﻿The Village Indians of New Mexico. 



135 



doorways and windows. The buildings found in Mexico by Cortez con- 

 sisted of "teocalli" temples erected on mounds, each story narrower than 

 the one immediately beneath it, so that they seemed to recede as you 

 ascend, like steps of a stairway. 



Dressed stone was used in constructing their buildings. They possessed 

 hard copper tools capable of cutting the hardest stone, and the carving of 

 their idols and of such stones as the great Calendar Stone of the City of 

 Mexico demonstrates their skill in handling the stone-cutter's chisel. 



The pointed arch is seen in the " House of the Nuns,'' at Uxmal. In 

 this kind of arch a core was first filled up solid, and this material was 

 afterward removed when the cement had hardened. This pointed arch 

 was noticed in New Mexico by Genl. J. H. Simpson, U. S. Army. 



2. The Indians of our Pueblos build their houses three or four stories 

 high of " adobes ; " they are communal houses placed so as to surround 

 an open court-yard or "plaza;" each story recedes the width of one room, 

 and has a low parapet wall for defense along the upper edge of the first 

 story. The exterior face or wall of these blocks of houses presents a single 

 vertical face, and no openings near to the ground. There are no doors to 

 the first story, so that one is forced to ascend to the second floor by the 

 means of ladders in order to gain admittance. In time of attack by an 

 enemy the ladders are drawn up, which would render the town inaccessible 

 to any Indian force. 



The division walls between adjacent houses are oftentimes sloped at an 

 angle of 45 degrees and cut into steps, so the inhabitants may ascend to 

 the highest of their flat roofs, which are used for drying meats, fruits and 

 vegetables, also for sleeping places in warm weather. 



3. The Mandan dwellings are large communal houses of circular 

 form, the foundations sunken from two to three feet in the ground. The 

 interior is from 40 to 50 feet in diameter; four large posts about 15 feet 

 high stand near the center to support cross pieces, upon which the rafters 

 are laid; the posts of the walls of the circumference, twelve in number, 

 are about five feet in height ; a circular opening is left in the center of the 

 roof for the exit of smoke ; a square door gives access to the dwelling. The 

 whole structure is covered, both sides and roof, with from two to three feet 

 of earth. 



Dr. F. W. Langdon tells me that many ruins of such structures are 

 found along the Miami River, and Catlin has traced the Mandaus by their 

 ruined houses down the Ohio to Cairo, and up the Mississippi and Missouri 

 Rivers to the mouth of the Yellowstone River. 



4. The framework wigwams, such as are constructed by the Winnr 



