps 8 or 10 feet in

diameter, though it is too much broken down to determine this

accurately. Only a small portion of the south wall can be definitely

traced. On the south slope of the mesa are indications of walls, too

vaguely defined to admit of the determination of their direction.

Similar vestiges of masonry are found on the north and west, but not

extending to as great a distance from the knoll as those on the south.

[Illustration: Plate XXII. South passageway of Walpi.]

[Illustration: Fig. 5. Ruin 7 miles north of Oraibi.]

In that portion of the ruin which lies on top of the knoll, the walls so

far as traced conform to the shape of the site. The ground plan of the

buildings that once occupied the slopes can not be traced, and it is

impossible to determine whether its walls were carried through

continuously.

The masonry exhibited in the few surviving fragments of wall is of

unusually good quality, resembling somewhat that of the Fire House, Fig.

7, and other ruins of that class. The stones are of medium size, not

dressed, and are rather rougher and less flat than is usual, but the

wall has a good finish. The stone, however, is of poor quality. Most of

the débris about the ruin consists of small stone fragments and sand,

comparatively few stones of the size used in the walls being seen. The

material evidently came from the immediate vicinity of the ruin.

Pottery fragments were quite abundant about this ruin, most of the ware

represented being of exceptional quality and belonging to the older

types; red ware with black lines and black and white ware were

especially abundant.

There is quite an extensive view from the ruin, the top of the butte

commanding an outlook down the valley past Oraibi, and about 5 miles

north. There is also an extended outlook up the valley followed by the

wagon road above referred to, and over two branch valleys, one on the

east and another of much less extent on the west. The site was well

adapted for defense, which must have been one of the principal motives

for its selection.

[Illustration: Fig. 6. Ruin 14 miles north of Oraibi (Kwaituki).]

KWAITUKI.

The ruin known to the Tusayan as Kwaituki (Fig. 6) is also on the west

side of the Oraibi wash, 14 miles above Oraibi, and about 7 miles above

the ruin last described. Its general resemblance to the latter is very

striking. The builders have apparently been actuated by the same motives

in their choice of a site, and their manner of utilizing it corresponds

very closely. The crowning feature of the rocky knoll in this case is a

picturesque group of rectangular masses of sandstone, somewhat

irregularly distributed. The bare summit of a large block-like mass

still retains the vestiges of rooms, and probably most of the groups

were at one time covered with buildings, forming a prominent

citadel-like group in the midst of the village. To the north of this

rocky butte a large area seems to have been at one time inclosed by

buildings, forming a court of unusual dimensions. Along the outer margin

of the pueblo occasional fragments of walls define former rooms, but the

amount and character of the débris indicate that the inner area was

almost completely inclosed with buildings. The remains of masonry extend

on the south a little beyond the base of the central group of rocks, but

here the vestiges of stonework are rather faint and scattered.

[Illustration: Plate XXIII. Houses built over irregular sites, Walpi.]

In the nearly level tops of some of the rocks forming the central pile

are many smoothly worn depressions or cavities, which have evidently

been used for the grinding and shaping of stone implements.

A remarkable feature occurring within this village is a cave or

underground fissure in the rocks, which evidently had been used by the

inhabitants. The mouth or entrance to this cavern, partly obstructed and

concealed at the time of our visit, occurs at the point A on the plan.

On clearing away the rubbish at the mouth and entering it was found so

obstructed with broken rock and fine dust that but little progress could

be made in its exploration; but the main crevice in the rock could be

seen by artificial light to extend some 10 feet back from the mouth,

where it became very shallow. It could be seen that the original cavern

had been improved by the pueblo-builders, as some of the timbers that

had been placed inside were still in position, and a low wall of masonry

on the south side remained intact. Some Navajos stated that they had

discovered this small cave a couple of years before and had taken from

it a large unbroken water jar of ancient pottery and some other

specimens. The place was probably used by the ancient occupants simply

for storage.

Fragments of pottery of excellent quality were very abundant about this

ruin and at the foot of the central rocks the ground was thickly strewn

with fragments, often of large size.

The defensive character of this site parallels that of the ruin 7 miles

farther south in quite a remarkable manner, and the villages were

apparently built and occupied at the same time.

TEBUGKIHU, OR FIRE HOUSE.

About 15 miles northeast of Keam’s Canyon, and about 25 miles from

Walpi, is a small ruin called by the Tusayan “Tebugkihu,” built by

people of the Fire gens (now extinct). As the plan (Fig. 7) clearly

shows, this pueblo is very different from the typical Tusayan villages

that have been previously described. The apparent unity of the plan, and

the skillful workmanship somewhat resembling the pueblos of the Chaco

are in marked contrast to the irregularity and careless construction of

most of the Tusayan ruins. Its distance from the center of the province,

too, suggests outside relationship; but still the Tusayan traditions

undoubtedly connect the place with some of the ancestral gentes, as seen

in Chapter I.

The small and compact cluster of rooms is in a remarkable state of

preservation, especially the outside wall. This wall was carefully and

massively constructed, and stands to the height of several feet around

the entire circumference of the ruin, except along the brink of the

cliff, as the plan shows.

This outer wall contains by far the largest stones yet found

incorporated in pueblo masonry. A fragment of this masonry is

illustrated in Pl. XI. The largest stone shown measures about 5 feet in

length, and the one adjoining on the right measures about 4 feet. These

dimensions are quite remarkable in pueblo masonry, which is

distinguished by the use of very small stones.

The well defined outer wall of this cluster to the unaided eye appears

to be elliptical, but it will be seen from the plan that the ellipse is

somewhat pointed on the side farthest from the cliff. As in other cases

of ancient pueblos with curved outlines, the outer wall seems to have

been built first, and the inner rooms, while kept as rectangular as

possible, were adjusted to this curve. This arrangement often led to a

cumulating divergence from radial lines in some of the partitions, which

irregularity was taken up in one room, as in this instance, in the space

near the gate. The outer wall is uniform in construction so far as

preserved. Many irregularities appear, however, in the construction of

the inner or partition walls, and some of the rooms show awkward

attempts at adjustment to the curve of the outer wall.

[Illustration: Fig. 7. Oval (Fire House) ruin, plan (Tebugkihu).]

The ruin is situated on the very brink of a small canyon, which probably

contained a spring at the foot of the cliff close under the ruin site,

as the vegetation there has an unusual appearance of freshness,

suggesting the close proximity of water to the surface. A steep trail

evidently connected the village with the bottom of the canyon. Some of

the rocks of the mesa rim were marked by numerous cup-like cavities

similar to those seen at Kwaituki, and used in the polishing and forming

of stone implements. The type of pueblo here illustrated belonged to a

people who relied largely on the architecture for defense, differing in

this respect from the spirit of Tusayan architecture generally, where

the inaccessible character of the site was the chief dependence.

CHUKUBI.

The ruin called Chukubi by the Tusayan (Pl. XII) is situated on the

Middle Mesa, about 3 miles northeast of Mashongnavi. It occupies a

promontory above the same broad sandstone ledge that forms such a

conspicuous feature in the vicinity of Mashongnavi and Shupaulovi, and

which supports the buttes upon which these villages are built.

[Illustration: Plate XXIV. Dance rock and kiva, Walpi.]

Little masonry now remains on this site, but here and there a fragment

aids in defining the general plan of the pueblo. In general form the

village was a large rectangle with a line of buildings across its

center, dividing it into two unequal courts, and a projecting wing on

the west side. As may be seen from the illustration, one end of the ruin

forms a clearly defined rectangular court, composed of buildings mostly

two rooms deep. Here, as in other ruins of Tusayan, the arrangement

about inclosed courts is in contrast with the parallelism of rows, so

noticeable a feature in the occupied villages. At the east end of the

ruin are several curious excavations. The soft sandstone has been

hollowed out to a depth of about 10 inches, in prolongation of the

outlines of adjoining rooms. Such excavation to obtain level floors is

quite unusual among the pueblo builders; it was practiced to a very

small extent, and only where it could be done with little trouble. Any

serious inequality of surface was usually incorporated in the

construction, as will be noticed at Walpi (Pl. XXIII). Vestiges of

masonry indicating detached rooms were seen in each of the courts of the

main rectangle.

On the slope of the hill, just above the broad ledge previously

described, there is a fine spring, but no trace of a trail connecting it

with the pueblo could be found.

This village was advantageously placed for defense, but not to the same

degree as Payupki, illustrated in Pl. XIII.

PAYUPKI.

The ruin called Payupki (Pl. XIII) occupies the summit of a bold

promontory south of the trail, from Walpi to Oraibi, and about 6 miles

northwest from Mashongnavi. The outer extremity of this promontory is

separated from the mesa by a deep notch. The summit is reached from the

mesa by way of the neck, as the outer point itself is very abrupt, much

of the sandstone ledge being vertical. A bench, 12 or 15 feet below the

summit and in places quite broad, encircles the promontory. This bench

also breaks off very abruptly.

As may be seen from the plan, the village is quite symmetrically laid

out and well arranged for defense. It is placed at the mesa end of the

promontory cap, and for greater security the second ledge has also been

fortified. All along the outer margin of this ledge are the remains of a

stone wall, in some places still standing to a height of 1 or 2 feet.

This wall appears to have extended originally all along the ledge around

three sides of the village. The steepness of the cliff on the remaining

side rendered a wall superfluous. On the plain below this promontory,

and immediately under the overhanging cliff, are two corrals, and also

the remains of a structure that resembles a kiva, but which appears to

be of recent construction.

In the village proper (Pl. XIV) are two distinctly traceable kivas. One

of these, situated in the court, is detached and appears to have been

partly underground. The other, located in the southeast end of the

village, has also, like the first, apparently been sunk slightly below

the surface. There is a jog in the standing wall of this kiva which

corresponds to that usually found in the typical Tusayan kivas (see

Figs. 22 and 25). On the promontory and east of the village is a single

room of more than average length, with a well formed door in the center

of one side. This room has every appearance of being contemporary with

the rest of the village, but its occurrence in this entirely isolated

position is very unusual. Still farther east there is a mass of debris

that may have belonged to a cluster of six or eight rooms, or it may

possibly be the remains of temporary stone shelters for outlooks over

crops, built at a later date than the pueblo. As may be seen from the

illustration (Pl. XV), the walls are roughly built of large slabs of

sandstone of various sizes. The work is rather better than that of

modern Tusayan, but much inferior to that seen in the skillfully laid

masonry of the ruins farther north. In many of these walls an occasional

sandstone slab of great length is introduced. This peculiarity is

probably due to the character of the local material, which is more

varied than usual. All of the stone here used is taken from ledges in

the immediate vicinity. It is usually light in color and of loose

texture, crumbling readily, and subject to rapid decay, particularly

when used in walls that are roughly constructed.

Much of the pottery scattered about this ruin has a very modern

appearance, some of it having the characteristic surface finish and

color of the Rio Grande ware. A small amount of ancient pottery also

occurs here, some of the fragments of black and white ware displaying

intricate fret patterns. The quantity of these potsherds is quite small,

and they occur mainly in the refuse heaps on the mesa edge.

This ruin combines a clearly defined defensive plan with utilization of

one of the most inaccessible sites in the vicinity, producing altogether

a combination that would seem to have been impregnable by any of the

ordinary methods of Indian warfare.

[Illustration: Plate XXV. Foot trail to Walpi.]

PLANS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INHABITED VILLAGES.

HANO.

