HOUSES AND HOUSE-BUILDING 37 



are spread out in flat bundles and poles are laid laterally across 

 them to hold them in place. Strips of yucca fronds are here also used 

 in binding on this thatching. Other materials used for thatching are 

 various grasses and reeds; in the Coahuilla mountains the Elymus 

 condensatus or pd-han-kis, and the reed Phragmites communis. The 

 walls of the home are called kish-ga-ow; there are no windows in 

 the jacal ; the door is ki-mil, and is made four and a half to five feet 

 in height and two to three in width. A stout pole fastened across the 

 end of the house above the door makes a lintel for the opening. The 

 aperture may be closed at night by hanging up a rawhide or setting 

 up before it a rude framework of poles, held in place by a brace or a 

 stone or two. For the sake of security many of the jacales are now 

 closed with a board door swung on raw-hide or iron hinges and secured 

 by padlock and chain. The ground inside the jacal is usually excavated 

 a few inches lower than the surrounding level, and is trodden hard so 

 as to form a smooth, clean floor. In the center, beneath the smoke- 

 hole, which is left in the thatching at one side of the ridgepole, a 

 slight depression, with three or four fire-stones to support the fuel, 

 makes the hearth. The jacal is often banked up with earth a foot or 

 two on the outside. 



To accommodate the usual family two or three such buildings are 

 needed. These usually face each other about a little patio or court, 

 but one may be joined to the rear end of another, and in such cases is 

 used for the most part as a store-room. The patio, which the Coahuil- 

 las call wa-yi-los, is, except in cold or stormy weather, the meeting 

 place of all the family. It is surrounded by a low brush fence or wall, 

 which wards off the wind and also serves as a clothes line, utensil rack, 

 etc. In summer time the patio is roofed over and partially inclosed 

 by an airy booth, known everywhere throughout southern California 

 by the Spanish word ramada, from ramas, &quot;boughs&quot; or &quot;branches.&quot; 

 The Coahuillas call it tdish-kish-la. It is the most comfortable of 

 summer houses. The breeze draws through it, keeping it cool and 

 pleasant, when outside of this leafy retreat the sun may be beating 

 with scorching heat upon the valley. It is made square with flat top. 

 The frame work is of light poles, tied with yucca spines, and the roof 

 and walls are of willow boughs. 



The admirable features of the jacal can be instantly appreciated. 

 It is easily kept clean and is always well aired. Its only drawback is 

 that it is smoky, especially in wet weather. The rafters and thatching 

 are black and shiny from the soot of many fires. Not the least of its 



