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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Houses and House-Life of the American
+Aborigines, by Lewis H. Morgan
+
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+Title: Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines
+
+Author: Lewis H. Morgan
+
+Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8112]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 15, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSES OF ABORIGENES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Robert Prince, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
+
+VOLUME IV
+
+
+
+
+HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES
+
+BY LEWIS H. MORGAN
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The following work substantially formed the Fifth Part of the
+original manuscript of "Ancient Society," under the title "Growth of
+the Idea of House Architecture." As the manuscript exceeded the
+limits of a single volume, this portion (Part V) was removed, and
+having then no intention to publish it separately, the greater part
+of it found its way into print in detached articles. A summary was
+given to Johnson's New Universal Cyclopedia in the article on the
+"Architecture of the American Aborigines." The chapter on the
+"Houses of the Aztecs" formed the basis of the article entitled
+"Montezuma's Dinner," published in the North American Review, in
+April, 1876. Another chapter, that on the "Houses of the Mound
+Builders," was published in the same Review in July, 1876. Finally,
+the present year, at the request of the executive committee of the
+"Archaeological Institute of America," at Cambridge, I prepared from
+the same materials an article entitled "A Study of the Houses and
+House Life of the Indian Tribes," with a scheme for the exploration
+of the ruins in New Mexico, Arizona, the San Juan region, Yucatan,
+and Central America.
+
+With some additions and reductions the facts are now presented in
+their original form, and as they will now have a wider distribution
+than the articles named have had, they will be new to most of my
+readers. The facts and suggestions made will also have the advantage
+of being presented in their proper connection. Thus additional
+strength is given to the argument as a whole. All the forms of this
+architecture sprang from a common mind, and exhibit, as a consequence,
+different stages of development of the same conceptions, operating
+upon similar necessities. They also represent these several
+conditions of Indian life with reasonable completeness. Their houses
+will be seen to form one system of works, from the Long House of the
+Iroquois to the Joint Tenement houses of adobe and of stone in New
+Mexico, Yucatan, Chiapas, and Guatemala, with such diversities as
+the different degrees of advancement of these several tribes would
+naturally produce. Studied as one system, springing from a common
+experience, and similar wants, and under institutions of the same
+general character, they are seen to indicate a plan of life at once
+novel, original, and distinctive.
+
+The principal fact, which all these structures alike show, from the
+smallest to the greatest, is that the family through these stages of
+progress was too weak an organization to face alone the struggle of
+life, and sought a shelter for itself in large households composed
+of several families. The house for a single family was exceptional
+throughout aboriginal America, while the house large enough to
+accommodate several families was the rule. Moreover, they were
+occupied as joint tenement houses. There was also a tendency to form
+these households on the principle of gentile kin, the mothers with
+their children being of the same gens or clan.
+
+If we enter upon the great problem of Indian life with a
+determination to make it intelligible, their house life and domestic
+institutions must furnish the key to its explanation. These pages
+are designed as a commencement of that work. It is a fruitful, and,
+at present, but partially explored field. We have been singularly
+inattentive to the plan of domestic life revealed by the houses of
+the aboriginal period. Time and the influences of civilization have
+told heavily upon their mode of life until it has become so far
+modified, and in many cases entirely overthrown, that it must be
+taken up as a new investigation upon the general facts which remain.
+At the epoch of European discovery it was in full vitality in North
+and South America; but the opportunities of studying its principles
+and its results were neglected. As a scheme of life under
+established institutions, it was a remarkable display of the
+condition of mankind in two well marked ethnical periods, namely,
+the Older Period and the Middle Period of barbarism, the first being
+represented by the Iroquois and the second by the Aztecs, or ancient
+Mexicans. In no part of the earth were these two conditions of human
+progress so well represented as by the American Indian tribes. A
+knowledge of the culture and of the state of the arts of life in
+these periods is indispensable to a definite conception of the
+stages of human progress. From the laws which govern this progress,
+from the uniformity of their operation, and from the necessary
+limitations of the principle of intelligence, we may conclude that
+our own remote ancestors passed through a similar experience and
+possessed very similar institutions. In studying the condition of
+the Indian tribes in these periods we may recover some portion of
+the lost history of our own race. This consideration lends incentive
+to the investigation.
+
+The first chapter is a condensation of four in "Ancient Society,"
+namely, those on the gens, phratry, tribe, and confederacy of tribes.
+As they formed a necessary part of that work, they become equally
+necessary to this. A knowledge of these organizations is
+indispensable to an understanding of the house life of the aborigines.
+These organizations form the basis of American ethnology. Although
+the discussion falls short of a complete explanation of their
+character and of their prevalence, it will give the reader a general
+idea of the organization of society among them.
+
+We are too apt to look upon the condition of savage and of barbarous
+tribes as standing on the same plane with respect to advancement.
+They should be carefully distinguished as dissimilar conditions of
+progress. Moreover, savagery shows stages of culture and of progress,
+and the same is true of barbarism. It will greatly facilitate the
+study of the facts relating to these two conditions, through which
+mankind have passed in their progress to civilization, to
+discriminate between ethnical periods, or stages of culture both in
+savagery and in barbarism. The progress of mankind from their
+primitive condition to civilization has been marked and eventful.
+Each great stage of progress is connected, more or less directly,
+with some important invention or discovery which materially
+influenced human progress, and inaugurated an improved condition.
+For these reasons the period of savagery has been divided into three
+subperiods, and that of barbarism also into three, the latter of
+which are chiefly important in their relation to the condition of
+the Indian tribes. The Older Period of barbarism, which commences
+with the introduction of the art of pottery, and the Middle Period,
+which commences with the use of adobe brick in the construction of
+houses, and with the cultivation of maize and plants by irrigation,
+mark two very different and very dissimilar conditions of life. The
+larger portion of the Indian tribes fall within one or the other of
+these periods. A small portion were in the Older Period of savagery,
+and none had reached the Later Period of barbarism, which
+immediately precedes civilization. In treating of the condition of
+the several tribes they will be assigned to the particular period to
+which they severally belong under this classification.
+
+I regret to add that I have not been able, from failing health, to
+give to this manuscript the continuous thought which a work of any
+kind should receive from its author. But I could not resist the
+invitation of my friend Major J. W. Powell, the Director of the
+Bureau of Ethnology, to put these chapters together as well as I
+might be able, that they might be published by that Bureau. As it
+will undoubtedly be my last work, I part with it under some
+solicitude for the reason named; but submit it cheerfully to the
+indulgence of my readers.
+
+I am greatly indebted to my friend Mr. J. C. Pilling, of the same
+Bureau, for his friendly labor and care in correcting the proof
+sheets, and for supervising the illustrations. Such favors are very
+imperfectly repaid by an author's thanks.
+
+The late William W. Ely, M. D., LL. D., was, for a period of more
+than twenty-five years, my cherished friend and literary adviser,
+and to him I am indebted for many valuable suggestions, and for
+constant encouragement in my labors. The dedication of this volume
+to his memory is but a partial expression of my admiration of his
+beautiful character, and of my appreciation of his friendship.
+
+LEWIS H. MORGAN
+
+ROCHESTER, N. Y., June, 1881
+
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+SOCIAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.
+
+The Gens: organized upon kin; rights, privileges, and obligations of
+its members--The Phratry: its character and functions--The Tribe:
+its composition and attributes--The Confederacy of Tribes: its nature,
+character and functions.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY AND ITS GENERAL PRACTICE.
+
+Indian tribes in three dissimilar conditions--Savage tribes--
+Partially horticultural tribes--Village Indians--Usages and customs
+affecting their house life--The law of hospitality practiced by the
+Iroquois; by the Algonkin tribes of lower Virginia; by the Delawares
+and Munsees; by the tribes of the Missouri, of the Valley of the
+Columbia; by the Dakota tribes of the Mississippi, by the Algonkin
+tribes of Wisconsin; by the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks; by the
+Village Indians of New Mexico, of Mexico, of Central America; by the
+tribes of Venezuela; by the Peruvians--Universality of the usage--It
+implies communism in living in large households.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+COMMUNISM IN LIVING.
+
+A law of their condition--Large households among Indian tribes--
+Communism in living in the household--Long Houses of the Iroquois--
+Several families in a house--Communism in household--Long Houses of
+Virginia Indians--Clustered cabins of the Creeks--Communism in the
+cluster--Hunting bands on the plains--The capture a common stock--
+Fishing bands on the Columbia--The capture a common stock--Large
+households in tribes of the Colombia--Communism in the household--
+Mandan houses--Contained several families--Houses of the Sauks the
+same--Village Indians of New Mexico--Mayas of Yucatan--Their present
+communism in living--Large households of Indians of Cuba, of
+Venezuela, of Carthagena, of Peru.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+USAGES AND CUSTOMS WITH RESPECT TO LAND AND FOOD.
+
+Tribal domain owned by the tribe in common--Possessory right in
+individuals and families to such land as they cultivated--Government
+compensation for Indian lands paid to tribe; for improvements to
+individuals--Apartments of a house and possessory rights to lands
+went to gentile heirs--Tenure of land among sedentary Village
+Indians at Taos, Jemex, and Zunyi--Among Aztecs or Ancient Mexicans,
+as presented by Mr. Bandelier; in Peru--The usage of having but one
+prepared meal each day, a dinner--Rule among Northern tribes--A
+breakfast as well as a dinner claimed for the Mexicans--Separation
+at meals, the men eating first, and by themselves, and the women and
+children afterwards.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+HOUSES OF INDIAN TRIBES NORTH OF NEW MEXICO.
+
+Houses of Indian tribes must be considered as parts of a common
+system of construction--A common principle runs through all its forms;
+that of adaptation to communism in living within the household--It
+explains this architecture--Communal houses of tribes in savagery;
+in California; in the valley of the Yukon; in the valley of the
+Columbia--Communal house of tribes in the lower status of barbarism--
+Ojibwa lodge--Dakota skin tent--Long houses of Virginia Indians; of
+Nyach tribe on Long Island; of Seneca-Iroquois; of Onondaga-Iroquois--
+Dirt Lodge of Mandans and Minnetarees--Thatched houses of Maricopas
+and Mohaves of the Colorado; of the Pimas of the Gila--What a
+comparison shows.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOUSES OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO.
+
+Improved character of houses--The defensive principle incorporated
+in their plan of the Houses--Their joint tenement character--Two or
+more stories high--Improved apparel, pottery, and fabrics--Pueblo of
+Santo Domingo; of adobe bricks--Built in terraced town--Ground story
+closed--Terraces reached by ladders--Rooms entered through
+trap-doors in ceilings--Pueblo of Zunyi--Ceiling--Water-jars and
+hand mill--Moki pueblo--Room in same--Ceiling like that at Zunyi--
+Pueblo of Taos--Estufas for holding councils--Size of adobes--Of
+doorways--Window-openings and trap-doorways--Present governmental
+organization--Room in pueblo--Fire-places and chimneys of modern
+introduction--Present ownership and inheritance of property--Village
+Indians have declined since their discovery--Sun worship--The
+Montezuma religion--Seclusion from religious motives.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HOUSES IN RUINS OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF THE SAN JUAN RIVER
+AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
+
+Pueblos in stone--The best structures in New Mexico--Ruins in the
+valley of the Chaco--Exploration of Lieut. J. H. Simpson in 1849; of
+William H. Jackson in 1877--Map of valley--Ground plans--Pueblo
+Pintado and Weje-gi--Constructed of tabular pieces of sandstone--
+Estufas and their uses--Pueblos Una Vida and Hungo Pavie--Restoration
+of Hungo Pavie--Pueblo of Chettro-Kettle--Room in same--Form of
+ceiling--Pueblo Bonito--Room in same--Restoration of Pueblo--Pueblo
+del Arroyo--Pueblo Penyasca Blanca--Seven large pueblos and two
+smaller ones--Pueblo Alto without the valley on table land on the
+north side--Probably the "Seven Cities of Cibola" of Coronado's
+Expedition--Reasons for supposition--The pueblos constructed
+gradually--Remarkable appearance of the valley when inhabited.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HOUSES IN RUINS OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF THE SAN JUAN RIVER
+AND ITS TRIBUTARIES--(Continued.)
+
+Ruins of stone pueblo on Animas River--Ground plan--Each room faced
+with stone, showing natural faces--Constructed like those in Chaco--
+Adobe mortar--Its composition and efficiency--Lime unknown in New
+Mexico--Gypsum mortar probably used in New Mexico and Central America--
+Cedar poles used as lintels--Cedar beams used as joists--Estufas;
+neither fire-places nor chimneys--The House a fortress--Second stone
+pueblo--Six other pueblos in ruins near--The Montezuma Valley--Nine
+pueblos in ruins in a cluster--Diagram--Ruins of stone pueblos near
+Ute Mountain--Outline of plan--Round tower of stone with three
+concentric walls--Incorporated in pueblo--Another round tower--With
+two concentric walls--Stands isolated--Other ruins--San Juan
+district as an original centre of this Indian culture--
+Mound-Builders probable emigrants from this region--Historical
+tribes of Mexico emigrants from same--Indian migrations--Made under
+control of physical causes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+HOUSES OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
+
+Area of their occupation--Their condition that of Village Indians--
+Probably immigrants from New Mexico--Character of their earthworks--
+Embankments enclosing squares--Probable sites of their houses--
+Adapted, as elevated platforms, to Long Houses--High bank works--
+Capacity of embankments--Conjectural restoration of the pueblo--
+Other embankments--Their probable uses--Artificial clay beds under
+grave-mounds--Probably used for cremation of chiefs--Probable
+numbers of the Mound Builders--Failure of attempt to transplant this
+type of village life to the Ohio Valley--Their withdrawal probably
+voluntary.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+HOUSES OF THE AZTECS OR ANCIENT MEXICANS.
+
+First accounts of Pueblo of Mexico--Their extravagance--Later
+American exaggerations--Kings and emperors made out of sachems and
+war-chiefs--Ancient society awakens curiosity and wonder--Aztec
+government a confederacy of three Indian tribes--Pueblo of Mexico in
+an artificial lake--Joint-tenement houses--Several families in each
+house--Houses in Cuba and Central America--Aztec houses not fully
+explored--Similar to those in New Mexico--Communism in living
+probable--Cortez in Pueblo of Mexico--His quarters--Explanation of
+Diaz--Of Herrera--Of Bandolier--House occupied by Montezuma--A
+communal house--Montezuma's dinner--According to Diaz--to Cortez--to
+Herrera--To H. H. Bancroft--Excessive exaggerations--Dinner in
+common by a communal household--Bandelier's "Social Organization and
+Mode of Government of the Ancient Mexicans."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+RUINS OF HOUSES OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF YUCATAN
+AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
+
+Pueblos in Yucatan and Central America--Their situation--Their house
+architecture--Highest type of aboriginal architecture--Pueblos were
+occupied when discovered--Uxmal houses erected on pyramidal
+elevations--Governor's house--Character of its architecture--House
+of the Nuns--Triangular ceiling of stone--Absence of chimneys--No
+cooking done within the house--Their communal plan evidently
+joint-tenement houses--Present communism of Mayas--Presumtively
+inherited from their ancestors--Ruins of Zayi--The closed house--
+Apartments constructed over a core of masonry--Palenque--Mr.
+Stephens' misconception of these ruins--Whether the post and lintel
+of stone were used as principles of construction--Plan of all these
+houses communal--Also fortresses--Palenque Indians flat-heads--
+American ethnography--General conclusions.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+FRONTISPIECE. Zunyi Water Carrier.
+
+Fig. 1. Earth Lodges of the Sacramento Valley
+
+Fig. 2. Gallinomero Thatched Lodge
+
+Fig. 3. Matdu Lodge in the high Sierra
+
+Fig. 4. Yukuta Tule Lodges
+
+Fig. 5. Kutchin Lodge
+
+Fig. 6. Ground-plan of Necrohokioo
+
+Fig. 7. Frame of Ojibwa Wig-e-wam
+
+Fig. 8. Dakota Woka-yo, or Skin Tent
+
+Fig. 9. Village of Pomeiock
+
+Fig. 10. Village of Secotan
+
+Fig. 11. Interior of House of Virginia Indians
+
+Fig. 12. Ho-de-no-sote of the Seneca-Iroquois
+
+Fig. 13. Ground-plan of Seneca-Iroquois Long-House
+
+Fig. 14. Bartram's ground-plan and cross-section of Onondaga
+Long-House.
+
+Fig. 15. Palisaded Onondaga Village
+
+Fig. 16. Mandan Village Plot
+
+Fig. 17. Ground-plan of Mandan House
+
+Fig. 18. Cross-section of Mandan House
+
+Fig. 19. Mandan House
+
+Fig. 20. Mandan Drying-Scaffold
+
+Fig. 21. Mandan Ladder
+
+Fig. 22. Pueblo of Santo Domingo
+
+Fig. 23. Pueblo of Zunyi
+
+Fig. 24. Room in Zunyi House
+
+Fig. 25. Pueblo of Wolpi
+
+Fig. 26. Room in Moki House
+
+Fig. 27. North Pueblo of Taos
+
+Fig. 28. Room in Pueblo of Taos
+
+Fig. 29. Map of a portion of Chaco Canyon
+
+Fig. 30. Ground-plans of Pueblos Pintada and Wejegi
+
+Fig. 31. Ground-plans of Pueblos of Una Vida and Hungo Pavie
+
+Fig. 32. Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie
+
+Fig. 33. Ground-plan of Pueblo Chettro Kettle
+
+Fig. 34. Interior of a Room in Pueblo Chettro Kettle
+
+Fig. 35. Ground-plan of Pueblo Bonito
+
+Fig. 36. Room in Pueblo Bonito
+
+Fig. 37. Restoration of Pueblo Bonito
+
+Fig. 38. Ground-plan of Pueblo del Arroyo
+
+Fig. 39. Ground-plan of Pueblo Peuasca Blanca
+
+Fig. 40. Ground-plan of the Pueblo on Animas River
+
+Fig. 41. Stone from Doorway
+
+Fig. 41a. A finished block of Sandstone (for comparison with Fig. 41)
+
+Fig. 42. Section of Cedar Lintel
+
+Fig. 43. Outline of Stone Pueblo on Animas River
+
+Fig. 44. Pueblos at commencement of McElmo Canyon
+
+Fig. 45. Outline plan of Stone Pueblo near base of Ute Mountain
+
+Fig. 46. Ground-plan of High Bank Pueblo
+
+Fig. 47. Restoration of High Bank Pueblo
+
+Fig. 48. Ground-plan and sections of house, High Bank Pueblo
+
+Fig. 49. Mound with artificial clay basin
+
+Fig. 50. Side elevation of Pyramidal Platform of Governor's House
+
+Fig. 51. Governor's House at Uxmal
+
+Fig. 52. Ground-plan of Governor's House, Uxmal
+
+Fig. 53. Ground-plan of the House of the Nuns
+
+Fig. 54. Section of room in House of the Nuns
+
+Fig. 55. Ground-plan of Zayi
+
+Fig. 56. Cross-section through one apartment
+
+
+
+
+
+HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+SOCIAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.
+
+
+In a previous work I have considered the organization of the
+American aborigines in gentes, phratries, and tribes, with the
+functions of each in their social system. From the importance of
+this organization to a right understanding of their social and
+governmental life, a recapitulation of the principal features of
+each member of the organic series is necessary in this connection.
+[Footnote: "Ancient Society" or "Researches in the Lines of Human
+Progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization." Henry
+Holt & Co. 1877.]
+
+The gentile organization opens to us one of the oldest and most
+widely-prevalent institutions of mankind. It furnished the nearly
+universal plan of government of ancient society, Asiatic, European,
+African, American, and Australian. It was the instrumentality by
+means of which society was organized and held together. Commencing
+in savagery, and continuing through the three subperiods of barbarism,
+it remained until the establishment of political society, which did
+not occur until after civilization had Commenced. The Grecian gens,
+phratry, and tribe, the Roman gens, curia, and tribe find their
+analogues in the gens, phratry, and tribe of the American aborigines.
+In like manner the Irish sept, the Scottish clan, the phratra of the
+Albanians, and the Sanskrit ganas, without extending the comparison
+further, are the same as the American Indian gens, which has usually
+been called a clan. As far as our knowledge extends, this
+organization runs through the entire ancient world upon all the
+continents, and it was brought down to the historical period by such
+tribes as attained to civilization. Nor is this all. Gentile society
+wherever found is the same in structural organization and in
+principles of action; but changing from lower to higher forms with
+the progressive advancement of the people. These changes give the
+history of development of the same original conceptions.
+
+
+
+THE GENS.
+
+Gens, [Greek: genos], and gattas in Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit have
+alike the primary signification of kin. They contain the same
+element as gigno, [Greek: gignouas], and ganaman, in the same
+languages, signifying to beget; thus implying in each an immediate
+common descent of the members of a gens. A gens, therefore, is a
+body of consanguinei descended from the same common ancestor,
+distinguished by a gentile name, and bound together by affinities of
+blood. It includes a moiety only of such descendants. Where descent
+is in the female line, as it was universally in the archaic period,
+the gens is composed of a supposed female ancestor and her children,
+together with the children of her female descendants, through females,
+in perpetuity; and where descent is in the male line--into which it
+was changed after the appearance of property in masses--of a
+supposed male ancestor and his children, together with the children
+of his male descendants, through males, in perpetuity. The family
+name among ourselves is a survival of the gentile name, with descent
+in the male line, and passing in the same manner. The modern family,
+as expressed by its name, is an unorganized gens, with the bond of
+kin broken, and its members as widely dispersed as the family name
+is found.
+
+Among the nations named, the gens indicated a social organization of
+a remarkable character, which had prevailed from an antiquity so
+remote that its origin was lost in the obscurity of far distant ages.
+It was also the unit of organization of a social and governmental
+system, the fundamental basis of ancient society. This organization
+was not confined to the Latin, Grecian, and Sanskrit speaking tribes,
+with whom it became such a conspicuous institution. It has been
+found in other branches of the Aryan family of nations, in the
+Semitic, Uralian and Turanian families, among the tribes of Africa
+and Australia, and of the American aborigines.
+
+The gens has passed through successive stages of development in its
+transition from its archaic to its final form with the progress of
+mankind. These changes were limited in the main to two, firstly,
+changing descent from the female line, which was the archaic rule,
+as among the Iroquois, to the male line, which was the final rule,
+as among the Grecian and Roman gentes; and, secondly, changing the
+inheritance of the property of a deceased member of the gens from
+his gentiles, who took it in the archaic period, first to his
+agnatic kindred, and finally to his children. These changes, slight
+as they may seem, indicate very great changes of condition as well
+as a large degree of progressive development.
+
+The gentile organization, originating in the period of savagery,
+enduring through the three subperiods of barbarism, finally gave way,
+among the more advanced tribes, when they attained civilization--the
+requirements of which it was unable to meet. Among the Greeks and
+Romans political society supervened upon gentile society, but not
+until civilization had commenced. The township (and its equivalent,
+the city ward), with its fixed property, and the inhabitants it
+contained, organized as a body politic, became the unit and the
+basis of a new and radically different system of government. After
+political society was instituted this ancient and time-honored
+organization, with the phratry and tribe developed from it,
+gradually yielded up their existence. It was under gentile
+institutions that barbarism was won by some of the tribes of mankind
+while in savagery, and that civilization was won by the descendants
+of some of the same tribes while in barbarism. Gentile institutions
+carried a portion of mankind from savagery to civilization.
+
+This organization may be successfully studied both in its living and
+in its historical forms in a large number of tribes and races. In
+such an investigation it is preferable to commence with the gens in
+its archaic form I shall commence, therefore, with the gens as it
+now exists among the American aborigines, where it is found in its
+archaic form, and among whom its theoretical constitution and
+practical workings can be investigated more successfully than in the
+historical gentes of the Greeks and Romans. In fact, to understand
+fully the gentes of the latter nations a knowledge of the functions
+and of the rights, privileges, and obligations of the members of the
+American Indian gens is imperatively necessary.
+
+In American ethnography tribe and clan have been used in the place
+of gens as equivalent terms from not perceiving the universality of
+the latter. In previous works, and following my predecessors, I have
+so used them. A comparison of the Indian clan with the gens of the
+Greeks and Romans reveals at once their identity in structure and
+functions. It also extends to the phratry and tribe. If the identity
+of these several organizations can be shown, of which there can be
+no doubt, there is a manifest propriety in returning to the Latin
+and Grecian terminologies, which are full and precise as well as
+historical.
+
+The plan of government of the American aborigines commenced with the
+gens and ended with the confederacy, the latter being the highest
+point to which their governmental institutions attained. It gave for
+the organic series: first, the gens, a body of consanguinei having a
+common gentile name; second, the phratry, an assemblage of related
+gentes united in a higher association for certain common objects;
+third, the tribe, an assemblage of gentes, usually organized in
+phratries, all the members of which spoke the same dialect; and
+fourth, a confederacy of tribes, the members of which respectively
+spoke dialects of the same stock language. It resulted in a gentile
+society (societas) as distinguished from a political society or
+state (civitas). The difference between the two is wide and
+fundamental. There was neither a political society, nor a citizen,
+nor a state, nor any civilization in America when it was discovered.
+One entire ethnical period intervened between the highest American
+Indian tribes and the beginning of civilization, as that term is
+properly understood.
+
+The gens, though a very ancient social organization founded upon kin,
+does not include all the descendants of a common ancestor. It was
+for the reason that when the gens came in marriage between single
+pairs was unknown, and descent through males could not be traced
+with certainty. Kindred were linked together chiefly through the
+bond of their maternity In the ancient gens descent was limited to
+the female line. It embraced all such persons as traced their
+descent from a supposed common female ancestor, through females, the
+evidence of the fact being the possession of a common gentile name.
+It would include this ancestor and her children, the children of her
+daughters, and the children of her female descendants, through
+females, in perpetuity, while the children of her sons and the
+children of her male descendants, through males, would belong to
+other gentes, namely, those of their respective mothers. Such was
+the gens in its archaic form, when the paternity of children was not
+certainly ascertainable, and when their maternity afforded the only
+certain criterion of descents.
+
+This state of descents which can be traced back to the Middle Status
+of savagery, as among the Australians, remained among the American
+aborigines through the Upper Status of savagery, and into and
+through the Lower Status of barbarism, with occasional exceptions.
+In the Middle Status of barbarism the Indian tribes began to change
+descent from the female line to the male, as die syndyasmian family
+of the period began to assume monogamian characteristics. In the
+Upper Status of barbarism descent had become changed to the male
+line among the Grecian tribes, with the exception of the Lycians,
+and among the Italian tribes, with the exception of the Etruscans.
+Between the two extremes, represented by the two rules of descent,
+three entire ethnical periods intervene, covering many thousands of
+years.
+
+As intermarriage in the gens was prohibited, it withdrew its members
+from the evils of consanguine marriages, and thus tended to increase
+the vigor of the stock. The gens came into being upon three
+principal conceptions, namely, the bond of kin, a pure lineage
+through descent in the female line, and non-intermarriage in the gens.
+When the idea of a gens was developed, it would naturally have taken
+the form of gentes in pairs, because the children of the males were
+excluded, and because it was equally necessary to organize both
+classes of descendants. With two gentes started into being
+simultaneously the whole result would have been attained, since the
+males and females of one gens would marry the females and males of
+the other, and the children, following the gentes of their
+respective mothers, would be divided between them. Resting on the
+bond of kin as its cohesive principal the gens afforded to each
+individual member that personal protection which no other existing
+power could give.
+
+After enumerating the rights, privileges, and obligations of its
+members, it will be necessary to follow the gens in its organic
+relations to a phratry tribe and confederacy, in order to find the
+uses to which it was applied, the privileges which it conferred, and
+the principles which it fostered. The gentes of the Iroquois will be
+taken as the standard exemplification of this institution in the
+Ganowaman family. They had carried their scheme of government from
+the gens to the confederacy, making it complete in each of its parts,
+and an excellent illustration of the capabilities of the gentile
+organization in its archaic form.
+
+When discovered the Iroquois were in the Lower Status of barbarism,
+and well advanced in the arts of life pertaining to this condition.
+They manufactured nets, twine, and rope from filaments of bark, wove
+belts and burden straps, with warp and woof from the same materials,
+they manufactured earthen vessels and pipes from clay mixed with
+silicious materials and hardened by fire, some of which were
+ornamented with rude medallions, they cultivated maize, beans,
+squashes, and tobacco in garden beds, and made unleavened bread from
+pounded maize, which they boiled in earthen vessels, [Footnote:
+These loaves or cakes were about six inches in diameter and an inch
+thick] they tanned skins into leather, with which they manufactured
+kilts leggins, and moccasins, they used the bow and arrow and
+war-club as their principal weapons, used flint-stone and bone
+implements, wore skin garments, and were expert hunters and
+fishermen They constructed long joint tenement houses large enough
+to accommodate five, ten, and twenty families, and each household
+practiced communism in living, but they were unacquainted with the
+use of stone or adobe brick in house architecture, and with the use
+of the native metals. In mental capacity and in general advancement
+they were the representative branch of the Indian family north of
+New Mexico General F A. Walker has sketched their military career in
+two paragraphs "The career of the Iroquois was simply terrific. They
+were the scourge of God upon the continent." [Footnote: North
+American Review April No. 1873 p. 360 Note.] From lapse of time the
+Iroquois tribes have come to differ slightly in the number and in
+the names of their respective gentes, the largest number being eight,
+as follows:
+
+
+     Seneca    Cayuga   Onondaga  Oneida   Mohawks   Tuscarora
+  1    Wolf      Wolf     Wolf      Wolf     Wolf      Gray Wolf
+  2    Bear      Bear     Bear      Bear     Bear      Bear
+  3    Turtle    Turtle   Turtle    Turtle   Turtle    Great Turtle
+  4    Beaver    Beaver   Beaver                       Beaver
+  5    Deer      Deer     Deer                         Yellow Wolf
+  6    Snipe     Snipe    Snipe                        Snipe
+  7    Heron     Eel      Eel                          Eel
+  8    Hawk      Hawk     Ball                         Little Turtle
+
+
+These changes show that certain gentes in some of the tribes have
+become extinct through the vicissitudes of time, and that others
+have been formed by the segmentation of over full gentes.
+
+With a knowledge of the rights, privileges, and obligations of the
+members of a gens, its capabilities as the unit of a social and
+governmental system will be more fully understood, as well as the
+manner in which it entered into the higher organizations of the
+phratry tribe, and confederacy.
+
+The gens is individualized by the following rights, privileges, and
+obligations conferred and imposed upon its members, and which made
+up the jus gentilicium:
+
+
+     I The right of electing its sachem and chiefs
+
+    II The right of deposing its sachem and chiefs
+
+   III The obligation not to marry in the gens
+
+    IV Mutual rights of inheritance of the property of deceased
+members
+
+     V Reciprocal obligations of help, defense, and redress of
+injuries
+
+    VI The right of bestowing names upon its members
+
+   VII The right of adopting strangers into the gens
+
+  VIII Common religious rites
+
+    IX A common burial place.
+
+     X A council of the gens
+
+
+These functions and attributes gave vitality as well as
+individuality to the organization and protected the personal rights
+of its members. Such were the rights, privileges, and obligations of
+the members of an Iroquois gens; and such were those of the members
+of the gentes of the Indian tribes generally, as far as the
+investigation has been carried.
+
+For a detailed exposition of these characteristics the reader is
+referred to Ancient Society, pp. 72-85.
+
+All the members of an Iroquois gens were personally free, and they
+were bound to defend each other's freedom; they were equal in
+privileges and in personal rights, the sachem and chiefs claiming no
+superiority; and they were a brotherhood bound together by the ties
+of kin. Liberty, equality, and fraternity, though never formulated,
+were cardinal principles of the gens. These facts are material,
+because the gens was the unit of a social and governmental system,
+the foundation upon which Indian society was organized. A structure
+composed of such units would of necessity bear the impress of their
+character, for as the unit so the compound. It serves to explain
+that sense of independence and personal dignity universally an
+attribute of Indian character.
+
+Thus substantial and important in the social system was the gens as
+it anciently existed among the American aborigines, and as it still
+exists in full vitality in many Indian tribes. It was the basis of
+the phratry, of the tribe, and of the confederacy of tribes.
+
+At the epoch of European discovery the American Indian tribes
+generally were organized in gentes, with descent in the female line.
+In some tribes, as among the Dakotas, the gentes had fallen out; in
+others, as among the Ojibwas, the Omahas, and the Mayas of Yucatan,
+descent had been changed from the female to the male line.
+Throughout aboriginal America the gens took its name from some
+animal or inanimate object and never from a person. In this early
+condition of society the individuality of persons was lost in the
+gens. It is at least presumable that the gentes of the Grecian and
+Latin tribes were so named at some anterior period; but when they
+first came under historical notice they were named after persons. In
+some of the tribes, as the Moki Village Indians of Arizona, the
+members of the gens claimed their descent from the animal whose name
+they bore--their remote ancestors having been transformed by the
+Great Spirit from the animal into the human form. The Crane gens of
+the Ojibwas have a similar legend. In some tribes the members of a
+gens will not eat the animal whose name they bear, in which they are
+doubtless influenced by this consideration.
+
+With respect to the number of persons in a gens, it varied with the
+number of the gentes, and with the prosperity or decadence of the
+tribe. Three thousand Senecas divided equally among eight gentes
+would give an average of three hundred and seventy-five persons to a
+gens. Fifteen thousand Ojibwas divided equally among twenty-three
+gentes would give six hundred and fifty persons to a gens. The
+Cherokees would average more than a thousand to a gens. In the
+present condition of the principal Indian tribes the number of
+persons in each gens would range from one hundred to a thousand.
+
+One of the oldest and most widely prevalent institutions of mankind,
+the gentes have been closely identified with human progress upon
+which they have exercised a powerful influence. They have been found
+in tribes in the Status of savagery, in the Lower, in the Middle,
+and in the Upper Status of barbarism on different continents, and in
+full vitality in the Grecian and Latin tribes after civilization had
+commenced. Every family of mankind, except the Polynesian, seems to
+have come under the gentile organization, and to have been indebted
+to it for preservation and for the means of progress. It finds its
+only parallel in length of duration in systems of consanguinity,
+which, springing up at a still earlier period, have remained to the
+present time, although the marriage usages in which they originated
+have long since disappeared.
+
+From its early institution, and from its maintenance through such
+immense stretches of time, the peculiar adaptation of the gentile
+organization to mankind, while in a savage and in a barbarous state,
+must be regarded as abundantly demonstrated.
+
+
+
+THE PHRATRY.