The village of Hano, or Tewa, is intrusive and does not properly belong

to the Tusayan stock, as appears from their own traditions. It is

somewhat loosely planned (Pl. XVI) and extends nearly across the mesa

tongue, which is here quite narrow, and in general there is no

appreciable difference between the arrangement here followed and that of

the other villages. One portion of the village, however, designated as

House No. 5 on the plan, differs somewhat from the typical arrangement

in long irregular rows, and approaches the pyramidal form found among

the more eastern pueblos, notably at Taos and in portions of Zuñi. As

has been seen, tradition tells us that this site was taken up by the

Tewa at a late date and subsequent to the Spanish conquest; but some

houses, formerly belonging to the Asa people, formed a nucleus about

which the Tewa village of Hano was constructed. The pyramidal house

occupied by the old governor, is said to have been built over such

remains of earlier houses.

The largest building in the village appears to have been added to from

time to time as necessity for additional space arose, resulting in much

the same arrangement as that characterizing most of the Tusayan houses,

viz, a long, irregular row, not more than three stories high at any

point. The small range marked No. 4 on the plan contains a section three

stories high, as does the long row and also the pyramidal cluster above

referred to. (Pl. XVII.)

The kivas are two in number, one situated within the village and the

other occupying a position in the margin of the mesa. These ceremonial

chambers, so far as observed, appear to be much like those in the other

villages, both in external and internal arrangement.

Within the last few years the horse trail that afforded access to Hano

and Sichumovi has been converted into a wagon road, and during the

progress of this work, under the supervision of an American,

considerable blasting was done. Among other changes the marginal kiva,

which was nearly in line with the proposed improvements, was removed.

This was done despite the protest of the older men, and their

predictions of dire calamity sure to follow such sacrilege. A new site

was selected close by and the newly acquired knowledge of the use of

powder was utilized in blasting out the excavation for this subterranean

chamber. It is altogether probable that the sites of all former kivas

were largely determined by accident, these rooms being built at points

where natural fissures or open spaces in the broken mesa edge furnished

a suitable depression or cavity. The builders were not capable of

working the stone to any great extent, and their operations were

probably limited to trimming out such natural excavations and in part

lining them with masonry.

There is a very noticeable scarcity of roof-holes, aside from those of

the first terrace. As a rule the first terrace has no external openings

on the ground and is entered from its roof through large trap-doors, as

shown on the plans. The lower rooms within this first terrace are not

inhabited, but are used as storerooms.

At several points ruined walls are seen, remains of abandoned rooms that

have fallen into decay. Occasionally a rough, buttress-like projection

from a wall is the only vestige of a room or a cluster of rooms, all

traces on the ground having been obliterated.

The mesa summit, that forms the site of this village, is nearly level,

with very little earth on its surface. A thin accumulation of soil and

rubbish lightly covers the inner court, but outside, along the face of

the long row, the bare rock is exposed continuously. Where the rooms

have been abandoned and the walls have fallen, the stones have all been

utilized in later constructions, leaving no vestige of the former wall

on the rocky site, as the stones of the masonry have always been set

upon the surface of the rock, with no excavation or preparation of

footings of any kind.

SICHUMOVI.

According to traditional accounts this village was founded at a more

recent date than Walpi. It has, however, undergone many changes since

its first establishment.

The principal building is a long irregular row, similar to that of Hano

(Pl. XVIII). A portion of an L-shaped cluster west of this row, and a

small row near it parallel to the main building, form a rude

approximation to the inclosed court arrangement. The terracing here,

however, is not always on the court side, whereas in ancient examples

such arrangement was an essential defensive feature, as the court

furnished the only approach to upper terraces. In all of these villages

there is a noticeable tendency to face the rows eastward instead of

toward the court. The motive of such uniformity of direction in the

houses must have been strong, to counteract the tendency to adhere to

the ancient arrangement. The two kivas of the village are built side by

side, in contact, probably on account of the presence at this point of a

favorable fissure or depression in the mesa surface.

On the south side of the village are the remains of two small clusters

of rooms that apparently have been abandoned a long time. A portion of a

room still bounded by standing walls has been utilized as a corral for

burros (PL. XIX).

[Illustration: Plate XXVI. Mashongnavi, plan.]

At this village are three small detached houses, each composed of but a

single room, a feature not at all in keeping with the spirit of pueblo

construction. In this instance it is probably due to the selection of

the village as the residence of whites connected with the agency or

school. Of these single-room houses, one, near the south end of the long

row, was being built by an American, who was living in another such

house near the middle of this row. The third house, although fairly well

preserved at the time of the survey, was abandoned and falling into

ruin. Adjoining the middle one of these three buildings on the south

side are the outlines of two small compartments, which were evidently

built as corrals for burros and are still used for that purpose.

This village, though limited to two stories in height, has, like the

others of the first mesa, a number of roof holes or trapdoors in the

upper story, an approach to the Zuñi practice. This feature among the

Tusayan villages is probably due to intercourse with the more eastern

pueblos, for it seems to occur chiefly among those having such

communication most frequently. Its presence is probably the result

simply of borrowing a convenient feature from those who invented it to

meet a necessity. The conditions under which the houses were built have

hardly been such as to stimulate the Tusayan to the invention of such a

device. The uniform height of the second-story roofs seen in this

village, constituting an almost unbroken level, is a rather exceptional

feature in pueblo architecture. Only one depression occurs in the whole

length of the main row.

WALPI.

Of all the pueblos, occupied or in ruins, within the provinces of

Tusayan and Cibola, Walpi exhibits the widest departure from the typical

pueblo arrangement (Pl. XX).

The carelessness characteristic of Tusayan architecture seems to have

reached its culmination here. The confused arrangement of the rooms,

mainly due to the irregularities of the site, contrasts with the work at

some of the other villages, and bears no comparison with much of the

ancient work. The rooms seem to have been clustered together with very

little regard to symmetry, and right angles are very unusual. (See Fig.

8.)

The general plan of the village of to-day confirms the traditional

accounts of its foundation. According to these its growth was gradual,

beginning with a few small clusters, which were added to from time to

time as the inhabitants of the lower site upon the spur of the mesa,

where the mission was established, moved up and joined the pioneers on

the summit. It is probable that some small rooms or clusters were built

on this conspicuous promontory soon after the first occupation of this

region, on account of its exceptionally favorable position as an outlook

over the fields (Pl. XXI).

Though the peculiar conformation of the site on which the village has

been built has produced an unusual irregularity of arrangement, yet even

here an imperfect example of the typical inclosed court may be found,

at one point containing the principal kiva or ceremonial chamber of the

village. It is probable that the accidental occurrence of a suitable

break or depression in the mesa top determined the position of this kiva

at an early date and that the first buildings clustered about this

point.

[Illustration: Fig. 8. Topography of the site of Walpi.]

A unique feature in this kiva is its connection with a second

subterranean chamber, reached from the kiva through an ordinary doorway.

The depression used for the kiva site must have been either larger than

was needed or of such form that it could not be thrown into one

rectangular chamber. It was impossible to ascertain the form of this

second room, as the writer was not permitted to approach the connecting

doorway, which was closed with a slab of cottonwood. This chamber, used

as a receptacle for religious paraphernalia, was said to connect with an

upper room within the cluster of dwellings close by, but this could not

be verified at the time of our visit. The plan indicates that such an

adjoining chamber, if of average size, could easily extend partly under

the dwellings on either the west or south side of the court. The rocky

mesa summit is quite irregular in this vicinity, with rather an abrupt

ascent to the passageway on the south as shown in Pl. XXII. Southeast

from the kiva there is a large mass of rocks projecting above the

general level, which has been incorporated into a cluster of dwelling

rooms. Its character and relation to the architecture may be seen in Pl.

XXIII. So irregular a site was not likely to be built upon until most of

the available level surface had been taken up, for even in masonry of

much higher development than can be found in Tusayan the builders,

unable to overcome such obstacles as a large mass of protruding rock,

have accommodated their buildings to such irregularities. This is very

noticeable in the center cluster of Mummy Cave (in Canyon del Muerto,

Arizona), where a large mass of sandstone, fallen from the roof of the

rocky niche in which the houses were built, has been incorporated into

the house cluster. Between this and another kiva to the north the mesa

top is nearly level. The latter kiva is also subterranean and was built

in an accidental break in sandstone. On the very margin of this fissure

stands a curious isolated rock that has survived the general erosion of

the mesa. It is near this rock that the celebrated Snake-dance takes

place, although the kiva from which the dancers emerge to perform the

open air ceremony is not adjacent to this monument (Pl. XXIV).

[Illustration: Plate XXVII. Mashongnavi with Shupaulovi in distance.]

A short distance farther toward the north occur a group of three more

kivas. These are on the very brink of the mesa, and have been built in

recesses in the crowning ledge of sandstone of such size that they could

conveniently be walled up on the outside, the outer surface of rude

walls being continuous with the precipitous rock face of the mesa.

The positions of all these ceremonial chambers seem to correspond with

exceptionally rough and broken portions of the mesa top, showing that

their location in relation to the dwelling clusters was due largely to

accident and does not possess the significance that position does in

many ancient pueblos built on level and unencumbered sites, where the

adjustment was not controlled by the character of the surface.

The Walpi promontory is so abrupt and difficult of access that there is

no trail by which horses can be brought to the village without passing

through Hano and Sichumovi, traversing the whole length of the mesa

tongue, and crossing a rough break or depression in the mesa summit

close to the village. Several foot trails give access to the village,

partly over the nearly perpendicular faces of rock. All of these have

required to be artificially improved in order to render them

practicable. Plate XXV, from a photograph, illustrates one of these

trails, which, a portion of the way, leads up between a huge detached

slab of sandstone and the face of the mesa. It will be seen that the

trail at this point consists to a large extent of stone steps that have

been built in. At the top of the flight of steps where the trail to the

mesa summit turns to the right the solid sandstone has been pecked out

so as to furnish a series of footholes, or steps, with no projection or

hold of any kind alongside. There are several trails on the west side of

the mesa leading down both from Walpi and Sichúmovi to a spring below,

which are quite as abrupt as the example illustrated. All the water used

in these villages, except such as is caught during showers in the

basin-like water pockets of the mesa top, is laboriously brought up

these trails in large earthenware canteens slung over the backs of the

women.

Supplies of every kind, provisions, harvested crops, fuel, etc., are

brought up these steep trails, and often from a distance of several

miles, yet these conservative people tenaciously cling to the

inconvenient situation selected by their fathers long after the

necessity for so doing has passed away. At present no argument of

convenience or comfort seems sufficient to induce them to abandon their

homes on the rocky heights and build near the water supply and the

fields on which they depend for subsistence.

One of the trails referred to in the description of Hano has been

converted into a wagon road, as has been already described. The Indians

preferred to expend the enormous amount of labor necessary to convert

this bridle path into a wagon road in order slightly to overcome the

inconvenience of transporting every necessary to the mesa upon their own

backs or by the assistance of burros. This concession to modern ideas is

at best but a poor substitute for the convenience of homes built in the

lower valleys.

[Illustration: Fig. 9. Mashongnavi and Shupaulovi from Shumopavi.]

MASHONGNAVI.

Mashongnavi, situated on the summit of a rocky knoll, is a compact

though irregular village, and the manner in which it conforms to the

general outline of the available ground is shown on the plan.

Convenience of access to the fields on the east and to the other

villages probably prompted the first occupation of the east end of this

rocky butte (Pl. XXVI).

[Illustration: Plate XXVIII. Back wall of a Mashongnavi house-row.]

[Illustration: Fig. 10. Diagram showing growth of Mashongnavi.]

