Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-01-26
Zuni Pueblos Have
Five-Story Houses,


structures as these, seen at distance
and glowing in the brilliant desert SUM-
light, that made the Spaniards believe
the southwest was inhabited by O great
and wealthy people. zuni is the larg-
est Of the pueblos now inhabited. and
about $500 Indians live in it.
Isleta, situated at an important rail-
road junction and only twelve miles
from Albuquerque. the largest city in
New Mexico, is a typical Civilized
pueblo. These Indians own extensive
and very rich lands in the Rio Grande
valley. and are quite well-to-do. Com
pared to the poor desert jewellers of
the Jemez pueblo. they are veritable
plutocrats. And more and more they
are adopting the ways of the white
man despite the splendid organization
for resisting change which the Pueblo
government Is. These Indians have
practically abandoned the many-storied
house, and each family lives in a sep
and often vests. but practically never
coats. The special mark OF afi1uence
is the hat. and the wealthy Isleta buck
always chooses a wide black one.
somewhat like those worn by southern
statesmen.
The pueblo Of Acoma is perhaps the
most typical relic of the day when
every pueblo was fort, for 1t is stu
H.
There are few buildings in the world
more commandingly perched, and few
people who have to go farther for
water than the Acoma squaws, for all
of it must be brought by hand from the
foot of the cliff.
The Pueblo structures are built room
by room, and the construction Of each
one of these is an important religious
ceremony. In fact. nearly everything
the Indian does has some religious sig
niflcance.
The Indian who wishes to build first
selects his site and marks off the di-
mansions of his abode by placing q
pebble at each corner. He then gathers
with the help of his friends, who are
his guests as long as the work lasts.
Before the actual work of construction
can begin, however. the Indian goes to
four eagle feathers. These he sprin-
kles with votive meal and then breathes
a prayer upon them for the welfare of
the house and its occupants. These
feathers are placed at the four corners
of the house and a large stone placed
over each of them. The builder then
selects the site of the door and marks
1t by placing bits of food on either
side of it. He then defines the pro-
posed walls by scattering particles Of
food and tobacco where they are to be,
and all the time he chants a song of
the sun god.
X
The traditional way of building a
house seems to have been for the man
to do the ma
Often Let Women sonry and the
Do Nearly All Work. n naa1a RIM, sne
The modern Pueblo buck, however,
seems to think that convenience is the
better part of tradition. for he often
let's the women do nearly all Of the
work except the lifting Of the heavy
roof beams into place. The house be-
longs to the woman.
A hole is left in one corner of the
roof, and under this the woman con-
structs a fireplace, usually about q foot
square, and hood to catch the smoke.
A feature of nearly every pueblo is
the -khiva,'' or ceremonial house, in
which the men of the village gather
to hold their pagan rites. The khiva
is built at least half below the ground.
the shape Is usually oval and the only
entrance is a hole in the roof, which
is reached by ladder.
The subterranean nature of the
khiva seems to have some special sig
nifiance, for in a pueblo situated upon
a rocky mesa, where it Is impossible
to dig. the Indians will 60 quite q dis
lance to place the ceremonial structure
in a natural depression. In these