158 PUEBLO ARCHITECTURE. 
A notehed ladder from Oraibi, made with a modern axe, is shown. 
This specimen has a squareness of outline and an evenness of surface 
not observed in the ancient examples. The ladder from Mashongnavi, 
illustrated on the left of Fig. 46, closely resembles the Oraibi specimen, 
though the workmanship is somewhat ruder. The example illustrated 
on the right of the same figure is from Oraibi. This ladder is very old, 
and its present rough and weatherbeaten surface affords but little evi- 
dence of the character of the implement used in making it. 
The ladder having two poles connected by cross rungs is undoubtedly 
a native invention, and was probably developed through a series of im- 
provements on the primitive notched type. It is described in detail in 
the earliest Spanish accounts. Fig. 47 illustrates on the left the notched 
Fig. 47. Aboriginal American forms of ladder. 
ladder, and on the right a typical two-pole ladder in its most primitive 
form. In this case the rungs are simply lashed to the uprights. The 
center ladder of the diagram is a Mandan device illustrated by Mr. 
Lewis H. Morgan.t. As used by the Mandans this ladder is placed 
with its forked end on the ground, the reverse of the Pueblo practice. 
It will readily be seen, on comparing these examples, that an elongation 
of the fork which occurs as a constant accompaniment of the notched 
ladder might eventually suggest a construction similar.to that of the 
Mandan ladder reversed. The function of the fork on the notched 
ladder in steadying it when placed against the wall would be more 
effectually performed by enlarging this feature. 
1Cont. to N. A. Ethn., vol. 4, Houses and House Life, pp. 129-131. 