+
+The phratry (phratria) is a brotherhood, as the term imports, and a
+natural growth from the organization into gentes. It is an organic
+union or association of two or more gentes of the same tribe for
+certain common objects. These gentes were usually such as had been
+formed by the segmentation of an original gens.
+
+The phratry existed in a large number of the tribes of the American
+aborigines, where it is seen to arise by natural growth, and to
+stand as the second member of the organic series, as among the
+Grecian and Latin tribes. It did not possess original governmental
+functions, as the gens tribe and confederacy possessed them but it
+was endowed with certain useful powers in the social system, from
+the necessity for some organization larger than a gens and smaller
+than a tribe and especially when the tribe was large. The same
+institution in essential features and in character, it presents the
+organization in its archaic form and with its archaic functions. A
+knowledge of the Indian phratry is necessary to an intelligent
+understanding of the Grecian and the Roman.
+
+The eight gentes of the Seneca Iroquois tribe were reintegrated in
+two phratries as follows:
+
+
+                First Phratry
+  Gentes--1 Bear 2 Wolf 3 Beaver 4 Turtle
+                Second Phratry
+  Gentes--5 Deer 6 Snipe 7 Heron 8 Hawk
+
+
+Each phratry (De da non da a yoh) is a brotherhood as this term also
+imports. The gentes in the same phratry are brother gentes to each
+other and cousin gentes to those of the other phratry. They are
+equal in grade, character, and privileges. It is a common practice
+of the Senecas to call the gentes of their own phratry brother
+gentes and those of the other phratry their cousin gentes, when they
+mention them in their relation to the phratries. Originally marriage
+was not allowed between the members of the same phratry but the
+members of either could marry into any gens of the other. This
+prohibition tends to show that the gentes of each phratry were
+subdivisions of an original gens and therefore the prohibition
+against marrying into a person's own gens had followed to its
+subdivisions. This restriction however was long since removed except
+with respect to the gens of the individual. A tradition of the
+Senecas affirms that the Bear and the Deer were the original gentes,
+of which the others were subdivisions. It is thus seen that the
+phratry had a natural foundation in the kinship of the gentes of
+which it was composed. After their subdivision from increase of
+numbers there was a natural tendency to their reunion in a higher
+organization for objects common to them all. The same gentes are not
+constant in a phratry indefinitely, as appears from the composition
+of the phratries in the remaining Iroquois tribes. Transfers of
+particular gentes from one phratry to the other must have occurred
+when the equilibrium in their respective numbers was disturbed. It
+is important to know the simple manner in which this organization
+springs up, and the facility with which it is managed as a part of
+the social system of ancient society. With the increase of numbers
+in a gens, followed by local separation of its members, segmentation
+occurred, and the seceding portion adopted a new gentile name. But a
+tradition of their former unity would remain and become the basis of
+their reorganization in a phratry.
+
+From the differences in the composition of the phratries in the
+several tribes it seems probable that the phratries are modified in
+their gentes at intervals of time to meet changes of condition. Some
+gentes prosper and increase in numbers, while others, through
+calamities, decline, and others become extinct; so that transfers of
+gentes from one phratry to another were found necessary to preserve
+some degree of equality in the number of phrators in each. The
+phratric organization has existed among the Iroquois from time
+immemorial. It is probably older than the confederacy which was
+established more than four centuries ago. The amount of difference
+in their composition, as to the gentes they contain, represents the
+vicissitudes through which each tribe has passed in the interval. In
+any view of the matter it is small, tending to illustrate the
+permanence of the phratry as well as the gens.
+
+The Iroquois tribes had a total of thirty-eight gentes, and in four
+of the tribes a total of eight phratries.
+
+The phratry among the Iroquois was partly for social and partly for
+religious objects. Its functions and uses can be best shown by
+practical illustrations. We begin with the lowest, with games, which
+were of common occurrence at tribal and confederate councils. In the
+ball game, for example, among the Senecas, they play by phratries,
+one against the other, and they bet against each other upon the
+result of the game. Each phratry puts forward its best players,
+usually from six to ten on a side, and the members of each phratry
+assemble together, but upon opposite sides of the field in which the
+game is played. Before it commences, articles of personal property
+are hazarded upon the result by members of the opposite phratries.
+These are deposited with keepers to abide the event. The game is
+played with spirit and enthusiasm, and is an exciting spectacle. The
+members of each phratry, from their opposite stations, watch the
+game with eagerness, and cheer their respective players at every
+successful turn of the game. [Footnote: League of the Iroquois, p.
+294.]
+
+Again, when a murder had been committed it was usual for the gens of
+the murdered person to meet in council, and, after ascertaining the
+facts, to take measures for avenging the deed. The gens of the
+criminal also held a council, and endeavored to effect an adjustment
+or condonation of the crime with the gens of the murdered person;
+but it often happened that the gens of the criminal called upon the
+other gentes of their phratry, when the slayer and the slain
+belonged to opposite phratries, to unite with them to obtain a
+condonation of the crime. In such a case the phratry held a council,
+and then addressed itself to the other phratry, to which it sent a
+delegation with a belt of white wampum asking for a council of the
+phratry and for an adjustment of the crime. They offered reparation
+to the family and gens of the murdered person in expressions of
+regret and in presents of value. Negotiations were continued between
+the two councils until an affirmative or a negative conclusion was
+reached. The influence of a phratry composed of several gentes would
+be greater than that of a single gens; and by calling into action
+the opposite phratry the probability of a condonation would be
+increased, especially if there were extenuating circumstances. We
+may thus see how naturally the Grecian phratry, prior to civilization,
+assumed the principal though not exclusive management of cases of
+murder, and also of the purification of the murderer if he escaped
+punishment, and after the institution of political society with what
+propriety the phratry assumed the duty of prosecuting the murderer
+in the courts of justice.
+
+At the funerals of persons of recognized importance in the tribe the
+phratric organization manifested itself in a conspicuous manner The
+phrators of the decedent in a body were the mourners, and the
+members of the opposite phratry conducted the ceremonies. At the
+funeral of Handsome Lake (Ga-ne-o-di'-yo), one of the eight Seneca
+sachems (which occurred some years ago), there was an assemblage of
+sachems and chiefs to the number of twenty-seven, and a large
+concourse of members of both phratries The customary address to the
+dead body, and the other addresses before the removal of the body,
+were made by members of the opposite phratry After the addresses
+were concluded the body was borne to the grave by persons selected
+from the last named phratry, followed, first, by the sachems and
+chiefs, then by the family and gens of the decedent, next by his
+remaining phrators, and last by the members of the opposite phratry
+After the body had been deposited in the grave the sachems and
+chiefs formed in a circle around it for the purpose of filling it
+with earth. Each in turn, commencing with the senior in years, cast
+in three shovelfuls, a typical number in their religious system, of
+which the first had relation to the Great Spirit, the second to the
+Sun, and the third to Mother Earth When the grave was filled the
+senior sachem, by a figure of speech, deposited "the horns" of the
+departed sachem, emblematic of his office, upon the top of the grave
+over his head, there to remain until his successor was installed In
+that subsequent ceremony "the horns" were said to be taken from the
+grave of the deceased ruler and placed upon the head of his
+successor The social and religious functions of the phratry, and its
+naturalness in the organic system of ancient society, are rendered
+apparent by this single usage.
+
+The phratry was also directly concerned in the election of sachems
+and chiefs of the several gentes, upon which they had a negative as
+well as a confirmative vote After the gens of a deceased sachem had
+elected his successor, or had elected a chief of the second grade,
+it was necessary, as elsewhere stated, that their choice should be
+accepted and confirmed by each phratry It was expected that the
+gentes of the same phratry would confirm the choice almost as a
+matter of course, but the opposite phratry also must acquiesce, and
+from this source opposition sometimes appeared A council of each
+phratry was held and pronounced upon the question of acceptance or
+rejection. If the nomination made was accepted by both it became
+complete, but if either refused it was thereby set aside and a new
+election was made by the gens. When the choice made by the gens had
+been accepted by the phratries it was still necessary, as before
+stated, that the new sachem, or the new chief, should be invested by
+the council of the confederacy, which alone had power to invest with
+office.
+
+The phratry was without governmental functions in the strict sense
+of the phrase, these being confined to the gens tribe and confederacy;
+but it entered into their social affairs with large administrative
+powers, and would have concerned itself more and more with their
+religious affairs as the condition of the people advanced. Unlike
+the Grecian phratry and the Roman curia, it had no official head.
+There was no chief of the phratry as such, and no religious
+functionaries belonging to it as distinguished from the gene and
+tribe. The phratric institution among the Iroquois was in its
+rudimentary archaic form; but it grew into life by natural and
+inevitable development, and remained permanent because it met
+necessary wants Every institution of mankind which attained
+permanence will be found linked with a perpetual want. With the gens
+tribe and confederacy in existence the presence of the phratry was
+substantially assured. It required time, however, and further
+experience to manifest all the uses to which it might be made
+subservient.
+
+Among the Village Indians of Mexico and Central America the phratry
+must have existed, reasoning upon general principles, and have been
+a more fully developed and influential organization than among the
+Iroquois Unfortunately mere glimpses at such an institution are all
+that can be found in the teeming narratives of the Spanish writers
+within the first century after the Spanish conquest. The four
+"lineages" of the Tlascalans who occupied the four quarters of the
+pueblo of Tlascalan were, in all probability, so many phratries. They
+were sufficiently numerous for four tribes, but as they occupied the
+same pueblo and spoke the same dialect the phratric organization was
+apparently a necessity. Each lineage or phratry, so to call it, had
+a distinct military organization, a peculiar costume and banner, and
+its head war-chief (Teuctli), who was its general military commander.
+They went forth to battle by phratries. The organization of a
+military force by phratries and by tribes was not unknown to the
+Homeric Greeks Thus, Nestor advised Agamemnon to "separate the
+troops by phratries and by tribes, so that phratry may support
+phratry and tribe" [Footnote: Illiad]
+
+Under gentile institutions of the most advanced type the principle
+of kin became to a considerable extent the basis of the army
+organization. The Aztecs, in like manner occupied the pueblo of
+Mexico in four distinct divisions, the people of each of which were
+more nearly related to each other than to the people of the other
+divisions. They were separate lineages, like the Tlas-calan, and it
+seems highly probable were four phratries, separately organized as
+such They were distinguished from each--other by costumes and
+standards, and went out to war as separate divisions. Their
+geographical areas were called the four quarters of Mexico.
+
+With respect to the prevalence of this organization among the Indian
+tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism the subject has been but
+slightly investigated. It is probable that it was general in the
+principal tribes from the natural manner in which it springs up as a
+necessary member of the organic series, and from the uses, other
+than governmental, to which it was adapted.
+
+In some of the tribes the phratries stand out prominently upon the
+face of their organization. Thus the Chocta gentes are united in two
+phratries which must be mentioned first in order to show the
+relation of the gentes to each other. The first phratry is called
+"Divided People," and contains four gentes. The second is called
+"Beloved People" and also contains four gentes. This separation of
+the people into two divisions by gentes created two phratries. Some
+knowledge of the functions of these phratries is of course desirable,
+but without it, the fact of their existence is established by the
+divisions themselves. The evolution of a confederacy from a pair of
+gentes--for less than two are never found in any tribe--may be
+deduced theoretically from the known facts of Indian experience.
+Thus the gens increases in the number of its members and divides
+into two these again subdivide and in time reunite in two or more
+phratries. These phratries form a tribe and its members speak the
+same dialect. In course of time this tribe falls into several by the
+process of segmentation, which in turn reunite in a confederacy.
+Such a confederacy is a growth, through the tribe and phratry, from
+a pair of gentes.
+
+The Chickasas are organized in two phratries, of which one contains
+four and the other eight gentes, as follows:
+
+I. Panther Phratry.
+
+Gentes. Wild Cat 2. Bird. 3. Fish. 4. Deer.
+
+II. Spanish Phratry.
+
+Gentes--5. Raccoon. 6. Spanish. 7. Royal. 8. Hush-ko'-ni. 9.
+Squirrel 10. Alligator. 11 Wolf. 12. Blackbird.
+
+A very complete illustration of the manner in which phratries are
+formed by natural growth through the subdivision of gentes is
+presented by the organization of the Mohegan tribe. It had three
+original gentes, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Turkey.
+
+Each of these subdivided, and the subdivisions became independent
+gentes; but they retained the names of the original gentes as their
+respective phratric names In other words, the subdivisions of each
+gens reorganized in a phratry. It proves conclusively the natural
+process by which in course of time a gens breaks up into several,
+and these remain united in a phratric organization, which is
+expressed by assuming a phratric name. They are as follows:
+
+I. Wolf Phratry
+
+Gentes. 1. Wolf 2. Bear 3. Dog. 4 Opossum.
+
+II. Turtle Phratry
+
+Gentes--5 Little Turtle. 6. Mud Turtle. 7. Great Turtle
+   8. Yellow Eel.
+
+III. Turkey Phratry
+
+Gentes--9. Turkey 10. Crane 11. Chicken 12.
+
+It is thus seen that the original Wolf gens divided into four gentes,
+the Turtle into four, and the Turkey into three. Each new gens took
+a new name, the original retaining its own, which became by
+seniority that of the phratry. It is rare among the American Indian
+tribes to find such plain evidence of the segmentation of gentes in
+their external organization, followed by the formation into
+phratries of their respective subdivisions. It shows also that the
+phratry is founded upon the kinship of the gentes. As a rule, the
+name of the original gens out of which others had formed is not known;
+but in each of these cases it remains as the name of the phratry.
+Since the latter, like the Grecian, was a social and religious
+rather than a governmental organization, it is externally less
+conspicuous than a gens or tribe, which were essential to the
+government of society. The name of but one of the twelve Athenian
+phratries has come down to us in history. Those of the Iroquois had
+no name but that of a brotherhood.
+
+The phratry also appears among the Thlinkits of the Northwest coast
+upon the surface of their organization into gentes. They have two
+phratries, as follows:
+
+I. Wolf Phratry.
+
+Gentes. 1. Bear 2. Eagle. 3. Dolphin. 4. Shark. 5. Alca.
+
+II. Raven Phratry.
+
+Gentes. 6. Frog. 7. Goose. 8. Sea-lion. 9. Owl. 10. Salmon.
+
+Intermarriage in the phratry is prohibited, which shows of itself
+that the gentes of each phratry were derived from an original gens.
+The members of any gens in the Wolf phratry could marry into any
+gens of the opposite phratry, and vice versa.
+
+From the foregoing facts the existence of the phratry is established
+in several linguistic stocks of the American aborigines. Its
+presence in the tribes named raises a presumption of its general
+prevalence in the Ganowanian family. Among the Village Indians,
+where the numbers in a gens and tribe were greater, it would
+necessarily have been more important, and consequently more fully
+developed. As an institution it was still in its archaic form, but
+it possessed the essential elements of the Grecian and the Roman.
+
+
+
+THE TRIBE.
+
+
+It is difficult to describe an Indian tribe by the affirmative
+elements of its composition. Nevertheless it is clearly marked, and
+is the ultimate organization of the great body of the American
+aborigines. The large number of independent tribes into which they
+had fallen by the natural process of segmentation is the striking
+characteristic of their condition. Each tribe was individualized by
+a name, by a separate dialect, by a supreme government, and by the
+possession of a territory which it occupied and defended as its own.
+The tribes were as numerous as the dialects, for separation did not
+become complete until dialectical variation had commenced. Indian
+tribes, therefore, are natural growths through the separation of the
+same people in the area of their occupation, followed by divergence
+of speech, segmentation, and independence.
+
+The exclusive possession of a dialect and of a territory has led to
+the application of the term nation to many Indian tribes,
+notwithstanding the fewness of the people in each. Tribe and nation,
+however, are not strict equivalents. A nation does not arise, under
+gentile institutions, until the tribes united under the same
+government have coalesced into one people, as the four Athenian
+tribes coalesced in Attica, three Dorian tribes at Sparta, and three
+Latin and Sabine tribes at Rome. Federation requires independent
+tribes in separate territorial areas; but coalescence unites them by
+a higher process in the same area, although the tendency to local
+separation by gentes and by tribes would continue. The confederacy
+is the nearest analogue of the nation, but not strictly equivalent.
+Where the gentile organization exists, the organic series gives all
+the terms which are needed for a correct description.
+
+An Indian tribe is composed of several gentes, developed from two or
+more, all the members of which are intermingled by marriage, and all
+of whom speak the same dialect. To a stranger the tribe is visible,
+and not the gens. The instances are extremely rare, among the
+American aborigines, in which the tribe embraced peoples speaking
+different dialects. When such cases are found it has resulted from
+the union of a weaker with a stronger tribe speaking a closely
+related dialect, as the union of the Missouris with the Otoet, after
+the overthrow of the former. The fact that the great body of the
+aborigines were found in independent tribes illustrates the slow and
+difficult growth of the idea of government under gentile institutions.
+A small portion only had attained to the ultimate stage known Among
+them, that of a confederacy of tribes speaking dialects of the same
+stock language. A coalescence of tribes into a nation had not
+occurred in any case in any part of America.
+
+A constant tendency to disintegration, which has proved such a
+hindrance to progress among savage and barbarous tribes, existed in
+the elements of the gentile organization. It was aggravated by a
+further tendency to divergence of speech, which was inseparable from
+their social state and the large areas of their occupation. An oral
+language, although remarkably persistent in its vocables, and still
+more persistent in its grammatical forms, is incapable of permanence.
+Separation of the people in area was followed in time by variation
+in speech; and this, in turn, led to separation in interests and
+ultimate independence. It was not the work of a brief period, but of
+centuries of time, aggregating finally into thousands of years; and
+the multiplication of the languages and dialects of the different
+families of North and South America probably required for their
+formation the time measured by three ethnical periods.
+
+New tribes, as well as new gentes, were constantly forming by
+natural growth, and the process was sensibly accelerated by the
+great expanse of the American continent. The method was simple. In
+the first place there would occur a gradual outflow of people from
+some overstocked geographical center, which possessed superior
+advantages in the means of subsistence. Continued from year to year,
+a considerable population would thus be developed at a distance from
+the original seat of the tribe In course of time the emigrants would
+become distinct in interests, strangers in feeling, and, last of all,
+divergent in speech. Separation and independence would follow,
+although their territories were contiguous. A new tribe was thus
+created. This is a concise statement of the manner in which the
+tribes of the American aborigines were formed, but the statement
+must be taken as general. Repeating itself from age to age in newly
+acquired as well as in old areas, it must be regarded as a natural
+as well as inevitable result of the gentile organization, united
+with the necessities of their condition. When increased numbers
+pressed upon the means of subsistence, the surplus removed to a new
+seat, where they established themselves with facility, because the
+government was perfect in every gens, and in any number of gentes
+united in a band. Among the Village Indians the same thing repeated
+itself in a slightly different manner. When a village became
+overcrowded with numbers, a colony went up or down on the same
+stream and commenced a new village. Repeated at intervals of time,
+several such villages would appear, each independent of the other
+and a self-governing body, but united in a league or confederacy for
+mutual protection. Dialectic variation would finally spring up, and
+thus complete their growth into tribes.
+
+The manner in which tribes are evolved from each other can be shown
+directly by examples. The fact of separation can be derived in part
+from tradition, in part from the possession by each of a number of
+the same gentes, and deduced in part from the relations of their
+dialects. Tribes formed by the subdivisions of an original tribe
+would possess a number of gentes in common, and speak dialects of
+the same language. After several centuries of separation they would
+still have a number of the same gentes. Thus the Hurons, now Wyandots,
+have six gentes of the same name with six of the gentes of the
+Seneca-Iroquois, after at least four hundred years of separation.
+The Potawattamies have eight gentes of the same name with eight
+among the Ojibwas, while the former have six, and the latter fourteen,
+which are different, showing that new gentes have been formed in
+each tribe by segmentation since their separation. A still older
+offshoot from the Ojibwas, or from the common parent tribe of both,
+the Miamis, have but three gentes in common with the former, namely,
+the Wolf, the Loon, and the Eagle. The minute social history of the
+tribes of the Ganowanian family is locked up in the life and growth
+of the gentes. If investigation is ever turned strongly in this
+direction, the gentes themselves would become reliable guides, in
+respect to the order of separation from each other of the tribes of
+the same stock.
+
+This process of subdivision has been operating among the American
+aborigines for thousands of years, until several hundred tribes have
+been developed from about seventy stocks as existing in as many
+families of language. Their experience, probably was but a
+repetition of that of the tribes of Asia, Europe, and Africa when
+they were in corresponding conditions.
+
+From the preceding observations it is apparent that an American
+Indian tribe is a very simple as well as humble organization. It
+required but a few hundred, and, at most, a few thousand people to
+form a tribe and place it in a respectable position in the
+Ganowanian family.
+
+It remains to present the functions and attributes of an Indian tribe,
+which are contained in the following propositions:
+
+I The possession of a territory and a name
+
+II The exclusive possession of a dialect
+
+III The right to invest sachems and chiefs elected by the gentes.
+
+IV The right to depose these sachems and chiefs
+
+V The possession of a religious faith and worship
+
+VI A supreme government consisting of a council of chiefs
+
+VII A head-chief of the tribe in some instances
+
+For a discussion of these characteristics of a tribe, reference is
+made to Ancient Society, pp. 113-118.
+
+The growth of the idea of government commenced with the organization
+into gentes in savagery. It reveals three great stages of
+progressive development between its commencement and the institution
+of political society after civilization had been attained. The first
+stage was the government of a tribe by a council of chiefs elected
+by the gentes. It may be called a government of one power, namely
+the council. It prevailed generally among tribes in the Lower Status
+of barbarism. The second stage was a government co-ordinated between
+a council of chiefs and a general military commander, one
+representing the civil and the other the military functions. This
+second form began to manifest itself in the Lower Status of
+barbarism after confederacies were formed, and it became definite in
+the Middle Status. The office of general, or principal military
+commander, was the germ of that of a chief executive magistrate, the
+king, the emperor, and the president. It may be called a government
+of two powers, namely, the council of chiefs and the general. The
+third stage was the government of a people or nation by a council of
+chiefs an assembly of the people, and a general military commander.
+It appeared among the tribes who had attained to the Upper Status of
+barbarism, such, for example, as the Homeric Greeks and the Italian
+tribes of the period of Romulus. A Large increase in the number of
+people united in a nation, their establishment in walled cities, and
+the creation of wealth in lands and in flocks and herds, brought in
+the assembly of the people as an instrument of government. The
+council of chiefs, which still remained, found it necessary, no doubt,
+through popular constraint, to submit the most important public
+measures to an assembly of the people for acceptance or rejection;
+whence the popular assembly. This assembly did not originate measures.
+It was its function to adopt or reject, and its action was final.
+From its first appearance it became a permanent power in the
+government. The council no longer passed important public measures,
+but became a preconsidering council, with power to originate and
+mature public acts to which the assembly alone could give validity.
+It may be called a government of three powers, namely, the
+preconsidering council, the assembly of the people, and the general.
+This remained until the institution of political society, when, for
+example, among the Athenians, the council of chiefs became the senate,
+and the assembly of the people the ecclesia or popular assembly. The
+same organizations have come down to modern times in the two houses
+of Parliament, of Congress, and of legislatures. In like manner the
+office of general military commander, as before stated, was the germ
+of the office of the modern chief executive magistrate.
+
+Recurring to the tribe, it was limited in the numbers of the people,
+feeble in strength, and poor in resources; but yet a completely
+organized society. It illustrates the condition of mankind in the
+Lower Status of barbarism. In the Middle Status there was a sensible
+increase of numbers in a tribe, and an improved condition, but with
+a continuance of gentile society without essential change. Political
+society was still impossible from want of advancement. The gentes
+organized into tribes remained as before, but confederacies must
+have been more frequent. In some areas, as in the Valley of Mexico,
+large numbers were developed under a common government, with
+improvements in the arts of life, but no evidence exists of the
+overthrow among them of gentile society and the substitution of
+political. It is impossible to found a political society or a state
+upon gentes. A state must rest upon territory and not upon persons,
+upon the township as the unit of a political system, and not upon
+the gens, which is the unit of a social system. It required time and
+a vast experience, beyond that of the American Indian tribes, as a
+preparation for such a fundamental change of systems. It also
+required men of the mental stature of the Greeks and Romans, and
+with the experience derived from a long chain of ancestors, to
+devise and gradually introduce that new plan of government under
+which civilized nations are living at the present time.
+
+
+
+THE CONFEDERACY OF TRIBES
+
+
+A tendency to confederate for mutual defense would very naturally
+exist among kindred and contiguous tribes. When the advantages of a
+union had been appreciated by actual experience, the organization,
+at first a league, would gradually cement into a federal unity. The
+state of perpetual warfare in which they lived would quicken this
+natural tendency into action among such tribes as were sufficiently
+advanced in intelligence and in the arts of life to perceive its
+benefits. It would be simply a growth from a lower into a higher
+organization by an extension of the principle which united the
+gentes in a tribe.
+
+As might have been expected, several confederacies existed in
+different parts of North America when discovered, some of which were
+quite remarkable in plan and structure. Among the number may be
+mentioned the Iroquois Confederacy of five independent tribes, the
+Creek Confederacy of six, the Ottawa Confederacy of three, the
+Dakota League of the "Seven Council Fires," the Moki Confederacy in
+New Mexico of Seven Pueblos, and the Aztec Confederacy of three
+tribes in the Valley of Mexico. It is probable that the Village
+Indians in other parts of Mexico, in Central and in South America
+were quite generally organized in confederacies consisting of two or
+more kindred tribes. Progress necessarily took this direction from
+the nature of their institutions and from the law governing their
+development. Nevertheless the formation of a confederacy out of such
+materials and with such unstable geographical relations was a
+difficult undertaking. It was easiest of achievement by the Village
+Indians from the nearness to each other of their pueblos and from
+the smallness of their areas; but it was accomplished in occasional
+instances by tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism, and notably by
+the Iroquois. Wherever a confederacy was formed it would of itself
+evince the superior intelligence of the people.
+
+The two highest examples of Indian confederacies in North America
+were those of the Iroquois and of the Aztecs. From their
+acknowledged superiority as military powers, and from their
+geographical positions, these confederacies in both cases produced
+remarkable results. Our knowledge of the structure and principles of
+the former is definite and complete, while of the latter it is far
+from satisfactory. The Aztec Confederacy has been handled in such a
+manner historically as to leave it doubtful whether it was simply a
+league of three kindred tribes, offensive and defensive, or a
+systematic confederacy like that of the Iroquois. That which is true
+of the latter was probably in a general sense true of the former, so
+that a knowledge of one will tend to elucidate the other.
+
+The conditions under which confederacies spring into being and the
+principles on which they are formed are remarkably simple. They grow
+naturally with time out of pre-existing elements. Where one tribe
+had divided into several, and these subdivisions occupied
+independent but contiguous territories, the confederacy reintegrated
+them in a higher organization on the basis of the common gentes they
+possessed and of the affiliated dialects they spoke. The sentiment
+of kin embodied in the gens, the common lineage of the gentes, and
+their dialects, still mutually intelligible, yielded the material
+elements for a confederation. The confederacy, therefore, had the
+gentes for its basis and center, and stock language for its
+circumference. No one has been found that reached beyond the bounds
+of the dialects of a common language. If this natural barrier had
+been crossed it would have forced heterogeneous elements into the
+organization. Cases have occurred where the remains of a tribe, not
+cognate in speech, as the Natchez, [Footnote: They were admitted
+into the Creek Confederacy after their overthrow by the French.]
+have been admitted into an existing confederacy, but this exception
+would not invalidate the general proposition. It was impossible for
+an Indian power to arise upon the American continent through a
+confederacy of tribes organized in gentes, and advance to a general
+supremacy, unless their numbers were developed from their own stock.
+The multitude of stock languages is a standing explanation of the
+failure. There was no possible way of becoming connected on equal
+terms with a confederacy excepting through membership in a gens and
+tribe and a common speech.
+
+The Iroquois have furnished an excellent illustration of the manner
+in which a confederacy is formed by natural growth assisted by
+skillful legislation. Originally emigrants from beyond the
+Mississippi, and possibly a branch of the Dakota stock, they first
+made their way to the valley of the St. Lawrence and settled
+themselves near Montreal. Forced to leave this region by the
+hostility of surrounding tribes, they sought the central region of
+New York. Coasting the eastern shore of Lake Ontario in canoes, for
+their numbers were small, they made their first settlement at the
+mouth of the Oswego River, where, according to their traditions,
+they remained for a long period of time. They were then in at least
+three distinct tribes, the Mohawks, the Onondagas, and the Senecas.
+One tribe subsequently established themselves at the head of the
+Canandaigua Lake and became the Senecas. Another tribe occupied the
+Onondaga Valley and became the Onondagas. The third passed eastward
+and settled first at Oneida, near the site of Utica, from which
+place the main portion removed to the Mohawk Valley and became the
+Mohawks. Those who remained became the Oneidas. A portion of the
+Onondagas or Senecas settled along the eastern shore of the Cayuga
+Lake and became the Cayugas. New York, before its occupation by the
+Iroquois, seems to have been a part of the area of the Algonkin
+tribes. According to Iroquois traditions, they displaced its
+anterior inhabitants as they gradually extended their settlements
+eastward to the Hudson and westward to the Genesee. Their traditions
+further declare that a long period of time elapsed after their
+settlement in New York before the confederacy was formed, during
+which they made common cause against their enemies, and thus
+experienced the advantages of the federal principle both for
+aggression and defense. They resided in villages, which were usually
+surrounded with stockades, and subsisted upon fish and game and the
+products of a limited horticulture. In numbers they did not at any
+time exceed 20,000 souls, if they ever reached that number.
+Precarious subsistence and incessant warfare repressed numbers in
+all the aboriginal tribes, including the Village Indians as well.
+The Iroquois were enshrouded in the great forests which then
+overspread New York, against which they had no power to contend.
+They were first discovered A. D. 1608. About 1675 they attained
+their culminating point, when their dominion reached over an area
+remarkably large, covering the greater parts of New York,
+Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and portions of Canada north of Lake Ontario.
+[Footnote: About 1651-1655 they expelled their kindred tribes, the
+Eries, from the region between the Genesee River and Lake Erie, and
+shortly afterwards the Neutral Nations from the Niagara River, and
+thus came into possession of the remainder of New York, with the
+exception of the Lower Hudson and Long Island.]
+
+At the time of their discovery they were the highest representatives
+of the red race north of New Mexico in intelligence and advancement,
+though perhaps inferior to some of the Gulf tribes in the arts of
+life. In the extent and quality of their mental endowments they must
+be ranked among the highest Indians in America. There are over six
+thousand Iroquois in New York, besides scattered bands in other
+parts of the United States, and a still larger number in Canada;
+thus illustrating the efficiency as well as persistency of the arts
+of barbarous life in sustaining existence. It is, moreover, now
+ascertained that they are slowly increasing.
+
+When the confederacy was formed, about A. D. 1400-1450, the
+conditions previously named were present. [Footnote: The Iroquois
+claimed that it had existed from one hundred and fifty to two
+hundred years when they first saw Europeans. The generations of
+sachems in the history by David Cusick (a Tuscarora) would make it
+more ancient. Schoolcraft's History, Condition and Prospects of the
+Indian Tribes, 5, p. 631.]
+
+The Iroquois were in five independent tribes, occupied territories
+contiguous to each other, and spoke dialects of the same language
+which were mutually intelligible. Beside these facts, certain gentes
+were common in the several tribes, as has been shown. In their
+relations to each other, as separated parts of the same gens, these
+common gentes afforded a natural and enduring basis for a confederacy.
+With these elements existing, the formation of a confederacy became
+a question of intelligence and skill. Other tribes in large numbers
+were standing in precisely the same relations in different parts of
+the continent without confederating. The fact that the Iroquois
+tribes accomplished the work affords evidence of their superior
+capacity. Moreover, as the confederacy was the ultimate stage of
+organization among the American aborigines, its existence would be
+expected in the most intelligent tribes only.
+
+It is affirmed by the Iroquois that the confederacy was formed by a
+council of wise men and chiefs of the five tribes which met for that
+purpose on the north shore of Onondaga Lake, near the site of
+Syracuse; and that before its session was concluded the organization
+was perfected and set in immediate operation. At their periodical
+councils for raising up sachems they still explain its origin as the
+result of one protracted effort of legislation. It was probably a
+consequence of a previous alliance for mutual defense, the
+advantages of which they had perceived and which they sought to
+render permanent.
+
+The origin of the plan is ascribed to a mythical, or, at least,
+traditionary person, Ha-yo-went-ha, the Hiawatha of Longfellow's
+celebrated poem, who was present at this council and the central
+person in its management. In his communications with the council he
+used a wise man of the Onondagas, Da-ga-no-we'-da, as an interpreter
+and speaker to expound the structure and principles of the proposed
+confederacy. The same tradition further declares that when the work
+was accomplished Ha-yo-went-ha miraculously disappeared in a white
+canoe, which arose with him in the air and bore him out of their
+sight. Other prodigies, according to this tradition, attended and
+signalized the formation of the confederacy, which is still
+celebrated among them as a masterpiece of Indian wisdom. Such in
+truth it was; and it will remain in history as a monument of their
+genius in developing gentile institutions. It will also be
+remembered as an illustration of what tribes of mankind have been
+able to accomplish in the art of government while in the Lower
+Status of barbarism, and under the disadvantages this condition
+implies.
+
+Which of the two persona was the founder of the confederacy it is
+difficult to determine. The silent Ha-yo-went'-ha was, not unlikely,
+a real person of Iroquois lineage, but tradition has enveloped his
+character so completely in the supernatural that he loses his place
+among them as one of their number. If Hiawatha were a real person,
+Da-ga-no-we'-da must hold a subordinate place; but if a mythical
+person invoked for the occasion, then to the latter belongs the
+credit of planning the confederacy. [Footnote: My friend Horatio Hale,
+the eminent philologist, came, as he informed me, to this conclusion]
+
+The Iroquois affirm that the confederacy, as formed by this council,
+with its powers, functions, and mode of administration, has come
+down to them through many generations to the present time with
+scarcely a change in its internal organization. When the Tuscaroras
+were subsequently admitted, their sachems were allowed by courtesy
+to sit as equals in the general council, but the original number of
+sachems was not increased, and in strictness those of the Tuscaroras
+formed no part of the ruling body.
+
+The general features of the Iroquois Confederacy may be summarized
+in the following propositions:
+
+I. The Confederacy was a union of Five Tribes, composed of common
+gentes, under one government on the basis of equality; each Tribe
+remaining independent in all matters pertaining to local
+self-government.
+
+II. It created a General Council of Sachems, who were limited in
+number, equal in rank and authority, and invested with supreme
+powers over all matters pertaining to the Confederacy.
