MINDELEFF. ] INTRODUCTION. 15 
their villages. In the general distribution of the houses, and in the 
alignment and arrangement of their walls, as indicated in the plans 
shown in Chapters 1 and 11, an absence of high architectural attain- 
ment is found, which is entirely in keeping with the lack of skill ap- 
parent in many of the constructional devices shown in Chapter Iv. 
In preparing this paper for publication Mr. Cosmos Mindeletf has 
rendered much assistance in the revision of manuscript, and in the pre- 
paration of some of the final drawings of ground plans; on him has also 
fallen the compilation and arrangement of Mr. A. M. Stephen’s  tradi- 
tionary material from Tusayan, embraced in the first chapter of the 
paper. 
This latter material is of special interest in a study of the pueblos as 
indicating some of the conditions under which this architectural type 
was developed, and it appropriately introduces the more purely archi- 
tectural study by the author. 
Such traditions must be used as history with the utmost caution, and 
only for events that are very recent. Time relations are often hope- 
lessly confused and the narratives are greatly incumbered with mytho- 
logic details. But while so barren in definite information, these tradi- 
tions are of the greatest value, often through their merely incidental 
allusions, in presenting to our minds a picture of the conditions under 
which the repeated migrations of the pueblo builders took place. 
The development of architecture among the Pueblo Indians was com- 
paratively rapid and is largely attributable to frequent changes, migra- 
tions, and movements of the people as described in Mr. Stephen’s 
account. These changes were due to a variety of causes, such as dis- 
ase, death, the frequent warfare carried on between different tribes and 
branches of the builders, and the hostility of outside tribes; but a most 
potent factor was certainly the inhospitable character of their environ- 
ment. The disappearance of some venerated spring during an unusually 
dry season would be taken as a sign of the disfavor of the gods, and, in 
spite of the massive character of the buildings, would lead to the migra- 
tion of the people to a more favorable spot. The traditions of the Zunis, 
as well as those of the Tusayan, frequently refer to such migrations. 
At times tribes split up and separate, and again phratries or distant 
groups meet and band together. It is remarkable that the substantial 
character of the architecture should persist through such long series of 
compulsory removals, but while the builders were held together by the 
necessity for defense against their wilder neighbors or against each other, 
this strong defensive motive would perpetuate the laborious type of con- 
struction. Such conditions would contribute to the rapid development 
of the building art. 
