MINDELEFF.] CONCLUSION. 227 
The same desert environment that furnished such an abundance of 
material for the ancient builders, also, from its difficult and inhospita- 
ble character and the constant variations in the water supply, com- 
pelled the frequent employment of this material. This was an impor- 
tant factor in bringing about the attained degree of advancement in the 
building art. At the present day constant local changes occur in the 
water sources of these arid table-lands, while the general character of 
the climate remains unaltered. 
The distinguishing characteristics of Pueblo architecture may be re- 
garded as the product of a defensive motive and of an arid environment 
that furnished an abundance of suitable building material, and at the 
same time the climatic conditions that compelled its frequent employ- 
ment. 
The decline of the defensive motive within the last few years has 
greatly affected the more recent architecture. Even after the long 
practice of the system has rendered it somewhat fixed, comparative 
security from attack has caused many of the Pueblo Indians to recog- 
nize the inconvenience of dwellings grouped in large clusters on 
sites difficult of access, while the sources of their subsistence are neces- 
sarily sparsely scattered over large areas. This is noticeable in the 
building of small, detached houses at a distance from the main villages, 
the greater convenience to crops, flocks and water outweighing the de- 
fensive motive. In Cibola particularly, a marked tendeney in this 
direction has shown itself within a score of years; Ojo Caliente, the 
newest of the farming pueblos, is perhaps the most striking example 
within the two provinces. The greater security of the pueblos as the 
country comes more fully into the hands of Americans, has also resulted 
in the more careless construction in modern examples as compared with 
the ancient. 
There is no doubt that, as time shall go on, the system of building 
many-storied clusters of rectangular rooms will gradually be abandoned 
by these people. In the absence of the defensive motive a more con- 
venient system, employing scattered small houses, located near springs 
and fields, will gradually take its place, thus returning to a mode of 
building that probably prevailed in the evolution of the pueblo prior to 
the clustering of many rooms into large defensive villages. Pl. LX xxi 
illustrates a building of the type described located on the outskirts of 
Zuni, across the river from the main pueblo. 
The cultural distinctions between the Pueblo Indians and neighbor- 
ing tribes gradually become less clearly defined as investigation pro- 
gresses. Mr. Cushing’s study of the Zuni social, political, and religious 
systems has clearly established their essential identity in grade of eul- 
ture with those of other tribes. In many of the arts, too, such as weay- 
ing, ceramics, etc., these people in no degree surpass many tribes who 
build ruder dwellings. 