+
+III. Fifty Sachemships were created and named in perpetuity in
+certain gentes of the several Tribes; with power in these gentes to
+fill vacancies, as often as they occurred, by election from among
+their respective members, and with the further power to depose from
+office for cause; but the right to invest these Sachems with office
+was reserved to the General Council.
+
+IV. The Sachems of the Confederacy were also Sachems in their
+respective Tribes, and with the Chiefs of these Tribes formed the
+Council of each, which was supreme over all matters pertaining to
+the Tribe exclusively.
+
+V. Unanimity in the Council of the Confederacy was made essential to
+every public act.
+
+VI. In the General Council the Sachems voted by Tribes, which gave
+to each Tribe a negative upon the others.
+
+VII. The Council of each Tribe had power to convene the General
+Council; but the latter had no power to convene itself.
+
+VIII. The General Council was open to the orators of the people for
+the discussion of public questions; but the Council alone decided.
+
+IX. The Confederacy had no chief Executive Magistrate or official
+head.
+
+X. Experiencing the necessity for a General Military Commander, they
+created the office in a dual form, that one might neutralize the
+other. The two principal War-chiefs created were made equal in powers.
+
+These several propositions will be considered and illustrated, but
+without following the precise form or order in which they are stated.
+
+At the institution of the confederacy fifty permanent sachemships
+were created and named, and made perpetual in the gentes to which
+they were assigned. With the exception of two, which were filled but
+once, they have been held by as many different persons in succession
+as generations have passed away between that time and the present.
+The name of each sachemship is also the personal name of each sachem
+while he holds the office each one in succession taking the name of
+his predecessor. These sachems, when in session, formed the council
+of the confederacy in which the legislative, executive, and judicial
+powers were vested, although such a discrimination of functions had
+not come to be made. To secure order in the succession, the several
+gentes in which these offices were made hereditary were empowered to
+elect successors from among their respective members when vacancies
+occurred as elsewhere explained. As a further measure of protection
+to their own body, each sachem, after his election and its
+confirmation, was invested with his office by a council of the
+confederacy. When thus installed his name was "taken away" and that
+of the sachemship was bestowed upon him. By this name he was
+afterwards known among them. They were all upon equality in rank
+authority, and privileges.
+
+These sachemships were distributed unequally among the five tribes;
+but without giving to either a preponderance of power; and unequally
+among the gentes of the last three tribes. The Mohawks had nine
+sachems, the Oneidas nine, the Onondagas fourteen, the Cayugas ten,
+and the Senecas eight. This was the number at first, and it has
+remained the number to the present time. A table of these sachemships,
+founded at the institution of the Confederacy with the names which
+have been borne by their sachems in succession from its formation to
+the present time, is subjoined, with their names in the Seneca
+dialect, and their arrangement in classes to facilitate the
+attainment of unanimity in council. In foot-notes will be found the
+signification of these names, and the gentes to which they belonged:
+[Footnote: These names signify as follows:]
+
+  Table of sachemships of the Iroquois.
+
+  MOHAWKS.
+
+  One.
+     1. Da-go-e'-o-ge.   [Footnote: "Neutral," or "The Shield."]
+     2. Ho-yo-went'-ha.  [Footnote: "Man who Combs."]
+     3. Da-go-no-we'-do. [Footnote: "Inexhaustible."]
+
+  Two.
+     4. So-o-e-wo'-ah.   [Footnote: "Small Speech."]
+     5. Da-yo'-ho-go.    [Footnote: "At the Forks."]
+     6. O-o-o'-go-wo.    [Footnote: "At the Great River."]
+
+  Three.
+     7. Da-an-no-go'-e-neh.    [Footnote: "Dragging His Horns."]
+     8. So-da'-go-e-wo-deh.    [Footnote: "Even Tempered."]
+     9. Hos-do-weh'-se-ont-ho. [Footnote: "Hanging up Rattles."
+           Thee sachems in class One belonged to
+           the Turtle gens, in class Two to the Wolf gens, and in
+           class Three to the Bear gens.]
+
+  ONEDIAS.
+
+  One.
+     1. Ho-dos'-ho-the.    [Footnote: "A man bearing a Burden."]
+     2. Ga-no-gweh'-yo-do. [Footnote: "A Man covered in Cat-tail Down."]
+     3. Da-yo-ho'-gwen-da. [Footnote: "Opening through the Woods."]
+
+  Two.
+     4. So-no-sase'.          [Footnote: "A Long String."]
+     5. To-no-o-ge-o.         [Footnote: "A Man with a Headache."]
+     6. Ho-de-o-dun-nent'-ho. [Footnote: "Swallowing Himself."]
+
+  Three.
+     7. Da-wo-do'-o-do-yo.   [Footnote: "Place of the Echo."]
+     8. Go-ne-o-dus'-ha-yeh. [Footnote: "War-clubs on the Ground."]
+     9. Ho-wus'-ho-da-o.     [Footnote: "A man Steaming Himself."
+           The sachems in the first class belong to Wolf gens,
+           in the second the Turtle gens, and in the third to
+           the Bear gens.]
+
+  ONONDAGAS.
+
+  One.
+     1. To-do-do'-ho.   [Footnote: "Tangled," Bear gens.]
+     2. To-nes'-sa-ah.
+     3. Da-ot'-ga-dose. [Footnote: "On the Watch,"
+           Bear gens. This sachem and the one before him were
+           hereditary councillors of the To-do-do'-ho, who
+           held the most illustrious sachemship.]
+
+  Two.
+     4. Go-neo-do'-je-wake. [Footnote: "Bitter Body," Snipe gens.]
+     5. Ah-wo'-ga-yat.      [Footnote: Turtle gens.]
+     6. Da-o-yat'-gwo-e.    [Footnote: Not ascertained.]
+
+  Three.
+     7. Ho-no-we-ne-to.     [Footnote: This sachem was hereditary
+           keeper of the wampum; Wolf gens.]
+
+  Four.
+     8.  Go-we-ne'-san-do. [Footnote: Deer gens]
+     9.  Ho-e'-ho.         [Footnote: Deer gens]
+     10. Ho-yo-ne-o'-ne.   [Footnote: Turtle gens]
+     11. Sa-do'-kwo-seh.   [Footnote: Bear gens]
+
+  Five.
+     12. So-go-ga-ho'.   [Footnote: "Having a Glimpse," Deer gens.]
+     13. Ho-sa-ho'-do.   [Footnote: "Large Mouth," Turtle gens.]
+     14. Sko-no'-wun-de. [Footnote: "Over the Creek" Turtle gens.]
+
+  CAYUGAS.
+
+  One.
+     1. Da-go'-ne-yo.       [Footnote: "Man Frightened," Deer gens.]
+     2. Da-je-no'-do-web-o. [Footnote: Heron gens.]
+     3. Go-do-gwa-sa.       [Footnote: Bear gens.]
+     4. So-yo-wase.         [Footnote: Bear gens.]
+     5. Ho-de-os'yo-no.     [Footnote: Turtle gens.]
+
+  Two.
+     6. Da-yo-o-yo'go.   [Footnote: Not ascertained.]
+     7. Jote-ho-weh'-ko. [Footnote: "Very Cold," Turtle gens.]
+     8. De-o-wate'-ho.   [Footnote: Heron gens.]
+
+  Three.
+     9.  To-do-e-ho'. [Footnote: Snipe gens.]
+     10. Des-go'-heh. [Footnote: Snipe gens.]
+
+  SENECAS.
+
+  One.
+     1. Ga-ne-o-di'-yo.   [Footnote: "Handsome Lake," Turtle gens.]
+     2. So-do-go'-o-yase. [Footnote: "Level Heavens," Snipe gens.]
+
+  Two.
+     3. Go-no-gi'-e.   [Footnote: Turtle gens.]
+     4. So-geh'-jo-wo. [Footnote: "Great Forehead." Hawk gens.]
+
+  Three.
+     5. So-de-a-no'-wus.   [Footnote: "Assistant," Bear gens.]
+     6. Nis-ho-ne-a'-nent. [Footnote: "Falling Day," Snipe gens.]
+
+  Four.
+     7. Go-no-go-e-do'-we. [Footnote: "Hair Burned Off." Snipe gens.]
+     8. Do-ne-ho-go'-weh.  [Footnote: "Open Door," Wolf gens.]
+
+Two of these sachemships have been filled but once since their
+creation. Ho-yo-went'-ho and Da-go-no-we'-da consented to take the
+office among the Mohawk sachems, and to leave their names in the
+list upon condition that after their demise the two should remain
+thereafter vacant. They were installed upon these terms, and the
+stipulation has been observed to the present day. At all councils
+for the investiture of sachems their names are still called with the
+others as a tribute of respect to their memory. The general council,
+therefore, consisted of but forty-eight members.
+
+Each sachem had an assistant sachem, who was elected by the gens of
+his principal from among its members, and who was installed with the
+same forms and ceremonies. He was styled an "aid." It was his duty
+to stand behind his superior on all occasions of ceremony, to act as
+his messenger, and in general to be subject to his directions. It
+gave to the aid the office of chief and rendered probable his
+election as the successor of his principal after the decease of the
+latter. In their figurative language these aids of the sachems were
+styled "Braces in the Long House," which symbolized the confederacy.
+
+The names bestowed upon the original sachems became the names of
+their respective successors in perpetuity. For example, upon the
+demise of Go-ne-o-di'-yo, one of the eight Seneca sachems, his
+successor would be elected by the Turtle gens in which this
+sachemship was hereditary, and when raised up by the general council
+he would receive this name, in place of his own, as a part of the
+ceremony. On several different occasions I have attended their
+councils for raising up sachems both at the Onondaga and Seneca
+reservations, and witnessed the ceremonies herein referred to.
+Although but a shadow of the old confederacy now remains, it is
+fully organized with its complement of sachems and aids, with the
+exception of the Mohawk tribe, which removed to Canada about 1775.
+Whenever vacancies occur their places are filled, and a general
+council is convened to install the new sachems and their aids. The
+present Iroquois are also perfectly familiar with the structure and
+principles of the ancient confederacy.
+
+For all purposes of tribal government the five tribes were
+independent of each other. Their territories were separated by fixed
+boundary lines, and their tribal interests were distinct. The eight
+Seneca sachems, in conjunction with the other Seneca chiefs, formed
+the council of the tribe by which its affairs were administered,
+leaving to each of the other tribes the same control over their
+separate interests. As an organization the tribe was neither
+weakened nor impaired by the confederate compact. Each was in
+vigorous life within its appropriate sphere, presenting some analogy
+to our own States within an embracing Republic. It is worthy of
+remembrance that the Iroquois commended to our forefathers a union
+of the colonies similar to their own as early as 1755. They saw in
+the common interests and common speech of the several colonies the
+elements for a confederation, which was as far as their vision was
+able to penetrate.
+
+The tribes occupied positions of entire equality in the confederacy
+in rights, privileges, and obligations. Such special immunities as
+were granted to one or another indicate no intention to establish an
+unequal compact or to concede unequal privileges. There were organic
+provisions apparently investing particular tribes with superior power;
+as, for example, the Onondagas were allowed fourteen sachems and the
+Senecas but eight; and a larger body of sachems would naturally
+exercise a stronger influence in council than a smaller. But in this
+case it gave no additional power, because the sachems of each tribe
+had an equal voice in forming a decision, and a negative upon the
+others. When in council they agreed by tribes, and unanimity in
+opinion was essential to every public act. The Onondagas were made
+"Keepers of the Wampum," and "Keepers of the Council Brand," the
+Mohawks "Receivers of Tribute" from subjugated tribes, and the
+Senecas "Keepers of the Door" of the Long House. These and some
+other similar provisions were made for the common advantage.
+
+The cohesive principle of the confederacy did not spring exclusively
+from the benefits of an alliance for mutual protection, but had a
+deeper foundation in the bond of kin. The confederacy rested upon
+the tribes ostensibly, but primarily upon common gentes. All the
+members of the same gens, whether Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas,
+Cayugas, or Senecas, were brothers and sisters to each other in
+virtue of their descent from the same common ancestor, and they
+recognized each other as such with the fullest cordiality. When they
+met, the first inquiry was the name of each other's gens, and next
+the immediate pedigree of their respective sachems; after which they
+were usually able to find, under their peculiar system of
+consanguinity the relationship in which they stood to each other.
+[Footnote: The children of brothers are themselves brothers and
+sisters to each other; the children of the latter were also brothers
+and sisters, and so downwards indefinitely. The children and
+descendants of sisters are the same. The children of a brother and
+sister are cousins; the children of the latter are cousins, and so
+downwards indefinitely. A knowledge of the relationships to each
+other of the members of the same gens is never lost.]
+
+Three of the gentes--namely, the Wolf, Bear, and Turtle--were common
+to the five tribes; these and three others were common to three
+tribes. In effect, the Wolf gens, through the division of an
+original tribe into five, was now in five divisions, one of which
+was in each tribe. It was the same with the Bear and the Turtle
+gentes. The Deer, Snipe, and Hawk gentes were common to the Senecas,
+Cayugas, and Onondagas. Between the separated parts of each gens,
+although its members spoke different dialects of the same language,
+there existed a fraternal connection which linked the nations
+together with indissoluble bonds. When the Mohawk of the Wolf gens
+recognized an Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, or Seneca of the same gens
+as a brother, and when the members of the other divided gentes did
+the same, the relationship was not ideal, but a fact founded upon
+consanguinity, and upon faith in an assured lineage older than their
+dialects and coeval with their unity as one people. In the
+estimation of an Iroquois every member of his gens, in whatever tribe,
+was as certainly a kinsman as an own brother. This cross
+relationship between persons of the same gens in the different
+tribes is still preserved and recognized among them in all its
+original force. It explains the tenacity with which the fragments of
+the old confederacy still cling together. If either of the five
+tribes had seceded from the confederacy it would have severed the
+bond of kin, although this would have been felt but slightly. But
+had they fallen into collision it would have turned the gens of the
+Wolf against their gentile kindred, Bear against Bear; in a word,
+brother against brother. The history of the Iroquois demonstrates
+the reality as well as persistency of the bond kin, and the fidelity
+with which it was respected. During the long period through which
+the confederacy endured they never fell into anarchy nor ruptured
+the organization.
+
+The "Long House" (Ho-de'-no-sote) was made the symbol of the
+confederacy, and they styled themselves the "People of the Long House"
+(Ho-e'-no-sau-nee). [Footnote: The Long House was not peculiar to
+the Iroquois, but used by many other tribes, as the Powhattan
+Indians of Virginia, the Nyacks of Long Island, and other tribes.]
+
+This was the name, and the only name, with which they distinguished
+themselves. The confederacy produced a gentile society more complex
+than that of a single tribe, but it was still distinctively a
+gentile society. It was, however, a stage of progress in the
+direction of a nation, for nationality is reached under gentile
+institutions. Coalescence is the last stage in this process. The
+four Athenian tribes coalesced in Attica into a nation by the
+intermingling of the tribes in the same area, and by the gradual
+disappearance of geographical lines between them. The tribal names
+and organizations remained in full vitality as before, but without
+the basis of an independent territory. When political society was
+instituted on the basis of the deme or township, and all the
+residents of the deme became a body politic, irrespective of their
+gens or tribe, the coalescence became complete.
+
+The coalescence of the Latin and Sabrae gentes into the Roman people
+and nation was a result of the same processes. In all alike the gens,
+phratry and tribe were the first three stages of organization. The
+confederacy followed as the fourth. But it does not appear, either
+among the Grecian or Latin tribes in the Later Period of barbarism,
+that it became more than a loose league for offensive and defensive
+purposes. Of the nature and details of organization of the Grecian
+and Latin confederacies our knowledge is limited and imperfect,
+because the facts are buried in the obscurity of the traditionary
+period. The process of coalescence arises later than the confederacy
+in gentile society; but it was a necessary as well as a vital stage
+of progress by means of which the nation, the state, and political
+society were at last attained. Among the Iroquois tribes it had not
+manifested itself.
+
+The valley of Onondaga, as the seat of the central tribe, and the
+place where the Council Brand was supposed to be perpetually burning,
+was the usual though not the exclusive place for holding the
+councils of the confederacy. In ancient times it was summoned to
+convene in the autumn of each year but public exigencies often
+rendered its meetings more frequent. Each tribe had power to summon
+the council, and to appoint the time and place of meeting at the
+council house of either tribe, when circumstances rendered a change
+from the usual place at Onondaga desirable. But the council had no
+power to convene itself.
+
+Originally the principal object of the council was to raise up
+sachems to fill vacancies in the ranks of the ruling body occasioned
+by death or deposition; but it transacted all other business which
+concerned the common welfare. In course of time, as they multiplied
+in numbers and their intercourse with foreign tribes became more
+extended, the council fell into three distinct kinds, which may be
+distinguished as Civil, Mourning, and Religious. The first declared
+war and made peace, sent and received embassies, entered into
+treaties with foreign tribes, regulated the affairs of subjugated
+tribes, and took all needful measures to promote the general welfare.
+The second raised up sachems and invested them with office. It
+received the name of Mourning Council because the first of its
+ceremonies was the lament for the deceased ruler whose vacant place
+was to be filled. The third was held for the observance of a general
+religious festival. It was made an occasion for the confederated
+tribes to unite under the auspices of a general council in the
+observance of common religions rites; but as the Mourning Council
+was attended with many of the same ceremonies it came in time to
+answer for both. It is now the only council they hold, as the civil
+powers of the confederacy terminated with the supremacy over them of
+the state.
+
+When the sachems met in council at the time and place appointed, and
+the usual reception ceremony had been performed, they arranged
+themselves in two divisions and seated themselves upon opposite
+sides of the council-fire. Upon one side were the Mohawk, Onondaga,
+and Seneca sachems. The tribes they represented were, when in council,
+brother tribes to each other and father tribes to the other two. In
+like manner their sachems were brothers to each other and fathers to
+those opposite. They constituted a phratry of tribes and of sachems,
+by an extension of the principle which united gentes in a phratry.
+On the opposite side of the fire were the Oneida and Cayuga and at a
+later day the Tuscarora sachems. The tribes they represented were
+brother tribes to each other and son tribes to the opposite three.
+Their sachems also were brothers to each other, and sons of those in
+the opposite division. They formed a second tribal phratry. As the
+Oneidas were a subdivision of the Mohawks, and the Cayugas a
+subdivision of the Onondagas or Senecas, they were in reality junior
+tribes; whence their relation of seniors and juniors, and the
+application of the phratric principle. When the tribes are named in
+council the Mohawks, by precedence, are mentioned first. Their
+tribal epithet was "The Shield" (Da-go-e-o'-do). The Onondagas came
+next, under the epithet of "Name-Bearer" (Ho-de-san-no'-ge-to),
+because they had been appointed to select and name the fifty
+original sachems. Next in the order of precedence were the Senecas,
+under the epithet of "Door-Keeper" (Ho-nan-ne-ho'-ont). They were
+made perpetual keepers of the western door of the Long House. The
+Oneidas, under the epithet of "Great Tree" (Ne-ar'-de-on dar'-go-war),
+and the Cayugas, under that of "Great Pipe" (So-nus'-ho-gwar-to-war),
+were named fourth and fifth. The Tuscaroras, who came late into the
+confederacy, were named last, and had no distinguishing epithet.
+Forms, such as these, were more important in ancient society than we
+would be apt to suppose.
+
+Unanimity among the sachems was required upon all public questions,
+and essential to the validity of every public act. It was a
+fundamental law of the confederacy. They adopted a method for
+ascertaining the opinions of the members of the council which
+dispensed with the necessity of casting votes. Moreover, they were
+entirely unacquainted with the principle of majorities and
+minorities in the action of councils. They voted in council by tribes,
+and the sachems of each tribe were required to be of one mind to
+form a decision. Recognizing unanimity as a necessary principle, the
+founders of the confederacy divided the sachems of each tribe into
+classes as a means for its attainment. This will be seen by
+consulting the table (supra, p 30). No sachem was allowed to express
+an opinion in council in the nature of a vote until he had first
+agreed with the sachem or sachems of his class upon the opinion to
+be expressed, and had been appointed to act as speaker for the class.
+Thus the eight Seneca sachems being in four classes, could have but
+four opinions, and the ten Cayuga sachems, being in the same number
+of classes, could have but four. In this manner the sachems in each
+class were first brought to unanimity among themselves. A
+cross-consultation was then held between the four sachems appointed
+to speak for the four classes; and when they had agreed they
+designated one of their number to express their resulting opinion,
+which was the answer of their tribe. When the sachems of the several
+tribes had, by this ingenious method, become of one mind separately,
+it remained to compare their several opinions, and if they agreed
+the decision of the council was made. If they failed of agreement
+the measure was defeated and the council was at an end. The five
+persons appointed to express the decision of the five tribes may
+possibly explain the appointment and the functions of the six
+electors, so called, in the Aztec confederacy.
+
+By this method of gaining assent the equality and independence of
+the several tribes were recognized and preserved. If any sachem was
+obdurate or unreasonable, influences were brought to bear upon him,
+through the preponderating sentiment, which he could not well resist,
+so that it seldom happened that inconvenience or detriment resulted
+from their adherence to the rule. Whenever all efforts to procure
+unanimity had failed, the whole matter was laid aside because
+further action had become impossible.
+
+Under a confederacy of tribes the office of general, "Great War
+Soldier," (Hos-go-o-geh'-da-go-wo), makes its first appearance.
+Cases would now arise when the several tribes in their confederate
+capacity would be engaged in war, and the necessity for a
+general commander to direct the movements of the united bands
+would be felt. The introduction of this office as a permanent
+feature in the government was a great event in the history of human
+progress. It was the beginning of a differentiation of the military
+from the civil power, which, when completed, changed essentially the
+external manifestation of the government; but even in later stages
+of progress, when the military spirit predominated, the essential
+character of the government was not changed. Gentilism arrested
+usurpation. With the rise of the office of general, the government
+was gradually changed from a government of one power into a
+government of two powers. The functions of government became, in
+course of time, co-ordinated between the two. This new office was
+the germ of that of a chief executive magistrate for out of the
+general came the king, the emperor, and the president, as elsewhere
+suggested. The office sprang from the military necessities of
+society and had a logical development.
+
+When the Iroquois confederacy was formed, or soon after that event
+two permanent war-chiefships were created and named, and both were
+assigned to the Seneca tribe. One of them (Ta-wan'-ne-ars,
+signifying needle-breaker) was made hereditary in the Wolf, and the
+other (So-no'-so-wo, signifying great oyster shell) in the Turtle
+gens. The reason assigned for giving them both to the Senecas was
+the greater danger of attack at the west end of their territories.
+They were elected in the same manner as the sachems, were raised up
+by a general council, and were equal in rank and power. Another
+account states that they were created later. They discovered
+immediately after the confederacy was formed that the structure of
+the Long House was incomplete, because there were no officers to
+execute the military commands of the confederacy. A council was
+convened to remedy the omission, which established the two perpetual
+war-chiefs named. As general commanders they had charge of the
+military affairs of the confederacy and the command of its joint
+forces when united in a general expedition. Governor Blacksnake,
+recently deceased, held the office first named, thus showing that
+the succession has been regularly maintained. The creation of two
+principal war-chiefs instead of one, and with equal powers, argues a
+subtle and calculating policy to prevent the domination of a single
+man even in their military affairs. They did without experience
+precisely as the Romans did in creating two consuls instead of one,
+after they had abolished the office of rex. Two consuls would
+balance the military power between them, and prevent either from
+becoming supreme. Among the Iroquois this office never became
+influential.
+
+In Indian ethnography the subjects of primary importance are the gens,
+phratry, tribe, and confederacy. They exhibit the organization of
+society. Next to these are the tenure and functions of the office of
+sachem and chief, the functions of the council of chiefs, and the
+tenure and functions of the office of principal war-chief. When
+these are ascertained the structure and principles of their
+governmental system will be known. A knowledge of their usages and
+customs, of their arts and inventions, and of their plan of life
+will then fill out the picture. In the work of American
+investigators too little attention has been given to the former.
+They still afford a rich field in which much information may be
+gathered. Our knowledge, which is now general, should be made minute
+and comparative. The Indian tribes in the Lower and in the Middle
+Status of barbarism represent two of the great stages of progress
+from savagery to civilization. Our own remote forefathers passed
+through the same conditions, one after the other, and possessed,
+there can scarcely be a doubt, the same, or very similar institutions,
+with many of the same usages and customs. However little we may be
+interested in the American Indians personally, their experience
+touches us more nearly, as an exemplification of the experience of
+our own ancestors. Our primary institutions root themselves in a
+prior gentile society in which the gens, phratry, and tribe were the
+organic series, and in which the council of chiefs was the
+instrument of government. The phenomena of their ancient society
+must have presented many points in common with that of the Iroquois
+and other Indian tribes. This view of the matter lends an additional
+interest to the study of comparative institutions of mankind.
+
+The Iroquois confederacy is an excellent exemplification of a
+gentile society under this form of organization. It seems to realize
+all the capabilities of gentile institutions in the Lower Status of
+barbarism, leaving an opportunity for further development, but no
+subsequent plan of government until the institutions of political
+society, founded upon territory and upon property, with the
+establishment of which the gentile organization would be overthrown.
+The intermediate stages were transitional, remaining military
+democracies to the end, except where tyrannies founded upon
+usurpation were temporarily established in their places. The
+confederacy of the Iroquois was essentially democratic, because it
+was composed of gentes each of which was organized upon the common
+principles of democracy, not of the highest but of the primitive type;
+and because the tribes reserved the right of local self-government.
+They conquered other tribes and held them in subjection, as for
+example the Delawares; but the latter remained under the government
+of their own chiefs, and added nothing to the strength of the
+confederacy. It was impossible in this state of society to unite
+tribes under one government who spoke different languages, or to
+hold conquered tribes under tribute with any benefit but the tribute.
+
+This exposition of the Iroquois confederacy is far from exhaustive
+of the facts, but it has been carried far enough to answer my
+present object. The Iroquois were a vigorous and intelligent people,
+with a brain approaching in volume the Aryan average. Eloquent in
+oratory, vindictive in war, and indomitable in perseverance, they
+have gained a place in history. If their military achievements are
+dreary with the atrocities of savage warfare, they have illustrated
+some of the highest virtues of mankind in their relations with each
+other. The confederacy which they organized must be regarded as a
+remarkable production of wisdom and sagacity. One of its avowed
+objects was peace--to remove the cause of strife by uniting their
+tribes under one government, and then extending it by incorporating
+other tribes of the same name and lineage. They urged the Eries and
+the Neutral Nation to become members of the confederacy, and for
+their refusal expelled them from their borders. Such an insight into
+the highest objects of government is creditable to their intelligence.
+Their numbers were small, but they counted in their ranks a large
+number of able men. This proves the high grade of the stock.
+
+[Footnote: For the prevalence of the organization into gentes or
+clans among the Indian tribes, see Ancient Society, ch. vi. Since
+the publication of that work the same organization has been found by
+Mr. Bandelier by personal exploration among the Pueblo tribes in New
+Mexico, who speak the Queris language, among whom his work thus far
+has been confined. Descent is in the female line. The same
+indefatigable student has found very satisfactory evidence of the
+same organization among the ancient Mexicans. (See article on
+"The Social Organization and Mode of Government of the Ancient
+Mexicans," Peabody Museum, Twelfth Annual Report, p. 576.) He has
+also found additional evidence of the same organization among the
+Sedentary Tribes in Central America. It seems highly probable that
+this organization was anciently universal among the tribes in the
+Ganowanian family.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY AND ITS GENERAL PRACTICE.
+
+
+When America was discovered in its several parts the Indian tribes
+were found in dissimilar conditions. The least advanced tribes were
+without the art of pottery, and without horticulture, and were,
+therefore, in savagery. But in the arts of life they were advanced
+as far as is implied by its Upper Status, which found them in
+possession of the bow and arrow. Such were the tribes in the Valley
+of the Columbia, in the Hudson Bay Territory, in parts of Canada,
+California, and Mexico, and some of the coast tribes of South America.
+The use of pottery, and the cultivation of maize and plants, were
+unknown among them. They depended for subsistence upon fish, bread,
+roots, and game. The second class were intermediate between them and
+the Village Indians. They subsisted upon fish and game and the
+products of a limited horticulture, and were in the Lower Status of
+barbarism. Such were the Iroquois, the New England and Virginia
+Indians, the Creeks, Cherokees, and Choctaws, the Shawnees, Miamis,
+Mandans, Minmtarees, and other tribes of the United States east of
+the Missouri River, together with certain tribes of Mexico and South
+America in the same condition of advancement. Many of them lived in
+villages, some of which were stockaded, but village life was not as
+distinctive and common among them as it was among the most advanced
+tribes. The third class were the Village Indians proper, who
+depended almost exclusively upon horticulture for subsistence,
+cultivating maize and plants by irrigation. They constructed joint
+tenement houses of adobe bricks and of stone, usually more than one
+story high. Such were the tribes of New Mexico, Mexico, Central
+America, and upon the plateau of the Andes. These tribes were in the
+Middle Status of barbarism.
+
+The weapons, arts, usages, and customs, inventions, architecture,
+institutions, and form of government of all alike bear the impress
+of a common mind, and reveal, in their wide range, the successive
+stages of development of the same original conceptions. Our first
+mistake consisted in overrating the degree of advancement of the
+Village Indians, in comparison with that of the other tribes; our
+second in underrating that of the latter; from which resulted a third,
+that of separating one from the other, and regarding them as
+different races. The evidence of their unity of origin has now
+accumulated to such a degree as to leave no reasonable doubt upon
+the question. The first two classes of tribes always held the
+preponderating power, at least in North America, and furnished the
+migrating bands which replenished the ranks of the Village Indians,
+as well as the continent, with inhabitants. It remained for the
+Village Indians to invent the process of smelting iron ore to attain
+to the Upper Status of barbarism, and, beyond that, to invent a
+phonetic alphabet to reach the first stage of civilization. One
+entire ethnical period intervened between the highest class of
+Indians and the beginning of civilization.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end.]
+
+It seems singular that the Village Indians, who first became
+possessed of maize, the great American cereal, and of the art of
+cultivation, did not rise to supremacy over the continent. With
+their increased numbers and more stable subsistence they might have
+been expected to extend their power and spread their migrating bands
+over the most valuable areas to the gradual displacement of the
+ruder tribes. But in this respect they signally failed. The means of
+sustaining life among the latter were remarkably persistent. The
+higher culture of the Village Indians, such as it was, did not
+enable them to advance, either in their weapons or in the art of war,
+beyond the more barbarous tribes, except as a superior house
+architecture tended to render their villages and their habitations
+impregnable to Indian assault. Moreover, in the art of government
+they had not been able to rise above gentile institutions and
+establish political society. This fact demonstrates the
+impossibility of privileged classes and of potentates, under their
+institutions, with power to enforce the labor of the people for the
+erection of palaces for their use, and explains the absence of such
+structures.
+
+Horticulture and other domestic arts spread from the Village Indians
+to the tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism, and thus advanced
+them materially in their onward progress toward the higher condition
+of the Village Indians. Numerous tribes were thus raised out of
+savagery into barbarism by appropriating the arts of life of tribes
+above them. This process has been a constant phenomenon in the
+history of the human race. It is well illustrated in America, where
+the Red Race, one in origin and possessed of homogeneous institutions,
+were in three different ethnical conditions or stages of culture.
+
+There are certain usages and customs of the Indian tribes generally
+which tend to explain their plan of life--their large households,
+their houses, and their house architecture. They deserve a careful
+consideration and even further investigation beyond the bounds of
+our present knowledge. The influence of American civilization has
+very generally broken up their old plan of life, and introduced a
+new one more analogous to our own. It has been much the same in
+Spanish America. The old usages and customs, in the particulars
+about to be stated, have now so far disappeared in their pure forms
+that their recovery is not free from difficulty. Those to be
+considered are the following:
+
+I. The law of hospitality.
+
+II. Communism in living.
+
+III. The ownership of lands in common.
+
+IV. The practice of having but one prepared meal each day--a dinner.
+
+V. Their separation at meals, the men eating first and by themselves,
+and the women and children afterwards.
+
+The discussion will be confined to the period of European discovery
+and to later periods while these practices remained. The object will
+be to show that these usages and customs existed among them when
+America was discovered in its several parts, and that they remained
+in practice for some time after these several periods.
+
+
+
+THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY.
+
+Among the Iroquois hospitality was an established usage. If a man
+entered an Indian house in any of their villages, whether a villager,
+a tribesman, or a stranger, it was the duty of the women therein to
+set food before him. An omission to do this would have been a
+discourtesy amounting to an affront. If hungry, he ate; if not hungry,
+courtesy required that he should taste the food and thank the giver.
+This would be repeated at every house he entered, and at whatever
+hour in the day. As a custom it was upheld by a rigorous public
+sentiment. The same hospitality was extended to strangers from their
+own and from other tribes. Upon the advent of the European race
+among them it was also extended to them. This characteristic of
+barbarous society, wherein food was the principal concern of life,
+is a remarkable fact. The law of hospitality, as administered by the
+American aborigines, tended to the final equalization of subsistence.
+Hunger and destitution could not exist at one end of an Indian
+village or in one section of an encampment while plenty prevailed
+elsewhere in the same village or encampment. It reveals a plan of
+life among them at the period of European discovery which has not
+been sufficiently considered.
+
+A singular illustration of the powerful influence of the custom upon
+the Indian mind came to my notice some years ago at the Seneca
+Reservation in New York. A Seneca chief, well to do in the world,
+with farm lands and domestic animals which afforded him a
+comfortable subsistence, had lost his wife by death, and his daughter,
+educated in the usages of civilized life, took the position of
+housekeeper. The old man, referring to the ancient custom, requested
+his daughter to keep the usual food constantly prepared ready to
+offer to any person who entered their house, saying that he did not
+wish to see this custom of their forefathers laid aside. Their
+changed condition, and particularly the adoption of the regular
+meals of civilized society, for the time of which the visitor might
+reasonably be expected to wait, did not in his mind outweigh the
+sanctity of the custom. [Footnote: William Parker was the chief named,
+a noble specimen of a Seneca Iroquois.]
+
+In July, 1743, John Bartram made a journey from Philadelphia to
+Onondaga to attend, with Conrad Weisar, a council of the Onondaga,
+Mohawk, Oneida, and Cayuga chiefs. At Shamokin he quartered with a
+trader who had an Indian wife, and at a village of the Delawares.
+"As soon as we alighted," he remarks, "they showed us where to lay
+our luggage, and then brought us a bowl of boiled squashes, cold.
