Page:Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines.djvu/330

 same adaptation to commmunism in living in large households is found impressed upon all the houses now in ruins in these areas. They are joint tenement houses of the American type, and very similar to those still found in New Mexico and on the San Juan. At the epoch of the Spanish conquest, they were occupied pueblos, and were deserted by the Indians to escape the rapacity of Spanish military adventurers by whom they were oppressed and abused beyond Indian endurance. Instances are mentioned by Herrera where large numbers destroyed themselves to escape the exactions of Spanish masters, whom they were unable to resist. The numerous pueblos in ruins scattered through the forests of Yucatan and southward are so many monuments of Spanish misrule, oppression, and rapacity.

The most extensive group of ruins in Yucatan is that at Uxmal. Its several structures are known as the "Governor's House"; the "House of the Nuns," which consists of four disconnected buildings, facing the four sides of a court; the "House of the Pigeons," consisting of two quadrangles; the "House of the Turtles"; the "House of the Old Woman"; and the "House of the Dwarf"; with some trace of smaller buildings of inconsiderable size, and one or two pyrimidal elevations unoccupied by structures. Of these, the "Governor's House" may have been the Tecpan, or Official House of the Tribe, from the unusual size of the central rooms. The "House of the Dwarf" was probably designed for the observance of religious rites. The remaining structures were evidently the residence portions of the pueblo.

Among the Aztecs, three kinds of houses were distinguished:1. Calli, the ordinary dwelling house, of which the "House of the Nuns" is an example. 2. Ticplantlacalli, the "Stone House," which contained council halls, etc., of which the "Governor's House" is an example. 3. Teocalli, "House of God," such as the "House of the Dwarf" The estufas in New Mexican pueblos took the place of the last two in Mexico and Yucatan.

Ground plans of the principal structures will be given for comparison with those in New Mexico. The pyramidal elevations on which they stand are situated quite near each other, and form one Indian pueblo. The houses are constructed of stone laid in courses, and dressed to a uniform surface,