144 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 
pottery. At one side is the hand mill for grinding maize. The walls are 
ornamented with bows, quivers, and the floor with water-jars, as described 
by Lieutenant Ives. 
In places on the sides of the bluffs at this and other pueblos, Lieuten- 
ant Ives observed gardens cultivated by irrigation. ‘Between the two,” 
he remarks, “the faces of the bluff have been ingeniously converted into 
terraces. These were faced with neat masonry, and contained gardens, 
each surrounded with a raised edge so as to retain water upon the surface. 
Pipes from the reservoirs permitted them at any time to be irrigated.”" 
Fig. 27 shows one of two large adobe structures constituting the pueblo 
of Taos, in New Mexico. It is from a photograph taken by the expedition 
under Major Powell. It is situated upon Taos Creek, at the western base 
of the Sierra Madre Range, which forms the eastern border of the broad 
valley of the Rio Grande, into which the Taos stream runs. It is an old 
and irregular building, and is supposed to be the Braba of Coronado’s 
expedition” Some ruins still remain, quite near, of a still older pueblo, 
whose inhabitants, the Taos Indians affirm, they conquered and dispossessed. 
The two structures stand about twenty-five rods apart, on opposite sides of 
the stream, and facing each other. That upon the north side, represented 
in the above engraving, is about two hundred and fifty feet long, one hun- 
dred and thirty feet deep, and five stories high; that upon the south side is 
shorter and deeper, and six stories high. The present population of the 
pueblo, about four hundred, are divided between the two houses, and they 
are a thrifty, industrious, and intelligent people. Upon the east side is a 
long adobe wall, connecting the two buildings, or rather protecting the open 
space between them. A corresponding wall, doubtless, closed the space on 
the opposite side, thus forming a large court between the buildings, but, if 
so, it has now disappeared. The creek is bordered on both sides with ample 
fields or gardens, which are irrigated by canals, drawing water from the 
stream. The adobe is of a yellowish-brown color, and the two structures 
make a striking appearance as they are approached. Fire-places and chim- 
neys have been added to the principal room of each family; but it is evident 
1Colorado Exploring Expedition, p. 120. : 
2 Relation of Castenada, Coll. H. Ternaeux-Compans. ix, 188. Trans. of American Ethnological 
Society. e 
