24 



THE SIA. 



earth to about eight inches in depth and to loosen all rocks that may 

 be found (Fig. 4). The rocks are then removed and the foreign earth, 

 a kind of clay, is brought by the girls on their backs in blankets or tlie 

 square pieces of calico which haug from their shoulders (Figs. 5 and G) 

 and deposited over the ground which has been worked (Fig. 7). The 

 hoe is again employed to combine the clay with the fleshly broken 

 earth (Fig. 8); this done, the space is brushed over with brush brooms 

 and sprinkled (Fig. 9) until the earth is thoroughly saturated for sev- 

 eral inches deep. Great care is observed in leveling the floor (Fig. 10), 

 and extra quantities of clay must be added here and there. Tiien 

 begins the stamping process (Fig. 11). When tlie floor is as smooth 



Fni. 7 — Depnsitins thp rlay. 



as it can be made by stamping (PI. vii), the pounders go to work, each 

 one with a stone flat on one side and smooth as a polishing stone. 

 (PI. VIII.) Many such specimens have been obtained from the ruins in 

 the southwest. When this work is completed the floor is allowed to 

 partially dry, when plaster made of the same clay (Fig. 12), which has 

 been long and carefully worked, is spread over the floor with the hand, 

 and when done the whole looks as smooth as a cement floor, but it is 

 not so durable, such floors requiring frequent renovation. The floor 

 may be improved, however, by a coating of beef's or goat's blood, and 

 this process is usually adopted in the houses (Fig. 13), little ones watch- 

 ing their elders at work inside the tent. 



