190 THE CLIFF RUINS OF CANYON DE CHELLY _ [ets. ayy.16 
As stated elsewhere, the first hypothesis formed in the field as to the 
purpose of these chimney like structures was that they were abortive 
chimneys, but this was found untenable. The next hypothesis, formed 
also in the field, was that they were ceremonial in origin and use, but 
why they should connect with the open air is noteclear. If we could 
assume that they were ventilators, the problem would be solved, but it 
is a far ery from pueblo architecture to ventilation; astride, as it were, 
over many centuries. Ventilation according to this method—the intro- 
duction of fresh air on a low level, striking on a screen a little distance 
from the inlet and being thereby evenly distributed over the whole 
chamber—is a development in house architecture reached only by our 
own civilization within the last few decades. 
If the shaft and tunnel were in place, however, the screen might 
follow as a matter of necessity. Entrance to the kivas is always 
through the roof, a ceremonial requirement quite as rigidly adhered to 
today among the Pueblos as it was formerly among their ancestors. 
The same opening which gives access also provides an exit to the 
smoke from the fire, which is invariably placed in the center of 
the kiva below it. This fire is a ceremonial rather than’a necessary 
feature, for in the coldest weather the presente of a dozen menin a 
small chamber, air-tight except for a small opening in the roof, very 
soon raises the temperature to an uncomfortable degree, and the air 
becomes so fetid that a white man, not accustomed to it, is nauseated 
in half an hour or less. Such are the conditions in the modern kivas 
of Tusayan. In the smaller structures of De Chelly they must have 
been worse. The fire is, therefore, made very small and always of very 
dry wood, so as to diminish as far as possible the output of smoke. 
Frank H. Cushing states that in certain ceremonials which oceur in the 
kivas it is considered very necessary that the fire should burn brightly 
and that the flame should rise straight from it. If this requirement 
prevailed in De Chelly, a screen of some sort would surely follow the 
construction of a shaft and tunnel. 
More or less smoke is generally present in the kivas when a fire is 
burning, notwithstanding the care taken to prevent it. That a similar 
condition prevailed in the kivas of De Chelly is shown by the smoke- 
blackened plaster of the interiors. In some cases there was a room 
over the kivas which must have inereased the difficulty very much. 
There can be little doubt that the chimney-like structures were not 
chimneys, and no doubt at all that they did provide an efficient means 
of ventilation, no matter what the intention of the builders may haye 
been. When we know more of the ceremonials of the Pueblo Indians, 
and when extensive excavations have developed the various types and 
varieties of these structures in the ruins, we may be able to determine 
their object and use. 
TRADITIONS 
It has often been stated concerning some given ruin or region that 
the traditions of the present inhabitants of the country do not reach 
them. In the case of Canyon de Chelly the same statement might be 