+This I then thought poor entertainment, but before I came back I had
+learned not to despise good Indian food. This hospitality is
+agreeable to the honest simplicity of ancient times, and is so
+persistently adhered to that not only what is already dressed is
+immediately set before a traveler, but the most pressing business is
+postponed to prepare the best they can get for him, keeping it as a
+maxim that he must always be hungry. Of this we found the good
+effects in the flesh and bread they got ready for us." [Footnote:
+Bartram's Observations, &c, London edition, 1751, p. 16.] We have
+here a perfect illustration among the Delawares of the Iroquois rule
+to set food before a person when he first entered the house.
+Although they had in this case nothing better than boiled squash to
+offer, it was done immediately, after which they commenced preparing
+a more substantial repast. Delaware and Iroquois usages were the same.
+
+The council at Onondaga lasted two days, at the close of which they
+had each day a dinner in common. "This council [first day] was
+followed by a feast. After four o'clock we all dined together upon
+four great kettles of Indian-corn soup, which we emptied, and then
+every chief retired to his home.... The conference [second day] held
+till three, after which we dined. The repast consisted of three
+great kettles of Indian-corn soup, or thin hominy, with dried eels
+and other fish boiled in it, and one kettle full of young squashes
+and their flowers boiled in water, and a little meal mixed. This
+dish was but weak food. Last of all was served a great bowl-full of
+Indian dumplings made of new soft corn cut or scraped off the ear,
+with the addition of some boiled beans, lapped well in Indian-corn
+leaves. This is good hearty provision." [Footnote: Bartram's
+Journal p. 59.]
+
+"Again," he remarks, "we prepared for setting forward, and many of
+the chiefs came once more to make their farewells. Some of them
+brought us provisions for our journey. We shook hands again and set
+out at nine." [Footnote: ib. p. 63]
+
+One of the earliest notices of the hospitality of the Indian tribes
+of the United States was by the expedition of Philip Amidas and
+Arthur Barlow, under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, which
+visited the Algonkin tribes of North Carolina in the summer of 1584.
+They landed at the Island of Wocoken, off Albemarle Sound, when
+"there came down from all parts great store of people," whose chief
+was Granganimeo. "He was very just of his promises, for oft we
+trusted him, and would come within his day to keep his word. He sent
+us commonly every day a brace of ducks, conies, hares, and fish,
+sometimes melons, walnuts, cucumbers, pease, and divers roots....
+After this acquaintance, myself, with seven more, went thirty miles
+into the river Occam, that runneth toward the city Skicoack, and the
+evening following we came to an isle called Roanoak, from the harbor
+where we entered seven leagues: At the north end were nine houses,
+builded with cedar, fortified round with sharp trees [palisaded] and
+the entrance like a turnpike [turnspit]. When we came towards it,
+the wife of Granganimeo came running out to meet us (her husband was
+absent) commanding her people to draw our boat ashore for beating on
+the billows. Others she appointed to carry us on their backs aland,
+others to bring our oars into the house for stealing. When we came
+into the other room (for there were five in the house) she caused us
+to sit down by a great fire; and after took off our clothes and
+washed them, of some our stockins, and some our feet in warm water,
+and she herself took much pains to see all things well ordered and
+to provide us victuals. After we had thus dried ourselves she
+brought us into an inner room, where she sat on the board standing
+along the house, somewhat like frumenty, sodden venison and roasted
+fish; in like manner melons raw, boiled roots, and fruits of divers
+kinds. Their drink is commonly water boiled with ginger, sometimes
+with sassafras, and wholesome herbs.... A more kind, loving people
+cannot be. Beyond this isle is the main land, and the great river
+Occam, on which standeth a town called Pomeiok." [Footnote: Smith's
+History of Virginia, &c. Reprint from London edition of 1627.
+Richmond edition, 1819, i, 83, 84. Amidas and Barlow's account is
+also in Hakluyt's Coll. of Voyages, iii, 301-7.]
+
+This is about the first, if not the first, English picture we have
+of Indian life and of English and Indian intercourse in America. It
+is highly creditable to both parties; to the Indians for their
+unaffected kindness and hospitality, and to the English for their
+appreciation of both, and for the absence of any act of injustice.
+At the same time it was simply an application by the natives of
+their rules of hospitality among themselves to their foreign visitors,
+and not a new thing in their experience.
+
+In the narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto to Florida in
+1539, by a gentleman of Elvas, there are references to the customs
+of the Indian tribes of South Carolina, the Cherokees, Choctas, and
+Chickasas, and of some of the tribes west of the Mississippi, whom
+the expedition visited one after another. They are brief and
+incomplete, but sufficiently indicate the point we are attempting to
+illustrate. It was a hostile rather than a friendly visitation, and
+the naturally free hospitality of the natives was frequently checked
+and turned into enmity, but many instances of friendly intercourse
+are mentioned in this narrative. "The fourth of April the governor
+passed by a town called Altamaca, and the tenth of the month he came
+to Ocute. The cacique sent him two thousand Indians with a present,
+to wit, many conies and partridges, bread of maize, two hens and
+many dogs." [Footnote: Historical Collections of Louisiana, part ii.
+A Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida, by a
+Gentleman of Elvas, p. 139.]
+
+Again: "Two leagues before he came to Chiaha, there met him fifteen
+Indians loaded with maize which the cacique had sent; and they told
+him on his behalf that he waited his coming with twenty barns full
+of it." [Footnote: 3 ib. p. 147.] "At Cora the chief commanded his
+Indians to void their houses, wherein the governor and his men were
+lodged. There was in the barns and in the fields great store of
+maize and French beans. The country was greatly inhabited with many
+great towns and many sown fields which reached from one to the other".
+[Footnote: ib. p 152.]
+
+After crossing the Mississippi, of which De Soto was the first
+discoverer, he "rested in Pacaha forty days, in all which time the
+two caciques served him with great store of fish, mantles, and skins,
+and strove who should do him greatest service". [Footnote: ib. p.
+175.]
+
+The justly celebrated Moravian missionary, John Heckewelder, obtained,
+through a long experience, an intimate acquaintance with the manners
+and customs of the Indian tribes. He was engaged in direct
+missionary labor, among the Delawares and Munsees chiefly, for
+fifteen years (1771-1786) on the Muskingum and Cuyahoga in Ohio,
+where, besides the Delawares and Munsees, he came in contact with
+Tuscaroras and other tribes of Iroquois lineage. He was conversant
+with the usages and customs of the Indian tribes of Pennsylvania and
+New York. His general knowledge justifies the title of his work,
+"History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations, who once
+inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring States," and gives the
+highest credibility to his statements.
+
+In discussing the general character of the Indians, he remarks as
+follows: "They think that he [the Great Spirit] made the earth and
+all that it contains for the common good of mankind; when he stocked
+the country that he gave them with plenty of game, it was not for
+the benefit of a few, but of all. Everything was given in common to
+the sons of men. Whatever liveth on the land, whatsoever groweth out
+of the earth, and all that is in the rivers and waters flowing
+through the same, was given jointly to all, and ever one is entitled
+to his share. From this principle hospitality flows as from its
+source. With them it is not a virtue, but a strict duty; hence they
+are never in search of excuses to avoid giving, but freely supply
+their neighbors' wants from the stock prepared for their own use.
+They give and are hospitable to all without exception, and will
+always share with each other and often with the stranger to the last
+morsel. They rather would lie down themselves on an empty stomach
+than have it laid to their charge that they had neglected their duty
+by not satisfying the wants of the stranger, the sick, or the needy.
+The stranger has a claim to their hospitality, partly on account of
+his being at a distance from his family and friends, and partly
+because he has honored them with his visit and ought to leave them
+with a good impression on his mind; the sick and the poor because
+they have a right to be helped out of the common stock, for if the
+meat they have been served with was taken from the woods it was
+common to all before the hunter took it; if corn or vegetables, it
+had grown out of the common ground, yet not by the power of man, but
+by that of the Great Spirit." [Footnote: Heckewelder, Indian Nations,
+Philadelphia ed., 1876, p. 101]
+
+This is a clear and definite statement of the principle of
+hospitality as it was observed by the Indian tribes at the epoch of
+their discovery, with the Indians' reasons on which the obligations
+rested. We recognize in this law of hospitality a conspicuous virtue
+of mankind in barbarism.
+
+Lewis and Clarke refer to the usages of the tribes of the Missouri,
+which were precisely the same as those of the Iroquois. "It is the
+custom of all the nations on the Missouri," they remark, "to offer
+every white man food and refreshments when he first enters their
+tents". [Footnote: Travels, etc., London edition, 1814, p. 649.]
+
+This was simply applying their rules of hospitality among themselves
+to their white visitors.
+
+About 1837-1838 George Catlin wintered at the Mandan Village, on the
+Upper Missouri. He was an accurate and intelligent observer, and his
+work on the "Manners and Customs of the North American Indians" is a
+valuable contribution to American ethnography. The principal Mandan
+village, which then contained fifty houses and fifteen hundred people,
+was surrounded with a palisade. It was well situated for game, but
+they did not depend exclusively upon this source of subsistence.
+They cultivated maize, squashes, pumpkins, and tobacco in garden beds,
+and gathered wild berries and a species of turnip on the prairies.
+"Buffalo meat, however," says Mr. Catlin, "is the great staple and
+staff of life in this country, and seldom, if ever, fails to afford
+them an abundant means of subsistence."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"During the summer and fall months they use the meat fresh, and cook
+it in a great variety of ways--by roasting, broiling, boiling,
+stewing, smoking, &c., and, by boiling the ribs and joints with the
+marrow in them, make a delicious soup, which is universally used and
+in vast quantities. The Mandans, I find, have no regular or stated
+times for their meals, but generally eat about twice in the
+twenty-four hours. The pot is always boiling over the fire, and any
+one who is hungry, either from the household or from any other part
+of the village, has a right to order it taken off and to fall too,
+eating as he pleases. Such is an unvarying custom among the North
+American Indians, and I very much doubt whether the civilized world
+have in their institutions any system which can properly be called
+more humane and charitable. Every man, woman, or child in Indian
+communities is allowed to enter any one's lodge, and even that of
+the chief of the nation, and eat when they are hungry, provided
+misfortune or necessity has drawn them to it. Even so can the
+poorest and most worthless drone of the nation, if he is too lazy to
+hunt or to supply himself; he can walk into any lodge, and every one
+will share with him as long as there is anything to eat. He, however,
+who thus begs when he is able to hunt, pays dear for his meat, for
+he is stigmatized with the disgraceful epithet of poltroon and beggar."
+[Footnote: Manners and Customs of the North American Indians,
+Hazard's edition, 1857, i, 200.] Mr. Catlin puts the case rather
+strongly when he turns the free hospitality of the household into a
+right of the guest to entertainment independently of their consent.
+It serves to show that the provisions of the household, which as he
+elsewhere states, consisted of from twenty to forty persons, were
+used in common, and that each household shared their provisions in
+the exercise of hospitality with any inhabitant of the village who
+came to the house hungry, and with strangers from other tribes as
+well. Moreover, he speaks of this hospitality as universal amongst
+the Indian tribes. It is an important statement, because few men in
+the early period of intercourse with the western tribes have
+traveled so extensively among them.
+
+The tribes of the Columbia Valley lived upon fish, bread-roots, and
+game. Food was abundant at certain seasons, but there were times of
+scarcity even in this favored area. Whatever provisions they had
+were shared freely with each other, with guests, and with strangers.
+Lewis and Clarke, in 1804-1806, visited in their celebrated
+expedition the tribes of the Missouri and of the Valley of the
+Columbia. They experienced the same generous hospitality whenever
+the Indians possessed any food to offer, and their account is the
+first we have at all special of these numerous tribes. Frequent
+references are made to their hospitality. The Nez Perces "set before
+them a small piece of buffalo meat, some dried salmon, berries, and
+several kinds of roots. Among these last is one which is round and
+much like an onion in appearance and sweet to the taste. It is
+called quamash, and is eaten either in its natural state or boiled
+into a kind of soup or made into a cake, which is then called pasheco.
+After the long abstinence, this was a sumptuous treat; and we
+returned the kindness of the people by a few small presents, and
+then went on in company with one of the chiefs to a second village,
+in the same plain at a distance of two miles. Here the party was
+treated with great kindness and passed the night." [Footnote: Travels,
+etc., p. 330.]
+
+Of another tribe they remark, "As we approached the village most of
+the women, though apprised of our being expected, fled with their
+children into the neighboring woods. The men, however, received us
+without any apprehension, and gave us a plentiful supply of
+provisions. The plains were now crowded with Indians who came to see
+the persons of the whites, and the strange things they brought with
+them; but as our guide was perfectly a stranger to their language we
+could converse by signs only." [Footnote: Travels, etc., p. 334.]
+
+The Indians of the Columbia, unlike the tribes previously named,
+boiled their food in wooden vessels, or in ground cavities lined
+with skins, by means of heated stones. They were ignorant of pottery.
+"On entering one of their houses he [Captain Clarke] found it
+crowded with men, women, and children, who immediately provided a
+mat for him to sit on, and one of the party undertook to prepare
+something to eat. He began by bringing in a piece of pine wood that
+had drifted down the river, which he split into small pieces with a
+wedge made of the elk's horn by means of a mallet of stone curiously
+carved. The pieces were then laid on the fire, and several round
+stones placed upon them. One of the squaws now brought a bucket of
+water, in which was a large salmon about half dried, and as the
+stones became heated they were put into the bucket till the salmon
+was sufficiently boiled for use. It was then taken out, put on a
+platter of rushes neatly made, and laid before Captain Clarke, and
+another was boiled for each of his men." [Footnote: Travels, p. 353.]
+
+One or two additional cases of which a large number are mentioned by
+these authors will sufficiently illustrate the practice of
+hospitality of these tribes and its universality. They went to a
+village of seven houses of the Chilluckittequaw tube and to the
+house of the chief. "He received us kindly," they remark, "and set
+before us pounded fish, filberts, nuts, the berries of the sacacommis,
+and white bread made of roots.... The village is a part of the same
+nation with the village we passed above, the language of the two
+being the same, and their houses of similar form and materials, and
+calculated to contain about thirty souls. The inhabitants were
+unusually hospitable and good humored." [Footnote: Travels, etc.,
+p. 375-376.]
+
+While among the Shoshones, and before arriving at the Columbia they
+"reached an Indian lodge of brush inhabited by seven families of the
+Shoshones. They behaved with great civility, and gave the whole
+party as much boiled salmon as they could eat, and added a present
+of several dried salmon and a considerable quantity of chokechinies;"
+[Footnote: ib. p. 288.] and Captain Lewis remarks of the same people,
+that "an Indian invited him into his bower, and gave him a small
+morsel of boiled antelope, and a piece of fresh salmon roasted. This
+was the first salmon he had seen, and perfectly satisfied him that
+he was now on the waters of the Pacific." [Footnote: ib. p. 268.]
+
+Thus far among the tribes we find a literal repetition of the rule
+of hospitality as practiced by the Iroquois. Mr. Dall, speaking of
+the Aleuts, says, "hospitality was one of their prominent traits,"
+[Footnote: On the Remains of Later Prehistoric Man, Alaska Ter.
+Smithsonian Cont., No. 318, p. 3. Travels, etc., Phila. ed., 1796,
+p. 171.] and Powers, of the Pomo Indians of California remarks, that
+"they would always divide the last morsel of dried salmon with
+genuine savage thriftlessness," and of the Mi-oal'-a-wa-gun, that,
+"like all California Indians they are very hospitable." [Footnote:
+Powell's Contributions to North American Ethnology, Power's Tribes
+of California, vol. iii. p. 153.]
+
+Father Marquette and Lieutenant Joliet, who first discovered the
+Upper Mississippi in 1673, had friendly intercourse with some of the
+tribes on its eastern bank, and were hospitably entertained by them.
+"The council being over, we were invited to a feast, which consisted
+of four dishes. The first was a dish of sagamite--that is, some
+Indian meal boiled in water and seasoned with grease--the master of
+ceremonies holding a spoonful of it, which he put thrice into my
+mouth and then did the like to M. Joliet. The second dish consisted
+of three fish, whereof he took a piece, and having taken out the
+bones and blown upon it to cool it, he put it into my mouth. The
+third dish was a large dog, which they had killed on purpose, but
+understanding that we did not eat this animal they sent it away. The
+fourth was a piece of buffalo meat, of which they put the fattest
+pieces into our mouths." [Footnote: Historical Collections of
+Louisiana. part ii. An Account of the Discovery of some New
+Countries and Nations of North America in 1673, by Pere Marquette
+and Sieur Joliet, p. 287.]
+
+Lower down the river, below the mouth of the Ohio, they fell in with
+another tribe, of whom they speak as follows. "We therefore
+disembarked and went to their village. They entertained us with
+buffalo and bear's meat and white plums, which were excellent. We
+observed they had guns, knives, axes, shovels, glass beads, and
+bottles in which they put their powder. They wear their hair long as
+the Iroquois, and their women are dressed as the Hurons."
+[Footnote: ib,. p. 293]
+
+In 1766 Jonathan Carver visited the Dakota tribes of the Mississippi,
+the Sauks and Foxes, and Winnebagos of Wisconsin, and the Ojibwas of
+Upper Michigan. He speaks generally of the hospitality of these
+tribes as follows: "No people are more hospitable, kind, and free
+than the Indians. They will readily share with any of their own
+tribe the last part of their provisions, and even with those
+of a different nation, if they chance to come in when they are
+eating. Though they do not keep one common stock, yet that
+community of goods which is so prevalent among them, and their
+generous disposition, render it nearly of the same effect."
+[Footnote: Carver's Travels, etc. Phila. ed. 1796, p. 171.]
+
+The "community of goods, which is so prevalent among them," is
+explained by their large households formed of related families, who
+shared their provisions in common. The "seven families of Shoshones"
+in one house, and also the houses "crowded with men, women, and
+children," mentioned by Lewis and Clarke, are fair samples of Indian
+households in the early period.
+
+We turn again to the southern tribes of the United States, the
+Cherokees, Choctas, Chickasas, and Confederated Creek tribes. James
+Adair, whose work was published in 1775, remarks generally upon
+their usages in the following language. "They are so hospitable,
+kind-hearted, and free, that they would share with those of their
+own tribe the last part of their own provisions, even to a single
+ear of corn; and to others, if they called when they were eating;
+for they have no stated meal time. An open generous temper is a
+standing virtue among them; to be narrow-hearted, especially to
+those in want, or to any of their own family, is accounted a great
+crime, and to reflect scandal on the rest of the tribe. Such
+wretched misers they brand with bad characters.... The Cherokee
+Indians have a pointed proverbial expression to the same effect--
+simtaweh ne wara, the great hawk is at home. However, it is a very
+rare thing to find any of them of a narrow temper; and though they
+do not keep one promiscuous common stock, yet it is to the very same
+effect; for every one has his own family or tribe; and when one of
+them is speaking, either of the individuals or habitations of any of
+his tribe, he says, 'he is of my house,' or 'it is my house'....
+When the Indians are traveling in their own country, they inquire
+for a house of their own tribe [gens]; and if there be any, they go
+to it, and are kindly received, though they never saw the persons
+before--they eat, drink, and regale themselves with as much freedom
+as at their own table, which is the solid ground covered with a
+bear-skin.... Every town has a state-house or synedrion, as the
+Jewish sanhedrim, where, almost every night, the head men convene
+about public business; or the town's people to feast, sing, dance,
+and rejoice in the divine presence, as will fully be described
+hereafter. And if a stranger calls there, he is treated with the
+greatest civility and hearty kindness--he is sure to find plenty of
+their simple home fare, and a large cane-bed covered with the
+softened skins of bears or buffaloes to sleep on. But, when his
+lineage is known to the people (by a stated custom, they are slow in
+greeting one another), his relations, if he has any there, address
+him in a familiar way, invite him home, and treat him as a kinsman."
+[Footnote: History of the American Indians, London ed., 1775, p. 17.]
+
+All these tribes were organized in gentes or clans, and the gentes
+of each tribe were usually reintegrated in two or more phratries. It
+is the gens to which Mr. Adair refers when he speaks of the
+"family," "relations," and "lineage." We find among them the same
+rule of hospitality, substantially, as prevailed among the Iroquois.
+
+It is a reasonable conclusion, therefore, that among all the tribes,
+north of New Mexico, the law of hospitality, as practiced by the
+Iroquois, was universally recognized; and that in all Indian
+villages and encampments without distinction the hungry were fed
+through the open hospitality of those who possessed a surplus.
+Notwithstanding this generous custom, it is well known that the
+Northern Indians were often fearfully pressed for the means of
+subsistence during a portion of each year. A bad season for their
+limited productions, and the absence of accumulated stores, not
+unfrequently engendered famine over large districts. From the
+severity of the struggle for subsistence, it is not surprising that
+immense areas were entirely uninhabited, that other large areas were
+thinly peopled, and that dense population nowhere existed.
+
+Among the Village Indians of New Mexico the same hospitality is now
+extended to Americans visiting their pueblos, and which
+presumptively is simply a reflection of their usage among themselves
+and toward other tribes. In 1852 Dr. Tenbroeck, assistant surgeon
+United States Army, accompanied his command to the Moki pueblos. In
+his journal he remarks: "Between eleven and twelve to-day we arrived
+at the first towns of Moki. All the inhabitants turned out, crowding
+the streets and house-tops to have a view of the white men. All the
+old men pressed forward to shake hands with us, and we were most
+hospitably received and conducted to the governor's house, where we
+were at once feasted upon guavas and a leg of mutton broiled upon
+the coals. After the feast we smoked with them, and they then said
+that we should move our camp in, and that they would give us a room
+and plenty of wood for the men, and sell us corn for the animals."
+[Footnote: Schoolcraft's History, Condition, and Prospects of the
+Indian Tribes, iv. 81.]
+
+In 1858 Lieut. Joseph C. Ives was at the Moki Pueblo of Mooskahneh
+[Mi-shong-i-ni-vi]. "The town is nearly square," he remarks,
+"and surrounded by a stone wall fifteen feet high, the top of which
+forms a landing extending around the whole. Flights of stone steps
+lead from the first to a second landing, upon which the doors of the
+houses open. Mounting the stairway opposite to the ladder, the chief
+crossed to the nearest door and ushered us into a low apartment,
+from which two or three others opened towards the interior of the
+dwelling. Our host courteously asked us to be seated upon some skins
+spread along the floor against the wall and presently his wife
+brought in a vase of water and a tray filled with a singular
+substance that looked more like sheets of thin blue wrapping paper
+rolled up into bundles than anything else that I have ever seen. I
+learned afterwards that it was made of corn meal, ground very fine,
+made into a gruel, and poured over a heated stone to be baked. When
+dry it has a surface slightly polished like paper. The sheets are
+folded and rolled together, and form the staple article of food with
+the Moki Indians. As the dish was intended for our entertainment,
+and looked clean, we all partook of it. It had a delicate
+fresh-bread flavor, and was not at all unpalatable, particularly
+when eaten with salt." [Footnote: Report upon Colorado River of the
+West, Lieut. Ives, p. 121.]
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel (now General) Emory visited the Pima villages on
+the Gila River in 1846. "I rode leisurely in the rear through the
+thatched huts of the Pimas. Each abode consisted of a dome-shaped
+wicker-work about six feet high, and from twenty to fifty feet in
+diameter, thatched with straw or cornstalks. In front is usually a
+large arbor, on top of which is piled the cotton on the pod for
+drying. In the houses were stowed watermelons, pumpkins, beans, corn,
+and wheat, the three last articles generally in large baskets.
+Sometimes the corn was in baskets, covered with earth, and placed on
+the tops of the domes. A few chickens and dogs were seen, but no
+other domestic animals except horses, mules, and oxen.... Several
+acquaintances formed in our camp yesterday, were recognized, and
+they received me cordially, made signs to dismount, and when I did
+so offered watermelons and pinole. Pinole is the heart of Indian corn,
+baked, ground up, and mixed with sugar. When dissolved in water it
+affords a delicious beverage; it quenches thirst, and is very
+nutritious.... The population of the Pimas and Maricopas together is
+estimated variously at from three to ten thousand. The first is
+evidently too low. This peaceful and industrious race are in
+possession of a beautiful and fertile basin. Living remote from the
+civilized world they are seldom visited by whites, and then only by
+those in distress, to whom they generously furnish horses and food."
+[Footnote: Military Reconnaissance in New Mexico, pp. 85, 86.]
+
+In this case and in those stated by Lieutenant Ives and Dr.
+Tenbroeck we find a repetition of the Iroquois rule to set food
+before the guest when he first enters the house.
+
+With respect to the Village Indians of Mexico, Central and South
+America, our information is, in the main, limited to the hospitality
+extended to the Spaniards; but it is sufficient to show that it was
+a part of their plan of life, and, as it must be supposed, a
+repetition of their usages in respect to each other. In every part
+of America that they visited, the Spaniards, although often in
+numbers as a military force, were assigned quarters in Indian houses,
+emptied of their inhabitants for that purpose, and freely supplied
+with provisions. Thus at Zempoala "the lord came out, attended by
+ancient men, two persons of note supporting him by the arms, because
+it was the custom among them to come out in that manner when one
+great man received another. This meeting was with much courtesy and
+abundance of compliments, and people were already appointed to find
+the Spaniards quarters and furnish provisions" [Footnote: Herrera's
+History of America, ii, 212.]
+
+When near Tlascala the Tlascallans "sent three hundred turkeys, two
+hundred baskets of cakes of teutli, which they call tamales, being
+about two hundred arrobas; that is, fifty hundred weight of bread,
+which was an extraordinary supply for the Spaniards, considering the
+distress they were in;" and when at Tlascala, Cortes and his men
+"were generously treated, and supplied with all necessaries."
+[Footnote: ib., ii. 261, 279.]
+
+"They entered Cholula and went to a house where they lodged
+altogether, and their Indians with them, although upon their guard,
+being for the present plentifully supplied with provisions."
+[Footnote: ib., ii, 311]
+
+Although the Spaniards numbered about four hundred, and their allied
+Indians about a thousand, they found accommodations in a single
+joint tenement house of the Aboriginal American model. Attention is
+called to this fact, because we shall find the Village Indians, as a
+rule, living in large houses, each containing many apartments, and
+accommodating five hundred or more persons. The household of several
+families of the northern Indians reappears in the southern tribes in
+a much greater household of a hundred or more families in a single
+joint tenement house, but not unlikely broken up into several
+household groups. The pueblo consisted sometimes of one, sometimes
+of two or three, and sometimes of a greater number of such houses.
+The plan of life within these houses is not well understood, but it
+can still be seen in New Mexico, and it is to be hoped it will
+attract investigation.
+
+Speaking of the Maya Indians of Yucatan, Herrera remarks that
+"they are still generous and free-hearted, so that they will make
+everybody eat that comes into their houses, which is everywhere
+practiced in traveling." [Footnote: Herrera's History of America,
+iv, 117.]
+
+This is a fair statement of the Iroquois law of hospitality found
+among the Mayas, practiced among themselves and towards strangers
+from other tribes. When Grijalva, about 1517, discovered the Tabasco
+River, he held friendly intercourse with some of the tribes of
+Yucatan. "They immediately sent thirty Indians loaded with roasted
+fish, hens, several sorts of fruit, and bread made of Indian wheat."
+[Footnote: ib., ii, 126]
+
+When Cortes, in 1525, made his celebrated expedition to Honduras, he
+passed near the pueblo of Palenque and near that of Copan without
+being aware of either, and visited the shore of Lake Peten.
+"Being well received in the city of Apoxpalan, Cortes and all the
+Spaniards, with their horses, were quartered in one house, the
+Mexicans being dispersed into others, and all of them plentifully
+supplied with provisions during their stay." [Footnote: ib., iii, 359.]
+
+They numbered one hundred and fifty Spanish horse and several
+hundred Aztecs. It was at this place, according to Herrera, that
+Quatemozin, who accompanied Cortes as a prisoner, was barbarously
+executed by his command. [Footnote: ib., iii, 361.] Cortes next
+visited an island in Lake Peten, where he was sumptuously
+entertained by Canec, the chief of the tribe, where they "sat down
+to dinner in stately manner, and Canec ordered fowls, fish cakes,
+honey, and fruit." [Footnote: ib., iii, 362.]
+
+In South America the same account of the hospitality of the Indian
+tribes is given by the early explorers. About the year 1500
+Christopher Guerra made a voyage to the coast of Venezuela:
+"They came to an anchor before a town called Curiana, where the
+Indians entreated them to go ashore, but the Spaniards being no more
+than thirty-three in all durst not venture.... At length, being
+convinced of their sincerity, the Spaniards went ashore, and being
+courteously entertained, staid there twenty days. They plentifully
+supplied them for food with venison, rabbits, geese, ducks, parrots,
+fish, bread made of maize or Indian wheat, and other things, and
+brought them all the game they would ask for.... They perceived
+that they kept markets or fairs, and that they made use of jars,
+pitchers, pots, dishes, and porringers, besides other vessels of
+several shapes." [Footnote: Herrera's Hist. America, iv, 248.]
+
+Pizarro found the same custom among the Peruvians and other tribes
+of the coast. At the time of his first visit to the coast of Peru he
+found a female chief by whom he was entertained. "The lady came out
+to meet them with a great retinue, in good order, holding green
+boughs and ears of Indian wheat, having made an arbor where were
+seats for the Spaniards, and for the Indians at some distance. They
+gave them to eat fish and flesh dressed in several ways, much fruit,
+and such bread and liquor as the country afforded." [Footnote: ib.,
+i, 229.]
+
+When on the coast of Tumbez, and before landing, "ten or twelve
+floats were immediately sent out with a plenty of provisions, fruits,
+pots of water, and of chica, which is their liquor, as also a lamb."
+[Footnote: ib., iv, 3.]
+
+After entering Peru, on his second visit to the coast, "Atahuallpa's
+messengers came and presented the governor with ten of their sheep
+from the Inca, and some other things of small value, telling him
+very courteously that Atahuallpa had commanded them to inquire what
+day he intended to be at Caxamalca, that he might have provisions on
+the way." [Footnote: ib., iii, 399.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The next day more messengers came from Atahuallpa with provisions,
+which he received with thanks.". [Footnote: ib., iv, 244.]
+
+The native historian, Garcilasso de la Viga, remarks: "Nor were the
+Incas, among their other charities, forgetful of the conveniences
+for travelers, but in all the great roads built houses or inns for
+them, which they called corpahuaci, where they were provided with
+victuals and other necessaries for their journeys out of the royal
+stores; and in case any traveler fell sick on the way, he was there
+attended and care taken of him in a better manner perhaps than at
+his own home." [Footnote: Royal Commentaries of Peru, Lond. ed., 1688;
+Recent Trans., p 145.]
+
+These illustrations, which might be multiplied, are sufficient to
+show the universality of the practice of hospitality among the
+Indian tribes of America at the epoch of European discovery. Among
+all these forms, as stated by different observers, the substance of
+the Iroquois law of hospitality is plainly found, namely: If a man
+entered an Indian house, whether a villager, a tribesman, or a
+stranger, and at whatever hour of the day, it was the duty of the
+women of the house to set food before him. An omission to do this
+would have been a discourtesy amounting to an affront. If hungry, he
+ate, if not hungry, courtesy required that he should taste the food
+and thank the giver. It is seen to have been a usage running through
+three ethnic conditions of the Indian race, becoming stronger as the
+means of subsistence increased in variety and amount, and attaining
+its highest development among the Village Indians in the Middle
+Status of barbarism. It was an active, well-established custom of
+Indian society, practiced among themselves and among strangers from
+other tribes, and very naturally extended to Europeans when they
+made their first appearance among them. Considering the number of
+the Spaniards often in military companies, and another fact which
+the aborigines were quick to notice, namely, that a white man
+consumed and wasted five times as much as an Indian required, their
+hospitality in many cases must have been grievously overtaxed.
+[Footnote: "The appetite of the Spaniards appeared to the American
+inhabitants voracious; and they affirmed that one Spaniard devoured
+more food in a day than was sufficient for ten Americans."--
+(Robertson's History of America, Lond. ed., 1856, i, p. 72.)]
+
+Attention has been called to this law of hospitality, and to its
+universality, for two reasons: firstly, because it implies the
+existence of common stores, which supplied the means for its practice;
+and secondly, because, wherever found, it implies communistic living
+in large households. It must be evident that this hospitality could
+not have been habitually practiced by the Iroquois and other
+northern tribes, and much less by the Village Indians of Mexico,
+Central and South America, with such uniformity, if the custom in
+each case had depended upon the voluntary contributions of single
+families. In that event it would have failed oftener than it would
+have succeeded. The law of hospitality, as administered by the
+American aborigines, indicates a plan of life among them which has
+not been carefully studied, nor have its effects been fully
+appreciated. Its explanation must be sought in the ownership of
+lands in common, the distribution of their products to households
+consisting of a number of families, and the practice of communism in
+living in the household. Common stores for large households, and
+possibly for the village, with which to maintain village hospitality,
+are necessary to explain the custom. It could have been maintained
+on such a basis, and it is difficult to see how it could have been
+maintained on any other. The common and substantially universal
+practice of this custom, among the American Indian Tribes, at the
+period of their discovery, among whom the procurement of subsistence
+was their vital need, must be regarded as evidence of a generous
+disposition, and as exhibiting a trait of character highly
+creditable to the race.
+
+[Relocated Footnote: PROPOSED ETHNIC OR CULTURE PERIODS.
+
+      PERIOD OF SAVAGERY.               PERIOD OF BARBARISM.
+  Subperiods.       Conditions.     Subperiods.       Conditions.
+Older Period ..... Lower Status    Older Period .... Lower Status
+Middle Period .... Middle Status   Middle Period ... Middle Status
+Later Period ..... Upper Status    Later Period .... Upper Status.
+
+                      PERIOD OF CIVILIZATION
+
+                         RECAPITULATION
+
+OLDER PERIOD OF SAVAGERY.--From the infancy of the human race
+to the knowledge of fire and the acquisition of fish subsistence.
+
+MIDDLE PERIOD.--From the acquisition of a fish subsistence to
+the invention of the bow and arrow.
+
+LATER PERIOD.--From the invention of the bow and arrow to the
+invention of the art of pottery.
+
+OLDER PERIOD OF BARBARISM.--From a knowledge of pottery to the
+domestication of animals in the eastern hemisphere, and in the
+western to the cultivation of maize and plants by irrigation.
+
+MIDDLE PERIOD.--From the domestication of animals, &c., to the
+invention of the process of smelting iron ore.
