206 SUBTERRENE DWELLINGS. 



calcined yeso or g}'"psum, a deleterious stuf^ 

 that is always sure to engraft its affections up- 

 on the clothing of those who come in contact 

 with it To obviate this, the parlors and fa- 

 mily rooms are usually lined with wall-papei 

 or calico, to the height of five or slk feet. The 

 front of the house is commonly plastered in a 

 similar manner, although not always white- 

 washed. In the suburbs of the towns, and 

 particularly in the villages and ranchos, a fan- 

 tastic custom prevails of painting only a por- 

 tion of the fronts of the houses, in the shape 

 of stripes, which imparts to the landscape a 

 very striking and picturesque appearance. 



Wood buildings of any kind or shape are 

 utterly unknown in the north of Mexico, with 

 the exception of an occasional picket-hut in 

 some of the ranchos and mining-places. It 

 will readily be perceived, then, what a flat 

 and uncouth appearance the towns of New 

 Mexico present, with houses that look more 

 hke so many collections of brick-kilns pre- 

 pared for buming than human abodes. 



The houses of the villages and ranchos are 

 rarely so spacious as those of the capital, yet 

 their construction is much the same. Some 

 very singular subterrene dwellin 

 found in a few places. 1 was c 

 through the village of Casa Colorada", when 

 I observed some noisy urchins just before me, 

 who very suddenly and mysteriously disap- 

 peared. Upon resorting to the spot, I 



o 



ceived an aperture under a hillock, which, 

 albeit considerably larger, was not very 