In Mashongnavi of to-day the eastern portion of the village forms a more

decided court than do the other portions. The completeness in itself of

this eastern end of the pueblo, in connection with the form of the

adjoining rows, strongly suggests that this was the first portion of the

pueblo built, although examination of the masonry and construction

furnish but imperfect data as to the relative age of different portions

of the village. One uniform gray tint, with only slight local variations

in character and finish of masonry, imparts a monotonous effect of

antiquity to the whole mass of dwellings. Here and there, at rare

intervals, is seen a wall that has been newly plastered; but,

ordinarily, masonry of 10 years’ age looks nearly as old as that built

200 years earlier. Another feature that suggests the greater antiquity

of the eastern court of the pueblo is the presence and manner of

occurrence here of the kiva. The old builders may have been influenced

to some extent in their choice of site by the presence of a favorable

depression for the construction of a kiva, though this particular

example of the ceremonial room is only partly subterranean. The other

kivas are almost or quite below the ground level. Although a favorable

depression might readily occur on the summit of the knoll, a deep

cavity, suitable for the construction of the subterranean kiva, would

not be likely to occur at such a distance from the margin of the

sandstone ledge. The builders evidently preferred to adopt such half-way

measures with their first kiva in order to secure its inclosure within

the court, thus conforming to the typical pueblo arrangement. The

numerous exceptions to this arrangement seen in Tusayan are due to local

causes. The general view of Mashongnavi given in Pl. XXVII shows that

the site of this pueblo, as well as that of its neighbor, Shupaulovi,

was not particularly defensible, and that this fact would have weight in

securing adherence in the first portion of the pueblo built to the

defensive inclosed court containing the ceremonial chamber. The plan

strongly indicates that the other courts of the pueblo were added as the

village grew, each added row facing toward the back of an older row,

producing a series of courts, which, to the present time, show more

terracing on their western sides. The eastern side of each court is

formed, apparently, by a few additions of low rooms to what was

originally an unbroken exterior wall, and which is still clearly

traceable through these added rooms. Such an exterior wall is

illustrated in Pl. XVIII. This process continued until the last cluster

nearly filled the available site and a wing was thrown out corresponding

to a tongue or spur of the knoll upon which it was built. Naturally the

westernmost or newer portions show more clearly the evidence of

additions and changes, but such evidence is not wholly wanting in the

older portions. The large row that bounds the original eastern court on

the west side may be seen on the plan to be of unusual width, having the

largest number of rooms that form a terrace with western aspect; yet the

nearly straight line once defining the original back wall of the court

inclosing cluster on this side has not been obscured to any great extent

by the later additions (Pl. XXVIII). This village furnishes the most

striking example in the whole group of the manner in which a pueblo was

gradually enlarged as increasing population demanded more space. Such

additions were often carried out on a definite plan, although the

results in Tusayan fall far short of the symmetry that characterizes

many ruined pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona.

[Illustration: Fig. 11. Diagram showing growth of Mashongnavi.]

[Illustration: Fig. 12. Diagram showing growth of Mashongnavi.]

[Illustration: Plate XXIX. West side of a principal row in

Mashongnavi.]

A few of these ancient examples, especially some of the smaller ruins of

the Chaco group, are so symmetrical in their arrangement that they seem

to be the result of a single effort to carry out a clearly fixed plan.

By far the largest number of pueblos, however, built among the southwest

tablelands, if occupied for any length of time, must have been subject

to irregular enlargement. In some ancient examples, such additions to

the first plan undoubtedly took place without marring the general

symmetry. This was the case at Pueblo Bonito, on the Chaco, where the

symmetrical and even curve of the exterior defensive wall, which was at

least four stories high, remained unbroken, while the large inclosed

court was encroached upon by wings added to the inner terraces. These

additions comfortably provided for a very large increase of population

after the first building of the pueblo, without changing its exterior

appearance.

In order to make clearer this order of growth in Mashongnavi, a series

of skeleton diagrams is added in Figs. 10, 11, and 12, giving the

outlines of the pueblo at various supposed periods in the course of its

enlargement. The larger plan of the village (Pl. XXVI) serves as a key

to these terrace outlines.

The first diagram illustrates the supposed original cluster of the east

court (Fig. 10), the lines of which can be traced on the larger plan,

and it includes the long, nearly straight line that marks the western

edge of the third story. This diagram shows also, in dotted lines, the

general plan that may have guided the first additions to the west. The

second diagram (Fig. 11) renders all the above material in full tint,

again indicating further additions by dotted lines, and so on. (Fig.

12.) The portions of a terrace, which face westward in the newer courts

of the pueblo, illustrated in Pl. XXIX, were probably built after the

western row, completing the inclosure, and were far enough advanced to

indicate definitely an inclosed court, upon which the dwelling rooms

faced.

[Illustration: Plate XXX. Plan of Shupaulovi.]

SHUPAULOVI.

This village, by far the smallest pueblo of the Tusayan group,

illustrates a simple and direct use of the principle of the inclosed

court. The plan (Pl. XXX) shows that the outer walls are scarcely broken

by terraces, and nearly all the dwelling apartments open inwards upon

the inclosure, in this respect closely following the previously

described ancient type, although widely differing from it in the

irregular disposition of the rooms. (Pl. XXXI) A comparison with the

first of the series of diagrams illustrating the growth of Mashóngnavi,

will show how similar the villages may have been at one stage, and how

suitable a nucleus for a large pueblo this village would prove did space

and character of the site permit. Most of the available summit of the

rocky knoll has already been covered, as will be seen from the

topographic sketch of the site (Fig. 13). The plan shows also that some

efforts at extension of the pueblo have been made, but the houses

outside of the main cluster have been abandoned, and are rapidly going

to ruin. Several small rooms occur on the outer faces of the rows, but

it can be readily seen that they do not form a part of the original plan

but were added to an already complete structure.

[Illustration: Fig. 13. Topography of the site of Shupaulovi.]

In the inclosed court of this pueblo occurs a small box-like stone

inclosure, covered with a large slab, which is used as a sort of shrine

or depository for the sacred plume sticks and other ceremonial

offerings. This feature is found at some of the other villages, notably

at Mashongnavi, in the central court, and at Hano, where it is located

at some distance outside of the village, near the main trail to the

mesa.

The plan of this small village shows three covered passageways similar

to those noted in Walpi on the first mesa, though their presence here

can not be ascribed to the same motives that impelled the Walpi to build

in this way; for the densely crowded site occupied by the latter

compelled them to resort to this expedient. One of these is illustrated

in Pl. XXXII. Its presence may be due in this instance to a

determination to adhere to the protected court while seeking to secure

convenient means of access to the inclosed area. It is remarkable that

this, the smallest of the group, should contain this feature.

This village has but two kivas, one of which is on the rocky summit near

the houses and the other on the lower ground near the foot of the trail

that leads to the village. The upper kiva is nearly subterranean, the

roof being but a little above the ground on the side toward the village,

but as the rocky site slopes away a portion of side wall is exposed.

This was roughly built, with no attempt to impart finish to its outer

face, either by careful laying of the masonry or by plastering. Pl.

XXXIII illustrates this kiva in connection with the southeastern portion

of the village. The plan shows how the prolongation of the side rows of

the village forms a suggestion of a second court. Its development into

any such feature as the secondary or additional courts of Mashóngnavi

was prohibited by the restricted site.

As in other villages of this group, the desire to adhere to the

subterranean form of ceremonial chamber outweighed the inducement to

place it within the village, or, in the case of the second kiva, even of

placing it on the same level as the houses, which are 30 feet above it

with an abrupt trail between them. It is curious and instructive to see

a room, the use of which is so intimately connected with the inner life

of the village, placed in such a comparatively remote and inaccessible

position through an intensely conservative adherence to ancient practice

requiring this chamber to be depressed.

[Illustration: Plate XXXI. View of Shupaulovi.]

The general view of the village given in Pl. XXXI strikingly illustrates

the blending of the rectangular forms of the architecture with the

angular and sharply defined fractures of the surrounding rock. This

close correspondence in form between the architecture and its immediate

surroundings is greatly heightened by the similarity in color. Mr.

Stephen has called attention to a similar effect on the western side of

Walpi and its adjacent mesa edge, which he thought indicates a distinct

effort at concealment on the part of the builders, by blending the

architecture with the surroundings. This similarity of effect is often

accidental, and due to the fact that the materials of the houses and of

the mesas on which they are built are identical. Even in the case of

Walpi, cited by Mr. Stephen, where the buildings come to the very mesa

edge, and in their vertical lines appear to carry out the effect of the

vertical fissures in the upper benches of sandstone, there was no

intentional concealment. It is more likely that, through the necessity

of building close to the limits of the crowded sites, a certain degree

of correspondence was unintentionally produced between the jogs and

angles of the houses and those of the mesa edge.

Such correspondence with the surroundings, which forms a striking

feature of many primitive types of construction where intention of

concealment had no part, is doubtless mainly due to the use of the most

available material, although the expression of a type of construction

that has prevailed for ages in one locality would perhaps be somewhat

influenced by constantly recurring forms in its environment. In the

system of building under consideration, such influence would, however,

be a very minute fraction in the sum of factors producing the type and

could never account for such examples of special and detailed

correspondence as the cases cited, nor could it have any weight in

developing a rectangular type of architecture.

In the development of primitive arts the advances are slow and

laborious, and are produced by adding small increments to current

knowledge. So vague and undefined an influence as that exerted by the

larger forms of surrounding nature are seldom recognized and

acknowledged by the artisan; on the contrary, experiments, resulting in

improvement, are largely prompted by practical requirements.

Particularly is this the case in the art of house-building.

SHUMOPAVI.

This village, although not so isolated as Oraibi, has no near neighbors

and is little visited by whites or Indians. The inhabitants are rarely

seen at the trading post to which the others resort, and they seem to be

pretty well off and independent as compared with their neighbors of the

other villages (Pl. XXXIV). The houses and courts are in keeping with

the general character of the people and exhibit a degree of neatness and

thrift that contrasts sharply with the tumble-down appearance of some of

the other villages, especially those of the Middle Mesa and Oraibi.

There is a general air of newness about the place, though it is

questionable whether the architecture is more recent than that of the

other villages of Tusayan. This effect is partly due to the custom of

frequently renewing the coating of mud plaster. In most of the villages

little care is taken to repair the houses until the owner feels that to

postpone such action longer would endanger its stability. Many of the

illustrations in this chapter indicate the proportion of rough masonry

usually exposed in the walls. At Shumopavi (Pl. XXXV), however, most of

the walls are smoothly plastered. In this respect they resemble Zuñi and

the eastern pueblos, where but little naked masonry can be seen. Another

feature that adds to the effect of neatness and finish in this village

is the frequent use of a whitewash of gypsum on the outer face of the

walls. This wash is used partly as an ornament and partly as protection

against the rain. The material, called by the Mexicans “yeso,” is very

commonly used in the interior of their houses throughout this region,

both by Mexicans and Indians. More rarely it is used among the pueblos

as an external wash. Here, however, its external use forms quite a

distinctive feature of the village. The same custom in several of the

cliff houses of Canyon de Chelly attests the comparative antiquity of

the practice, though not necessarily its pre-Columbian origin.

Shumopavi, compared with the other villages, shows less evidence of

having been built on the open court idea, as the partial inclosures

assume such elongated forms in the direction of the long, straight rows

of the rooms; yet examination shows that the idea was present to a

slight extent.

At the southeast corner of the pueblo there is a very marked approach to

the open court, though it is quite evident that the easternmost row has

its back to the court, and that the few rooms that face the other way

are later additions. In fact, the plan of the village and the

distribution of the terraces seem to indicate that the first

construction consisted only of a single row facing nearly east, and was

not an inclosed court, and that a further addition to the pueblo assumed

nearly the same form, with its face or terraced side toward the back of

the first row only partly adapting itself by the addition of a few small

rooms later, to the court arrangement, the same operation being

continued, but in a form not so clearly defined, still farther toward

the west.

