WHITE] ACOMA TO-DAY 29 



tion to their constant fears that they may have land taken from them, 

 or that they may be taxed by the Government, they are ever on their 

 guard to prevent any infonnation concerning their ceremonies from 

 becoming known lest they be suppressed (or ridiculed) by the whites. 

 A young man whom I had become quite well acquainted with once 

 told me that he had heard of such things as clans at other pueblos, 

 but that notliing of that sort was to be found at Acoma. 



With the exception of a few months (perhaps a year or so) the 

 Acoma people have lived on the Acoma mesa for many centuries. 

 Long ago they had fields in a valley to the north (as Espejo noted), 

 but there were no houses there until after the danger of raids by 

 Navahos had passed. Forty or fifty years ago there were onlj' a few 

 small houses at Aconiita, and these were but temporary sheltere for 

 workers in the fields. With the passing of danger, the dwellings were 

 built larger and famihes came down from old Acoma to five. At first 

 the houses at Acomita were buUt high up on the side of a steep mesa, 

 partly from habit and pai'tly from fear. These old houses are still 

 used ; people climb laboriously up and down the mesa with burdens of 

 water, pro\-isions, etc., when they could live on the level below if they 

 wished. At times their conservatism seems to be organic, below the 

 level of thought entirely. 



The layout of the pueblo of old Acoma is shown in the acconipanj'- 

 ing diagram. The houses are buUt on the bare surface of the rock. 

 They are arranged in three long rows, with a few scattered between 

 these and the church. Thej' are for the most part three stories liigh. 

 All houses in the rows face south. The top floor is used as a living 

 room; cooldng is done here on a fireplace. The bottom floor is used 

 as a storeroom. The middle floor is used partly as a sleeping-living 

 room and partly as a storeroom. Until recently there were no open- 

 ings in the walls of the rooms on the ground floor; one ascended ladders 

 to the upper floors and then went dowTi ladders through trapdoors to 

 the floors below.-" There is ver\'^ Uttle American furniture in the old 

 houses, although at Acomita and in a few of the homes of "progres- 

 sives" at old Acoma there are stoves, tables, chairs, beds, cupboards, 

 etc. In a few of the walls facing the north there are small pieces of 

 gypsum which admit light into the dark rooms; on the south side 

 there are windows and doors. Ovens are built on the roofs of the 

 first terrace or in the streets. Piles of wood are placed on roof terraces 

 or on the ground near by. 



There is a cistern on the north side of the viflage. The path leading 

 to it has been worn down to a depth of an inch and a half in places by 

 hundreds of years of use by bare and moccasined feet. On the south 

 mesa there is a great reservoir. It never goes drv^, and the water is 

 always cold and clear. 



» See Mindelefl, A Study ol Pueblo .^.rchitecliire: Tusayan and Cibola, p. 116. 