+
+LATER PERIOD.--From the knowledge of iron to the invention of a
+phonetic alphabet, or the use of hieroglyphs upon stone as an
+equivalent.
+
+CIVILIZATION.--From the invention of a phonetic alphabet and
+the use of letters in literary composition to the present time.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+COMMUNISM IN LIVING.
+
+
+We are now to consider the remaining usages and customs named in the
+last chapter.
+
+
+THEIR COMMUNISM IN LIVING.
+
+Communism in living had its origin in the necessities of the family,
+which, prior to the Later Period of barbarism, was too weak an
+organization to face alone the struggle of life. In savagery and in
+the Older and the Middle Period of barbarism the family was in the
+syndyasmian or pairing form into which it had passed from a previous
+lower form. [Footnote: Ancient Society, p. 459.]
+
+Wherever the gentile organization prevailed, several families,
+related by kin, united as a rule in a common household and made a
+common stock of the provisions acquired by fishing and hunting, and
+by the cultivation of maize and plants. They erected joint tenement
+houses large enough to accommodate several families, so that,
+instead of a single family in the exclusive occupation of a single
+house, large households as a rule existed in all parts of America in
+the aboriginal period. This community of provisions was limited to
+the household; but a final equalization of the means of subsistence
+was in some measure affected by the law of hospitality. To a very
+great extent communism in living was a necessary result of the
+condition of the Indian tribes. It entered into their plan of life
+and determined the character of their houses. In effect it was a
+union of effort to procure subsistence, which was the vital and
+commanding concern of life. The desire for individual accumulation
+had not been aroused in their minds to any sensible extent. It is
+made evident by a comparison of the conditions of barbarous tribes
+on different continents that communism has widely prevailed among
+them, and that the influence of this ancient practice had not
+entirely disappeared among the more advanced tribes when
+civilization finally appeared. The common meal-bin of the ancient
+and the common tables of the later Greeks seem to be survivals of an
+older communism in living. This practice, though never investigated
+as a specialty, may be shown by the known customs of a number of
+Indian tribes, and may be confirmed by an examination of the plans
+of their houses.
+
+Our first illustration will be taken from the usages of the Iroquois.
+In their villages they constructed houses, consisting of frames of
+poles covered with bark, thirty, fifty, eighty, and a hundred feet
+in length, with a passage-way through the center, a door at each end,
+and with the interior partitioned off at intervals of about seven
+feet. Each apartment or stall thus formed was open for its entire
+width upon the passage-way. These houses would accommodate five, ten,
+and twenty families, according to the number of apartments, one
+being usually allotted to a family. Each household was made up on
+the principle of kin. The married women, usually sisters, own or
+collateral, were of the same gens or clan, the symbol or totem of
+which was often painted upon the house, while their husbands and
+the wives of their sons belong to several other gentes. The
+children were of the gens of their mother. While husband and
+wife belonged to different gentes, the preponderating number
+in each household would be of the same gens, namely, that of
+their mothers. As a rule the sons brought home their wives, and
+in some cases the husbands of the daughters were admitted to
+the maternal house. Thus each household was composed of a
+mixture of persons of different gentes; but this would not
+prevent the numerical ascendency of the particular gens to
+whom the house belonged. In a village of one hundred and twenty
+houses, as the Seneca village of Tiotohatton described by
+Mr. Greenbalgh i n 1677, there would be several such houses
+belonging to each gens. It presented a general picture of Indian
+life in all parts of America at the epoch of European discovery.
+[Footnote: Documentary History of New York, i, 13.]
+
+Whatever was gained by any member of the household on hunting or
+fishing expeditions, or was raised by cultivation, was made a common
+stock. Within the house they lived from common stores. Each house
+had several fires, usually one for each four apartments, which was
+placed in the middle of the passage-way and without a chimney. Every
+household was organized under a matron who supervised its domestic
+economy. After the single daily meal was cooked at the several fires
+the matron was summoned, and it was her duty to divide the food,
+from the kettle, to the several families according to their
+respective needs. What remained was placed in the custody of another
+person until it was required by the matron. The Iroquois lived in
+houses of this description as late as A. D. 1700, and in occasional
+instances a hundred years later. An elderly Seneca woman informed
+the writer, thirty years ago, that when she was a girl she lived in
+one of these joint tenement houses (called by them long-houses),
+which contained eight families and two fires, and that her mother
+and her grandmother, in their day, had acted as matrons over one of
+these large households. [Footnote: The late Mrs. William Parker, of
+Tonawanda.]
+
+This mere glimpse at the ancient Iroquois plan of life, now entirely
+passed away, and of which remembrance is nearly lost, is highly
+suggestive. It shows that their domestic economy was not without
+method, and it displays the care and management of woman, low down
+in barbarism, for husbanding their resources and for improving their
+condition. A knowledge of these houses, and how to build them, is
+not even yet lost among the Senecas. Some years ago Mr. William
+Parker, a Seneca chief, constructed for the writer a model of one of
+these long-houses, showing in detail its external and internal
+mechanism.
+
+The late Rev. Ashur Wright, DD., for many years a missionary among
+the Senecas, and familiar with their language and customs, wrote to
+the author in 1873 on the subject of these households, as follows:
+"As to their family system, when occupying the old long-houses, it
+is probable that some one clan predominated, the women taking in
+husbands, however, from the other clans; and sometimes, for a novelty,
+some of their sons bringing in their young wives until they felt
+brave enough to leave their mothers. Usually, the female portion
+ruled the house, and were doubtless clannish enough about it. The
+stores were in common; but woe to the luckless husband or lover who
+was too shiftless to do his share of the providing. No matter how
+many children or whatever goods he might have in the house, he might
+at any time be ordered to pick up his blanket and budge; and after
+such orders it would not be healthful for him to attempt to disobey;
+the house would be too hot for him; and unless saved by the
+intercession of some aunt or grandmother he must retreat to his own
+clan, or as was often done, go and start a new matrimonial alliance
+in some other. The women wore the great power among the clans, as
+everywhere else. They did not hesitate, when occasion required, to
+'knock off the horns,' as it was technically called, from the head
+of a chief and send him back to the ranks of the warriors. The
+original nomination of the chiefs also always rested with them."
+
+The mother-right and gyneocracy among the Iroquois here plainly
+indicated is not overdrawn. The mothers and their children, as we
+have seen, were of the same gens, and to them the house belonged. It
+was a gentile house. In case of the death of father or mother, the
+apartments they occupied could not be detached from the kinship, but
+remained to its members. The position of the mother was eminently
+favorable to her influence in the household, and tended to
+strengthen the maternal bond. We may see in this an ancient phase of
+human life which has had a wide prevalence in the tribes of
+mankind, Asiatic, European, African, American, and Australian. Not
+until after civilization had begun among the Greeks, and gentile
+society was superseded by political society, was the influence
+of this old order of society overthrown. It left behind, at least
+among the Grecian tribes, deep traces of its previous existence.
+
+[Footnote: These statements illustrate the gyneocracy and
+mother-right among the ancient Grecian tribes discussed by Bachofen
+in "Das Mutterrecht." The phenomena discovered by Bachofen owes
+its origin, probably, to descent in the female line, and to the
+junction of several families in one house, on the principle of kin,
+as among the Iroquois.]
+
+Among the Iroquois, those who formed a household and cultivated
+gardens gathered the harvest and stored it in their dwelling as a
+common stock. There was more or less of individual ownership of
+these products, and of their possession by different families. For
+example, the corn, after stripping back the husk, was braided by the
+husk in bunches and hung up in the different apartments; but when
+one family had exhausted its supply, their wants were supplied by
+other families so long as any remained. Each hunting and fishing
+party made a common stock of the capture, of which the surplus, on
+their return, was divided among the several families of each
+household, and, having been cured, was reserved for winter use The
+village did not make a common stock of their provisions, and thus
+offer a bounty to imprudence It was confined to the household But
+the principle of hospitality then came in to relieve the
+consequences of destitution We can speak with some confidence of the
+ancient usages and customs of the Iroquois; and when any usage is
+found among them in a definite and positive form, it renders
+probable the existence of the same usage in other tribes in the same
+condition, because their necessities were the same.
+
+In the History of Virginia, by Capt. John Smith, the houses of the
+Powhatan Indians are partially described, and are found to be much
+the same as those of the Iroquois We have already quoted from this
+work the description of a house on Roanoke Island containing five
+chambers. Speaking of the houses in the vicinity of James River in
+1606-1608, he remarks, "Their houses are built like our arbors, of
+small young sprigs bowed and tied, and so close covered with mats,
+or the bark of trees, very handsomely, that notwithstanding either
+wind, rain, or weather, they are as warm as stoves but very smoky,
+yet at the top of the house there is a hole made for the smoke to go
+into right over the fire. Against the fire they lie on little
+hurdles of reeds covered with a mat, borne from the ground a foot
+and more by a hurdle of wood On these, round about the house, they
+lie, heads and points, one by the other, against the fire, some
+covered with mats, some with skins, and some stark naked lie on the
+ground, from six to twenty in a house.... In some places are from
+two to fifty of these houses together, or but little separated by
+groves of trees." [Footnote: Smith's History of Virginia, Richmond
+ed., 1819, i, 130]
+
+The noticeable fact in this statement is the number of persons in
+the house, which shows a household consisting of several families
+Their communism in living may be inferred Elsewhere he speaks of
+"houses built after their manner, some thirty, some forty yards long,"
+and speaking of one of the houses of Powhatan he says, "This house
+is fifty or sixty yards in length," and again, at Pamunk, "A great
+fire was made in a long-house, a mat was spread on one side as on
+the other, and on one side they caused him to sit." [Footnote: 5,
+Ib, 1, 142, 143; Smith's Hist. Va., Richmond ed., 1819, i, 160.]
+
+We here find among the Virginia Indians at the epoch of their
+discovery long-houses very similar to the long-houses of the Iroquois,
+with the same evidence of a large household. It may safely be taken
+as a rule that every Indian household in the aboriginal period,
+whether large or small, lived from common stores.
+
+Mr. Caleb Swan, who visited the Creek Indians of Georgia in 1790,
+found the people living in small houses or cabins, but in clusters,
+each cluster being occupied by a part of a gens or clan. He remarks
+that "the smallest of their towns have from ten to forty houses, and
+some of the largest from fifty to two hundred, that are tolerably
+compact. These houses stand in clusters of four, five, six,
+seven, and eight together.... Each cluster of houses contains
+a clan or family of relations who eat and live in common."
+[Footnote: Schoolcraft's Hist. Cond. and Pros. of Indian Tribes,
+vol. v. 262.]
+
+Here the fact of several families uniting on the principle of kin,
+living in a cluster of houses, and practicing communism, is
+expressly stated.
+
+James Adair, writing still earlier of the southern Indians of the
+United States generally, remarks in a passage before quoted, as
+follows: "I have observed, with much inward satisfaction, the
+community of goods that prevailed among them.... And though they do
+not keep one promiscuous common stock, yet it is to the very same
+effect, for every one has his own family or tribe, and when any one
+is speaking either of the individuals or habitations of his own
+tribe, he says, 'He is of my house,' or, 'It is my house.'"
+[Footnote: History of the American Indians, p. 17.]
+
+It is singular that this industrious investigator did not notice,
+what is now known to be the fact, that all these tribes were
+organized in gentes and phratries. It would have rendered his
+observations upon their usages and customs more definite. Elsewhere
+he remarks further that "formerly the Indian law obliged every town
+to work together in one body, in sewing or planting their crops,
+though their fields were divided by proper marks, and their harvest
+is gathered separately. The Cherokees and Muscogees [Creeks] still
+observe that old custom, which is very necessary for such idle people."
+[Footnote: ib., p. 430.]
+
+They cultivated, like the Iroquois, three kinds of maize, an
+"early variety," the "hominy corn," and the "bread corn," also beans,
+squashes, pumpkins, and tobacco. [Footnote: History of the American
+Indians, p. 430] Chestnuts, a tuberous root something like the
+potato but gathered in the marshes, berries, fish, and game, entered
+into their subsistence. Like the Iroquois, they made unleavened
+bread of maize flour, which was boiled in earthen vessels, in the
+form of cakes, about six inches in diameter and an inch thick.
+[Footnote: ib. pp. 406, 408.] Among the tribes of the plains, who
+subsist almost exclusively upon animal food, their usages in the
+hunt indicate the same tendency to communism in food. The Blackfeet,
+during the buffalo hunt, follow the herds on horseback in large
+parties, composed of men, women, and children. When the active
+pursuit of the herd commences, the hunters leave the dead animals in
+the track of the chase to be appropriated by the first persons who
+come up behind. This method of distribution is continued until all
+are supplied. All the Indian tribes who hunt upon the plains, with
+the exception of the half-blood Crees, observe the same custom of
+making a common stock of the capture. It tended to equalize, at the
+outset, the means of subsistence obtained. They cut the beef into
+strings, and either dried it in the air or in the smoke of a fire.
+Some of the tribes made a part of the capture into pemmican, which
+consists of dried and pulverized meat mixed with melted buffalo fat,
+which is baled in the hide of the animal.
+
+During the fishing season in the Columbia River, where fish are more
+abundant than in any other river on the earth, all the members of
+the tribe encamp together, and make a common stock of the fish
+obtained. They are divided each day according to the number of women,
+giving to each an equal share. At the Kootenay Falls, for example,
+they are taken by spearing, and in huge baskets submerged in the
+water below the falls. The salmon, during the spring run, weigh from
+six to forty pounds, and are taken in the greatest abundance, three
+thousand a day not being an unusual number. Father De Smet, the late
+Oregon missionary, informed the writer, in 1862, that he once spent
+several days with the Kootenays at these falls, and that the share
+which fell to him, as one of the party, loaded, when dried, thirty
+pack mules. The fish are split open, scarified, and dried on
+scaffolds, after which they are packed in baskets and then removed
+to their villages. This custom makes a general distribution of the
+capture, and leaves each household in possession of its share.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end.]
+
+Their communism in living is involved in the size of the household,
+which ranged from ten to forty persons. "The houses of the Sokulks
+are made of large mats of rushes, and are generally of a square or
+oblong form, varying in length from fifteen to sixty feet; the top
+is covered with mats, leaving a space of twelve or fifteen inches,
+the whole length of the house, for the purpose of admitting the
+light and suffering the smoke to pass through; the roof is nearly
+flat ... and the house is not divided into apartments, the fire
+being in the middle of the large room, and immediately under the
+hole in the roof.... On entering one of these houses he [Captain
+Clarke] found it crowded with men, women, and children, who
+immediately provided a mat for him to sit on, and one of the party
+immediately undertook to prepare something to eat." [Footnote: Lewis
+and Clarke's Travels, pp. 351-353.]
+
+Again: "He landed before five houses close to each other, but no one
+appeared, and the doors, which were of mats, were closed. He went
+towards one of them with a pipe in his hand, and pushing aside the
+mat entered the lodge, where he found thirty-two persons, chiefly
+men and women, with a few children, all in the greatest consternation."
+[Footnote: ib., p. 357.] And again: "This village being part of the
+same nation with the village we passed above, the language of the
+two being the same, and their houses being of the same form and
+materials, and calculated to contain about thirty souls."
+[Footnote: ib., p. 376.]
+
+In enumerating the people Lewis and Clarke often state the number of
+inhabitants with the number of houses, thus:
+
+"The Killamucks, who number fifty houses and a thousand souls."
+
+"The Chilts, who ... are estimated at seven hundred souls and
+thirty-eight houses."
+
+"The Clamoitomish, of twelve houses and two hundred and sixty souls."
+
+"The Potoashees, of ten houses and two hundred souls."
+
+"The Pailsk, of ten houses and two hundred souls."
+
+"The Quinults, of sixty houses and one thousand souls."
+
+[Footnote: Lewis and Clarke's Travels, pp. 426-428.]
+
+Speaking generally of the usages and customs of the tribes of the
+"Columbia plains," they make the following statements: "Their large
+houses usually contain several families, consisting of the parents,
+their sons and daughters-in-law and grandchildren, among whom the
+provisions are common, and whose harmony is scarcely ever
+interrupted by disputes. Although polygamy is permitted by their
+customs, very few have more than a single wife, and she is brought
+immediately after the marriage into the husband's family, where she
+resides until increasing numbers oblige them to seek another house.
+In this state the old man is not considered the head of the family,
+since the active duties, as well as the responsibility, fall on some
+of the younger members. As these families gradually expand into bands,
+or tribes, or nations, the paternal authority is represented by the
+chief of each association. This chieftain, however, is not hereditary."
+[Footnote: ib., p. 443.] Here we find among the Columbian tribes, as
+elsewhere, communism in living, but restricted to large households
+composed of several families.
+
+A writer in Harper's Magazine, speaking of the Aleutians, remarks:
+"When first discovered this people were living in large yurts, or
+dirt houses, partially underground ... having the entrances through
+a hole in the top or centre, going in and out on a rude ladder.
+Several of these ancient yurts were very large, as shown by the ruins,
+being from thirty to eighty yards long and twenty to forty in width....
+In these large yurts the primitive Aleuts lived by fifties and
+hundreds for the double object of protection and warmth."
+[Footnote: Harper's Magazine, vol. 55, p. 806.]
+
+Whether these tribes at this time were organized in gentes and
+phratries is not known. At the time of the Wilkes expedition
+(1838-1842) the gentile organization did not exist among them;
+neither does it now exist; but it is still found among the tribes
+of the Northwest Coast, and among the Indian tribes generally. The
+composition of the household, as here described, is precisely like
+the household of the Iroquois prior to A.D. 1700.
+
+The Mandan village contained at the time of Catlin's visit (1832),
+as elsewhere stated, about fifty houses and about fifteen hundred
+people. "These cabins are so spacious," Catlin remarks, "that they
+hold from twenty to forty persons--a family and all their connections....
+From the great numbers of the inmates in these lodges they are
+necessarily very spacious, and the number of beds considerable. It
+is no uncommon thing to see these lodges fifty feet in diameter
+inside (which is an immense room), with a row of these curtained
+beds extending quite around their sides, being some ten or twelve of
+them, placed four or five feet apart, and the space between them
+occupied by a large post, fixed quite firmly in the ground, and six
+or seven feet high, with large wooden pegs or bolts in it, on which
+are hung or grouped, with a wild and startling taste, the arms and
+armor of the respective proprietors." [Footnote: North American
+Indians, Philadelphia ed., 1857, i, 139.]
+
+The household, according to the custom of the Indians, was a large
+one. The number of inhabitants divided among the number of houses
+would give an average of thirty persons to each house. It is evident
+from several statements of Catlin before given that the household
+practiced communism in living, and that it was formed of related
+families, on the principle of gentile kin, as among the Iroquois.
+Elsewhere he intimates that the Mandans kept a public store or
+granary as a refuge for the whole community in a time of scarcity.
+[Footnote: ib., i, 210.]
+
+In like manner Carver, speaking generally of the usages and customs
+of the Dakota tribes and of the tribes of Wisconsin, remarks that
+"they will readily share with any of their own tribe the last part
+of their provisions, and even with those of a different nation, if
+they chance to come in when they are eating. Though they do not keep
+one common store, yet that community of goods which is so prevalent
+among them, and their generous disposition, render it nearly of the
+same effect." [Footnote: Travels, etc, p. 171.]
+
+What this author seems to state is that community of goods existed
+in the household, and that it was lengthened out to the tribe by the
+law of hospitality. Elsewhere, speaking of the large village of the
+Sauks, he says: "This is the largest Indian town I ever saw. It
+contains about ninety houses, each large enough for several families."
+[Footnote: Travels, etc., Phila. ed. 1796, p. 29.]
+
+In a previous chapter (supra p. 49.) Heckewelder's observations upon
+hospitality among the Delawares and Munsees, implying the principle
+of communism, have been given. He remarks further that "there is
+nothing in an Indian's house or family without its particular owner.
+Every individual knows what belongs to him, from the horse or cow
+down to the dog, cat, kitten, and little chicken.... For a litter of
+kittens or a brood of chickens there are often as many different
+owners as there are individual animals. In purchasing a hen with her
+brood one frequently has to deal for it with several children. Thus,
+while the principle of community of goods prevails in the State, the
+rights of property are acknowledged among the members of the family.
+This is attended with a very good effect, for by this means every
+living creature is properly taken care of." [Footnote: Indian Nations,
+p. 158.]
+
+I do not understand what Heckewelder means by the remark that
+"the principle of community of goods prevails in the state," unless
+it be that the rule of hospitality was so all-pervading that it was
+tantamount to a community of goods, while individual property was
+everywhere recognized until it was freely surrendered. This may be
+the just view of the result of their communism and hospitality, but
+it is a higher one than I have been able to take.
+
+The household of the Mandans consisting of from twenty to forty
+persons, the households of the Columbian tribes of about the same
+number, the Shoshone household of seven families, the households of
+the Sauks, of the Iroquois, and of the Creeks each composed of
+several families, are fair types of the households of the Northern
+Indians at the epoch of their discovery. The fact is also
+established that these tribes constructed as a rule large joint
+tenement houses, each of which was occupied by a large household
+composed of several families, among whom provisions were in common,
+and who practiced communism in living in the household.
+
+Among the Village Indians of New Mexico a more advanced form of
+house architecture appears, and their joint tenement character is
+even more pronounced. They live in large houses, two, three, and
+four stories high, constructed of adobe brick, and of stone imbedded
+in adobe mortar, and containing fifty, a hundred, two hundred, and
+in some cases five hundred apartments in a house. They are built in
+the terraced form, with fireplaces and chimneys added since their
+discovery, the first story closed up solid, and is entered by ladders,
+which ascend to the platform-roof of the first story. These houses
+are fortresses, and were erected as strongholds to resist the
+attacks of the more barbarous tribes by whom they were perpetually
+assailed. Each house was probably occupied by a number of household
+groups, whose apartments were doubtless separated from each other by
+partition walls. In a subsequent chapter the character of these
+houses will be more fully shown.
+
+Our knowledge of the plan of life in these houses in the aboriginal
+period is still very imperfect. They still practice the old
+hospitality, own their lands in common, but with allotments to
+individuals and to families, and are governed by a cacique or sachem
+and certain other officers annually elected. An American missionary
+to the Laguna Village Indians, Rev. Samuel Gorman, in an address
+before the Historical Society of New Mexico in 1869, remarks as
+follows: "They generally marry very young, and the son-in-law
+becomes the servant of the father-in-law, and very often they all
+live together in one family for years, even if there be several
+sons-in-law; and this clannish mode of living is often, if not
+generally, a fruitful source of evil among this people. Their women
+generally have control over the granary, and they are more provident
+than their Spanish neighbors about the future. Ordinarily they try
+to have one year's provisions on hand. It is only when they have two
+years of scarcity succeeding each other that pueblos as a community
+suffer hunger." [Footnote: Address, p. 14.]
+
+The usages of these Indians have doubtless modified in the last two
+hundred years under Spanish influence; they have decreased in numbers,
+and the family group is probably smaller than formerly. But it is
+not too late to recover the aboriginal plan of life among them if
+the subject were intelligently investigated. It is to be hoped that
+some one will undertake this work.
+
+The Spanish writers do not mention the practice of communism in
+living as existing among the Village Indians of Mexico or Central
+America. They are barren of practical information concerning their
+mode of life; but we have the same picture of large households
+composed of several families, whose communism in the household may
+reasonably be inferred.
+
+We have also the striking illustration of "Montezuma's Dinner,"
+hereafter to be noticed, which was plainly a dinner in common by a
+communal household. Beside these facts we have the ownership of
+lands in common by communities of persons. Moreover, the ruins of
+ancient houses in Central and South America, and in parts of Mexico,
+show very plainly their joint tenement character. From the plans of
+these houses the communism of the people by households may be
+deduced theoretically with reasonable certainty.
+
+Yucatan, when discovered, was occupied by a number of tribes of Maya
+Indians. The Maya language spread beyond the limits of Yucatan. This
+region, with Chiapas, Guatemala, and a part of Honduras, contained
+and still contains evidence, in the ruins of ancient structures, of
+a higher advancement in the arts of life than any other part of
+North America. The present Maya Indians of Yucatan are the
+descendants of the people who occupied the country at the period of
+the Spanish conquest, and who occupied the massive stone houses now
+in ruins, from which they were forced by Spanish oppression.
+
+We have a notable illustration of communism in living among the
+present Maya Indians, as late as the year 1840, through the work of
+John L Stephens. At Nohcacab, a few miles east of the ruins of Uxmal,
+Mr. Stephens, having occasion to employ laborers, went to a
+settlement of Maya Indians, of whom he gives the following account:
+"Their community consists of a hundred labradores, or working men;
+their lands are held and wrought in common, and the products are
+shared by all. Their food is prepared at one hut, and every family
+sends for its portion, which explains a singular spectacle we had
+seen on our arrival, a procession of women and children, each
+carrying an earthen bowl containing a quantity of smoking hot broth,
+all coming down the same road, and disappearing among the different
+huts. Every member belonging to the community, down to the smallest
+pappoose, contributing in turn a hog. From our ignorance of the
+language, and the number of other and more pressing matters claiming
+our attention, we could not learn all the details of their internal
+economy, but it seemed to approximate that improved state of
+association which is sometimes heard of among us; and as theirs has
+existed for an unknown length of time, and can no longer be
+considered merely experimental, Owen on Fourier might perhaps take
+lessons from them with advantage." [Footnote: Incidents of Travel in
+Yucatan, ii, 14.]
+
+A hundred working men indicate a total of five hundred persons, who
+were then depending for their daily food upon a single fire, the
+provisions being supplied from common stores, and divided from the
+caldron. It is, not unlikely, a truthful picture of the mode of life
+of their forefathers in the "House of the Nuns," and in the
+"Governor's House" at Uxmal, at the epoch of the Spanish conquest.
+
+It is well known that Spanish adventurers captured these pueblos,
+one after the other, and attempted to enforce the labor of the
+Indians for personal ends, and that the Indians abandoned their
+pueblos and retreated into the inaccessible forests to escape
+enslavement, after which their houses of stone fell into decay, the
+ruins of which, and all there ever was of them, still remain in all
+parts of these countries.
+
+It is hardly supposable that the communism here described by Mr.
+Stephens was a new thing to the Mayas; but far more probable that it
+was a part of their ancient mode of life, to which these ruined
+houses were eminently adapted. The subject of the adaptation of the
+old pueblo houses in Yucatan and Central America to communism in
+living will be elsewhere considered.
+
+When Columbus first landed on the island of Cuba, he sent two men
+into the interior, who reported that "they traveled twenty-two
+leagues, and found a village of fifty houses, built like those
+before spoken of, and they contained about one thousand persons,
+because a whole generation lived in a house; and the prime men came
+out to meet them, led them by the arms, and lodged them in one of
+these new houses, causing them to sit down on seats ... and they
+gave them boiled roots to eat, which tasted like chestnuts."
+[Footnote: Herrera, i, 55.]
+
+One of the first expeditions which touched the main land on the
+coast of Venezuela in South America found much larger houses than
+these last described. "The houses they dwelt in were common to all,
+and so spacious that they contained one hundred and sixty persons,
+strongly built, though covered with palm-tree leaves, and shaped
+like a bell." [Footnote: ib., 216.]
+
+Herrera further remarks of the same tribe, that "they observed no
+law or rule in matrimony, but took as many wives as they would, and
+they as many husbands, quitting one another at pleasure, without
+reckoning any wrong done on either part. There was no such thing as
+jealousy among them, all living as best pleased them, without taking
+offense at one another." [Footnote: ib., i, 216.]
+
+This shows communism in husbands as well as wives, and rendered
+communism in food a necessity of their condition. Elsewhere the same
+author speaks of the habitations of the tribes on the coast of
+Carthagena. "Their houses were like long arbors, with several
+apartments, and they had no beds but hammocks." [Footnote: ib., 348.]
+Many similar statements are scattered through his work.
+
+Among the more advanced tribes of Peru the lands were divided, and
+allotted to different uses; one part was for the support of the
+government, another for the support of religion, and another for
+the support of individuals. The first two parts were cultivated by
+the people under established regulations, and the crops were placed
+in public storehouses. This is the statement of Garcilasso.
+[Footnote: Royal Com. l. c., pp. 154, 157.]
+
+Herrera, however, says generally that the people lived from common
+stores. "The Spaniards drawing near to Caxamalca begun to have a
+view of the Inca army lying near the bottom of a mountain.... They
+were pleased to see the beauty of the fields, most regularly
+cultivated, for it was an ancient law among these people that all
+should be fed from common stores, and none should touch the standing
+corn." [Footnote: Herrera, iv, 249.] The discrepancy between Herrera
+and Garcilasso may perhaps be explained by the reservation of the
+crops grown on lands set apart for the government and for religion.
+
+The reason for presenting the foregoing observations of different
+authors concerning the households, the houses, and the practice of
+communism in food, has been to show, firstly, that the household of
+the Indian tribes was a large one, composed of several families;
+secondly, that their houses were constructed to accommodate several
+families; and thirdly, that the household practiced communism in
+living. These are the material facts, and they have been
+sufficiently illustrated. The single family of civilized society
+live from common stores, yet it is not communism; but where several
+families coalesce in one common household and make a common stock of
+their provisions, and this is found to be a general rule in entire
+tribes, it is a form of communism important to be noticed. It is
+seen to belong to a society in a low stage of development, where it
+springs from the necessities of their condition. These usages and
+customs exhibit their plan of life, and reveal the wide difference
+between their condition and that of civilized society; between the
+Indian family, without individuality, and the highly individualized
+family of civilization.
+
+[Relocated Footnote: Alfred W. Howitt, F. G. S., Bariusdale,
+Australia, mentions, in a letter to the author, the following
+singular custom of an Australian tribe concerning the distribution
+of food in the family group:
+
+A man catches seven river eels; they are divided thus (it is
+supposed that his family consists only of these named):
+
+1st eel. Front half himself; hind half his wife.
+
+2d eel. Front half his wife's mother; hind half his wife's sister.
+
+3d eel. Front half his elder sons; hind half his younger sons.
+
+4th eel. Front half his elder daughters; hind half his younger
+daughters.
+
+5th eel. Front half his brother's sons; hind half his brother's
+daughters.
+
+6th eel. One whole eel to his married daughter's husband.
+
+7th eel. One whole eel to his married daughter.
+
+This custom may be supposed to show the ordinary household group,
+and the order of their relative nearness to Ego. It foots up himself
+and wife, wife's mother and sister, his sons and daughters, his
+brother's sons and daughters, and his daughter's husband. It implies
+also other members of the household, who are obliged to take care of
+themselves: viz. his brothers and sisters.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+USAGES AND CUSTOMS WITH RESPECT TO LANDS AND TO FOOD
+
+
+THE OWNERSHIP OF LANDS IN COMMON.
+
+
+Among the Iroquois the tribal domain was held and owned by the tribe
+in common. Individual ownership, with the right to sell and convey
+in fee-simple to any other person, was entirely unknown among them.
+It required the experience and development of the two succeeding
+ethnical periods to bring mankind to such a knowledge of property in
+land as its individual ownership with the power of alienation in
+fee-simple implies. No person in Indian life could obtain the
+absolute title to land, since it was vested by custom in the tribe
+as one body; and they had no conception of what is implied by a
+legal title in severalty with power to sell and convey the fee. But
+he could reduce unoccupied land to possession by cultivation, and so
+long as he thus used it he had a possessory right to its enjoyment
+which would be recognized and respected by his tribe. Gardens
+planting-lots, apartments in a long-house, and, at a later day,
+orchards of fruit were thus held by persons and by families. Such
+possessory right was all that was needed for their full enjoyment
+and for the protection of their interest in them. A person might
+transfer or donate his rights to other persons of the same tribe,
+and they also passed by inherence, under established customs, to his
+gentile kin. This was substantially the Indian system in respect to
+the ownership of lands and apartments in houses among the Indian
+tribes within the areas of the United States and British America in
+the Lower Status of barbarism. In later times, when the State or
+National Government acquired Indian lands and made compensation
+therefor, payment for the lands went to the tribe, and for
+improvements to the individual who had the possessory right. At the
+Tonawanda Reservation of the Seneca-Iroquois, a portion of the lands
+are divided into separate farms, which are fenced and occupied in
+severalty, while the remainder are owned by the tribe in common.
+When a young man marries and has no land on which to subsist, the
+chiefs may allot him a portion of these reserved lands. The title to
+all these lands, occupied and unoccupied, remains in the tribe in
+common. Individuals may sell or rent their possessory rights to each
+other, or rent them to a white man. No white man can now acquire a
+title from an Indian to Indian lands in any part of the United States.
+A person could transfer his possessions to another, but apartments
+in a house must remain to his gentile kindred. In the time of James
+II the right to acquire lands was vested in the Crown exclusively as
+a royal prerogative, to which prerogative our State and National
+Governments succeeded.
+
+The same usages prevail on the Tuscarora Reservation, near the
+Niagara River, where this Iroquois tribe owns in common about 8,000
+acres of fine agricultural land in one body. A part of this
+reservation has long been parceled out to individuals in small farms,
+fenced, and cultivated by the possessors. The remainder is
+unparceled and under the control of the chiefs. The people are
+allowed to remove from the wood-land of the reserve the dead wood
+and litter but are not permitted to touch the standing timber. When
+a young man marries, if he has no land the chiefs allot him forty
+acres to cultivate for his subsistence; but, before giving him
+possession, the lot is first open to all the tribe to cut off the
+timber for fire-wood. Thus the double object is gained of supplying
+the people with fire-wood and of clearing the land for cultivation
+for the new family. These possessory rights pass by inheritance to
+the recognized heirs. A person may transfer or rent his possession
+to another person; he may rent to a white man, but in no case can he
+sell to a white man.
+
+And here I may be allowed a brief digression, to notice a recent
+opinion of the late Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Carl Schurz,
+shared in to some extent by the National Government, in relation to
+the division of our Indian reservations into lots or tracts, and
+their conveyance in severalty to the Indians themselves, with power
+of alienation to white men after a short period, say twenty-five
+years. It is to be hoped that this policy will never be adopted by
+any National Administration, as it is fraught with nothing but
+mischief to the Indian tribes. The Indian is still, as he always has
+been, and will remain for many years to come, entirely incapable of
+meeting the white man, with safety to himself, in the field of trade
+and of resisting the arts and inducements which would be brought to
+bear upon him. He is incapable of steadily attaching that value to
+the ownership of land which its importance deserves, or of knowing
+how far the best interests of himself and family are involved in its
+continued possession. The result of individual Indian ownership,
+with power to sell, would unquestionably be, that in a very short
+time he would divest himself of every foot of land and fall into
+poverty. The case of the Shawnee tribe of Kansas affords a perfect
+illustration of this pernicious policy. The Shawnees were removed to
+Kansas under the Jackson policy, so called, and occupied a splendid
+reservation on the Kansas River, where they were told they were to
+make their home forever. But after a few years of undisturbed
+possession, our people, in the natural flow of population, reached
+Kansas, where they found the Shawnees in possession of the best part
+of what has since been the State of Kansas. Our people at once
+wanted these Indian lands, and they determined to root out the
+Shawnees in the interest of civilization and progress. They
+accomplished this result in the most speedy and scientific manner,
+using as their proposed lever this identical plan since adopted by
+Mr. Schurz. First, the government was induced to re-purchase a part
+of the reservation on the ground that they had more land than they
+needed for cultivation; and, secondly, the government induced the
+Indians to have the remainder divided up into farms and conveyed to
+heads of families in severalty, with power of alienation. In 1859,
+when this scheme was being worked out, I visited Kansas, and found
+the Shawnee's cultivating and improving their farms, some of which
+embraced a thousand acres, and owning them, too, like other farmers.
