272 ETHNOGEOGRAPHY OF THE TEWA INDIANS [kth. a.\.n. 20 



nant of the intervening mesa. Upon the highest part of this ridge is located a 

 large pueblo ruin which formed the nucleus of the Otowi settlement. In every 

 direction are clusters of excavated cliff-dwellings of contemporaneous occupa- 

 tion and on a parallel ridge to the south are the ruins of one pueblo of con- 

 siderable size and of seven small ones, all antedating the main Otowi settle- 

 ment.' 



Of the ruins of the pueblo to the south, Hewett saj-s further: 



This is a small pueblo ruin in Otowi canyon [16:100] just across the arroyo 

 [the bed of [ 16 :100]?] about 300 yards south of Otowi pueblo. It is situated on 

 top of a narrow ridge which runs parallel with the one on which the large ruin 

 stands. The stones of the building are smaller and the construction work is 

 cruder. The building consists of one solid rectangle with one kiva within the 

 court. Seven other small pueblo ruins or clan houses are scattered along the 

 same ridge to the west within a distance of one mile, all apparently belonging 

 to this settlement.- 



It is a tradition generally known at San Ildefonso that a con- 

 siderable number of the ancestors of the vSan Ildefonso people 

 used to live long ago at Potsuwi'l [16:105] and at SxlcewPi 

 [16:114]. The writer has obtained two m3'ths the scene of which 

 is laid at Potsmoi'i The San Ildefonso Indians insist that Fo- 

 tsuwiH and S^lcewiH were inhabited by their ancestors, and not 

 by those of any of the other Tewa villagers. Hewett s&ys: 



The traditions of Otowi are fairly well preserved. It was the oldest village 

 of Powhoge [San Ildefonso] clans of which they have definite traditions at 

 San Ildefonso. They hold in an indefinite way that prior to the building 

 of this village they occupied scattered 'small house' ruins on the adjacent 

 mesas, and they claim that when the mesa life grew unbearable from lack of 

 ■water, and removal to the valley became a necessity, a detachment from Otowi 

 founded the pueblo of Perage [16:36] in the valley on the west side of the Rio 

 Grande about a mile west of their present village site.^ 



The "tent rocks" (pis. 6-S) near P of suwi'i ruin are called by 

 the San Ildefonso Tewa Potsuwilcudtndendhve 'place of the 

 pointed or conical rocks of the gap whore the water sinks' (PoUu- 

 wf/, see [16:100]; dvid^Vf ' largeness and pointedness' 'large and 

 pointed'; 'siwe locative). 



From about half a mile to a mile above the main pueblo of Otowi is a cliff- 

 village that is unique. Here is a cluster of conical formations of white tufa, 

 some of which attain a height of thirty feet . . . These are popularly called 

 'tent rocks'. They are full of eaves, both natural and artificial, some of which 

 have been utilized as human habitations. These dwellings are structurally 

 identical with those found in the cliffs. They present the appearance of enor- 

 mous beehives.^ 



See [16:106], [16:114]. 



[16:10<>] San Ildefonso PotsuwPi 'gap where the water shiks' {fio 

 'water'; few 'to sink in'; v^Pi, 'gap'). The ordinary expression 

 meaning ' the water sinks ' is nqpotsu.iemte'r) f {nq 'it'; po ' water'; 



•Hewett, Antiquities, p. 18. 1906. =Ibid., p. 20. aibid., p. 19. 



