MINDELEFF,] HOUSE BUILDING. 101 
been regarded as of more importance than the specific locations of in- 
dividual rooms or dwellings within this outline. Throughout that part 
of Tusayan which has been examined, however, the single room seems 
now to be regarded as the pueblo unit, and is spoken of as a complete 
house. It is the construction of such a house unit that is here to be 
described. 
A suitable site having been selected, the builder considers what the 
dimensions of the house should be, and these he measures by paces, 
placing a stone or other mark at each corner. He then goes to the 
woods and cuts a sufficient number of timbers for the roof of a length 
corresponding to the width of his house. Stones are also gathered and 
roughly dressed, and in all these operations he is assisted by his friends, 
usually of his own gens. These assistants receive no compensation 
except their food, but that of itself entails considerable expense on the 
builder, and causes him to build his house with as few helpers as 
possible. 
The material having been accumulated, the builder goes to the village 
chief, who prepares for him four small eagle feathers. The chief ties a 
short cotton string to the stem of each, sprinkles them with votive 
meal, and breathes upon them his prayers for the welfare of the pro- 
posed house and its occupants. These feathers are called Nakwa 
kwoci,a term meaning a breathed prayer, and the prayers are addressed 
to Masauwu, the Sun, and to other deities concerned in house-life. 
These feathers are placed at the four corners of the house and a large 
stone is laid over each of them. The builder then decides where the 
door is to be located, and marks the place by setting some food on each 
side of it; he then passes around the site from right to left, sprinkling 
piki crumbs and other particles of food, mixed with native tobacco, 
along the lines to be occupied by the walls. As he sprinkles this offer- 
ing he sings to the Sun his Kitdauwi, house song: “ Si-ai, a-hai, si-ai, 
a-hai.” The meaning of these words the people have now forgotten. 
Mr. Stephen has been informed by the Indians that the man is a ma- 
son and the woman the plasterer, the house belonging to the woman 
when finished; but according to my own observation this is not the 
universal practice in modern Tusayan. In the case of the house in 
Oraibi, illustrated in Pl. xu from a photograph, much, if not all, of the 
masonry was laid, as well as finished and plastered, by the woman 
of the house and her female relatives. There was but one man present 
at this house-building, whose grudgingly performed duty consisted of 
lifting the larger roof beams and lintels into place and of giving occa- 
sional assistance in the heavier work. The ground about this house 
was strewn with quantities of broken stone for masonry, which seemed 
to be all prepared and brought to the spot before building began; but 
often the various divisions of the work are carried on by both men and 
women simultaneously. While the men were dressing the stones, the 
women brought earth and water and mixed a mud plaster. Then the 
walls were laid in irregular courses, using the mortar very sparingly. 