+When next in Kansas, ten years later, the work was done. There was
+not a Shawnee in Kansas, but American farmers were in possession of
+all these lands. It was this individual ownership with power to sell
+that had done the work.
+
+In managing the affairs of our Indian tribes, we must apply a little
+common sense to their condition. In their brains they are in the
+same stage of growth and development with our remote forefathers
+when they learned to domesticate animals, and, came to rely upon a
+meat and milk subsistence. The next condition of advancement at
+which the Indian would naturally reach is the pastoral, the raising
+of flocks and herds of domestic animals. The Indian has taught
+himself to raise the horse in herds, and some of the tribes raise
+sheep and goats. A few of them raise cattle. If the government could
+assist them in this until they were started, they would soon become
+expert herdsmen; would make a proper use of the unoccupied prairie
+area in the interior of the continent as well as of the reservations,
+and would become prosperous and abundant in their resources.
+
+Among the sedentary Village Indians of New Mexico, who were in the
+Middle Status of barbarism, the land system is much the same in
+principle, but with special usages adapted to a more advanced
+condition. At Taos, the pueblo lands are held under a Spanish grant
+of 1689, covering four Spanish square leagues. This grant was
+afterward confirmed, as I am informed by David J. Miller, esq., of
+the surveyor-general's office at Santa Fe, by letters patent of the
+United States. It is, of course, to the Taos Indians in common as a
+tribe, and without the power of alienation except among themselves.
+These lands have been allotted from time to time to individuals, and
+held in severalty for cultivation; but these allotments, so to call
+them, are verbal, and the rights of persons to their possession are
+settled and adjusted by the chiefs in case of disputes. Mr. Miller
+wrote me from Taos, under date of December 5, 1877, that "A
+land-owner cannot, under any circumstance, sell to any but a Pueblo
+Indian, and one of this (Taos) pueblo. If he should do so he would
+be banished the pueblo, and the sale be treated as void." There is
+an instance now in this pueblo of a San Juan Indian man married here,
+but he is not allowed to acquire land in the pueblo premises. His
+wife has lands which he cultivates. A piece of land belonging to a
+man may or may not be utilized by him, but it is recognized and
+treated as his in fee until he sell it or dies. If a lad grows up
+and marries, and his father or father-in-law has no land to give him,
+he may purchase in the pueblo, or the pueblo may assign him land,
+whereby the title in fee as private property remains in him until he
+sells or dies. When he dies it is divided equally among widow and
+children. If the children are small, his brother or other relatives
+cultivate the land for them until they can do it for themselves; but
+the right of property is in the children. When a piece of land is
+sold it is done in the presence of witnesses, if it is so desired.
+Oftener the sale and transfer are made by and between the parties
+themselves. No documents are used. This is so in all the pueblos.
+The rules and customs in the sale and delivery of rooms in a house
+and of personal property, such as animals, are the same. There is no
+preference, as to males or females, in the descent of property
+rights and titles. There is a corn-field at each pueblo, cultivated
+by all in common, and when grain is scarce the poor take from this
+store after it is housed. It is in the charge of, and at the
+disposal of, the cacique (called the governor). Land cannot be sold
+to an alien; but an Indian coming from another pueblo to live at
+this may acquire land to subsist upon, though such immigration is
+rare. It is not allowed at any of the pueblos that a white person
+acquire property therein. An Indian woman is not allowed to marry a
+Mexican and live at the pueblo. A piece of land held and recognized
+as belonging to a person is his property, whether he utilizes it or
+not, and he may sell or donate it absolutely at his will to persons
+within the community.
+
+"At Jemes and Zia (other pueblos in New Mexico), when a woman dies
+her property goes into the control of her husband; if a widow, it
+descends to her children; if she has no children, it goes to her
+brothers and sisters equally; and if none survive her, then to her
+nearest relatives; if she has no relatives, then to such friends as
+attend her in her last illness. It never reverts to the pueblo,
+which as a corporate community owns no land."
+
+What Mr. Miller refers to as property rights and titles, and
+ownership in fee of land, is sufficiently explained by the
+possessory right found among the Northern tribes. The limitations
+upon its alienation to an Indian from another pueblo or to a white
+man, not to lay any stress upon the absence of written conveyances
+of titles made possible by Spanish and American intercourse, show
+quite plainly that their ideas respecting the ownership of the
+ultimate title to land, with power to alienate in fee, were entirely
+below this conception of property in land. The more important ends
+of individual ownership were obtained through the possessory right,
+while the ultimate title remained in the tribe for the protection of
+all. That the pueblo now owns no land, as Mr. Miller states, must
+be understood to mean that all the lands of the original grant have
+been parcelled out. The further statement of Mr. Miller, that if a
+father dies his land is divided between his widow and children, and
+that if a mother dies, leaving no husband, her land is divided
+equally between her sons and daughters, is important, because it
+shows an inheritance by the children from both father and mother, a
+total departure from the principles of gentile inheritance. While
+visiting the Taos pueblo in the summer of 1878 I was unable to find
+among them the gentile organization, and from lack of sufficient
+time could not inquire into their rules of descent and inheritance.
+
+My friend, Mr. Ad. F. Bandelier, now recognized as our most eminent
+scholar in Spanish American history, has recently investigated the
+subject of the tenure of lands among the ancient Mexicans with great
+thoroughness of research. The results are contained in an essay
+published in the Eleventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of
+Archaeology and Ethnology, p. 385 (Cambridge, 1878). It gives me
+great pleasure to incorporate verbatim in this chapter, and with his
+permission, so much of this essay as relates to the kinds or classes
+of land recognized among them, the manner in which they were held,
+and his general conclusions.
+
+In the pueblo of Mexico (Tenochtitlan), he remarks, "Four quarters
+had been formed by the localizing of four relationships composing
+them respectively, and it is expressly stated that each one might
+build in its quarter (barrio) as it liked." [Footnote: Duran (Cap V p.
+42), Acosta (Lib. VII, cap. VII, p. 467), Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. II,
+cap. XI, p. 61).]
+
+The term for these relationships, in the Nahuatl tongue, and used
+among all the tribes speaking it was 'calpulli.' It is also used to
+designate a great hall or house and we may therefore infer that,
+originally at least, all the members of one kinship dwelt under one
+common roof.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 1 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+The ground thus occupied by the 'calpulli' was NOT, as Torquemada
+admits, assigned to it by a higher power; the tribal government
+itself held NO DOMAIN which it might apportion among subdivisions or
+to individuals, either gratuitously or on condition of certain
+prestations, or barter against a consideration. [Footnote: The
+division into "quarters" is everywhere represented as resulting from
+common consent. But nowhere is it stated that the tribal government
+or authority assigned locations to any of its fractions. This is
+only attributed to the chiefs, on the supposition that they,
+although elective, were still hereditary monarchs.]
+
+The tribal territory was distributed, at the time of its occupancy,
+into possessory rights held by the KINDRED GROUPS AS SUCH, by common
+and tacit consent, as resulting naturally from their organization
+and state of culture.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 2 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+The patches of solid ground, on which these 'quarters' settled, were
+gradually built over with dwellings, first made out of canes and
+reeds, and latterly, as their means increased, of turf, 'adobe', and
+light stone. These houses were of large size, since it is stated
+that even at the time of the conquest 'there were seldom less than
+two, four, and six dwellers in one house; thus there were infinite
+people (in the pueblo) since, as there was no other way of providing
+for them, many aggregated together as they might please.' Communal
+living, as the idea of the 'calpulli' implies, seems, therefore, to
+have prevailed among the Mexicans as late as the period of their
+greatest power.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 3 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+"The soil built over by each 'calpulli' probably remained for some
+time the only solid expanse held by the Mexicans. Gradually, however,
+the necessity was felt for an increase of this soil. Remaining
+unmolested 'in the midst of canes and reeds,' their numbers had
+augmented, and for residence as well as for food a greater area was
+needed. Fishing and hunting no longer satisfied a people whose
+original propensities were horticultural; they aspired to cultivate
+the soil as they had once been accustomed to, and after the manner
+of the kindred tribes surrounding them. For this purpose they began
+throwing up little artificial garden beds, 'chinampas,' on which
+they planted Indian corn and perhaps some other vegetables. Such
+plots are still found as 'floating gardens,' in the vicinity of the
+present city of Mexico and they are described as follows by a
+traveler of this century:
+
+"They are artificial gardens about fifty or sixty yards long, and
+not more than four or five wide. They are separated by ditches of
+three or four yards, and are made by taking the soil from the
+intervening ditch and throwing it on the chinampa, by which means
+the ground is raised generally about a yard, and thus forms a small
+fertile garden, covered with the finest culinary vegetables, fruits,
+and flowers...."
+
+"Each consanguine relationship thus gradually surrounded the surface
+on which it dwelt with a number of garden plots sufficient to the
+wants of its members. The aggregate area thereof, including the
+abodes, formed the 'calpullalli'--soil of the 'calpulli'--and was
+held by it as a unit; the single tracts, however, being tilled and
+used for the benefit of the single families. The mode of tenure of
+land among the Mexicans at that period was therefore very simple.
+The tribe claimed its territory, 'altephetlalli,' an undefined
+expanse over which it might extend--the 'calpules,' however, held
+and possessed within that territory such portions of it as were
+productive; each 'calpulli' being sovereign within its limits, and
+assigning to its individual members for their use the minor tracts
+into which the soil was parcelled in consequence of their mode of
+cultivation. If, therefore, the terms 'altepetlalli' and
+'calpulalli' are occasionally regarded as identical, it is because
+the former indicates the occupancy, the latter the distribution of
+the soil. We thus recognize in the calpulli, or kindred group, the
+unit of tenure of whatever soil the Mexicans deemed worthy of
+definite possession. Further on we shall investigate how far
+individuals, as members of this communal unit, participated in the
+aggregate tenure." [Footnote: Alonzo de Zurita (p. 51).
+Ixtlilxochitl ("Hist. des Chichim," cap. XXXV, p. 242). Torquemada
+(Lib. XIV, cap. VII, p. 545). Bustamante ("Tezcoco en los ultimos
+Tiempos de sus antiguas Reyes" p 232).]
+
+"In the course of time, as the population further increased,
+segmentation occurred within the four original 'quarters,' new
+'calpulli' being formed."
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 4 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+For governmental purposes this segmentation produced a new result by
+leaving, more particularly in military affairs, the first four
+clusters as great subdivisions. [Footnote: "Art of War, etc.," pp.
+115 and 120.]
+
+But these, as soon as they had disaggregated, ceased to be any
+longer units of territorial possession, their original areas being
+held thereafter by the 'minor quarters' (as Herrera, for instance,
+calls them), who exercised, each one within its limits, the same
+sovereignty which the original 'calpulli' formerly held over the
+whole.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 5 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+A further consequence of this disaggregation was (by removing the
+tribal council farther from the calpules) the necessity for an
+official building, exclusively devoted to the business of the whole
+tribe alone.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 6 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+This building was the 'teepan' called, even by Torquemada, 'house of
+the community'; it was, therefore, since the council of chiefs was
+the highest authority in the government, the 'council house' proper.
+It was erected near the center of the 'pueblo,' and fronting the
+open space reserved for public celebrations. But, whereas formerly
+occasional, gradually merging into regular, meetings of the chiefs
+were sufficient, constant daily attendance at the 'teepan' became
+required, even to such an extent that a permanent residence of the
+head-chief there resulted from it and was one of the duties of the
+office. Consequently the 'tlacatecuhtli, his family, and such
+assistants as he needed (like runners), dwelt at the 'official house.'
+But this occupancy was in no manner connected with a possessory
+right by the occupant, whose family relinquished the abode as soon
+as the time of office expired through death of its incumbent. The
+'teepan' was occupied by the head war-chiefs only as long as they
+exercised the functions of that office. [Footnote: Nearly every
+author who attempts to describe minutely the "chief-house" (teepan)
+mentions it as containing great halls (council-rooms). See the
+description of the teepan of Tezcuco by Ixtlilxochitl ("Hist. des
+Chichimbuques," cap. XXXVI, p. 247)]
+
+"Of those tracts whose products were exclusively applied to the
+governmental needs of the pueblo or tribe itself (taken as an
+independent unit) there were, as we have already seen, two
+particular classes:
+
+"The first was the 'teepan-tlalli,' land of the house of the
+community, whose crops were applied to the sustenance of such as
+employed themselves in the construction, ornamentation, and repairs
+of the public house. Of these there were sometimes several within
+the tribal area. They were tilled in common by special families who
+resided on them, using the crops in compensation for the work they
+performed on the official buildings.
+
+"The second class was called 'tlatoca-tlalli,' land of the speakers.
+Of these there was but one tract in each tribe, which was to be
+'four hundred of their measures long on each side, each measure
+being equal to three Castilian rods."
+
+[Footnote: Ixtlilxochitl ("Hist. des Chichim," cap. XXXV, p. 242).
+Vedia (Lib. III, cap. VI, p. 195). "This had to be four hundred of
+their measures in square ('encuadro,' each side long), each one of
+these being equal to three Castilian rods".... See "Art of War"
+(p. 944, note 183). "The rod" (vara) is equal to 2.78209 feet
+English (Guyot).]
+
+The crops raised on such went exclusively to the requirements of the
+household at the 'teepan,' comprising the head-chief and his family
+with the assistants. The tract was worked in turn by the other
+members of the tribe, and it remained always public ground, reserved
+for the same purposes. [Footnote: Veytia (Lib. III, cap. VI, p. 195).
+It is superfluous to revert to the erroneous impression that the
+chiefs might dispose of it.]
+
+Both of these kinds were often comprised in one, and it is even not
+improbable that the first one may have been but a variety of the
+general tribute-lands devoted to the benefit of the conquering
+confederates. Still the evidence on this point is too indefinite to
+warrant such an assumption.
+
+While the crops raised on the 'teepan-tlalli,' as well as on the
+'tlatoca-tlalli,' were consumed exclusively by the official houses
+and households of the tribe, the soil itself which produced these
+crops was neither claimed nor possessed by the chiefs themselves or
+their descendants. It was simply, as far as its products were
+concerned, official soil.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 7 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+The establishing and maintaining of these areal subdivisions was
+very simple with the tribes of the mainland, since they all
+possessed ample territories for their wants and for the requirements
+of their organizations. Their soil formed a contiguous unit. It was
+not so, however, with the Mexicans proper. With all their industry
+in adding artificial sod to the patch on which they had originally
+settled, the solid surface was eventually much too small for their
+numbers, and they themselves put an efficient stop to further growth
+thereof by converting, as we have seen elsewhere, for the purpose of
+defence, their marshy surroundings into water-sheets, through the
+construction of extensive causeways. [Footnote: "Art of War" (pp.
+150 and 151). L. H. Morgan ("Ancient Society," Part II, cap. VII, pp.
+190 and 191)].
+
+While the remnants of the original 'teepantlalli' and of the
+'tlatocatlalli' still remained visible in the gardens, represented
+to us as purely ornamental, which dotted the pueblo of Mexico, the
+substantial elements wherewith to fulfill a purpose for which they
+were no longer adequate had, in course of time, to be drawn from the
+mainland. But it was not feasible, from the nature of tribal
+condition, to extend thither by colonization. The soil was held
+there by other tribes, whom the Mexicans might well overpower and
+render tributary, but whom they could not incorporate, since the
+kinships composing these tribes could not be fused with their own.
+Outposts, however, were established on the shores, at the outlets of
+the dykes, at Tepeyacac on the north, at Iztapalapan, Mexicaltzinco,
+and at Huitzilopocheo to the south, but these were only military
+positions, and beyond them the territory proper of the Mexicans
+never extended.
+
+[Footnote: Humboldt ("Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne," Vol.
+II, Lib. III, cap. VIII, p. 50): Nearly all the old authors describe
+the pueblo buildings as surrounded by pleasure-grounds or ornamental
+gardens. It is very striking that, the pueblo having been founded in
+1325, and nearly a century having been spent in adding sufficient
+artificial soil to the originally small solid expanse settled, the
+Mexicans could have been ready so soon to establish purely
+decorative parks within an area, every inch of which was valuable to
+them for subsistence alone!]
+
+[Footnote: The Mexican tribe proper clustered extensively within the
+pueblo of Tenuchtitlan. The settlements at Iztapalapan,
+Huntzilopocheo, and Mexicaltzinco were but military stations--
+outworks, guarding the issues of the causeways to the South.
+Tepeyacac (Guadalupe Hidalgo) was a similar position--unimportant as
+to population--in the north. Chapultepec was a sacred spot, not
+inhabited by any number of people and only held by the Mexicans for
+burial purposes, and on account of the springs furnishing fresh
+water to their pueblo.]
+
+Tribute, therefore, had to furnish the means for sustaining their
+governmental requirements in the matter of food, and the tribute
+lands had to be distributed and divided, so as to correspond
+minutely to the details of their home organization. For this reason
+we see, after the overthrow of the Tecpanecas, lands assigned
+apparently to the head war-chiefs, to the military chiefs of the
+quarters, 'from which to derive some revenue for their maintenance
+and that of their children.' [Footnote: Tezozomoc (Cap. XV, p. 24)1]
+
+These tracts were but 'official tracts,' and they were apart from
+those reserved for the special use of the kinships. The latter may
+have furnished that general tribute which, although given nominally
+to the head war-chief, still was 'for all the Mexicans in common.'
+
+The various classes of lands which we have mentioned were, as far as
+their tenure is concerned, included in the 'calpulalli' or lands of
+the kinships. Since the kin, or 'calpulli,' was the unit of
+governmental organization, it also was the unit of landed tenure.
+Clavigero says: 'The lands called altepetlalli, that is, those who
+belonged to the communities of the towns and villages, were divided
+into as many parts as there were quarters in a town, and each
+quarter held its own for itself, and without the least connection
+with the rest. Such lands could in no manner be alienated.'
+[Footnote: "Storia del Messico" (Lib. VII, cap. XVI).] These
+'quarters' were the 'calpulli'; hence it follows that the
+consanguine groups held the altepetlalli or soil of the tribe.
+
+"We have, therefore, in Mexico the identical mode of the tenure of
+lands which Polo de Ondogardo had noted in Peru and reported to the
+King of Spain, as follows.... 'Although the crops and other produce
+of these lands were devoted to the tribute, the land itself belonged
+to the people themselves. Hence a thing will be apparent which has
+not hitherto been properly understood. When any one wants land, it
+is considered sufficient if it can be shown that it belonged to the
+Inca or to the sun. But in this the Indians are treated with great
+injustice; for in those days they paid the tribute, and the land was
+theirs."
+
+[Footnote: "Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Yncas,
+translated from the original Spanish manuscripts, and edited by
+Clement R. Markham." Publication of the "Hackluyt Society," 1873.
+"Report of Polo de Ondegardo," who was "Regidor" of Cuzco in 1560,
+and a very important authority (see Prescott, "History of the
+Conquest of Peru," note to Book I, cap. V). Confirmed by Garcia
+("El Origen de los Indios," Lib. IV, cap, XVI, p. 162).] ...
+
+"The expanse held and occupied by the calpulli, and therefore called
+'calpulalli' was possessed by the kin in joint tenure. It could
+neither be alienated nor sold; in fact, there is no trace of barter
+or sale of land previous to the conquest."
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 8 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 9 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+If, however, any calpulli weakened, through loss of numbers from any
+cause whatever, it might farm out its area to another similar group,
+deriving subsistence from the rent.
+
+[Footnote: Zurita (p. 93): "In case of need it was permitted to farm
+out the lands of a calpulli to the inhabitants of another quarter."
+Herrera (Dec. III, lib. IV, cap, XV, p. 134): "They could be rented
+out to another lineage."]
+
+If the kinship died out, and its lands therefore became vacant, then
+they were either added to those of another whose share was not
+adequate for its wants or they were distributed among all the
+remaining calpulli.' [Footnote: Zurita (p. 52): "When a family dies
+out, its lands revert to the calpulli, and the chief distributes
+them among such members of the quarter as are most in need of it."]
+
+The calpulli was a democratic organization. Its business lay in the
+hands of elective chiefs--'old men' promoted to that dignity, as we
+intend to prove in a subsequent paper, for their merits and
+experience, and after severe religious ordeals. These chiefs formed
+the council of the kin or quarter, but their authority was not
+absolute, since on all important occasions a general meeting of the
+kindred was convened. [Footnote: Zurita (pp. 60, 61, 62). Ramirez de
+Fuenleal ("Letter," etc., Ternaux-Compaus, p. 249).]
+
+The council in turn selected an executive, the 'calpullec' or
+'chinancallec,' who in war officiated as 'achcacauhtin' or
+'teachcauhtin' (elder brother).
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 10 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+This office was for life or during good behavior. [Footnote: Zurita
+(pp. 60 and 61). Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 125):
+"I le elegian entre si y tenian por maior."]
+
+It was one of his duties to keep a reckoning of the soil of the
+calpulli, or 'calpulalli,' together with a record of its members,
+and of the areas assigned to each family, and to note also whatever
+changes occurred in their distribution.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 11 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+Such changes, if unimportant, might be made by him; more important
+ones, or contested cases, had to be referred to the council of the
+kinship, which in turn often appealed to a gathering of the entire
+quarter. [Footnote: Zurita "Rapport," etc., pp. 56 and 62. We quote
+him in preference, since no other author known to us has been so
+detailed.]
+
+The 'calpulalli' was divided into lots or arable beds, 'tlalmilli'.
+
+[Footnote: "Tlalmilli: tierras, a heredades de particulares, que
+estan juntas en alguna vega" (Molina, Part IIa, p. 124).] These were
+assigned each to one of the married males of the kinship, to be
+worked by him for his use and that of his family. If one of these
+lots remained unimproved for the term of two consecutive years, it
+fell back to the quarter for redistribution. The same occurred if
+the family enjoying its possession removed from the calpulli. But it
+does not appear that the cultivation had always to be performed by
+the holders of the tract themselves. The fact of improvement under
+the name of a certain tenant was only required to insure this
+tenant's rights.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 12 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+Therefore the chiefs and their families, although they could not,
+from the nature of their duties, till the land themselves, still
+could remain entitled to their share of 'tlalmilpa' as members of
+the calpulli. Such tracts were cultivated by others for their use.
+They were called by the specific name of 'pillali' (lands of the
+chiefs or of the children, from 'piltontli,' boy, or 'piltzintli',
+child), and those who cultivated them carried the appellation of
+'tlalmaitl'--hands of the soil.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 13 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+The 'tlalmilpa,' whether held by chiefs or by ordinary members of
+the kin ('macehuales'), were, therefore, the only tracts of land
+possessed for use by individuals in ancient Mexico. They were so far
+distinguished from the 'tecpantlalli' and 'tlatocatlalli' in their
+mode of tenure as, whereas the latter two were dependent from a
+certain office, the incumbent of which changed at each election, the
+'tlalmilli' was assigned to a certain family, and its possession,
+therefore, connected with customs of inheritance.
+
+Being thus led to investigate the customs of Inheritance of the
+ancient Mexicans, we have to premise here, that the personal effects
+of a deceased can be but slightly considered. The rule was, in
+general, that whatever a man held descended to his offspring.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 14 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+Among most of the northern Indians a large cluster participated.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 15 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+In conformity with the organization of society based upon kin, when
+in the first stage of its development, the kindred group inherited,
+and the common ancestor of this kin being considered a female, it
+follows that if a man died, not his children, still less his wife,
+but his mother's descendants, that is, his brothers, sisters, in
+fact the entire consanguine relationship from which he derived on
+his mother's side, were his heirs. [Footnote: "Ancient Society"
+(Part II, cap. II, p. 75; Part IV, cap. I, pp. 528, 530, 531, 536,
+and 537).] Such may have been the case even among the Muysca of New
+Granada.
+
+[Footnote: Gomara ("Historia de las Indios," Vedia I, p. 201).
+Garcia ("Origen de los Indios," Lib. IV, cap. 23, p. 247).
+Piedrahita (Parte 1, Lib. I, cap. 5, p. 27). Joaquin Acosta
+("Compredio historico del Descumbrimiento y Colonisazion de la
+Nueva-Granada," Cap. XI, p. 201). Ternaux-Compans ("L'ancien
+Cundinamarca," pp. 21 and 38).]
+
+It was different, however, in Mexico, where we meet with traces of a
+decided progress. Not only had descent been changed to the male line,
+[Footnote: Motolinia (Trat. II, cap. V, p. 120). Gomara (p. 434).
+Clavigero (Lib. VII, cap XIII). Zurita (pp. 12 and 43).] but
+heirship was limited, to the exclusion of the kin and of the agnates
+themselves, to the children of the male sex.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 16 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+Whatever personal effects a father left, which were not offered up
+in sacrifice at the ceremonies of his funeral, they were distributed
+among his male offsprings, and if there were none, they went to his
+brothers. Females held nothing whatever, beyond their wearing
+apparel and some few ornaments for personal use.
+
+[Footnote: Motolinia (Trat. II, cap. V, p. 120). Torquemada (Lib.
+XIII, cap. XLII to XLVIII, pp. 515 to 529). Acosta (Lib. V, cap. VIII,
+pp. 320, 321, and 322). Gomara (pp. 436 and 437, Vedra, I). Mendieta
+(Lib. II, cap. XL, pp. 162 and 163). Clavigero (Lib. VI, cap. XXXIX).
+"They burnt the clothes, arrows, and a portion of household
+utensils ... "]
+
+The 'tlalmilli' itself, at the demise of a father, went to his
+oldest son, with the obligation to improve it for the benefit of the
+entire family until the other children had been disposed of by
+marriage.
+
+[Footnote: Gomara ("Conq. de Mejico", p. 434): "It is customary
+among tributary classes that the oldest son shall inherit the
+father's property, real and personal, and shall maintain and support
+all the brothers and nephews, provided they do what he commands
+them. The reason why they do not partition the estates is in order
+not to decrease it through such a partition...." Simancas M. S. S.
+("Recueil," etc., etc., p. 224): "Relative to the calpulalli ... the
+sons mostly inherited."]
+
+But the other males could apply to the chief of the calpulli for a
+'tlalmilli' of their own; the females went with their husbands.
+Single blessedness, among the Mexicans, appears to have occurred
+only in case of religious vows, and in which case they fell back for
+subsistence upon the part allotted to worship, or in case of great
+infirmities, for which the calpulli provided.
+
+[Footnote: Zurita (p. 55): "He who has no land applies to the chief
+of the tribe (calpulli), who, upon the advice of the other old men,
+assigns to him a tract suitable for his wants, and corresponding to
+his abilities and to his strength." Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap.
+XV, p. 135).]
+
+[Footnote: Such unmarried females were the "nuns" frequently
+mentioned by the old writers. We shall have occasion to investigate
+the point in our paper on "The ancient Mexican priesthood." As
+attendants to worship, they participated in the tributes furnished
+towards it by each calpulli, of which we have spoken.]
+
+No mention is made of the widow participating in the products of the
+'tlalmilli,' still it is presumable that she was one of those whom
+the oldest son had to support. There are indications that the widow
+could remarry, in which case her husband, of course, provided for her.
+
+"The customs of Inheritance, as above reported, were the same with
+chiefs as well as with the ordinary members of the tribe. Of the
+personal effects very little remained, since the higher the office
+was which the deceased had held, the more display was made at his
+cremation, and consequently the more of his dresses, weapons, and
+ornaments were burnt with the body. Of lands, the chiefs only held
+each their 'tlalmilli' in the usual way, as members of their kin,
+whereas the other 'official' lots went to the new incumbents of the
+offices. It should always be borne in mind that none of these
+offices were hereditary themselves. Still, a certain 'right of
+succession' is generally admitted as having existed. Thus, with the
+Tezcucans, the office of head war-chief might pass from father to son,
+at Mexico from brother to brother, and from uncle to nephew."
+[Footnote: Zurita (p. 12). Gomara (Vedia I, p. 434). Torquemada
+(Lib. IX, cap. IV, p. 177; Lib. XI, cap. 27, p. 356, etc. etc.).]
+
+[Footnote: This fact is too amply proven to need special references.
+We reserve it for final discussion in our proposed paper on the
+chiefs of the Mexicans, and the duties, powers and functions of
+their office.]
+
+This might, eventually, have tended to perpetuate the office in the
+family, and with it also the possession of certain lands, attached
+to that officer's functions and duties. But it is quite certain too
+that this stage of development had not yet been reached by any of
+the tribes of Mexico at the time of its conquest by the Spaniards.
+The principal idea had not yet been developed, namely, that of the
+domain, which, in eastern countries at least, gradually segregated
+into individually hereditary tenures and ownerships.
+
+"Out of the scanty remains thus left of certain features of
+aboriginal life in ancient Mexico, as well as out of the conflicting
+statements about that country's early history, we have now attempted
+to reconstruct the conceptions of the Mexican aborigines about
+tenure of lands, as well as their manner of distribution thereof.
+Our inquiries seem to justify the following conclusions:
+
+"1. The notion of abstract ownership of the soil, either by a nation
+or state, or by the head of its government, or by individuals, was
+unknown to the ancient Mexicans.
+
+"2. Definite possessory right was vested in the kinships composing
+the tribe; but the idea of sale, barter, or conveyance or alienation
+of such by the kin had not been conceived.
+
+"3. Individuals, whatever might be their position or office, without
+any exception, held but the right to use certain defined lots for
+their sustenance, which right, although hereditary in the male line,
+was nevertheless limited to the conditions of residence within the
+area held by the kin, and of cultivation either by or in the name of
+him to whom the said lots were assigned.
+
+"4. No possessory rights to land were attached to any office or
+chieftaincy. As members of a kin, each chief had the use of a
+certain lot, which he could rent or farm to others, for his benefit.
+
+"5. For the requirements of tribal business, and of the governmental
+features of the kinships (public hospitality included), certain
+tracts were set apart as official lands, out of which the official
+households were supplied and sustained; but these lands and their
+products were totally independent from the persons or families of
+the chiefs themselves.
+
+"6. Conquest of any tribe by the Mexicans was not followed by an
+annexation of that tribe's territory, nor by an apportionment of its
+soil among the conquerors. Tribute was exacted, and, for the purpose
+of raising that tribute (in part), special tracts were set off; the
+crops of which were gathered for the storehouses of Mexico.
+
+"7. Consequently, as our previous investigations (of the warlike
+institutions and customs of the ancient Mexicans) have disproved the
+generally received notion of a military despotism prevailing among
+them, so the results of his review of Tenure and distribution of
+lands tend to establish 'that the principle and institution of
+feudality did not exist in aboriginal Mexico.'"
+
+Among the Peruvians their land system was probably much the same as
+among the ancient Mexicans. But according to Garcilapo de la Vega,
+they had carried their system with respect to lands a little farther.
+Their lands, he remarks, were "divided into three parts and applied
+to different uses. The first was for the Sun, his priests and
+ministers; the second was for the King, and for the support and
+maintenance of his governors and officers.... And the third was for
+the natives and sojourners of the provinces, which was divided
+equally according to the needs which each family required."
+[Footnote: Royal Commentaries of Peru, Lond. ed., 1688. Rycaut,
+trans., p. 154.]
+
+While these several statements may not present the exact case in all
+respects in Peru, Mexico, or among the Northern Indian tribes, they
+sufficiently indicate the ownership of land by communities of persons,
+larger or smaller, with a system of tillage that points to large
+households. Neither the Peruvians, nor the Aztecs, nor any Indian
+tribe had attained to a knowledge of the ownership of land in
+severalty in fee simple at the period of their discovery. This
+knowledge belongs to the period of civilization. There is not the
+slightest probability that any Indian, whether Iroquois, Mexican, or
+Peruvian, owned a foot of land that he could call his own, with
+power to sell and convey the same in fee simple to whomsoever he
+pleased.
+
+THE CUSTOM OF HAVING BUT ONE PREPARED MEAL EACH DAY--A DINNER--AND
+THEIR SEPARATION AT MEALS, THE MEN EATING FIRST AND THE WOMEN AND
+CHILDREN AFTERWARDS.
+
+This was the usage among the Indian tribes in the Lower Status of
+barbarism. In the Middle Status there seems to have been more method
+and regularity of life, but no change in their customs with respect
+to food, so marked in character that we are forced to recognize a
+new plan of domestic life among them. The Iroquois had but one
+cooked meal each day. It was as much as their resources and
+organization for housekeeping could furnish, and was as much as they
+needed. It was prepared and served usually before the noon-day hour,
+ten or eleven o'clock, and may be called a dinner. At this time the
+principal cooking for the day was done. After its division at the
+kettle, among the members of the household, it was served warm to
+each person in earthen or wooden bowls. They had neither tables, nor
+chairs, nor plates, in our sense, nor any room in the nature of a
+kitchen or a dining room, but ate each by himself, sitting or
+standing, and where most convenient to the person. They also
+separated as to the time of eating, the men eating first and by
+themselves, and the women and children afterwards and by themselves.
+That which remained was reserved for any member of the household
+when hungry. Towards evening the women cooked hominy, the maize
+having been pounded into bits the size of a kernel of rice, which
+was boiled and put aside to be used cold as a lunch in the morning
+or evening, and for the entertainment of visitors. They had neither
+a formal breakfast nor a supper. Each person, when hungry, ate of
+whatever food the house contained. They were moderate eaters. This
+is a fair picture of Indian life in general in America, when
+discovered. After intercourse commenced with whites, the Iroquois
+gradually began to adopt our mode of life but very slowly. One of
+the difficulties was to change the old usage and accustom themselves
+to eat together. It came in by degrees, first with the breaking up
+of the old plan of living together in numbers in the old long-houses,
+and with the substitution of single houses for each family, which
+ended communism and living in the large household, and substituted
+the subsistence of a single family through individual effort. After
+many years came the use of the table and chairs among the more
+advanced families of the Iroquois tribes. There are still upon the
+Iroquois reservations in this State many log homes or cabins with
+but a single room on the ground floor and a loft above, with neither
+a table or chair in their scanty furniture. A portion of them still
+live very much in the old style, with perhaps two regular meals
+daily instead of one. That they have made this much of change in the
+course of two centuries must be accounted remarkable, for they have
+been compelled, so to speak, to jump one entire ethnical period,
+without the experience or training of so many intervening generations,
+and without the brain-growth such a change of the plan of domestic
+life implies, when reached through natural individual experience.
