496 NAVAHO HOUSES (ETH. ANN. 17 
put up, as shown in the illustration. This feature is a common accom- 
paniment of summer shelters and is often found with the regular 
winter hogan. 
Figure 235 shows another type of summer shelter in plan, and figure 
236 is a section of the same, It is of the “lean-to” type, and consists 
of a horizontal beam resting on two forked 
timbers and supporting a series of poles, the 
upper ends of which are placed against it. 
The structure faces the east, and the southern 
end is closed in like a hogan, but it was coy- 
ered only with cedar boughs laid close together 
without an earth facing. 
This shelter stood upon a slope and the tim- 
bers used in its construction were small and 
crooked. Perhaps on account of these disad- 
vantages the interior was excavated, after the 
shelter was built, to a depth of nearly’ 24 
inches on the higher side, as shown in figure 
236. By this expedient the space under the 
shelter was greatly enlarged. The excavation 
was not carried all the way back to the foot 
of the rafters, but, as shown in the section, a bench or ledge some 18 
inches wide was left, forming a convenient place for the many little 
articles which constitute the Navaho’s domestic furniture. 
Mention has been made before of this interior bench, which is an 
interesting feature. It has been suggested by Mr Victor Mindeleff, 
whose well-known studies of Pueblo architecture give his suggestions 
Fig. 234—Supporting post in a 
summer hut 
lia. 285—Ground plan of a summer hut 
weight, that we have here a possible explanation of the origin of the 
interior benches which are nearly always found in the kivas or cere- 
monial chambers of the Pueblo Indians, that the benches in the kivas 
may be survivals of archaic devices pertaining to the primitive type 
from which Pueblo architecture developed. If a low wall of masonry 