The second court is not defined on the west by such a distinct row as

the others, and the smaller clusters that to some extent break the long,

straight arrangement bring about an approximation to a court, though

here again the terraces only partly face it, the eastern side being

bounded by the long exterior wall of the middle row, two and three

stories high, and almost unbroken throughout its entire length of 400

feet. The broken character of the small western row, in conjunction with

the clusters near it, imparts a distinct effect to the plan of this

portion, differentiating it in character from the masses of houses

formed by the other two rows. The latter are connected at their southern

end by a short cross row which converts this portion of the village

practically into a single large house. Two covered passageways, however,

which are designated on the plan, give access to the southeast portion

of the court. This portion is partly separated from the north half of

the inclosure by encroaching groups of rooms. This partial division of

the original narrow and long court appears to be of later date.

[Illustration: Plate XXXII. A covered passageway of Shupaulovi.]

The kivas are four in number, of which but one is within the village.

The latter occupies a partly inclosed position in the southwest portion,

and probably owes its place to some local facility for building a kiva

on this spot in the nature of a depression in the mesa summit; but even

with such aid the ceremonial chamber was built only partly under ground,

as may be seen in Fig. 14. The remaining three kivas are more distinctly

subterranean, and in order to obtain a suitable site one of these was

located at a distance of more than 200 feet from the village, toward the

mesa edge on the east. The other two are built very close together,

apparently in contact, just beyond the northern extremity of the

village. One of these is about 3 feet above the surface at one corner,

but nearly on a level with the ground at its western side where it

adjoins its neighbor. These two kivas are illustrated in Pl. LXXXVIII

and Fig. 21.

[Illustration: Fig. 14. Court kiva of Shumopavi.]

Here again we find that the ceremonial chamber that forms so important a

feature among these people, occupies no fixed relation to the dwellings,

and its location is largely a matter of accident, a site that would

admit of the partial excavation or sinking of the chamber below the

surface being the main requisite. The northwest court contains another

of the small inclosed shrines already described as occurring at

Shupaulovi and elsewhere.

The stonework of this village also possesses a somewhat distinctive

character. Exposed masonry, though comparatively rare in this

well-plastered pueblo, shows that stones of suitable fracture were

selected and that they were more carefully laid than in the other

villages. In places the masonry bears a close resemblance to some of the

ancient work, where the spaces between the longer tablets of stone were

carefully chinked with small bits of stone, bringing the whole wall to a

uniform face, and is much in advance of the ordinary slovenly methods of

construction followed in Tusayan.

Shumopavi is the successor of an older village of that name, one of the

cities of the ancient Tusayan visited by a detachment of Coronado’s

expedition in 1540. The ruins of that village still exist, and they

formerly contained vestiges of the old church and mission buildings

established by the monks. The squared beams from these buildings were

considered valuable enough to be incorporated in the construction of

ceremonial kivas in some of the Tusayan villages. This old site was not

visited by the party.

ORAIBI.

This is one of the largest modern pueblos, and contains nearly half the

population of Tusayan; yet its great size has not materially affected

the arrangement of the dwellings. The general plan (see Pl. XXXVI),

simply shows an unusually large collection of typical Tusayan

house-rows, with the general tendency to face eastward displayed in the

other villages of the group. There is a remarkable uniformity in the

direction of the rows, but there are no indications of the order in

which the successive additions to the village were made, such as were

found at Mashóngnavi.

The clusters of rooms do not surpass the average dimensions of those in

the smaller villages. In five of the clusters in Oraibi a height of four

stories is reached by a few rooms; a height seen also in Walpi.

At several points in Oraibi, notably on the west side of cluster No. 7,

may be seen what appears to be low terraces faced with rough masonry.

The same thing is also seen at Walpi, on the west side of the

northernmost cluster. This effect is produced by the gradual filling in

of abandoned and broken-down marginal houses, with fallen masonry and

drifted sand. The appearance is that of intentional construction, as may

be seen in Pl. XXXIX.

[Illustration: Plate XXXIII. The chief kiva of Shupaulovi.]

The rarity of covered passageways in this village is noteworthy, and

emphasizes the marked difference in the character of the Tusayan and

Zuñi ground plans. The close crowding of rooms in the latter has made a

feature of the covered way, which in the scattered plan of Oraibi is

rarely called for. When found it does not seem an outgrowth of the same

conditions that led to its adoption in Zuñi. A glance at the plans will

show how different has been the effect of the immediate environment in

the two cases. In Zuñi, built on a very slight knoll in the open plain,

the absence of a defensive site has produced unusual development of the

defensive features of the architecture, and the result is a remarkably

dense clustering of the dwellings. At Tusayan, on the other hand, the

largest village of the group does not differ in character from the

smallest. Occupation of a defensive site has there, in a measure taken

the place of a special defensive arrangement, or close clustering of

rooms. Oraibi is laid out quite as openly as any other of the group, and

as additions to its size have from time to time been made the builders

have, in the absence of the defensive motive for crowding the rows or

groups into large clusters, simply followed the usual arrangement. The

crowding that brought about the use of the covered way was due in Walpi

to restricted site, as nearly all the available summit of its rocky

promontory has been covered with buildings. In Zuñi, on the other hand,

it was the necessity for defense that led to the close clustering of the

dwellings and the consequent employment of the covered way.

A further contrast between the general plans of Oraibi and Zuñi is

afforded in the different manner in which the roof openings have been

employed in the two cases. The plan of Zuñi, Pl. LXXVI, shows great

numbers of small openings, nearly all of which are intended exclusively

for the admission of light, a few only being provided with ladders. In

Oraibi, on the other hand, there are only seventeen roof openings above

the first terrace, and of these not more than half are intended for the

admission of light. The device is correspondingly rare in other villages

of the group, particularly in those west of the first mesa. In

Mashóngnavi the restricted use of the roof openings is particularly

noticeable; they all are of the same type as those used for access to

first terrace rooms. There is but one roof opening in a second story. An

examination of the plan, Pl. XXX, will show that in Shupaúlovi but two

such openings occur above the first terrace, and in the large village of

Shumopavi, Pl. XXXIV, only about eight. None of the smaller villages can

be fairly compared with Zuñi in the employment of this feature, but in

Oraibi we should expect to find its use much more general, were it not

for the fact that the defensive site has taken the place of the close

clustering of rooms seen in the exposed village of Zuñi, and, in

consequence, the devices for the admission of light still adhere to the

more primitive arrangement (Pls. XL and XLI).

The highest type of pueblo construction, embodied in the large communal

fortress houses of the valleys, could have developed only as the

builders learned to rely for protection more upon their architecture and

less upon the sites occupied. So long as the sites furnished a large

proportion of the defensive efficiency of a village, the invention of

the builders was not stimulated to substitute artificial for natural

advantages. Change of location and consequent development must

frequently have taken place owing to the extreme inconvenience of

defensive sites to the sources of subsistence.

The builders of large valley pueblos must frequently have been forced to

resort hastily to defensive sites on finding that the valley towns were

unfitted to withstand attack. This seems to have been the case with the

Tusayan; but that the Zuñi have adhered to their valley pueblo through

great difficulties is clearly attested by the internal evidence of the

architecture itself, even were other testimony altogether wanting.

MOEN-KOPI.

About 50 miles west from Oraibi is a small settlement used by a few

families from Oraibi during the farming season, known as Moen-kopi. (Pl.

XLIII). The present village is comparatively recent, but, as is the case

with many others, it has been built over the remains of an older

settlement. It is said to have been founded within the memory of some of

the Mormon pioneers at the neighboring town of Tuba City, named after an

old Oraibi chief, recently deceased.

The site would probably have attracted a much larger number of settlers,

had it not been so remote from the main pueblos of the province, as in

many respects it far surpasses any of the present village sites. A large

area of fertile soil can be conveniently irrigated from copious springs

in the side of a small branch of the Moen-kopi wash. The village

occupies a low, rounded knoll at the junction of this branch with the

main wash, which on the opposite or southern side is quite precipitous.

The gradual encroachments of the Mormons for the last twenty years have

had some effect in keeping the Tusayan from more fully utilizing the

advantages of this site (Pl. XLII).

Moen-kopi is built in two irregular rows of one-story houses. There are

also two detached single rooms in the village--one of them built for a

kiva, though apparently not in use at the time of our survey, and the

other a small room with its principal door facing an adjoining row. The

arrangement is about the same that prevails in the other villages, the

rows having distinct back walls of rude masonry.

Rough stone work predominates also in the fronts of the houses, though

it is occasionally brought to a fair degree of finish. Some adobe work

is incorporated in the masonry, and at one point a new and still

unroofed room was seen built of adobe bricks on a stone foundation about

a foot high. There is but little adobe masonry, however, in Tusayan. Its

use in this case is probably due to Mormon influence.

[Illustration: Plate XXXIV. Plan of Shumopavi.]

Moen-kopi was the headquarters of a large business enterprise of the

Mormons a number of years ago. They attempted to concentrate the product

of the Navajo wool trade at this point and to establish here a

completely appointed woolen mill. Water was brought from a series of

reservoirs built in a small valley several miles away, and was conducted

to a point on the Moen-kopi knoll, near the end of the south row of

houses, where the ditch terminated in a solidly constructed box of

masonry. From this in turn the water was delivered through a large pipe

to a turbine wheel, which furnished the motive power for the works. The

ditch and masonry are shown on the ground plan of the village (Pl.

XLIII). This mill was a large stone building, and no expense was spared

in fitting it up with the most complete machinery. At the time of our

visit the whole establishment had been abandoned for some years and was

rapidly going to decay. The frames had been torn from the windows, and

both the floor of the building and the ground in its vicinity were

strewn with fragments of expensive machinery, broken cog-wheels, shafts,

etc. This building is shown in Pl. XLV, and may serve as an illustration

of the contrast between Tusayan masonry and modern stonemason’s work

carried out with the same material. The comparison, however, is not

entirely fair, as applied to the pueblo builders in general, as the

Tusayan mason is unusually careless in his work. Many old examples are

seen in which the finish of the walls compares very favorably with the

American mason’s work, though the result is attained in a wholly

different manner, viz, by close and careful chinking with numberless

small tablets of stone. This process brings the wall to a remarkably

smooth and even surface, the joints almost disappearing in the

mosaic-like effect of the wall mass. The masonry of Moen-kopi is more

than ordinarily rough, as the small village was probably built hastily

and used for temporary occupation as a farming center. In the winter the

place is usually abandoned, the few families occupying it during the

farming months returning to Oraibi for the season of festivities and

ceremonials.

CHAPTER III.

RUINS AND INHABITED VILLAGES OF CIBOLA.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE PROVINCE.

Though the surroundings of the Cibolan pueblos and ruins exhibit the

ordinary characteristics of plateau scenery, they have not the

monotonous and forbidding aspect that characterizes the mesas and

valleys of Tusayan. The dusty sage brush and the stunted cedar and

piñon, as in Tusayan, form a conspicuous feature of the landscape, but

the cliffs are often diversified in color, being in cases composed of

alternating bands of light gray and dark red sandstone, which impart a

considerable variety of tints to the landscape. The contrast is

heightened by the proximity of the Zuñi Mountains, an extensive

timber-bearing range that approaches within 12 miles of Zuñi, narrowing

down the extent of the surrounding arid region.