+There is a tradition still current among the Seneca-Iroquois, if the
+memory of so recent an occurrence may be called traditional, that
+when the proposition that man and wife should eat together, which
+was so contrary to immemorial usage, was first determined in the
+affirmative, it was formally agreed that man and wife should sit
+down together at the same dish and eat with the same ladle, the man
+eating first and then the woman, and so alternately until the meal
+was finished.
+
+The testimony of such writers as have noticed the house-life of the
+Indian tribes is not uniform in respect to the number of meals a day.
+Thus Catlin remarks, "As I have before observed these men (the
+Mandans) generally eat but twice a day, and many times not more than
+once, and these meals are light and simple.... The North American
+Indians, taking them in the aggregate, even when they have an
+abundance to subsist on, eat less than any civilized population of
+equal numbers that I have ever traveled among." [Footnote: North
+American Indians, Philadelphia ed., 1857, i, 203.]
+
+And Heckewelder, speaking of the Delawares and other tribes, says:
+"They commonly make two meals every day, which they say is enough.
+If any one should feel hungry between meal-times, there is generally
+something in the house ready for him."
+
+[Footnote: Indian Nations, 193.] Adair contents himself with stating
+of the Chocta and Cherokee tribes that "they have no stated meal time."
+
+[Footnote: History of the American Indian, Lond. ed., 1775, p. 17.]
+
+There was doubtless some variation in different localities, and even
+in the same household; but as a general rule, from what is known of
+their mode of life, one prepared meal each day expresses very nearly
+all the people in this condition of society can do for the
+sustenance of mankind.
+
+Although the sedentary Village Indians were one ethnical period in
+advance of the Northern Indians, there can be but little doubt that
+their mode of life in this respect was substantially the same. Among
+the Aztecs or ancient Mexicans a dinner was provided about midday,
+but we have no satisfactory account of a breakfast or a supper
+habitually and regularly prepared. Civilization, with its
+diversified industries, its multiplied products, and its monogamian
+family, affords a breakfast and supper in addition to a dinner. It
+is doubtful whether they are older than civilization; and even if
+they can be definitely traced backward into the older period of
+barbarism, there is little probability of their being found in the
+Middle period. Clavigero attempts to invest the Aztecs with a
+breakfast, but he was unable to find any evidence of a supper.
+"After a few hours of labor in the morning," he observes, "they took
+their breakfast, which was most commonly atolli, a gruel of maize,
+and their dinner after midday; but among all the historians we can
+find no mention of their supper." [Footnote: History of Mexico, ii,
+262.]
+
+The "gruel of maize" here mentioned as forming usually the Aztec
+breakfast suggests the "hominy of the Iroquois," which, like it, was
+not unlikely kept constantly prepared in every Mexican house as a
+lunch for the hungry. Two meals each day are mentioned by other
+Spanish authors, but as the Aztecs, as well as the tribes in Yucatan
+and Central America, were ignorant of the use of tables and chairs
+in eating their food, divided their food from the kettle, placing
+the dinner of each person usually in a separate bowl, and separated
+at their meals, the men eating first and by themselves, and the
+women and children afterwards, this similarity of usage renders it
+probable they were not far removed from the Iroquois in respect to
+the time and manner of taking their food. Montezuma's dinner,
+witnessed by Bernal-Diaz and others, and elaborately described by a
+number of authors, shows that the Aztecs had a smoking hot dinner
+each day, prepared regularly, and on a scale adequate to a large
+household; that the dinner of each person was placed in one bowl,
+and all these bowls to the number of several hundred were brought in
+and set down together upon the floor of one room, where they were
+taken up one by one by the male members of the household, and the
+contents eaten sitting down upon the floor or standing in the open
+court, as best suited them. The breakfast that preceded it, and the
+supper that follows, are not mentioned, from which we infer that
+there was neither a breakfast nor a supper for these inquisitive
+observers to see. Neither is the subsequent dinner of the women and
+children of the household mentioned, from which it may be inferred
+that as the men ate their dinner first in a particular hall by
+themselves, the women and children took their dinner later in
+another hall, not seen by the Spaniards.
+
+In the accounts of Montezuma's dinner a cook-house or kitchen is
+mentioned, in which the dinner for the large household of the
+"Tecpan" or "official house," so fully explained above by Mr.
+Bandelier, was prepared. This kitchen, and the use of another room,
+where the bowls containing the dinner of each person separately were
+set down on the floor in a mass by themselves--an incipient
+dining-room--make their first appearance in the Middle Status of
+barbarism. But, as will be noticed, they are but rude realizations
+of the kitchen and dining-room of civilized man. The pueblo houses
+in Yucatan and Chiapas, now in ruins, are without chimneys, from
+which it may be inferred that no cooking was done within them. At
+Uxmal we recognize in the Governor's House, the Tecpan or
+official-house, and in the House of the Nuns, and other structures
+which formed the pueblo, the joint-tenement houses in which the body
+of the tribe resided. If the truth of the matter is ever ascertained,
+it will probably be found that the dinner for each household group,
+consisting of several families, was prepared in a common cook-house
+outside of the main structure, and that it was divided at the kettle
+to the individuals of each household.
+
+The separation of the sexes at their meals has been sufficiently
+referred to among the Iroquois. Robertson states the usage as general.
+"They must approach their lords with reverence; they must regard
+them as more exalted beings, and are not permitted to eat in their
+presence." [Footnote: History of America, New York ed., 1856, 178.]
+
+Catlin the same: "These women, however, although graceful and civil,
+and ever so beautiful, or ever so hungry, are not allowed to sit in
+the same group with the men while at their meals. So far as I have
+yet traveled in the Indian country, I have never seen an Indian
+woman eating with her husband. Men form the first group at the
+banquet, and women and children and dogs all come together at the
+next." [Footnote: North American Indians, i, 202.] And Adair
+"for the men feast by themselves and the women eat the remains."
+[Footnote: History of the American Indians, p. 140.]
+
+Herrera remarks that "the woman of Yucatan are rather larger than
+the Spanish and generally have good faces ... but they would
+formerly be drunk at their festivals, though they did eat apart."
+[Footnote: History of America, iv, 175.] And Sahagun, speaking
+of the ceremony of baptism among the Aztecs, observes that "to
+the women, who ate apart, they did not give cacao to drink."
+[Footnote: Historia General, lib. iv, 36]
+
+With these general references to the universality of the practice on
+the part of the men of eating first, and leaving the women and
+children to come afterwards, according to the manners of barbarism,
+we leave the subject.
+
+[Relocated Footnote 1: Torquemada (Lib. II, cap. LXVIII, p. 194)
+"Estaba de ordinario, recogido en una grande Sala (el calpul)."
+(Lib. III, cap. XXVII, p. 305. Lib. IV, cap. XIX, p. 396) (que asi
+llaman las Salas grandes de Comunidad, o de Cabildo). We find, under
+the corrupted name of "galpon," the "calpulli" in Nicaragua among
+the Niquirans, which speak a dialect of the Mexican (Nahuatl)
+language. See E. G. Squier ("Nicaragua," Vol. II, p. 342). "The
+council-houses were called grepons, surrounded by broad corridors
+called galpons, beneath which the arms were kept, protected by
+a guard of young men". Mr. Squier evidently bases upon Oviedo
+("Hist. general," Lib. XLII, cap. III, p. 52). "Esta casa de cabildo
+llaman galpon...." It is another evidence in favor of our statements,
+that the kinship formed the original unit of the tribe, and at the
+same time a hint that, as in New Mexico, originally, an entire kin
+inhabited a single large house. See Molina's Vocab. (p. 11).]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 2: There is no evidence of any tribute or
+prestation due by the quarters to the tribe. The custom always
+remained, that the "calpulli" was sovereign within its limits. See
+Alonzo de Zunta ("Rapport sur les differentes classes de chefs
+de la Nouvelle-Espagne," pp. 51-65). Besides, Ixtlilxochitl says:
+("Hist. des Chichim," cap. XXXV, p. 242), "Other fields were called
+Calpolalli or Altepetlalli." Now calpulalli (from "calpulli,"
+quarter or kinship, and "tlalli," soil), means soil of the kin,
+and altepetalli ("altepetl," tribe), soil of the tribe. Clavigero
+even says that the lands called "altepetlalli," belonging to the
+communities "of the towns and villages, were divided into so many
+parts as there were quarters in the town, each quarter having its own,
+without the least connection with the other." (Lib. VII, cap. XIV.)
+This indicates plainly that the kinships held the soil, whereas the
+tribe occupied the territorial expanse. The domain, either as
+pertaining to a "lord," or to a "state", was unknown among the
+Indians in general. Even among the Peruvians, who were more advanced
+than the Mexicans in that respect, there was no domain of the tribe.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 3: See Torquemada (Lib. II, cap. XI, and Lib. III,
+cap. XXII). Duran (cap. V). The quotation is from Herrera (Dec. II,
+Lib. VII, cap. XIII, p. 190), and is confirmed by Torquemada (Lib.
+III, cap. XXIII, p. 291), and especially by Gomara ("Conquista de
+Mejico," p. 443. Vedia, I.) "Many married people ('muchos casados')
+live in one house, either on account of the brothers and relations
+being together, as they do not divide their grounds ('heredades'),
+or on account of the limited space of the pueblos; although the
+pueblos are large, and even the houses." Peter Martyr of Angleria
+("De Novo Orbe," translated by Richard Eden and Michael Lok, London,
+1612, Dec. V, cap. X, p. 228), says: "But the common houses
+themselves as high as a mannes Girdle, were also built of stone, by
+reason of the swelling of the lake through the flood, or washing
+float of the Ryvers falling into it. Upon those greate foundations,
+they builded the reste of the house, with Bricke dryed, or burned in
+the sunne, intermingled with Beames of Tymber, and the common houses
+have but one floore or planchin." We are forcibly reminded here
+of the houses of Itza on Lake Peten, which were found in 1695.
+("Hist. de la Conq. de los Itzaex," Lib. VIII, cap. XII, p. 494.)
+"It was all filled with houses, some with stone walls more than one
+rod high, and higher up of wood, and the roofs of straw, and some
+only of wood and straw. There lived in them all the Inhabitants of
+the Island brutally together, one relationship occupying a single
+house." See also the highly valuable Introduction to the second
+Dialogue of Cervantes-Salazar ("Mexico in 1554") by my excellent
+friend Sr. Icazbalceta (pp. 73 and 74).]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 4: This successive formation of new "calpulli" is
+nowhere explicitly stated, but it is implied by the passage of Duran
+which we have already quoted (Cap. V, p. 42). It also results from
+their military organization as described in the "Art of War" (p. 115).
+With the increase of population, the original kinships necessarily
+disaggregated further, as we have seen it to have occurred among the
+Quiche (see "Popul-Vuh," quoted in our note 7), forming smaller
+groups of consanguinei. After the successful war against the
+Tecpanecas, of which we shall speak hereafter, we find at least
+twenty chiefs, representing as many kins (Duran, cap. XI, p. 97),
+besides three more, adopted then from those of Culhuscan (Id., pp.
+98 and 99). This indicates an increase.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 5: Torquemada (Lib. III, cap. XXIV, p. 295):
+"I confess it to be truth that this city of Mexico is divided into
+four principal quarters, each one of which contains others, smaller
+ones, included, and all, in common as well as in particular, have
+their commanders and leaders...." Zurita ("Rapport," p. 58-64).
+That the smaller subdivisions were those who held the soil, and not
+the four original groups, must be inferred from the fact that the
+ground was attached to the calpulli. Says Zurita (p. 51), "They
+(the lands) do not belong to each inhabitant of the village, but to
+the calpulli, which possesses them in common." On the other hand,
+Torquemada states (Lib. XIV, cap. VII, p. 545), "That in each pueblo,
+according to the number of people, there should be (were) clusters
+('parcialidades') of diverse people and families.... These clusters
+were distributed by calpules, which are quarters ('barrios'), and it
+happened that one of the aforesaid clusters sometimes contained three,
+four, and more calpules, according to the population of the place
+('pueblo') or tribe." The same author further affirms: "These
+quarters and streets were all assorted and leveled with so much
+accuracy that those of one quarter or street could not take a palm
+of land from those of another, and the same was with the streets,
+their lots running (being scattered) all over the pueblo."
+Consequently there were no communal lands allotted to the four great
+quarters of Mexico as such, but each one of the kinships (calpules)
+held its part of the original aggregate. Compare Gomara (Vedia, Vol.
+I, "Conq. de Mejico," p. 434: "Among tributaries it is a custom, etc.,
+etc." Also p. 440). Clavigero (Lib. VII, cap. XIV): "Each quarter
+has its own tract, without the least connection with the others."]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 6: Compare Duran (Cap XI, p. 87). Acosta (Lib.
+VII, cap, XXXI, p. 470). It appears as if the "teepan" had not been
+constructed previous to the middle of the 14th century, the meetings
+of the tribe being previously called together by priests, and
+probably in the open space around the main house of worship. The
+fact of the priests calling the public meetings is proved by Duran
+(Cap. IV, p. 42). Acosta (Lib. VII, cap. VII, p. 468). Veytia
+(Lib. II, cap. XVIII, pp. 156,159. Cap. XXI, p. 186). Acosta first
+mentions "unos palacios, aunque harto pobres." (Lib. VII, cap. 8,
+p. 470), on the occasion of the election of the first regular
+"tlacatecuhtli:" Acamapichtli--Torquemada says (Lib. XII, cap. XXII,
+p. 290) that they lived in miserable huts of reeds and straw,
+erected around the open space where the altar or place of worship
+of Huitzilopochtli was built. The public building was certainly
+their latest kind of construction.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 7: "Patronomial Estates" are mentioned
+frequently, but the point is, where are they to be found?
+Neither the "teepan-tlalli" nor the "tlatoca-tlalli," still
+less the "calpulalli," show any trace of individual ownership.
+"Eredad" (heirloom) is called indiscriminately "milli" and
+"cuemitl" (Molina, Parte Ia, p. 57). The latter is also rendered
+as "tierra labrada, o camellon" (Molina, Parte IIa, p. 26). It
+thus reminds us of the "chinamitl" or garden-bed (as the name
+"camellon" also implies), and reduces it to the proportion of
+an ordinary cultivated lot among the others contained within the
+area of the calpulli. It is also called "tlalli," but that is
+the general name for soil or ground. "Tierras o eredades de
+particulares, juntas an alguna vega," is called "tlalmilli".
+This decomposes into "tlalli" soil and "milli." But "vega"
+signifies a fertile tract or field, and thus we have again
+the conception of communal lands, divided into lots improved by
+particular families, as the idea of communal tenure necessarily
+implies.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 8: Zurita ("Rapport," etc., etc., p. 50):
+"The chiefs of the second class are yet called calpullec in the
+singular and chinancallec in the plural." (This is evidently
+incorrect, since the words 'calpulli' and 'chinancalli' can easily
+be distinguished from each other.) "'Chinancalli', however after
+Molina means 'cercado de seto' (Parte IIa, p. 21), or an inclosed
+area, and if we connect it with the old original 'chinamitl' we are
+forcibly carried back to the early times, when the Mexicans but
+dwelt on a few flakes of more or less solid ground. This is an
+additional evidence in favor of the views we have taken of the
+growth of landed tenure among the Mexican tribe. We must never
+forget that the term is 'Nahuatl,' and as such recognized by all the
+other tribes, outside of the Mexicans proper. The interpretation as
+'family' in the Quiche tongue of Guatemala, which we have already
+mentioned, turns up here as of further importance; that is: chiefs
+of an old race or family, from the word calpulli or chinancalli,
+which is the same, and signifies a quarter (barrio), inhabited by a
+family known, or of old origin, which possesses since long time a
+territory whose limits are known, and whose members are of the same
+lineage."
+
+"The calpullis, families or quarters, are very common in each
+province. Among the lands which were given to the chefs of the
+second class there were also calpullis. These lands are the property
+of the people in general ('de la masse du peuple') from the time the
+Indians reached this land. Each family or tribe received a portion
+of the soil for perpetual enjoyment. They also had the name of
+calpulli, and until now this property has been respected. They do
+not belong to each inhabitant of the village in particular, but to
+the calpulli, which possesses them in common." Don Ramirez de
+Fuenleal, letter dated Mexico, 3 Nov., 1532 ("Recueil de pieces,"
+etc, Ternaux-Compans, p. 253): "There are very few people in the
+villages which have lands of their own ... the lands are held in
+common and cultivated in common." Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. XV,
+p. 135) confirms, in a condensed form, the statement of Zurita,
+"and they are not private lands of each one, but held in common."
+Torquemada (Lib. XIV, cap. VII, p. 545.) Veytia (Lib. III, cap. VI,
+p. 196). "Finally, there were other tracts of lands in each tribe,
+called calpulalli, which is land of the calpules (barrios), which
+also were worked in common." Oviedo (Lib. XXXII, cap. LI, pp. 536 and
+537). Clavigero (Lib. VII, cap. XIV). Bustamante ("Tezcoco," etc.,
+Parte IIIa, cap. V. p. 232).]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 9: Zurita (p. 52): "He who obtained them from the
+sovereign has not the right to dispose of them." Herrera (Dec. III,
+Lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 135): "He who possessed them could not alienate
+them, although he enjoyed their use for his lifetime." Torquemada
+(Lib. XIV, cap. VII, p. 545): "Disputes about lands are frequently
+mentioned, but they refer to the enjoyment and possession, and not
+the transfer of the land." Baron Humboldt ("Unes des Cordilleres et
+monuments indigenes des peuples de l'Amerique", Vol. I, Tab. V)
+reproduces a Mexican painting representing a litigation about land.
+But this painting was made subsequent to the Conquest, as the fact
+that the parties contending are Indians and Spaniards sufficiently
+asserts. Occasional mention is made that certain lands "could be sold."
+All such tracts, however, like the "pallali", have been shown by us
+to be held in communal tenure of the soil, there enjoyment alone
+being given to individuals and their families.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 10: Zurita (p. 60): "The calpulli have a chief
+taken necessarily from among the tribe; he must be one of the
+principal inhabitants, an able man who can assist and defend the
+people. The election takes place among them.... The office of this
+chief is not hereditary; when any one dies, they elect in his place
+the most respected old man.... If the deceased has left a son who is
+able the choice falls upon him, and a relative of the former
+incumbent is always preferred." (Id., pp. 50 and 222). Simancas
+M. S. S. ("De l'ordre de succession," etc., "Recucil," p. 225): As
+to the mode of regulating the jurisdiction and election of the
+alcaldes and regidors of the villages, "they nominated men of note
+who had the title of achcatanlitin.... There were no other elections
+of officers...." ('Art of War,' etc. pp. 119 and 120).]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 11: Zurita (pp. 61 and 62): "This chief has
+charge of the lands of the calpulli. It is his duty to defend their
+possession. He keeps paintings showing the tracts, the names of
+their holders, the situation, the limits, the number of men tilling
+them, the wealth of private individuals, the designations of each as
+are vacant, of others that belong to the Spaniards, the date of
+donation, to whom and by whom they were given. These paintings he
+constantly renews, according to the changes occurring, and in this
+they are very skillful." It is singular that Motolinia, in his
+"Epistola proemial" ("Col. de Doc."; Icazbalceta, Vol. I, p. 5),
+among the five "books of paintings" which he says the Mexicans had,
+makes no mention of the above. Neither does he notice it in his
+letter dated Cholala, 27 Aug., 1554 ("Recueil de pieces," etc.,
+Teruaux-Compans).]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 12: Each family, represented by its male head,
+obtained a certain tract or lot for cultivation and use, Zurita
+(p. 55). "The party (member of the calpulli, because no member of
+another one had the right to settle within the area of it--see Id.,
+p. 53), who has no lands applies to the chief of the calpulli, who,
+upon the advice of the other old men, assigns to him such as
+corresponds to his ability and wants. These lands go to his
+heirs...." (id., p. 56). "The proprietor who did not cultivate
+during two years, either through his own fault or through
+negligence, without just cause ... he was called upon to improve
+them, and if he failed to do so they were given to another the
+following year." Bustamante (Tezcoco, etc., Parte IIIa, p. 190,
+cap I): "The fact that any holder of a 'tlalmilli' might rent out
+his share, if he himself was occupied in a line precluding him from
+actual work on it, results from the lands of the 'calpulli' being
+represented alternately treated as communal and again as private
+lands. Besides, it is said of the traders who, from the nature of
+their occupation, were mostly absent, that they were also members
+and participants of a 'calpulli'" (Zurita, p. 223. Sahagun, Lib.
+VIII, cap. III, p. 349). Now, as every Mexican belonged to a kinship,
+which held lands after the plan exposed above, it follows that such
+as were not able to work themselves, on account of their performing
+other duties subservient to the interests of the community still
+preserved their tracts by having others to work them for their
+benefit. It was not the right of tenancy which authorizes the
+improvement, but the fact of improvement for a certain purpose and
+benefit, which secured the possession or tenancy.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 13: From "tlalli" soil, and "maitl" hand. Hands
+of the soil. Molma (Parte IIa, p. 124) has: "tlalmaitl"--"labrador, y
+ganyan." This name is given in distinction of the "macehuales" or
+people working the soil in general. The tlalmaites are identical
+with the "mayeques." (See Zurita, p. 224): "tlalmaites or mayeques,
+which signifies tillers of the soil of others...." He distinguishes
+them plainly from the 'teccallec,' which are the 'tecpanpouhque' or
+"tecpantlaca" formerly mentioned as attending to a class official
+lands (p. 221, Zurita). Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. XVII, p. 138):
+"These mayeques could not go from one tract to another, neither
+leave those which they cultivated, and raised. They paid tribute to
+nobody else but the master of the land." This tends to show that
+there existed not an established obligation, a serfdom, but a
+voluntary contract, that the "tlalmaites" were not serfs, but simply
+renters.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 14: Motolinia (Tratado II, cap. V, p. 120):
+"But they left their houses and lands to their children" ... Gomara
+(p. 434): "Es costumbre de pecheros que el hijo mayor herede al
+padre en toda la hacienda raiz y mueble, y que tenga y mantenga
+todos los hermanos y sobrinos, con tal que haganellos lo que el les
+mandare." Clavigero (Lib. VII, cap. XIII): "In Mexico, and nearly
+the entire realm, the royal family excepted as already told, the
+sons succeeded to the father's rights; and if there were no sons,
+then the brothers, and the brothers' sons inherited." Bustamante
+("Tezcoco," etc., p. 219): In all these cases, Bustamante only
+speaks of chiefs; but the quotations from Motolinia and Gomara
+directly apply to the people in general.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 15: Mr. L. H. Morgan has investigated the custom
+of inheritance, not only among the northern Indians, but also among
+the pueblo Indians of New Mexico. He establishes the fact, that the
+"kinship" or "gens," which we may justly consider as the unit of
+organization in American aboriginal society, participated in the
+property of the deceased. He proves it among the Iroquois ("Ancient
+Society," Part II, cap. II, pp. 75 and 76). Wyandottes, Id., cap. VII,
+p. 153. Missouri-tribes, p. 155. Winnebagoes, p 157. Mandans, p 158.
+Minnitarees, p. 159. Creeks, p. 161. Choctas, p. 162. Chickasas, p.
+163. Ojibwas, p. 167; also Potowattomies and Crees, Miamis, p. 168.
+Shawnees, p. 169. Sauks, Foxes and Menominies, p. 170. Delawares, p.
+172. Munsees and Mohegans, p. 173. Finally, the pueblo Indians of
+New Mexico are shown to have, if not the identical at least a
+similar mode of inheritance. It would be easy to secure further
+evidence, from South America also.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 16: Letter of Motolinia and Diego d'Olarte, to
+Don Luis de Velasco, Cholula, 27 Aug., 1554 ("Recueil," etc., etc., p.
+407): "The daughters did not inherit; it was the principal, wife's
+son" ... "Besides, nearly every author designates but a son, or sons,
+as the heirs. There is no mention made of daughters at all. In
+Tlaxcallan, it is also expressly mentioned that the daughters did
+not inherit" (Torquemada, Lib. XI, cap. XXII, p. 348). In general,
+the position of woman in ancient Mexico was a very inferior one, and
+but little above that which it occupies among Indians in general.
+(Compare the description of Gomara, p. 440, Vedia I, with those of
+Sahagun. Lib. X, cap. I, p. 1; cap. XIII, pp. 30, 31, 32, and 33.
+The fact is generally conceded). H. H. Bancroft "Native Races," Vol.
+II, cap. VI, p. 224, etc.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+HOUSES OF INDIAN TRIBES NORTH OF NEW MEXICO.
+
+
+The growth of the idea of house architecture in general is a subject
+more comprehensive than the scope of this volume. But there is one
+phase of this growth, illustrating as it does the condition of
+society and of the family in savagery and in barbarism, to which
+attention will be invited. It is found in the domestic architecture
+of the American aborigines, considered as a whole, and as parts of
+one system. As a system it stands related to the institutions, usages,
+and customs presented in the previous chapters. There is not only
+abundant evidence in the collective architecture of the Indian
+tribes of the gradual development of this great faculty or aptitude
+of the human mind among them, through three ethnical periods, but
+the structures themselves, or a knowledge of them, remain for
+comparison with each other. A comparison will show that they belong
+to a common indigenous system of architecture. There is a common
+principle running through all this architecture, from the hut of the
+savage to the commodious joint-tenement house of the Village Indians
+of Mexico and Central America, which will contribute to its
+elucidation.
+
+The indigenous architecture of the Village Indians has given to them,
+more than aught else, their position in the estimation of mankind.
+The facts of their social condition in other respects, which,
+unfortunately, are obscure, have been much less instrumental in
+fixing their status than existing architectural remains. The Indian
+edifices in Mexico and Central America of the period of the Conquest
+may well excite surprise and even admiration; from their palatial
+extent, from the material used in their construction, and from the
+character of their ornamentation, they are highly creditable to
+their skill in architecture. But a false interpretation has, from
+the first, been put upon this architecture, as I think can be shown,
+and inferences with respect to the social condition and the degree
+of advancement of these tribes have been constantly drawn from it
+both fallacious and deceptive, when the plain truth would have been
+more creditable to the aborigines. It will be my object to give an
+interpretation of this architecture in harmony with the usages and
+customs of the Indian tribes. The houses of the different tribes, in
+ground-plan and mechanism, will be considered and compared, in order
+to show wherein they represent one system.
+
+A common principle, as before stated, runs through all this
+architecture, from the "long-house" of the Iroquois to the "pueblo
+houses" of New Mexico, and to the so-called "palace" at Palenqne,
+and the "House of the Nuns" at Uxmal. It is the principle of
+adaptation to communism in living, restricted in the first instance
+to household groups, and extended finally to all the inhabitants of
+a village or encampment by the law of hospitality. Hunger and
+destitution were not known at one end of an Indian village while
+abundance prevailed at the other. Joint-tenement houses, each
+occupied by one large household, as among the Iroquois, or by
+several household groups, as in Yucatan, were the natural and
+inevitable result of their usages and customs. Communism in living
+and the law of hospitality, it seems probable, accompanied all the
+phases of Indian life in savagery and in barbarism. These and other
+facts of their social condition embodied themselves in their
+architecture, and will contribute to its elucidation.
+
+The house architecture of the Northern tribes is of little importance,
+in itself considered; but, as an outcome of their social condition
+and for comparison with that of the Southern Village Indians, it is
+highly important. An attempt will be made to show, firstly, that the
+known communism in living of the former tribes entered into and
+determined the character of their houses, which are communal; and,
+secondly, that wherever the structures of the latter class are
+obviously communal, the practice of communism in living at the
+period of discovery may be inferred from the structures themselves,
+although many of them are now in ruins, and the people who
+constructed them have disappeared. Some evidence, however, of the
+communism of the Village Indians has been presented.
+
+
+COMMUNAL HOUSES OF TRIBES IN SAVAGERY.
+
+Mr. Stephen Powers, in his recent and instructive work on the
+"California Tribes," enumerates seven varieties of the lodge
+constructed by these tribes, adapted to the different climates of
+the State. One form was adapted to the raw and foggy climate of the
+California coast, constructed of redwood poles over an excavated pit,
+another to the snow-belt of the Coast Range and of the Sierras;
+another to the high ranges of the Sierras; another to the warm coast
+valleys; another, limited to a small area, constructed of interlaced
+willow poles, the interstices being open; another to the woodless
+plains of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, dome-shaped and
+covered with earth; and another to the hot and nearly rainless
+region of the Kern and Tulare valleys, made of tule. Four of these
+varieties are given below, the illustrations being taken from his
+work. [Footnote: Powell's Geographical Survey, &c., of the Rocky
+Mountain Region, Contributions to American Ethnology, vol. iii,
+Powers' Tribes of California, p. 436.]
+
+"In making a wigwam, they excavated about two feet, banked up the
+earth enough to keep out the water, and threw the remainder on the
+roof dome-shaped. With the Lolsel the bride often remains in the
+father's house, and her husband comes to live with her, whereupon
+half the purchase money is returned. Thus there will be two or three
+families in one lodge. They are very clannish, especially the
+mountain tribes, and family influence is all potent." [Footnote: ib.,
+p. 221.]
+
+Elsewhere he remarks upon this form of house as follows: "On the
+great woodless plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, the savages
+naturally had recourse to earth for a material. The round,
+domed-shaped, earth-covered lodge is considered the characteristic
+one of California; and probably two-thirds of its immense aboriginal
+population lived in dwellings of this description. The doorway is
+sometimes directly on top, sometimes on the ground, at one side. I
+have never been able to ascertain whether the amount of rain-fall of
+any given locality had any influence in determining the place of the
+door." [Footnote: ib., p. 437.]
+
+This mode of entrance reappears in the more artistic house of the
+Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, where the rooms are entered by means
+of a trap-door in the roof, the descent being made by a ladder. The
+"immense aboriginal population" of California, claimed by Mr. Powers,
+is too strong a statement.
+
+"This wigwam is in the shape of the capital letter L, made up of
+slats leaning up to a ridge-pole and heavily thatched. All along the
+middle of it the different families or generations have their fires,
+while they sleep next the walls, lying on the ground, underneath
+rabbit-skins and other less elegant robes, and amid a filthy cluster
+of baskets, dogs, and all the wretched trumpery dear to the
+aboriginal heart. There are three narrow holes for dens, one at
+either end and one at the elbow." This is Mr. Powers' fifth variety
+of the lodge. [Footnote: Powers' Tribes of Cal., p. 284.]
+
+"In the very highest region of Sierra, where the snow falls to such
+an enormous depth that the fire would be blotted out and the whole
+open side snowed up, the dwelling retains substantially the same
+form and materials, but the fire is taken into the middle of it, and
+one side of it (generally the east one) slopes down more nearly
+horizontal than the other, and terminates in a curved way about
+three feet high and twice as long." Half a dozen such houses make an
+Indian village, with the addition of a "dome-shaped assembly or
+dance house" in the middle space. "One or more acorn-granaries of
+wicker-work stand around each lodge, much like hogsheads in shape
+and size, either on the ground or mounted on posts as high as one's
+head, full of acorns and capped with thatch." [Footnote: Powers'
+Tribes of Cal., p. 284.]
+
+In Southern California, where the climate is both dry and hot, the
+natives constructed a wigwam entirely different from those found in
+other parts of the State. "In the Yokut nation," Mr. Powers remarks,
+"there appears to be more political solidarity, more capacity in the
+petty tribes of being grouped into large and coherent masses than is
+common in the State. This is particularly true of those living on
+the plains, who display in their encampments a military precision
+and regularity which are remarkable. Every village consists of a
+single row of wigwams, conical or wedge-shaped, generally made of
+tule, and just enough hollowed out within so that the inmates may
+sleep with the head higher than the feet, all in perfect alignment,
+and with a continuous awning of brushwood stretching along in front.
+In one end-wigwam lives the village captain; on the other the shaman
+of si-se'-ro. In the mountains there is some approach to this martial
+array, but it is universal on the plains." [Footnote: Powers' Tribes
+of Cal., p. 370.]
+
+As a rule these houses were occupied by more families than one, as
+is shown by the same author. In the northern part of the State
+"the Tatu wigwams do not differ essentially from those of the vicinal
+tribes. They are constructed of stout willow wicker-work, dome-shaped,
+and thatched with grass. Sometimes they are very large and oblong,
+with sleeping-room for thirty or forty persons." [Footnote: ib., p.
+139.]
+
+The Yo-kai'-a inhabit a section of the north-west part of the State.
+"Their style of lodge is the same which prevails generally along
+Russian River, a huge frame-work of willow poles covered with thatch,
+and resembling a large flattish haystack. Though still preserving
+the same style and materials, since they have adopted from the
+Americans the use of boards they have learned to construct all
+around the wall of the wigwam a series of little state rooms, if I
+may so call them, which are snugly boarded up and furnished with
+bunks inside. This enables every family in these immense patriarchal
+lodges to disrobe and retire with some regard to decency, which
+could not be done in the one common room of the old style wigwam."
+[Footnote: ib., p. 163.]
+
+Again: "The Se-nel, together with three other petty tribes, mere
+villages, occupy that broad expanse of Russian River Valley on one
+side of which now stands the American village of Senel. Among them
+we find unmistakably developed that patriarchal system which appears
+to prevail all along Russian River. They construct immense
+dome-shaped or oblong lodges of willow poles an inch or two in
+diameter, woven in square lattice-work, securely lashed and thatched.
+In each one of these live several families, sometimes twenty or
+thirty persons, including all who are blood relations. Each wigwam,
+therefore, is a pueblo, a law unto itself; and yet these lodges are
+grouped in villages, some of which formerly contained hundreds of
+inhabitants." [Footnote: ib., p. 168.]
+
+I cannot find that Mr. Powers mentions the practice of communism in
+these households, but the fact seems probable. Their usages in the
+matter of hospitality are much the same as in the other tribes.
+Their principal food was salmon, acorn-flour bread, game, kamas, and
+berries. They were, without pottery, cooked in ground ovens, and
+also in water-tight baskets by means of heated stones.
