MINDELEFF. | CHIMNEYS. 169 
In Cibola a few distinct forms of chimney are used at the present 
time, but in the more remote Tusayan the chimney seems to be still in 
the experimental stage. Numbers of awkward constructions, varying 
from the ordinary cooking pit to the more elaborate hooded structures, 
testify to the chaotic condition of the chimney-building art in the 
latter province. 
Before the invention of a chimney hood, and while the primitive fire- 
place occupied a central position in the floor of the room, the smoke 
probably escaped through the door and window openings. Later a 
hole in the roof provided an exit, as in the kivas of to-day, where cere- 
monial use has perpetuated an arrangement long since superseded in 
dwelling-house construction. The comfort of a dwelling room provided 
with this feature is sufficiently attested by the popularity of the modern 
kivas as a resort for the men. The idea of a rude hood or flue to facil- 
itate the egress of the smoke would not be suggested until the fireplace 
was transferred from the center of a room to a corner, and in the first 
adoption of this device the builders would rely upon the adjacent walls 
for the needed support of the constructional members. Practically all 
of the chimneys of Tusayan are placed in corners at the present time, 
though the Zuni builders have developed sufficient skill to construct a 
rigid hood and flue in the center of a side wall, as may be seen in the 
view of a Zuni interior, Pl. LXxxv1. 
Although the pueblo chimney owes its existence to foreign sugges- 
tion it has evidently reached its present form through a series of timid 
experiments, and the proper principles of its construction seem to have 
been but feebly apprehended by the native builders, particularly in 
Tusayan. The early form of hood, shown in Fig. 66, was made by plac- 
ing a short supporting pole across the corner of a room at a sufficient 
distance from the floor and upon it arranging sticks to form the frame 
work of a contracting hood or flue. The whole construction was finally 
covered with a thick coating of mud. This primitive wooden construe- 
tion has probably been in use for a long time, although it was modified 
in special cases so as to extend across the entire width of narrow rooms 
to accommodate ‘ piki” stones or other cumbersome cooking devices. 
It embodies the principle of roof construction that must have been em- 
ployed in the primitive house from which the pueblo was developed, 
and practically constitutes a miniature conical roof suspended over the 
fireplace and depending upon the walls of the recom for support. On 
account of the careful and economical use of fuel by these people the 
light and inflammable material of which the chimney is constructed does 
not involve the danger of combustion that would be expected. The 
perfect feasibility of such use of wood is well illustrated in some of the 
old log-cabin chimneys in the Southern States, where, however, the ar- 
rangement of the pieces is horizontal, not vertical. These latter curi- 
ously exemplify also the use of a miniature section of house construction 
to form a conduit for the smoke, placed at a sufficient height to admit 
of access to the fire. 
