270 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 
a number of families, whose private boundaries were fixed by solid parti- 
tion walls. They are exactly adapted to this mode of occupation, and this 
special adaptation, so plainly impressed upon all this architecture, leads 
irresistibly to the conclusion that they were occupied on the communal 
principle, and were, consequently, neither more nor less than joint-tene- 
ment houses, of a model which may be called, distinctively, that of the 
American aborigines. None of these edifices are as large as those on the 
Rio Chaco, nor does either of them possess equal accommodations with 
the Pueblo Bonito, which possessed six hundred and forty rooms.’ But in 
this warm climate, and with the raised terraces used as gathering places, 
more persons could manage to live in equal spaces. 
Each structure, or group of structures, thus elevated, was a fortress. 
They prove the insecurity in which the people lived; for the labor involved 
in constructing these platform elevations, in part, at least, artificial, would 
never have been undertaken without a powerful motive. One of the chief 
blessings of civilization is the security which a higher organization of so- 
ciety gives to the people, under the protection of which they are able as 
cultivators to occupy broad areas of land. In the Middle Status of barba- 
rism they were compelled to live generally in villages, which were fortified 
in various ways; and each village, we must suppose, was an independent, 
self-governing community, except as several kindred in descent, and speak- 
ing the same dialect or dialects of the same language, confederated for 
mutual protection. An impression has been propagated that Palenque and 
other pueblos in these regions were surrounded by dense populations living 
in cheaply constructed tenements. Having assigned the structures found, 
and which undoubtedly were all that ever existed, to Indian kings or poten- 
tates, the question might well be asked, if such palaces were provided for the 
rulers of the land, what has become of the residences of the people? Mr. 
Stephens has given direct countenance to this preposterous suggestion.” In 
his valuable works he has shown a disposition to feed the flames of fancy 
with respect to these ruins. After describing the “palace,” so called, at 
Palenque, and remarking that “the whole extent of ground covered by 
1 Lieutenant Simpson’s Report, Senate Ex. Doc., 1st Sess. 31st Congress, 1850, p. 81. 
* Central America, &c., ii, 235. 