Cibola has also been more generously treated by nature in the matter of

water supply, as the province contains a perennial stream which has its

sources near the village of Nutria, and, flowing past the pueblo of

Zuñi, disappears a few miles below. During the rainy season the river

empties into the Colorado Chiquito. The Cibolan pueblos are built on the

foothills of mesas or in open valley sites, surrounded by broad fields,

while the Tusayan villages are perched upon mesa promontories that

overlook the valley lands used for cultivation.

PLANS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF RUINS.

HAWIKUH.

The village of Hawikuh, situated about 15 miles to the south of Zuñi,

consisted of irregular groups of densely clustered cells, occupying the

point of a spur projecting from a low rounded hill. The houses are in

such a ruined condition that few separate rooms can be traced, and these

are much obscured by débris. This débris covers the entire area

extending down the east slope of the hill to the site of the church. The

large amount of débris and the comparative thinness of such walls as are

found suggest that the dwellings had been densely clustered, and carried

to the height of several stories. Much of the space between the village

on the hill and the site of the Spanish church on the plain at its foot

is covered with masonry débris, part of which has slid down from above

(Pl. XLVI).

[Illustration: Plate XXXV. View of Shumopavi.]

The arrangement suggests a large principal court of irregular form. The

surrounding clusters are very irregularly disposed, the directions of

the prevailing lines of walls greatly varying in different groups. There

is a suggestion also of several smaller courts, as well as of alleyways

leading to the principal one.

The church, built on the plain below at a distance of about 200 feet

from the main village, seems to have been surrounded by several groups

of rooms and inclosures of various sizes, differing somewhat in

character from those within the village. These groups are scattered and

open, and the small amount of debris leads to the conclusion that this

portion of the village was not more than a single story in height. (Pl.

XLVII.)

The destruction of the village has been so complete that no vestige of

constructional details remains, with the exception of a row of posts in

a building near the church. The governor of Zuñi stated that these posts

were part of a projecting porch similar to those seen in connection with

modern houses. (See Pls. LXXI, LXXV.) Suggestions of this feature are

met with at other points on the plain, but they all occur within the

newer portion of the village around the church. Some of the larger

inclosures in this portion of the village were very lightly constructed,

and cover large areas. They were probably used as corrals. Inclosures

for this purpose occur at other pueblos traditionally ascribed to the

same age.

The church in this village was constructed of adobe bricks, without the

introduction of any stonework. The bricks appear to have been molded

with an unusual degree of care. The massive angles of the northwest, or

altar end of the structure, have survived the stonework of the adjoining

village and stand to-day 13 feet high. (Pl. XLVIII.)

KETCHIPAUAN.

The small village of Ketchipauan appears to have been arranged about two

courts of unequal dimensions. It is difficult to determine, however, how

much of the larger court, containing the stone church, is of later

construction. (Pl. XLIX.)

All the northwest portion of the village is now one large inclosure or

corral, whose walls have apparently been built of the fallen masonry

from the surrounding houses, leaving the central space clear. This wall

on the northeast side of the large inclosure apparently follows the jogs

and angles of the original houses. This may have been the outer line of

rooms, as traces of buildings occur for some distance within it. On the

opposite side the wall is nearly continuous, the jogs being of slight

projection. Here some traces of dwellings occur outside of the wall in

places to a depth of three rooms. The same thing occurs also at the

north corner. The continuation of these lines suggests a rectangular

court of considerable size, bounded symmetrically by groups of

compartments averaging three rooms deep. (Pl. L.)

Several much smaller inclosures made in the same way occur in the

village, but they apparently do not conform to the original courts.

At the present time dwelling rooms are traceable over a portion of the

area south and west of the church. As shown on the plan, upright posts

occasionally occur. These appear to have been incorporated into the

original walls, but the latter are so ruined that this can not be stated

positively, as such posts have sometimes been incorporated in modern

corral walls. In places they suggest the balcony-like feature seen in

modern houses, as in Hawikuh, but in the east portion of the pueblo they

are irregularly scattered about the rooms. A considerable area on the

west side of the ruin is covered with loosely scattered stones,

affording no suggestions of a ground plan. They do not seem sufficient

in amount to be the remains of dwelling rooms.

The Spanish church in this pueblo was built of stone, but the walls were

much more massive than those of the dwellings. The building is well

preserved, most of the walls standing 8 or 10 feet high, and in places

14 feet. This church was apparently built by Indian labor, as the walls

everywhere show the chinking with small stones characteristic of the

native work. In this village also, the massive Spanish construction has

survived the dwelling houses.

The ground plan of the church shows that the openings were splayed in

the thickness of the walls, at an angle of about 45°. In the doorway, in

the east end of the building, the greater width of the opening is on the

inside, a rather unusual arrangement; in the window, on the north side,

this arrangement is reversed, the splay being outward. On the south side

are indications of a similar opening, but at the present time the wall

is so broken out that no well defined jamb can be traced, and it is

impossible to determine whether the splayed opening was used or not. The

stones of the masonry are laid with extreme care at the angles and in

the faces of these splays, producing a highly finished effect.

The position of the beam-holes on the inner face of the wall suggests

that the floor of the church had been raised somewhat above the ground,

and that there may have been a cellar-like space under it. No beams are

now found, however, and no remains of wood are seen in the “altar” end

of the church. At the present time there are low partitions dividing the

inclosed area into six rooms or cells. The Indians state that these were

built at a late date to convert the church into a defense against the

hostile Apache from the south. These partitions apparently formed no

part of the original design, yet it is difficult to see how they could

have served as a defense, unless they were intended to be roofed over

and thus converted into completely inclosed rooms. A stone of somewhat

larger size than usual has been built into the south wall of the church.

Upon its surface some native artist has engraved a rudely drawn mask.

[Illustration: Plate XXXVII. Key to the Oraibi plan, also showing

localization of gentes.] [numbering gap]

About 150 yards southeast from the church, and on the edge of the low

mesa upon which the ruin stands, has been constructed a reservoir of

large size which furnished the pueblo with a reserve water supply. The

ordinary supply was probably derived from the valley below, where water

is found at no great distance from the pueblo. Springs may also have

formerly existed near the village, but this reservoir, located where the

drainage of a large area discharges, must have materially increased the

water supply. The basin or depression is about 110 feet in diameter and

its present depth in the center is about 4 feet; but it has undoubtedly

been filled in by sediment since its abandonment. More than half of its

circumference was originally walled in, but at the present time the old

masonry is indicated only by an interrupted row of large foundation

stones and fallen masonry. Some large stones, apparently undisturbed

portions of the mesa edge, have been incorporated into the inclosing

masonry. The Indians stated that originally the bottom of this basin was

lined with stones, but these statements could not be verified. Without

excavation on the upper side, the basin faded imperceptibly into the

rising ground of the surrounding drainage. Other examples of these basin

reservoirs are met with in this region.

CHALOWE.

About 15° north of west from Hawikuh, and distant 1½ miles from it,

begins the series of ruins called Chalowe. They are located on two low

elevations or foothills extending in a southwestern direction from the

group of hills, upon whose eastern extremity Hawikuh is built. The

southernmost of the series covers a roughly circular area about 40 feet

in diameter. Another cluster, measuring about 30 feet by 20, lies

immediately north of it, with an intervening depression of a foot or so.

About 475 feet northwest occurs a group of three rooms situated on a

slight rise. A little east of north and a half a mile distant from the

latter is a small hill, upon which is located a cluster of about the

same form and dimensions as the one first described. Several more

vaguely defined clusters are traceable near this last one, but they are

all of small dimensions.

This widely scattered series of dwelling clusters, according to the

traditional accounts, belonged to one tribe, which was known by the

general name of Chalowe. It is said to have been inhabited at the time

of the first arrival of the Spaniards. The general character and

arrangement however, are so different from the prevailing type in this

region that it seems hardly probable that it belonged to the same people

and the same age as the other ruins.

No standing walls are found in any portion of the group, and the small

amount of scattered masonry suggests that the rooms were only one story

high. Yet the débris of masonry may have been largely covered up by

drifting sand. Now it is hardly possible to trace the rooms, and over

most of the area only scattered stones mark the positions of the groups

of dwellings.

HAMPASSAWAN.

Of the village of Hampassawan, which is said traditionally to have been

one of the seven cities of Cibola visited by Coronado, nothing now

remains but two detached rooms, both showing vestiges of an upper story.

With this exception, the destruction of the village is complete and only

a low rise in the plain marks its site. Owing to its exposed position,

the fallen walls have been completely covered with drifting sand and

earth, no vestige of the buildings showing through the dense growth of

sagebrush that now covers it.

[Illustration: Fig. 15. Hampassawan, plan.]

[Illustration: Plate XXXVIII. A court of Oraibi.]

The two surviving rooms referred to appear to have been used from time

to time, as outlooks over corn fields close by, and as a defense against

the Navajo. Their final abandonment, and that of the cultivation of the

adjoining fields, is said to have been due to the killing of a Zuñi

there, by the Navajo, within very recent times. These rooms have been

several times repaired, the one on the west particularly. In the latter

an additional wall has been built upon the northern side, as shown on

the plan, Fig. 15. The old roof seems to have survived until recently,

for, although at the present time the room is covered with a roof of

rudely split cedar beams, the remains of the old, carefully built roof

lie scattered about in the corners of the room, under the dirt and

débris. The openings are very small and seem to have been modified since

the original construction, but it is difficult to distinguish between

the older original structure and the more recent additions.

K’IAKIMA.

On the south side of the isolated mesa of Tâaaiyalana and occupying a

high rounded spur of foothills, is the ruined village of K’iakima (Pl.

LII). A long gulch on the west side of the spur contains, for 300 or 400

yards, a small stream which is fed from springs near the ruined village.

The entire surface of the hill is covered with scattered débris of

fallen walls, which must at one time have formed a village of

considerable size. Over most of this area the walls can not be traced;

the few rooms which can be distinctly outlined, occurring in a group on

the highest part of the hill. Standing walls are here seen, but they are

apparently recent, one room showing traces of a chimney (Pl. LIV). Some

of the more distinct inclosures, built from fallen masonry of the old

village, seem to have been intended for corrals. This is the case also

with the remains found on the cliffs to the north of the village, whose

position is shown on the plan (Pl. LIII). Here nearly all the scattered

stones of the original one-story buildings, have been utilized for these

large inclosures. It is quite possible that these smaller structures on

the ledge of the mesa were built and occupied at a much later date than

the principal village. Pl. LIII illustrates a portion of the base of

Tâaaiyalana where these inclosures appear.

A striking feature of this ruin is the occurrence in the northeast

corner of the village of large upright slabs of stone. The largest of

these is about 3 feet wide and stands 5½ feet out of the ground. One of

the slabs is of such symmetrical form that it suggests skillful

artificial treatment, but the stone was used just as it came from a seam

in the cliff above. From the same seam many slabs of nearly equal size

and symmetrical form have fallen out and now lie scattered about on the

talus below. Some are remarkable for their perfectly rectangular form,

while all are distinguished by a notable uniformity in thickness. Close

by, and apparently forming part of the same group, are a number of

stones imbedded in the ground with their upper edges exposed and placed

at right angles to the faces of the vertical monuments. The taller slabs

are said by the Indians to have been erected as a defense against the

attacks of the Apache upon this pueblo, but only a portion of the group

could, from their position, have been of any use for this purpose. The

stones probably mark graves. Although thorough excavation of the hard

soil could not be undertaken, digging to the depth of 18 inches revealed

the same character of pottery fragments, ashes, etc., found in many of

the pueblo graves. Mr. E. W. Nelson found identical remains in graves in

the Rio San Francisco region which he excavated in collecting pottery.

Comparatively little is known, however, of the burial practices of this

region, so it would be difficult to decide whether this was an ordinary

method of burial or not.

