132 PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE. 
Within such cramped limits it was inconvenient for the men to practice 
any of the arts they knew, especially weaving, which could have been 
carried on out of doors, as is done still occasionally, but subject to many 
interruptions. It is possible that a class of kivas was designed for such 
ordinary purposes, though now one type of room seems to answer all 
these various uses. In most of the existing kivas there are planks, in 
which stout loops are secured, fixed in the floor close to the wall, for 
attaching the lower beam of a primitive vertical loom, and projecting 
vigas or beams are inserted into the walls at the time of their construe- 
tion as a provision for the attachment of the upper loom poles. The 
planks or logs to which is attached the lower part of the loom appear 
in some cases to be quite carefully worked. They are often partly 
buried in the ground and under the edges of adjacent paving stones in 
such a manner as to be held in place very securely against the strain 
of the tightly stretched warp while the blanket is being made. The 
holes pierced in the upper surface of these logs are very neatly executed 
in the manner illustrated in Fig. 31, which shows one of the orifices in 
section, together with the adjoining 
paving stones. The outward ap- 
pearance of the device, as seen at 
short intervals along the length of 
the log, is also shown. Strips of 
buckskin or bits of rope are passed 
through these U-shaped cavities, and 
then over the lower pole of the loom 
at the bottom of the extended series of warp threads. The latter can 
thus be tightened preparatory to the operation of filling in with the 
woof. The kiva looms seem to be used mainly for weaving the dark- 
blue and black blankets of diagonal and diamond pattern, which form 
a staple article of trade with the Zuni and the Rio Grande Pueblos. 
As an additional convenience for the practice of weaving, one of the 
kivas of Mashongnavyi is provided with movable seats. These consist 
simply of single stones of suitable size and form, Usually they are 8 
or 10 inches thick, a foot wide, and perhaps 15 or 18 inches long. Be- 
sides their use as seats, these stones are used in connection with the 
edges of the stone slabs that cap the permanent benches of the kiva 
to support temporarily the upper and lower poles of the blanket loom 
while the warp is gradually wound around them. The large stones that 
are incorporated into the side of the benches of some of the Mashong- 
navi kivas have occasionally round, cup-shaped cavities, of about an 
inch in diameter, drilled into them. These holes receive one end of a 
warp stick, the other end being supported in a corresponding hole of 
the heavy, movable stone seat. The other warp stick is supported in 
a similar manner, while the thread is passed around both in a horizontal 
direction preparatory to placing and stretching it in a vertical position 
for the final working of the blanket. A number of these cup-shaped 
Fic. 31. Loom post in kiva at Tusayan. 
i. 
