Page:Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines.djvu/174

 Mexico, to Isleta, in Western Texas. Among these remnants of great native tribes, the Zuñians may claim perhaps the highest position, whether we regard simply their agricultural and pastoral pursuits, or consider their whole social and political organization.

"The town of Zuñi is built in the most curious style. It resembles a great beehive, with the houses piled one upon another in a succession of terraces, the roof of one forming the floor or yard of the next above, and so on, until in some cases five tiers of dwellings are successively erected, though no one of them is over two stories high. These structures are of stone and 'adobe.' They are clustered around two plazas, or open squares, with several streets and three covered ways through the town.

"The upper houses of Zuñi are reached by ladders from the outside. The lower tiers have doors on the ground plan, while the entrances to the others are from the terraces. There is a second entrance through hatchways in the roof, and thence by ladders down into the rooms below. In many of the pueblos there are no doors whatever on the ground floor, but the Zuñians assert that their lowermost houses have always been provided with such openings In times of threatened attack the ladders were either drawn up or their rungs were removed, and the lower doors were securely fastened in some of the many ingenious ways these people have of barring the entrances to their dwellings. The houses have small windows, in which mica was originally used, and is still employed to some extent; but the Zunians prize glass highly, and secure it, whenever practicable, at almost any cost A dwelling of average capacity has four or five rooms, though in some there are as many as eight Some of the larger apartments are paved with flagging, but the floors are usually plastered with clay, like the walls Both are kept in constant repair by the women, who mix a reddishbrown earth with water to the proper consistency, and then spread it by hand, always laying it on in semicircles. It dries smooth and even, and looks well. In working this plaster the squaw keeps her mouth filled with water, which is applied with all the dexterity with which a Chinese laundryman sprinkles clothes. The women appear to delight in this work, which they consider their special prerogative, and would feel that their rights were infringed upon were men to do it. In building, the men lay the stone foundations and set in place the huge logs that serve as beams to support the