This pueblo has been identified by Mr. Cushing, through Zuñi tradition,

as the scene of the death of Estevanico, the negro who accompanied the

first Spanish expedition to Cibola.

MATSAKI.

Matsaki is situated on a foothill at the base of Tâaaiyalana, near its

northwestern extremity. This pueblo is in about the same state of

preservation as K’iakima, no complete rooms being traceable over most of

the area. Traces of walls, where seen, are not uniform in direction,

suggesting irregular grouping of the village. At two points on the plan

rooms partially bounded by standing walls are found. These appear to owe

their preservation to their occupation as outlooks over fields in the

vicinity long after the destruction of the pueblo. One of the two rooms

shows only a few feet of rather rude masonry. The walls of the other

room, in one corner, stand the height of a full story above the

surrounding débris, a low room under it having been partially filled up

with fallen masonry and earth. The well preserved inner corner of the

exposed room shows lumps of clay adhering here and there to the walls,

the remnants of an interior corner chimney. No trace of the supports for

a chimney hood, such as occur in the modern fireplaces, could be found.

The form outlined against the wall by these slight remains indicates a

rather rudely constructed feature which was added at a late date to the

room and formed no part of its original construction. It was probably

built while the room was used as a farming outlook. As shown on the

ground plan (Pl. LV), a small cluster of houses once stood at some

little distance to the southwest of the main pueblo and was connected

with the latter by a series of rooms. The intervening space may have

been a court. At the northern edge of the village a primitive shrine has

been erected in recent times and is still in use. It is rudely

constructed by simply piling up stones to a height of 2½ or 3 feet, in a

rudely rectangular arrangement, with an opening on the east. This

shrine, facing east, contains an upright slab of thin sandstone on which

a rude sun-symbol has been engraved. The governor of Zuñi, in explaining

the purpose of this shrine, compared its use to that of our own

astronomical observatories, which he had seen.

[Illustration: Plate XXXIX. Masonry terraces of Oraibi.]

PINAWA.

The ruins of the small pueblo of Pinawa occupy a slight rise on the

south side of the Zuñi River, a short distance west of Zuñi. The road

from Zuñi to Ojo Caliente traverses the ruin. Over most of the area

rooms can not be traced. One complete room, however, has been preserved

and appears to be still occupied during the cultivation of the

neighboring “milpas.” It is roofed over and in good condition, though

the general character of the masonry resembles the older work. On the

plan (Fig. 16) it will be seen that the stones of the original masonry

have been collected and built into a number of large inclosures, which

have in turn been partly destroyed. The positions of the entrances to

these inclosures can be traced by the absence of stones on the surface.

The general outline of the corral-like inclosures appears to have

followed comparatively well preserved portions of the original wall,

as was the case at Ketchipauan. (Pl. LVI.)

[Illustration: Fig. 16. Pinawa, plan.]

On the southwest side of the pueblo, portions of the outer wall are

distinctly traceable, some of the stones being still in position. This

portion of the outline is distinguished by a curious series of curves,

resembling portions of Nutria and Pescado, but intersecting in an

unusual manner.

The Ojo Caliente road passes between the main ruin and the standing room

above described. The remnants of the fallen masonry are so few and so

promiscuously scattered over this area that the continuity of remains

can not be fully traced.

HALONA.

An ancient pueblo called Halona is said to have belonged to the Cibolan

group, and to have been inhabited at the time of the conquest. It

occupied a portion of the site upon which the present pueblo of Zuñi

stands. A part of this pueblo was built on the opposite side of the

river, where the remains of walls were encountered at a slight depth

below the surface of the ground in excavating for the foundations of Mr.

Cushing’s house. At that time only scattered remains of masonry were met

with, and they furnished but little indication of details of plan or

arrangement. Later--during the summer of 1888--Mr. Cushing made

extensive additions to his house on the south side of the river, and in

excavating for the foundations laid bare a number of small rooms.

Excavation was continued until December of that year, when a large part

of the ancient village had been exposed. Pl. LVII, from a photograph,

illustrates a portion of these remains as seen from the southwest corner

of Zuñi. The view was taken in the morning during a light fall of snow

which, lightly covering the tops of the walls left standing in the

excavations, sharply defined their outlines against the shadows of the

rooms.

It seems impossible to restore the entire outline of the portion of

Halona that has served as a nucleus for modern Zuñi from such data as

can be procured. At several points of the present village, however,

vestiges of the old pueblo can be identified. Doubtless if access could

be obtained to all the innermost rooms of the pueblo some of them would

show traces of ancient methods of construction sufficient, at least, to

admit of a restoration of the general form of the ancient pueblo. At the

time the village was surveyed such examination was not practicable. The

portion of the old pueblo serving as a nucleus for later construction

would probably be found under houses Nos. 1 and 4, forming practically

one mass of rooms. Strangers and outsiders are not admitted to these

innermost rooms. Outcrops in the small cluster No. 2 indicate by their

position a continuous wall of the old pueblo, probably the external one.

Portions of the ancient outer wall are probably incorporated into the

west side of cluster No. 1. On the north side of cluster No. 2 (see Pl.

LXXVI) may be seen a buttress-like projection whose construction of

small tabular stones strongly contrasts with the character of the

surrounding walls, and indicates that it is a fragment of the ancient

pueblo. This projecting buttress answers no purpose whatever in its

present position.

[Illustration: Plate XL. Oraibi house row, showing court side.]

The above suggestions are confirmed by another feature in the same

house-cluster. On continuing the line of this buttress through the

governor’s house we find a projecting fragment of second story wall, the

character and finish of which is clearly shown in Pl. LVIII. Its general

similarity to ancient masonry and contrast with the present careless

methods of construction are very noticeable. The height of this fragment

above the ground suggests that the original pueblo was in a very good

state of preservation when it was first utilized as a nucleus for later

additions. That portion under house No. 1 is probably equally well

preserved. The frequent renovation of rooms by the application of a mud

coating renders the task of determining the ancient portions of the

cluster by the character of the masonry a very difficult one. Ceilings

would probably longest retain the original appearance of the ancient

rooms as they are not subjected to such renovation.

Mr. Cushing thought that the outer western wall of the ancient pueblo

was curved in outline. It is more probable, however, that it regulated

the lines of the present outer rooms, and is reflected in them, as the

usual practice of these builders was to put one partition directly over

another in adding to the height of a building. This would suggest a

nearly rectangular form, perhaps with jogs and offsets, for the old

builders could not incorporate a curved outer wall into a mass of

rectangular cells, such as that seen in the present pueblo. On the other

hand, the outer wall of the original pueblo may have been outside of

rooms now occupied, for the village had been abandoned for some time

before the colony returned to the site.

TÂAAIYALANA.

On the abandonment of the pueblos known as the Seven Cities of Cibola,

supposed to have occurred at the time of the general uprising of the

pueblos in 1680, the inhabitants of all the Cibolan villages sought

refuge on the summit of Tâaaiyalana, an isolated mesa, 3 miles southeast

from Zuñi, and there built a number of pueblo clusters.

This mesa, otherwise known as “Thunder Mountain,” rises to the height of

1,000 feet above the plain, and is almost inaccessible. There are two

foot trails leading to the summit, each of which in places traverses

abrupt slopes of sandstone where holes have been pecked into the rock to

furnish foot and hand holds. From the northeast side the summit of the

mesa can be reached by a rough and tortuous burro trail. All the rest of

the mesa rim is too precipitous to be scaled. Its appearance as seen

from Zuñi is shown in Pl. LIX.

On the southern portion of this impregnable site and grouped about a

point where nearly the whole drainage of the mesa top collects, are

found the village remains. The Zuñis stated that the houses were

distributed in six groups or clusters, each taking the place of one of

the abandoned towns. Mr. Frank H. Cushing [4] was also under the

impression that these houses had been built as six distinct clusters of

one village, and he has found that at the time of the Pueblo rebellion,

but six of the Cibolan villages were occupied. An examination of the

plan, however, will at once show that no such definite scheme of

arrangement governed the builders. There are but three, or at most four

groups that could be defined as distinct clusters, and even in the case

of these the disposition is so irregular and their boundaries so ill

defined, through the great number of outlying small groups scattered

about, that they can hardly be considered distinct. There are really

thirty-eight separate buildings (Pl. LX) ranging in size from one of two

rooms, near the southern extremity to one of one hundred and three

rooms, situated at the southwestern corner of the whole group and close

to the western edge of the mesa where the foot trails reach the summit.

There is also great diversity in the arrangement of rooms. In some cases

the clusters are quite compact, and in others the rooms are distributed

in narrow rows. In the large cluster at the northwestern extremity the

houses are arranged around a court; with this exception the clusters of

rooms are scattered about in an irregular manner, regardless of any

defensive arrangement of the buildings. The builders evidently placed

the greatest reliance on their impregnable site, and freely adopted such

arrangement as convenience dictated.

[Footnote 4: See Millstone for April, 1884, Indianapolis, Indiana.]

The masonry of these villages was roughly constructed, the walls being

often less than a foot thick. Very little adobe mortar seems to have

been used; some of the thickest and best preserved walls have apparently

been laid nearly dry (Pl. LXI). The few openings still preserved also

show evidence of hasty and careless construction. Over most of the area

the debris of the fallen walls is very clearly marked, and is but little

encumbered with earth or drifted sand. This imparts an odd effect of

newness to these ruins, as though the walls had recently fallen. The

small amount of debris suggests that the majority of these buildings

never were more than one story high, though in four of the broadest

clusters (see plan, Pl. LX) a height of two, and possibly three, stories

may have been attained. All the ruins are thickly covered by a very

luxurious growth of braided cactus, but little of which is found

elsewhere in the neighborhood. The extreme southeastern cluster,

consisting of four large rooms, differs greatly in character from the

rest of the ruins. Here the rooms or inclosures are defined only by a

few stones on the surface of the ground and partly embedded in the soil.

There is no trace of the debris of fallen walls. These outlined

inclosures appear never to have been walled to any considerable height.

Within one of the rooms is a slab of stone, about which a few ceremonial

plume sticks have been set on end within recent times.

[Illustration: Plate XLI. Back of Oraibi house row.]

The motive that led to the occupation of this mesa was defense; the

cause that led to the selection of the particular site was facility for

procuring a water supply. The trail on the west side passes a spring

half way down the mesa. There was another spring close to the foot trail

on the south side; this, however, was lower, being almost at the foot of

the talus.

In addition to these water sources, the builders collected and stored

the drainage of the mesa summit near the southern gap or recess. At this

point are still seen the remains of two reservoirs or dams built of

heavy masonry. Only a few stones are now in place, but these indicate

unusually massive construction. Another reservoir occurs farther along

the mesa rim to the southeast, beyond the limits of the plan as given.

As may be seen from the plan (Pl. LX) the two reservoirs at the gap are

quite close together. These receptacles have been much filled up with

sediment. Pl. LXII gives a view of the principal or westernmost

reservoir as seen from the northeast. On the left are the large stones

once incorporated in the masonry of the dam. This masonry appears to

have originally extended around three-fourths of the circumference of

the reservoir. As at Ketchipauan, previously described, the upper

portion of the basins merged insensibly into the general drainage and

had no definite limit.

The Zuñi claim to have here practiced a curious method of water storage.

They say that whenever there was snow on the ground the villagers would

turn out in force and roll up huge snowballs, which were finally

collected into these basins, the gradually melting snow furnishing a

considerable quantity of water. The desert environment has taught these

people to avail themselves of every expedient that could increase their

supply of water.

