A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOME INDIAN HOMES. 809 



sions, rests by its base on its horizontal upper plane, leaving al- 

 ways a mantel-shelf all round. In front of either one of these we 

 find the contrivance upon which they bake their tissue-bread or 

 ivaiavi, and projecting out above it the hood which conducts the 

 smoke into the chimney. This contrivance is nothing more than 

 an oblong stone slab, as smooth as polished glass upon its upper 

 surface, and raised on four legs at its angles about a foot and a 

 half above the cemented floor. Beneath this glowing embers are 

 raked in sufficient quantity to keep the slab hot, and it thus 

 answers its purpose admirably. 



" In Zuni, as elsewhere, riches and official position confer im- 

 portance upon their possessors. The wealthy class live in the 

 lower houses, those of moderate means next above, while the 

 poorer families have to be content with the uppermost stories. 

 Naturally no one will climb into the garret who has the means of 

 securing more convenient apartments, under the huge system of 

 " French flats," which is the way of living in Zuni. Still, there is 

 little or no social distinction in the rude civilization, the whole 

 population of the town living almost as one family. The alcade 

 or lieutenant-governor furnishes an exception to the general rule, 

 as his official duties require him to occupy the highest house of all, 

 from the top of which he announces each morning to the people 

 the orders of the governor, and makes such other proclamation as 

 may be required of him." * 



There is one other prominent object in the living-room of a 

 Zunian home which we can not afford to overlook in the present 

 account. I refer to the troughs in which they grind their corn, 

 and Mrs. Stevenson, whom I have just quoted, gives an excellent 

 account of one of these. She remarks that " the pueblo mills are 

 among the most interesting things about the town. These mills, 

 which are fastened to the floor a few feet from the wall, are rect- 

 angular in shape, and divided into a number of compartments, 

 each about twenty inches wide and deep, the whole series ranging 

 from five to ten feet in length, according to the number of divis- 

 ions. The walls are made of sandstone. In each compartment a 

 flat grinding-stone is firmly set, inclining at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees. These slabs are of different degrees of smoothness, 

 graduated successively from coarse to fine. The squaws, who 

 alone work at the mills, kneel before them and bend over them as 

 a laundress does over the wash-tub, holding in their hands long- 

 stones of volcanic lava, which they rub up and down the slanting 

 slabs, stopping at intervals to place the grain between the stones. 

 As the grinding proceeds the grist is passed from one compart- 

 ment to the next until, in passing through the series, it becomes 



* Mrs. James Stevenson, in Lewis H. Morgan's report, cited above. 

 vol. xli. 59 



