MINDELEFF. } SHUMOPAVI. 73 
the vertical fissures in the upper benches of sandstone, there was no 
intentional concealment. It is more likely that, through the necessity 
of building close to the limits of the crowded sites, a certain degree of 
correspondence was unintentionally produced between the jogs and 
angles of the houses and those of the mesa edge. 
Such correspondence with the surroundings, which forms a striking 
feature of many primitive types of construction where intention of con- 
cealment had no part, is doubtless mainly due to the use of the most 
available material, although the expression of a type of construction 
that has prevailed for ages in one locality would perhaps be somewhat 
influenced by constantly recurring forms in its environment. In the 
system of building under consideration, such influence would, however, 
be a very minute fraction in the sum of factors producing the type and 
could never account for such examples of special and detailed corre- 
spondence as the cases cited, nor could it have any weight in developing 
a rectangular type of architecture. 
In the development of primitive arts the advances are slow and 
laborious, and are produced by adding small increments to current 
knowledge. So vague and undefined an influence as that exerted by 
the larger forms of surrounding nature are seldom recognized and ac- 
knowledged by the artisan; on the contrary, experiments, resulting 
in improvement, are largely prompted by practical requirements. Par- 
ticularly is this the case in the art of house-building. 
SHUMOPAVI, 
This village, although not so isolated as Oraibi, has no near neigh- 
bors and is little visited by whites or Indians. The inhabitants are 
rarely seen at the trading post to which the others resort, and they 
seem to be pretty well off and independent as compared with their 
neighbors of the other villages (Pl. xxxtv). The houses and courts are 
in keeping with the general character of the people and exhibit a de- 
gree of neatness and thrift that contrasts sharply with the tumble-down 
appearance of some of the other villages, especially those of the Middle 
Mesa and Oraibi. There is a general air of newness about the place, 
though it is questionable whether the architecture is more recent than 
that of the other villages of Tusayan. This effect is partly due to the 
custom of frequently renewing the coating of mud plaster. In most of 
the villages little care is taken to repair the houses until the owner 
feels that to postpone such action longer would endanger its stability. 
Many of the illustrations in this chapter indicate the proportion of 
rough masonry usually exposed in the walls. At Shumopavi (PI. xxxv), 
however, most of the walls are smoothly plastered. In this respect 
they resemble Zuni and the eastern pueblos, where but little naked 
masonry can be seen. Another feature that adds to the effect of neat- 
ness and finish in this village is the frequent use of a whitewash of 