It is proper to state that in the illustrated plan of the Tâaaiyalana

ruins the mesa margin was sketched in without the aid of instrumental

sights, and hence is not so accurately recorded as the plans and

relative positions of the houses. It was all that could be done at the

time, and will sufficiently illustrate the general relation of the

buildings to the surrounding topography.

KIN-TIEL.

All the ruins above described bear close traditional and historic

relationship to Zuñi. This is not the case with the splendidly preserved

ancient pueblo of Kin-tiel, but the absence of such close historic

connection is compensated for by its architectural interest. Differing

radically in its general plan from the ruins already examined, it still

suggests that some resemblance to the more ancient portions of Nutria

and Pescado, as will be seen by comparing the ground plans (Pls. LXVII

and LXIX). Its state of preservation is such that it throws light on

details which have not survived the general destruction in the other

pueblos. These features will be referred to in the discussion and

comparison of these architectural groups by constructional details in

Chapter IV.

This pueblo, located nearly midway between Cibola and Tusayan, is given

on some of the maps as Pueblo Grande. It is situated on a small arm of

the Pueblo Colorado wash, 22 or 23 miles north of Navajo Springs, and

about the same distance south from Pueblo Colorado (Ganado post-office).

Geographically the ruins might belong to either Tusayan or Cibola, but

Mr. Cushing has collected traditional references among the Zuñi as to

the occupation of this pueblo by related peoples at a time not far

removed from the first Spanish visit to this region.

The plan (Pl. LXIII) shows a marked contrast to the irregularity seen in

the ruins previously described. The pueblo was clearly defined by a

continuous and unbroken outer wall, which probably extended to the full

height of the highest stories (Pl. LXIV). This symmetrical form is all

the more remarkable in a pueblo of such large dimensions, as, with the

exception of Pueblo Bonito of the Chaco group, it is the largest ancient

pueblo examined by this Bureau. This village seems to belong to the same

type as the Chaco examples, representing the highest development

attained in building a large defensive pueblo practically as a single

house. All the terraces faced upon one or more inclosed courts, through

which access was gained to the rooms. The openings in this outer wall,

especially near the ground, were few in number and very small in size,

as shown in Pl. CIV. The pueblo was built in two wings of nearly equal

size on the opposite slopes of a large sandy wash, traversing its center

from east to west. This wash doubtless at one time furnished peculiar

facilities for storage of water within or near the village, and this

must have been one of the inducements for the selection of the site.

At the time of our survey, however, not a drop of water was to be found

about the ruin, nor could vestiges of any construction for gathering or

storing water be traced. Such vestiges would not be likely to remain, as

they must have been washed away by the violent summer torrents or buried

under the accumulating sands. Two seasons subsequent to our work at this

point it was learned that an American, digging in some rooms on the

arroyo margin, discovered the remains of a well or reservoir, which he

cleared of sand and debris and found to be in good condition, furnishing

so steady a water supply that the discoverer settled on the spot. This

was not seen by the writer. There is a small spring, perhaps a mile from

the pueblo in a northeasterly direction, but this source would have been

wholly insufficient for the needs of so large a village. It may have

furnished a much more abundant supply, however, when it was in constant

use, for at the time of our visit it seemed to be choked up. About a

mile and a half west quite a lagoon forms from the collected drainage of

several broad valleys, and contains water for a long time after the

cessation of the rains. About 6 miles to the north, in a depression of a

broad valley, an extensive lake is situated, and its supply seems to be

constant throughout the year, except, perhaps, during an unusually dry

season. These various bodies of water were undoubtedly utilized in the

horticulture of the occupants of Kin-tiel; in fact, near the borders of

the larger lake referred to is a small house of two rooms; much similar

in workmanship to the main pueblo, evidently designed as an outlook over

fields. This building is illustrated in Pl. LXVI.

[Illustration: Plate XLII. The site of Moen-kopi.]

The arrangement of the inner houses differs in the two halves of the

ruin. It will be seen that in the north half the general arrangement is

roughly parallel with the outer walls, with the exception of a small

group near the east end of the arroyo. In the south half, on the other

hand, the inner rows are nearly at right angles to the outer room

clusters. An examination of the contours of the site will reveal the

cause of this difference in the different configuration of the slopes in

the two cases. In the south half the rows of rooms have been built on

two long projecting ridges, and the diverging small cluster in the north

half owes its direction to a similar cause. The line of outer wall being

once fixed as a defensive bulwark, there seems to have been but little

restriction in the adjustment of the inner buildings to conform to the

irregularities of the site. (Pl. LXIII.)

Only three clearly defined means of access to the interior of the pueblo

could be found in the outer walls, and of these only two were suitable

for general use. One was at a reentering angle of the outer wall, just

south of the east end of the arroyo, where the north wall, continued

across the arroyo, overlaps the outer wall of the south half, and the

other one was near the rounded northeastern corner of the pueblo. The

third opening was a doorway of ordinary size in the thick north wall. It

seems probable that other gateways once existed, especially in the south

half. From its larger size and more compact arrangement this south half

would seem to have greatly needed such facilities, but the preserved

walls show no trace of them.

The ground plan furnishes indications, mostly in the north half, of

several large rooms of circular form, but broken down remains of square

rooms are so much like those of round ones in appearance, owing to the

greater amount of débris that collects at the corners, that it could not

be definitely determined that the ceremonial rooms here were of the

circular form so common in the ancient pueblos. While only circular

kivas have been found associated with ancient pueblos of this type, the

kivas of all the Cibola ruins above described are said by the Zuñis to

have been rectangular. The question can be decided for this pueblo only

by excavation on a larger scale than the party was prepared to

undertake. Slight excavation at a point where a round room was indicated

on the surface, revealed portions of straight walls only.

The large size of the refuse heap on the south side of the village

indicates that the site had been occupied for many generations.

Notwithstanding this long period of occupation, no important structure

of the village seems to have extended beyond the plan. On the north

side, outside the main wall, are seen several rectangles faintly

outlined by stones, but these do not appear to have been rooms. They

resemble similar inclosures seen in connection with ruined pueblos

farther south, which proved on excavation to contain graves.

The positions of the few excavations made are indicated on the plan (Pl.

LXIII). Our facilities for such work were most meager, and whatever

results were secured were reached at no great distance from the surface.

One of these excavations, illustrated in Pl. C, will be described at

greater length in Chapter IV.

PLANS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF INHABITED VILLAGES.

NUTRIA.

Nutria is the smallest of the three farming pueblos of Zuñi, and is

located about 23 miles by trail northeast from Zuñi at the head of

Nutria valley. The water supply at this point is abundant, and furnishes

a running stream largely utilized in irrigating fields in the vicinity.

Most of the village is compactly arranged, as may be seen from the plan

(Pl. LXVII and Fig. 17), but a few small clusters, of late construction,

containing two or three rooms each, are situated toward the east at

quite a distance from the principal group. It is now occupied solely as

a farming pueblo during the planting and harvesting season.

The outline of this small pueblo differs greatly from those of most of

the Cibolan villages. The village (Pl. LXVIII), particularly in its

northernmost cluster, somewhat approximates the form of the ancient

pueblo of Kin-tiel (Pl. LXIII), and has apparently been built on the

remains of an older village of somewhat corresponding form, as indicated

by its curved outer wall. Fragments of carefully constructed masonry of

the ancient type, contrasting noticeably with the surrounding modern

construction, afford additional evidence of this. The ancient village

must have been provided originally with ceremonial rooms or kivas, but

no traces of such rooms are now to be found.

[Illustration: Fig. 17. Nutria, plan; small diagram, old wall.]

[Illustration: Plate XLIII. Plan of Moen-kopi.]

At the close of the harvest, when the season of feasts and ceremonials

begins, lasting through most of the winter, the occupants of these

farming villages close up their houses and move back to the main pueblo

leaving them untenanted until the succeeding spring.

The great number of abandoned and ruined rooms is very noticeable in the

farming pueblos illustrated in this and two of the succeeding plans

(Pls. LXIX and LXXIII). The families that farm in their vicinity seem to

occupy scarcely more than half of the available rooms.

PESCADO.

This village, also a Zuñi farming pueblo, is situated in a large valley

about 12 miles northeast from Zuñi. Although it is much larger than

Nutria it is wholly comprised within the compact group illustrated. The

tendency to build small detached houses noticed at Nutria and at Ojo

Caliente has not manifested itself here. The prevalence of abandoned and

roofless houses is also noticeable.

[Illustration: Fig. 18. Pescado, plan, old wall diagram.]

The outlines of the original court inclosing pueblo (Pl. LXX) are very

clearly marked, as the farming Zuñis in their use of this site have

scarcely gone outside of the original limits of the ancient pueblo. The

plan, Pl. LXIX and Fig. 18, shows a small irregular row built in the

large inclosed court; this row, with the inclosures and corrals that

surround it, probably formed no part of the original plan. The full

curved outline is broken only at the west end of the village by small

additions to the outer wall, and the north and east walls also closely

follow the boundary of the original pueblo. In fact, at two points along

the north wall fragments of carefully executed masonry, probably forming

part of the external wall of the ancient pueblo, are still preserved

(Pl. LXXII). This outer wall was probably once continuous to the full

height of the pueblo, but the partial restorations of the buildings by

the Zuñi farmers resemble more closely the modern arrangement. Small

rooms have been added to the outside of the cluster and in some cases

the terraces are reached by external stone steps, in contrast with the

defensive arrangement prevailing generally in pueblos of this form.

A number of dome-shaped ovens have been built outside the walls.

The principle of pueblo plan embodied in Kin-tiel, before referred to,

is traceable in this village with particular clearness, distinguishing

it from most of the Cibolan pueblos. No traces of kivas were met with in

this village.

OJO CALIENTE.

The farming village of Ojo Caliente is located near the dry wash of the

Zuñi River, and is about 15 miles distant from Zuñi, in a southerly

direction. It is about midway between Hawikuh and Ketchipauan, two of

the seven cities of Cibola above described. Though situated in fertile

and well watered country and close to the remains of the ancient

villages, it bears indications of having been built in comparatively

recent times. There are no such evidences of connection with an older

village as were found at Nutria and Pescado. The irregular and small

clusters that form this village are widely scattered over a rather rough

and broken site, as shown on the plan (Pl. LXXIII). Here again a large

portion of the village is untenanted. The large cluster toward the

eastern extremity of the group, and the adjoining houses situated on the

low, level ground, compose the present inhabited village. The houses

occupying the elevated rocky sites to the west (Pl. LXXIV) are in an

advanced stage of decay, and have been for a long time abandoned.

This southern portion of the Cibola district seems to have been much

exposed to the inroads of the Apache. One of the effects of this has

already been noticed in the defensive arrangement in the Ketchipauan

church. On account of such danger, the Zuñi were likely to have built

the first house-clusters here on the highest points of the rocky

promontory, notwithstanding the comparative inconvenience of such sites.

Later, as the farmers gained confidence or as times became safer, they

built houses down on the flat now occupied; but this apparently was not

done all at once. The distribution of the houses over sites of varying

degrees of inaccessibility, suggests a succession of approaches to the

occupation of the open and unprotected valley.

Some of the masonry of this village is carelessly constructed, and, as

in the other farming pueblos, there is much less adobe plastering and

smoothing of outer walls than in the home pueblo.

[Illustration: Plate XLIV. Moen-kopi.]

[Illustration: Plate (unnumbered key).]

At the time of the survey the occupation of this village throughout

the year was proposed by several families, who wished to resort to

the parent village only at stated ceremonials and important festivals.

The comparative security of recent times is thus tending to the

disintegration of the huge central pueblo. This result must be

inevitable, as the dying out of the defensive motive brings about a

realization of the great inconvenience of the present centralized

system.

ZUÑI.

The pueblo of Zuñi is built upon a small knoll on the north bank of

the Zuñi River, about three miles west of the conspicuous mesa of

Tâaaiyalana. It is the successor of all the original “Seven Cities of

Cibola” of the Spaniards, and is the largest of the modern pueblos.

As before stated, the remains of Halona, one of the “seven cities,” as

identified by Mr. Cushing, have served as a nucleus for the construction

of the modern pueblo, and have been incorporated into the most densely

clustered portions, represented on the plan (Pl. LXXVI) by numbers 1

and 4.

Some of the Cibolan villages were valley pueblos, built at a distance

from the rocky mesas and canyons that must have served as quarries for

the stone used in building. The Halona site was of this type, the

nearest supply of stone being 3 miles distant. At this point (Halona)

the Zuñi River is perennial, and furnishes a plentiful supply of water

at all seasons of the year. It disappears, however, a few miles west in

a broad, sandy wash, to appear again 20 miles below the village,

probably through the accession of small streams from springs farther

down. The so-called river furnishes the sole water supply at Zuñi, with

the exception of a single well or reservoir on the north side of the

village.

Zuñi has been built at a point having no special advantages for defense;

convenience to large areas of tillable soil has apparently led to the

selection of the site. This has subjected it in part to the same

influences that had at an earlier date produced the carefully walled

fortress pueblos of the valleys, where the defensive efficiency was due

to well planned and constructed buildings. The result is that Zuñi,

while not comparable in symmetry to many of the ancient examples,

displays a remarkably compact arrangement of dwellings in the portions

of the pueblos first occupied, designated on the plan (Pl. LXXVI) as

houses 1 and 4. Owing to this restriction of lateral expansion this

portion of the pueblo has been carried to a great height.

Pl. LXXVIII gives a general view of these higher terraces of the village

from the southeast. A height of five distinct terraces from the ground

is attained on the south side of this cluster. The same point, however,

owing to the irregularity of the site, is only three terraces above the

ground on the north side. The summit of the knoll upon which the older

portion of Zuñi has been built is so uneven, and the houses themselves

vary so much in dimensions, that the greatest disparity prevails in the

height of terraces. A three-terrace portion of a cluster may have but

two terraces immediately alongside, and throughout the more closely

built portions of the village the exposed height of terraces varies from

1 foot to 8 or 10 feet. Pl. LXXIX illustrates this feature.

The growth of the village has apparently been far beyond the original

expectation of the builders, and the crowded additions seem to have been

joined to the clusters wherever the demand for more space was most

urgent, without following any definite plan in their arrangement. In

such of the ancient pueblo ruins as afford evidence of having passed

through a similar experience, the crowding of additional cells seems to

have been made to conform to some extent to a predetermined plan. At

Kin-tiel we have seen how such additions to the number of habitable

rooms could readily be made within the open court without affecting the

symmetry and defensive efficiency of the pueblo; but here the nucleus of

the large clusters was small and compact, so that enlargement has taken

place only by the addition of rooms on the outside, both on the ground

and on upper terraces.

The highest point of Zuñi, now showing five terraces, is said to have

had a height of seven terraces as late as the middle of the present

century, but at the time of the survey of the village no traces were

seen of such additional stories. The top of the present fifth terrace,

however, is more than 50 feet long, and affords sufficient space for the

addition of a sixth and seventh story.

The court or plaza in which the church (Pl. LXXX) stands is so much

larger than such inclosures usually are when incorporated in a pueblo

plan that it seems unlikely to have formed part of the original village.

It probably resulted from locating the church prior to the construction

of the eastern rows of the village. Certain features in the houses

themselves indicate the later date of these rows.

[Illustration: Plate XLV. The Mormon mill at Moen-kopi.]

The arrangement of dwellings about a court (Pl. LXXXII), characteristic

of the ancient pueblos, is likely to have prevailed in the small pueblo

of Halona, about which clustered the many irregular houses that

constitute modern Zuñi. Occasional traces of such an arrangement are

still met with in portions of Zuñi, although nearly all of the ancient

pueblo has been covered with rooms of later date. In the arrangement of

Zuñi houses a noticeable difference in the manner of clustering is found

in different parts of the pueblo. That portion designated as house No. 1

on the plan, built over the remains of the original small pueblo, is

unquestionably the oldest portion of the village. The clustering seems

to have gone on around this center to an extraordinary and exceptional

extent before any houses were built in other portions. House No. 4 is a

portion of the same structure, for although a street or passageway

intervenes it is covered with two or three terraces, indicating that

such connection was established at an early date. The rows on the lower

ground to the east (Pl. LXXXI), where the rooms are not so densely

clustered, were built after the removal of the defensive motive that

influenced the construction of the central pile. These portions,

arranged approximately in rows, show a marked resemblance to pueblos of

known recent date. That they were built subsequently to the main

clusters is also indicated by the abundant use of oblique openings and

roof holes, where there is very little necessity for such contrivances.

This feature was originally devised to meet the exceptional conditions

of lighting imposed by dense crowding of the living rooms. It will be

referred to again in examining the details of openings, and its wide

departure from the arrangement found to prevail generally in pueblo

constructions will there be noted. The habit of making such provisions

for lighting inner rooms became fixed and was applied generally to many

clusters much smaller in size than those of other pueblos where this

feature was not developed and where the necessity for it was not felt.

These less crowded rooms of more recent construction form the eastern

portion of the pueblo, and also include the governor’s house on the

south side.

The old ceremonial rooms or kivas, and the rooms for the meeting of the

various orders or secret societies were, during the Spanish occupancy,

crowded into the innermost recesses of this ancient portion of Zuñi

under house No. 1. But the kivas, in all likelihood, occupied a more

marginal position before such foreign influence was brought to bear on

them, as do some of the kivas at the present time, and as is the general

practice in other modern pueblos.

CHAPTER IV.

ARCHITECTURE OF TUSAYAN AND CIBOLA COMPARED BY CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS.

INTRODUCTION.

In the two preceding chapters the more general features of form and

distribution in the ruined and inhabited pueblos of Tusayan and Cibola

have been described. In order to gain a full and definite idea of the

architectural acquirements of the pueblo builders it will be necessary

to examine closely the constructional details of their present houses,

endeavoring, when practicable, to compare these details with the rather

meager vestiges of similar features that have survived the destruction

of the older villages, noting the extent to which these have departed

from early types, and, where practicable, tracing the causes of such

deviation. For convenience of comparison the various details of

housebuilding for the two groups will be treated together.

The writer is indebted to Mr. A. M. Stephen, the collector of the

traditionary data already given, for information concerning the rites

connected with house building at Tusayan incorporated in the following

pages, and also for the carefully collected and valuable nomenclature of

architectural details appended hereto. Material of this class pertaining

to the Cibola group of pueblos unfortunately could not be procured.

HOUSE BUILDING.

RITES AND METHODS.

The ceremonials connected with house building in Tusayan are quite

meager, but the various steps in the ritual, described in their proper

connection in the following paragraphs, are well defined and definitely

assigned to those who participate in the construction of the buildings.

[Illustration: Plate XLVI. Hawikuh, plan.]

So far as could be ascertained there is no prearranged plan for an

entire house of several stories, or for the arrangement of contiguous

houses. Most of the ruins examined emphasize this absence of a clearly

defined general plan governing the location of rooms added to the

original cluster. Two notable exceptions to this want of definite plan

occur among the ruins described. In Tusayan the Fire House (Fig. 7) is

evidently the result of a clearly defined purpose to give a definite

form to the entire cluster, just as, on a very much larger scale, does

the ruin of Kin-tiel, belonging to the Cibola group (Pl. LXIII). In both

these cases the fixing of the outer wall on a definite line seems to

have been regarded as of more importance than the specific locations of

individual rooms or dwellings within this outline. Throughout that part

of Tusayan which has been examined, however, the single room seems now

to be regarded as the pueblo unit, and is spoken of as a complete house.

It is the construction of such a house unit that is here to be

described.

A suitable site having been selected, the builder considers what the

dimensions of the house should be, and these he measures by paces,

placing a stone or other mark at each corner. He then goes to the woods

and cuts a sufficient number of timbers for the roof of a length

corresponding to the width of his house. Stones are also gathered and

roughly dressed, and in all these operations he is assisted by his

friends, usually of his own gens. These assistants receive no

compensation except their food, but that of itself entails considerable

expense on the builder, and causes him to build his house with as few

helpers as possible.

The material having been accumulated, the builder goes to the village

chief, who prepares for him four small eagle feathers. The chief ties a

short cotton string to the stem of each, sprinkles them with votive

meal, and breathes upon them his prayers for the welfare of the proposed

house and its occupants. These feathers are called Nakwa kwoci, a term

meaning a breathed prayer, and the prayers are addressed to Másauwu, the

Sun, and to other deities concerned in house-life. These feathers are

placed at the four corners of the house and a large stone is laid over

each of them. The builder then decides where the door is to be located,

and marks the place by setting some food on each side of it; he then

passes around the site from right to left, sprinkling piki crumbs and

other particles of food, mixed with native tobacco, along the lines to

be occupied by the walls. As he sprinkles this offering he sings to the

Sun his Kitdauwi, house song: “Si-ai, a-hai, si-ai, a-hai.” The meaning

of these words the people have now forgotten.

Mr. Stephen has been informed by the Indians that the man is a mason and

the woman the plasterer, the house belonging to the woman when finished;

but according to my own observation this is not the universal practice

in modern Tusayan. In the case of the house in Oraibi, illustrated in

Pl. XL from a photograph, much, if not all, of the masonry was laid, as

well as finished and plastered, by the woman of the house and her female

relatives. There was but one man present at this house-building, whose

grudgingly performed duty consisted of lifting the larger roof beams and

lintels into place and of giving occasional assistance in the heavier

work. The ground about this house was strewn with quantities of broken

stone for masonry, which seemed to be all prepared and brought to the

spot before building began; but often the various divisions of the work

are carried on by both men and women simultaneously. While the men were

dressing the stones, the women brought earth and water and mixed a mud

plaster. Then the walls were laid in irregular courses, using the mortar

very sparingly.

The house is always built in the form of a parallelogram, the walls

being from 7 to 8 feet high, and of irregular thickness, sometimes

varying from 15 to 22 inches in different parts of the same wall.

Pine, piñon, juniper, cottonwood, willow, and indeed all the available

trees of the region are used in house construction. The main beams for

the roof are usually of pine or cottonwood, from which the bark has been

stripped. The roof is always made nearly level, and the ends of the

beams are placed across the side walls at intervals of about 2 feet.

Above these are laid smaller poles parallel with the side walls, and not

more than a foot apart. Across these again are laid reeds or small

willows, as close together as they can be placed, and above this series

is crossed a layer of grass or small twigs and weeds. Over this

framework a layer of mud is spread, which, after drying, is covered with

earth and firmly trodden down. The making of the roof is the work of the

women. When it is finished the women proceed to spread a thick coating

of mud for a floor. After this follows the application of plaster to the

walls. Formerly a custom prevailed of leaving a small space on the wall

unplastered, a belief then existing that a certain Katchina came and

finished it, and although the space remained bare it was considered to

be covered with an invisible plaster.

The house being thus far completed, the builder prepares four feathers

similar to those prepared by the chief, and ties them to a short piece

of willow, the end of which is inserted over one of the central roof

beams. These feathers are renewed every year at the feast of Soyalyina,

celebrated in December, when the sun begins to return north ward. The

builder also makes an offering to Másauwu (called “feeding the house”)

by placing fragments of food among the rafters, beseeching him not to

hasten the departure of any of the family to the under world.