+
+A brief reference may be made to the skin lodge of the Kutchin or
+Louchoux of the Yukon and Peel Rivers.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Kutchin Lodge.]
+
+This simple structure, the ground plan and elevation of which were
+taken from the Smithsonian Report, is thus described by Mr.
+Strachan Jones: [Footnote: Report for 1866, p. 321.] "Deer-skins are
+dressed with the hair on, and sewed together, forming two large rolls,
+which are stretched over a frame of bent poles. The lodge is nearly
+elliptical, about twelve or thirteen feet in diameter and six feet
+high, very similar to a tea-cup turned over. The door is about four
+feet high, and is simply a deer-skin fastened above and hanging down.
+The hole to allow the smoke to escape is about four feet in diameter.
+Snow is heaped up outside the edges of the lodge and pine brush
+spread on the ground inside, the snow having been previously
+shoveled off with snow-shoes. The fire is made in the middle of the
+lodge, and one or more families, as the case may be, live on each
+side of the fire, every one having his or her particular place."
+[Footnote: ib., p. 322.] He further remarks that "they have no
+pottery," and that they boil water "by means of stones heated red
+hot and thrown into the kettle." [Footnote: ib., p. 321.]
+
+The principal fact to be noticed is that the lodge is comparted into
+stalls open on the central space, in the midst of which is the
+fire-pit, evidently for the accommodation of more families than one.
+This arrangement of the interior will reappear in numerous other
+cases. The Kutchin must be classed as savages, although near the
+close of that condition.
+
+The tribes of the valley of the Columbia lived more or less in
+villages, but, like the tribes of California, were without
+horticulture and without pottery. But they found an abundant
+subsistence in the shell-fish of the coast, and in the myriads of
+fish in the Columbia and its tributaries. They also subsisted upon
+kamash and other bread roots of the prairies, which they cooked in
+ground ovens, and upon berries and game. They were expert boatmen
+and fishermen, manufactured water-tight baskets, implements of wood,
+stone, and bone, and used the bow and arrow. As another quite
+remarkable fact, they used plank in their houses, made by splitting
+logs with stone and elk-horn chisels. Like the Kutchin, they were in
+the Upper Status of savagery.
+
+When Lewis and Clarke visited the Columbia River district (1805-1806)
+they found the Indian tribes living in houses of the plainest
+communal type, and some of them approaching in ground dimensions and
+in the number of their occupants the pueblo houses in New Mexico.
+They speak of a house of the Chopunish (Nez Perces) as follows:
+"This village of Tumachemootool is in fact only a single house one
+hundred and fifty feet long, built after the Chopunish fashion, with
+sticks, straw and dried grass. It contains twenty-four fires, about
+double that number of families, and might perhaps muster a hundred
+fighting men." [Footnote: Travels, etc., l. c., p. 548.]
+
+This would give five hundred people in a single house. The number of
+fires probably indicates the number of groups practicing communism
+in living among themselves, though for aught we know it may have
+been general in the entire household.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 6--Ground plan of Ncerchokioo.]
+
+Another great house, Ncerchokioo, is thus described: "This large
+building is two hundred and twenty-six feet in front, entirely above
+ground, and may be considered a single house, because the whole is
+under one roof, otherwise it would seem more like a range of
+buildings, as it is divided into seven distinct apartments, each
+thirty feet square, by means of broad boards set up on end from the
+floor to the roof. The apartments are separated from each other by a
+passage or alley four feet wide, extending through the whole depth
+of the house, and the only entrance is from the alley through a
+small hole about twenty inches wide and not more than three feet high.
+The roof is formed of rafters and round poles laid on horizontally.
+The whole is covered with a double roof of bark of white cedar."
+[Footnote: Lewis and Clarke's Travels, p. 503.]
+
+The apartments, as in the previous case of the fires, may be
+supposed to indicate the number of groups into which the great
+household was subdivided for the practice of communism.
+
+Elsewhere, speaking of the houses of the Clahclellahs, they remark:
+"These houses are uncommonly large; one of them measured one hundred
+and sixty by forty feet, and the frames are constructed in the usual
+manner.... Most of the houses are built of boards and covered with
+bark, though some of the more inferior kind are constructed wholly
+of cedar bark, kept smooth and flat by small splinters fixed
+crosswise through the bark, at the distance of twelve or fourteen
+inches apart." [Footnote: ib., p. 515.]
+
+The houses of the coast tribes (Clatsops and Chinooks) are also
+described. "The houses in this neighborhood are all large wooden
+buildings, ranging in length from twenty to sixty feet, and from
+fourteen to twenty in width. They are constructed in the following
+manner: two posts of split timber or more, agreeable to the number
+of partitions, are sunk in the ground, above which they rise to the
+height of fourteen or eighteen feet. They are hollowed at the top,
+so as to receive the end of a round beam or pole (ridge-pole)
+stretching from one to the other, and forming the upper point of the
+roof for the whole extent of the building. On each side of this
+range is placed another, which forms the eaves of the house, and is
+about five feet high; and as the building is often sunk to the depth
+of four or five feet, the eaves come very near the surface of the
+earth. Smaller pieces of timber are now extended by pairs, in the
+form of rafters, from the lower to the upper beams, where they are
+attached at both ends with cords of cedar bark. On these rafters two
+or three ranges of small poles are placed horizontally, and secured
+in the same way with strings of cedar bark. The sides are now made,
+with a range of white boards, sunk a small distance into the ground,
+with upper ends projecting above the poles at the eaves.... The
+gable end and partitions are formed in the same way.... The roof is
+than covered with a double range of thin boards, except an aperture
+of two or three feet in the center, for the smoke to pass through.
+The entrance is by a small hole, cut out of the boards, and just
+large enough to admit the body. The very largest houses only are
+divided by partitions, for though three or four families reside in
+the same room, there is quite space enough for all of them. In the
+center of each room is a space six or eight feet square, sunk to the
+depth of twelve inches below the rest of the floor, and inclosed by
+four pieces of square timber. Here they make the fire, for which
+purpose pine bark is generally preferred. Around the fireplace mats
+are placed, and serve as seats during the day, and very frequently
+as beds at night. There is, however, a more permanent bed made by
+fixing, in two or sometimes three sides of the room, posts reaching
+from the roof to the ground, and at the distance of four feet from
+the wall. From these posts to the wall itself, one or two ranges of
+boards are placed so as to form shelves, in which they either sleep
+or there stow away their various articles of merchandise."
+[Footnote: Lewis and Clarke's Travels, p. 431.]
+
+These explorers found the houses of the Indian tribes throughout the
+Columbia Valley occupied by several families, the smallest of them
+containing from twenty to forty persons, and the largest five hundred.
+The presence of large households is fully shown as the rule in their
+house-life. The practice of communism by the household, as stated by
+these authors, has already (supra, p. 71) been presented. This
+tendency to aggregation in groups, for subsistence and for mutual
+protection, reveals the weakness of the single family in the
+presence of the hardships of life. Communism in living was very
+plainly a necessity of their condition.
+
+In a recent description (1869) of the modern houses of the Makah
+Indians of Cape Flattery, Washington Territory, by Mr. James G. Swan,
+the old usage which led to joint-tenement houses still asserts itself.
+Speaking of the manner of building these houses in detail, he
+remarks that "they are designed to accommodate several families, and
+are of various dimensions; some of them being sixty feet long by
+thirty wide, and from ten to fifteen feet high." The houses were
+made of split boards on a frame of timber. [Footnote: Smithsonian
+Contributions to Knowledge, No. 220, p. 5.]
+
+
+COMMUNAL HOUSES OF TRIBES IN LOWER STATUS OF BARBARISM.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 7--Frame of Ojibwa Wig-e-wam.]
+
+Among the Indian tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism some
+diversity existed in the plans of the lodge and house. Fig. 7, which
+is taken from Schoolcraft's work on the Indian tribes, shows the
+frame of an Ojibwa cabin or lodge of the best class, as it may still
+be seen on the south shore of Lake Superior. Its mechanism is
+sufficiently shown by the frame of elastic poles exhibited by the
+figure. It is covered with bark, usually canoe birch, taken off in
+large pieces and attached with splints. Its size on the ground
+varied from ten to sixteen feet, and its height from six to ten.
+Twigs of spruce or hemlock were strewn around the border of the
+lodge on the ground floor, upon which blankets and skins were spread
+for beds. The fire-pit was in the center of the floor, over which,
+in the center of the roof, was an opening for the exit of the smoke.
+Such a lodge would accommodate, in the aboriginal plan of living,
+two and sometimes three married pairs with their children. Several
+such lodges were usually found in a cluster, and the several
+households consisted of related families, the principal portion
+being of the same gens or clan. I am not able to state whether or
+not the households thus united by the bond of kin practiced
+communism in living in ancient times, but it seems probable. Carver,
+who visited an Ojibwa village in Wisconsin in 1767, makes it appear
+that each house was occupied by several families. "This town," he
+remarks, "contains about forty houses, and can send out upwards of a
+hundred warriors, many of whom are fine young men." This would give,
+by the usual rule of computation, five hundred persons, and an
+average of twelve persons to a house. [Footnote: Travels, etc., p. 65.]
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 8--Dakota wii-ka-yo, or Skin Tent.]
+
+When first discovered the Dakotas lived in houses constructed with a
+frame of poles and covered with bark, each of which was large enough
+for several families. They dwelt principally in villages in their
+original area on the head-waters of the Mississippi, the present
+State of Minnesota. Forced upon the plains by an advancing white
+population, but after they had become possessed of horses, they
+invented a skin tent eminently adapted to their present nomadic
+condition. It is superior to any other in use among the American
+aborigines from its roominess, its portable character, and the
+facility with which it can be erected and struck. The frame consists
+of thirteen poles from fifteen to eighteen feet in length, which,
+after being tied together at the small ends, are raised upright with
+a twist so as to cross the poles above the fastening. They are then
+drawn apart at the large ends and adjusted upon the ground in the
+rim of a circle usually ten feet in diameter. A number of untanned
+and tanned buffalo skins, stitched together in a form adjustable to
+the frame, are drawn around it and lashed together, as shown in the
+figure. The lower edges are secured to the ground with tent-pins. At
+the top there is an extra skin adjusted as a collar, so as to be
+open on the windward side to facilitate the exit of the smoke. A low
+opening is left for a doorway, which is covered with an extra skin
+used as a drop. The fire-pit and arrangements for beds are the same
+as in the Ojibwa lodge, grass being used in the place of spruce or
+hemlock twigs. When the tent is struck, the poles are attached to a
+horse, half on each side, like thills, secured to the horse's neck
+at one end, and the other dragging on the ground. The skin-covering
+and other camp-equipage are packed upon other horses and even upon
+their dogs, and are thus transported from place to place on the
+plains. This tent is so well adapted to their mode of life that it
+has spread far and wide among the Indian tribes of the prairie region.
+I have seen it in use among seven or eight Dakota sub-tribes, among
+the Iowas, Otoes, and Pawnees, and among the Black-feet, Crows,
+Assiniboines, and Crees. In 1878 I saw it in use among the Utes of
+Colorado. A collection of fifty of these tents, which would
+accommodate five hundred persons, make a picturesque appearance.
+Under the name of the "Sibley tent" it is now in use, with some
+modifications of plan, in the United States Army, for service on the
+plains.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 9--Village of Pomeiock.]
+
+Sir Richard Grenville's expedition in 1585 visited the south part of
+the original colony of Virginia, now included in North Carolina.
+They landed at Roanoke Island, and also ascended a section of
+Albemarle Sound as far as the villages of Pomeiock and Secotan. An
+artist, John Wyth, before mentioned, was a member of this expedition,
+and we are indebted to him for a number of valuable sketches--the
+two villages named among the number, of which copies are given,
+together with representations of the people and of their industrial
+arts. The description of Pomeiock is as follows: "The towns in
+Virginia are very like those of Florida, not, however, so well and
+firmly built, and are enclosed by a circular palisade with a narrow
+entrance. In the town of Pomeiock, the buildings are mostly those of
+the chiefs and men of rank. On one side is the Temple (council-house)
+(A) of a circular shape, apart from the rest, and covered with mats
+on every side, without windows, and receiving no light except
+through the entrance. The residence of their chief (B) is
+constructed of poles fixed in the ground, bound together and covered
+with mats, which are thrown off at pleasure, to admit as much light
+and air as they may require. Some are covered with the boughs of
+trees. The natives, as represented in the plate, are indulging in
+their sports. When the spring or pond is at a distance from the town,
+they dig a ditch from it that supplies them with water." [Footnote:
+Wyth's Sketches of Virginia, first published by De Bry, 1690,
+Langly's ed., 1841, Plate 21.]
+
+The village consisted of seventeen joint-tenement houses and a
+council-house, arranged around a central open space, and surrounded
+with a palisade. Here the Algonkin lodge, unlike that of the Ojibwas,
+is a long, round-roofed house, apparently from fifty to eighty feet
+in length, covered with movable matting in the place of bark, and
+large enough to accommodate several families. The suggestion of this
+author, that "the buildings were mostly those of chiefs and men of
+rank," embodies the precise error which has repeated itself from
+first to last with respect to the houses of American aborigines.
+Because the houses at Pomeiock were large, they were the residences
+of chiefs; and because the House of the Nuns at Uxmal was of
+palatial extent, it was the exclusive residence of an Indian
+potentate--conclusions opposed to the whole theory of Indian life
+and institutions. Indian chiefs, the continent over, were housed
+with the people, and no better, as a rule, than the poorest of them.
+
+"Some of their towns," says the same author, "are not enclosed with
+a palisade and are much more pleasant; Secotan, for example, here
+drawn from nature. The houses are more scattered and a greater
+degree of comfort and cultivation is observable, with gardens in
+which tobacco (E) is cultivated, woods filled with deer, and fields
+of corn. In the fields they erect a stage (F), in which a sentry is
+stationed to guard against the depredations of birds and thieves.
+Their corn they plant in rows (H), for it grows so large, with thick
+stalk and broad leaves, that one plant would stint the other and it
+would never arrive at maturity. They have also a curious place
+(C) where they convene with their neighbors at their feasts, as more
+fully shown on Plate 20, and from which they go to the feast (D). On
+the opposite side is their place of prayer (B), and near to it the
+sepulchre of their chiefs (A).... They have gardens for melons
+(I), and a place (K) where they build their sacred fires. At a
+little distance from the town is the pond (L) from which they obtain
+their water." [Footnote: Sketches, etc., of Virginia, description of
+Plate 22.]
+
+The houses of the Powhatan Indians of Virginia proper, as described
+by Captain John Smith, were precisely like those of Pomeiock and
+Secotan. A part of the interior of the house in which Smith was
+received by Powhatan as a prisoner is engraved upon his map of
+Virginia, of which the following is a copy:
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Interior of House of Virginia Indians.
+   With caption:
+                   POWHATAN
+   Held this state & fashion when Capt. Smith
+         was delivered to him prisoner
+                     1607]
+
+"Their houses are built," Smith remarks, "like our arbors, of small
+young sprigs, bowed and tied, and so close covered with mats, or the
+bark of trees, very handsomely, that notwithstanding either wind,
+rain, or weather, they are as warm as stoves, but very smoky; yet,
+at the top of the house there is a hole made for the smoke to go
+into right over the fire. Against the fire they lie on little
+hurdles of reeds covered with a mat, borne from the ground a
+foot or more by a hurdle of wood. On these, round about the
+house, they lie, heads and points, one by the other against
+the fire, some covered with mats, some with skins, and some
+stark naked lie on the ground, from six to twenty in a house."
+[Footnote: History of Virginia, i, 130.]
+
+The engraving is probably an improvement upon the original house in
+the symmetry of the structure, but it is doubtless a truthful
+representation of its mechanism. It seems likely that a double set
+of upright poles were used, one upon the outside and one on the
+inside, between which the mattings of canes or willows were secured,
+as the houses at Pomeiock and Secotan are ribbed externally at
+internals of about eight feet, showing four, five, and six sections.
+Each house, on this hypothesis, would be from twenty-four to
+forty-eight feet long. A reference (supra, p. 67) has been made to
+the size of the houses of the Virginia Indians, from which their
+communistic character may be inferred.
+
+In the "Journal of a Voyage to New York," in 1679-1680, by Jasper
+Dankers and Peter Sluyter, edited and translated by Hon. Henry C.
+Murphy, there is a careful description of a house of the Nyack
+Indians of Long Island, an Algonkin tribe, affiliated linguistically
+with the Virginia Indians. The Nyack house corresponds very closely
+with those last named. "We went from hence to her habitation," these
+authors remark, "where we found the whole troop together, consisting
+of seven or eight families, and twenty or twenty-two persons, I
+should think. Their house was low and long, about sixty feet long
+and fourteen or fifteen feet wide. The bottom was earth; the sides
+and roof were made of reed and the bark of chestnut trees; the posts
+or columns were limbs of trees stuck in the ground, and all fastened
+together. The top or ridge of the roof was open about half a foot
+wide, from one end to the other, in order to let the smoke escape,
+in the place of a chimney. On the sides or walls of the house, the
+roof was so low that you could hardly stand under it. The entrance,
+or doors, which were at both ends, were so small and low that they
+had to stoop down and squeeze themselves to get through them. The
+doors were made of reed or flat bark. In the whole building there
+was no lime, stone, iron, or lead. They build their fires in the
+middle of the floor, according to the number of families which live
+in it, so that from one end to the other each of them boils its own
+pot, and eats when it likes, not only the families by themselves,
+but each Indian alone, according as he is hungry, at all hours,
+morning, noon, and night. By each fire are the cooking utensils,
+consisting of a pot, a bowl or calabash, and a spoon, also made of a
+calabash. These are all that relate to cooking. They lie upon mats
+with their feet towards the fire, on each side of it. They do not
+sit much upon anything raised up, but, for the most part, sit on the
+ground or squat on their ankles. Their other household articles
+consist of a calabash of water, out of which they drink, a small
+basket in which to carry and keep their maize and small beans, and a
+knife.... All who live in one house are generally of one stock or
+descent, as father and mother with their offspring. Their bread is
+maize pounded on a block by a stone, but not fine. This is mixed
+with water and made into a cake, which they bake under the hot ashes.
+They gave us a small piece when we entered, and although the grains
+were not ripe, and it was half baked and coarse grains, we
+nevertheless had to eat it, or, at least, not throw it away before
+them, which they would have regarded as a great sin or a great
+affront." [Footnote: Journal, etc., p. 124.]
+
+There is nothing in these statements forbidding the supposition that
+the household described practiced communism in living. The
+composition of the household shows that it was formed on the
+principle of gentle kin, while the several families cooked at the
+different fires, which was the usual practice in the different tribes;
+the stores were probably common, and the household under a matron.
+It will be noticed also that they gave him maize bread when he first
+entered the house. He little supposed that it was in obedience to a
+law or usage universal in the Indian family.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Ho-de'-no-sote of the Seneca-Iroquois.]
+
+During the greater part of the year the Iroquois resided in villages.
+The size of the village was estimated by the number of the houses,
+and the size of the house by the number of fires it contained. One
+of the largest of the Seneca-Iroquois villages, situated at Mendon,
+near Rochester, N. Y. is thus described by Mr. Greenbalgh, who
+visited it in 1677: "Tiotohatton is on the brink or edge of a hill,
+has not much cleared ground, is near the river Tiotohatton [outlet
+of Honeoye Lake], which signifies bending. It lies to the westward
+of Canagora (Canandaigua) about thirty miles, contains about 120
+houses, being the largest of all the houses we saw, the ordinary
+being fifty to sixty feet long, with twelve and thirteen fires in
+one house. They have a good store of corn growing to the northward
+of the town". [Footnote: Documentary History of New York, vol i. p 13.]
+
+The "long-house" of the Iroquois, from which they called themselves,
+as one confederated people, Ho-de'-no-sau-nee (People of the
+Long-House), was from fifty to eighty and sometimes one hundred feet
+long. It consisted of a strong frame of upright poles set in the
+ground, which were strengthened with horizontal poles attached with
+withes, and surmounted with a triangular, and in some cases with a
+round roof. It was covered over, both sides and roof, with large
+strips of elm bark tied to the frame with strings or splints. An
+external frame of poles for the sides and of rafters for the roof
+were then adjusted to hold the bark shingles between them, the two
+frames being tied together.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Ground-plan of Seneca-Iroquois Long-House.]
+
+The interior of the house was comparted at intervals of six or eight
+feet, leaving each chamber entirely open like a stall upon the
+passage way which passed through the center of the house from end to
+end. At each end was a doorway cohered with suspended skins. Between
+each four apartments, two on a side, was a fire-pit in the center of
+the hall, used in common by their occupants. Thus a house with five
+fires would contain twenty apartments and accommodate twenty families,
+unless some apartments were reserved for storage. They were warm,
+roomy, and tidily-kept habitations. Raised bunks were constructed
+around the walls of each apartment for beds. From the roof-poles
+were suspended their strings of corn in the ear, braided by the husks,
+also strings of dried squashes and pumpkins. Spaces were contrived
+here and there to store away their accumulations of provisions. Each
+house, as a rule was occupied by related families, the mothers and
+their children belonging to the same gens, while their husbands and
+the fathers of these children belonged to other gentes; consequently
+the gens or clan of the mother largely predominated in the household.
+Whatever was taken in the hunt or raised by cultivation by any
+member of the household, as has elsewhere been stated, was for the
+common benefit. Provisions were made a common stock within the
+household.
+
+Here was communism in living carried out in practical life, but
+limited to the household, and an expression of the principle in the
+plan of the house itself. Having found it in one stock as well
+developed as the Iroquois, a presumption of its universality in the
+Indian family at once arises, because it was a law of their condition.
+Evidence of its general prevalence has elsewhere been presented.
+
+In a previous chapter the usages of the Iroquois in regard to eating
+have been given. It came practically to one cooked meal each day.
+The separate fires in each house were for convenience in cooking,
+all the stores in the house being common. The plan of life within
+them was studied and economical. This is shown by the presence of a
+matron in each household, who made a division of the food from the
+kettle to each family according to their needs, and reserved what
+remained for future disposal. It shows system and organization in
+their long-houses, with a careful supervision of their stores, and
+forethought as well as equity in the management and distribution of
+their food. In these households, formed on the principle of kin, was
+laid the foundation for that "mother power" which was even more
+conspicuous in the tribes of the Old World, and which Professor
+Bachofen was the first to discuss under the name of gyneocracy and
+mother-right. [Footnote: Das Mutterrecht, Stuttgart, 1861.]
+
+Since the mothers who dwelt together were usually sisters, own or
+collateral, and of the same gens, and since their children were also
+of the gens of their mother, the preponderating number in the
+household would be of gentile kin. The right and the influence of
+the mother were protected and strengthened through the maternal as
+well as the gentile bond. The husbands were in the minority as to
+kindred. In case of separation it was the husband and not the wife
+who left the house. But this influence of the woman did not reach
+outward to the affairs of the gens phratry, or tribe, but seems to
+have commenced and ended with the household. This view is quite
+consistent with the life of patient drudgery and of general
+subordination to the husband which the Iroquois wife cheerfully
+accepted as the portion of her sex. Among the Grecian tribes descent
+had been changed to the male line at the commencement of the
+historical period. It thus reversed the position of the wife and
+mother in the household: she was of a different gens from her
+children, as well as her husband; and under monogamy was now
+isolated from her gentile kindred, living in the separate and
+exclusive house of her husband. Her new condition tended to subvert
+and destroy that power and influence which descent in the female
+line and the joint-tenement houses had created. It is, therefore,
+the more surprising that so many traces of this anterior condition
+should have remained in the Grecian and other tribes which Professor
+Bachofen has pointed out, since gyneocracy and mother-right, as
+discussed by him, must have originated among these tribes when under
+the gentile organization, and with descent in the female line.
+
+The "Joint Undivided Family" of the Hindus at the present time,
+"joint in food, worship, and estate," brought to our notice by Sir
+Henry Maine, [Footnote: Early History of Institutions, Holt's ed., pp.
+100 and 106.] is a similar but probably more numerous household
+than that of the Iroquois. As soon as special investigation is made,
+joint-tenement houses and communism in living are found to be
+persistent features of barbarous life in the Old World as well as
+the New, but limited to the household. Strabo informs us that the
+Gauls lived in great houses, constructed of planks and wicker, with
+dome roofs covered with heavy thatch. [Footnote: Lib. iv, c. 4, s. 3.]
+Wherever such houses existed there is at least a presumption that
+they were occupied by several families, who formed a single
+household and practiced communism.
+
+The Iroquois long-houses disappeared before the commencement of the
+present century. Very little is now remembered by the Indians
+themselves of their form and mechanism, or of the plan of life
+within them. Some knowledge of these houses remains among that class
+of Indians who are curious about their ancient customs. It has
+passed into the traditionary form, and is limited to a few
+particulars. A complete understanding of the mode of life in these
+long-houses will not, probably, ever be recovered. In 1743 Mr. John
+Bartram attended a council at Onondaga, and kept a journal,
+afterwards published, in which he inserted a ground plan of the
+long-house in which they were quartered. It is the first ground plan
+of one of these houses ever published, so far as the author is aware,
+and the only one prior to the appearance of Johnson's Cyclopaedia in
+1875.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 14--Bartram's ground-plan and cross-section of
+Onondaga Long-House, in 1743.]
+
+It should be noted that in 1696 Count Frontenac invaded Onondaga
+with a large French and Indian force, and that the Onondagas
+destroyed their principal village and retired. "The cabins of the
+Indians," says the relator, "and the triple palisade which encircled
+their fort were found entirely burnt." [Footnote: Documentary
+History of New York, p. 332.]
+
+The new village visited by Mr. Bartram was probably quite near the
+site of the old. He says, "The town in its present state is about
+two or three miles long, yet the scattered cabins on both sides of
+the water are not above forty in number; many of them hold two
+families, but all stand single, so that the whole town is a strange
+mixture of cabins, interspersed with great patches of high grass,
+bushes and shrubs, some of peas, corn, and squashes.... We alighted
+at the council-house, where the chiefs were already assembled to
+receive us, which they did with a grave, cheerful complaisance
+according to their custom. They showed us where to lay our luggage,
+and repose ourselves during our stay with them, which was in the two
+end apartments of this large house. The Indians that came with us
+were placed over against us. This cabin is about eighty feet long
+and seventeen broad, the common passage six feet wide, and the
+apartments on each side five feet, raised a foot above the passage
+by a long sapling hewed square, and fitted with joists that go from
+it to the back of the house. On these joists they lay large pieces
+of bark, and on extraordinary occasions spread mats made of rushes,
+which favor we had. On these floors they set or lye down every one
+as he will. The apartments are divided from each other by boards or
+bark six or seven feet long from the lower floor to the upper, on
+which they put their lumber. When they have eaten their hominy, as
+they set in each apartment before the fire, they can put the bowl
+over head, having not above five foot to reach. They set on the
+floor sometimes at each end, but mostly at one. They have a shed to
+put their wood into in the winter, or in the summer to set, converse
+or play, that has a door to the south. All the sides and roof of the
+cabin is made of bark, bound fast to poles set in the ground, and
+bent round on the top, or set aflat for the roof as we set our
+rafters; over each fire-place they leave a hole to let out the smoke,
+which in rainy weather they cover with a piece of bark, and this
+they can easily reach with a pole to push it on one side or quite
+over the hole. After this manner are most of their cabins built."
+[Footnote: Observations, etc.; Travels to Onondaga, Lond. ed., 1751,
+pp. 40, 41]
+
+The end section shows a round roof, as in the houses of the Virginia
+Indians, and the ground plan agrees in all respects with the old
+long-houses of the Seneca-Iroquois as described by them to the
+author before he had seen Mr. Bartram's plan.
+
+In the Documentary History of New York (vol. iii, p. 14) there is a
+remarkable picture of the principal village of the Onondagas which
+was visited or rather attacked by Champlain in 1615. The location of
+this village was not established until 1877, when General John S.
+Clarke, of Auburn, by means of Champlain's map and sketch of the
+village, and his relation of the particulars of the expedition,
+found the site of the village in the town of Fenner, some miles
+northeast of the Onondaga Valley.
+
+It was situated upon the edge of a natural pond, covering ten acres
+of land, and between a small brook which emptied into the pond on
+the left and the outlet of the pond which passed it on the right.
+The space covered by the village site was about six acres of land,
+strongly fortified by a series of palisades. Champlain states in his
+relation that "their village was enclosed with strong quadruple
+palisades of large timber, thirty feet high, interlocked the one
+with the other, with an interval of not more than half a foot
+between them, with galleries in the form of parapets, defended with
+double pieces of timber, proof against our arquebuses, and on one
+side they had a pond with a never-failing supply of water, from
+which proceeded a number of gutters which they had laid along the
+intermediate space, throwing the water without, and rendering it
+effectual inside for the purpose of extinguishing the fire. Such was
+their mode of fortification and defence, which was much stronger
+than the villages of the Attigouatuans (Hurons) and others."
+[Footnote: Doc. Hist. New York, iii, 14.]
+
+Although Champlain attacked this place with fire-arms, then first
+heard by the Onondagas, and by means of a rude tower of his invention,
+and with a considerable force of French and Indians, he was unable
+to capture it, and retired. The use of water, with gutters to flood
+the ground upon an outer palisade when attacked with fire, as
+imperfectly shown in the engraving, was certainly ingenious. General
+Clarke has investigated the defensive works of the Iroquois, and it
+is to be hoped that he will soon give the results to the public.
+
+Knowing, as we now do, that the space inclosed within the palisades
+was about six acres of land, the houses are not only seen to be log
+houses, but arranged or constructed side by side in blocks, and the
+whole thrown together in the form of a square, with an open space in
+the center. The houses seem to be in threes and fours, and even sixes,
+side by side, and from sixty to one hundred feet in length; but if
+this conclusion is fairly warranted by the engraving, it might well
+be that each house was separated from its neighbor by a narrow open
+space or lane. It is the only representation I have ever seen of a
+palisaded village of the Iroquois of the period of their discovery.
+It covered about fifty-four acres of land.
+
+The Mandans and Minnetarees of the Upper Missouri constructed a
+timber-framed house, superior in design and in mechanical execution
+to those of the Indians north of New Mexico. In 1862 I saw the
+remains of the old Mandan village shortly after its abandonment by
+the Arickarees, its last occupants. The houses, nearly all of which
+were of the same model, were falling into decay--for the village was
+then deserted of inhabitants, but some of them were still perfect,
+and the plan of their structure easily made out. The above
+ground-plan of the village was taken from the work of Prince
+Maximilian, and the remaining illustrations are from sketches and
+measurements of the author. It was situated upon a bluff on the west
+side of the Missouri, and at a bend in the river which formed an
+obtuse angle, and covered about six acres of land. The village was
+surrounded with a stockade made of timbers set vertically in the
+ground, and about ten feet high, but then in a dilapidated state.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Mandan Village Plot.]
+
+The houses were circular in external form, the walls being about
+five feet high, and sloping inward and upward from the ground, upon
+which rested an inclined roof, both the exterior wall and the roof
+being plastered over with earth a foot and a half thick. For this
+reason they have usually been called "dirt lodges."
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Ground-plan of a Mandan House.]
+
+These houses are about forty feet in diameter, with the floor sunk a
+foot or more below the surface of the ground, six feet high on the
+inside at the line of the wall and from twelve to fifteen feet high
+at the center. Twelve posts, six or eight inches in diameter, are
+set in the ground, at equal distances, in the circumference of a
+circle, and rising about six feet above the level of the floor.
+String-pieces resting in forks cut in the ends of these posts, form
+a polygon at the base and also upon the ground floor. Against these
+an equal number of braces are sunk in the ground about four feet
+distant, which slanting upward, are adjusted by means of depressions
+cut in the ends, so as to hold both the posts and the stringers
+firmly in their places. Slabs of wood are then set in the spaces
+between the braces at the same inclination, and resting against the
+stringers, which when completed surrounded the lodge with a wooden
+wall. Four round posts, each six or eight inches in diameter, are
+set in the ground near the center of the floor, in the angles of a
+square, ten feet apart, and rising from ten to fifteen feet above
+the ground floor. These again are connected by stringers resting in
+forks at their tops, upon which and the external wall the rafters
+rest.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Cross-section of House.]
+
+The engraving exhibits a cross-section, as described. Poles three or
+four inches in diameter are placed as rafters from the external wall
+to the string-pieces above the central parts, and near enough
+together to give the requisite strength to support thee earth
+covering placed upon the roof. These poles were first covered over
+with willow matting, upon which prairie grass was overspread, and
+over all a deep covering of earth. An opening was left in the center,
+about four feet in diameter, for the exit of the smoke and for the
+admission of light. The interior was spacious and tolerably well
+lighted, although the opening in the roof and a single doorway were
+the only apertures through which light could penetrate. There was
+but one entrance, protected by what has been called the Eskimo
+doorway; that is, by a passage some five feet wide, ten or twelve
+feet long, and about six feet high, constructed with split timbers,
+roofed with poles, and covered with earth. Buffalo-robes suspended
+at the outer and inner entrances supplied the place of doors. Each
+house was comparted by screens of willow matting or unhaired skins
+suspended from the rafters, with spaces between for storage. These
+slightly-constructed apartments opened towards the central fire like
+stalls, thus defining an open central area around the fire-pit,
+which was the gathering place of the inmates of the lodge. This
+fire-pit was about five feet in diameter, a foot deep, and encircled
+with flat stones set up edgewise. A hard, smooth, earthen floor
+completed the interior. Such a lodge would accommodate five or six
+families, embracing thirty or forty persons. It was a communal house,
+in accordance with the usages and institutions of the American
+aborigines, and growing naturally out of their mode of life. I
+counted forty-eight houses, winch would average forty feet in
+diameter, all constructed upon this plan besides several rectangular
+log houses of later erection and of the American type.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Mandan house.]
+
+These houses, of which a representation is given in Fig. 19, were
+thickly studded together to economize the space within the stockade,
+so that in walking through the village you passed along some
+circular foot-paths. There was no street, and it was impossible to
+see in any direction except for short distances. In the center there
+was an open space, where their religious rites and festivals were
+observed. [Footnote: The war post, which stood in the center, and a
+number of stone and bone implements I brought away with me, as
+mementoes of the place. They are now in my collection.]
+
+Not the least interesting fact connected with these creditable
+structures was the quantity of materials required for their erection
+and the amount of labor required for their transportation for long
+distances down the river, and to fashion them, with the aid of fire
+and stone implements, into such comfortable dwellings. The trees are
+here confined to the bottom lands between the banks of the river,
+the river being bordered for miles by open prairies, and the trees
+growing in patches at long distances apart. To cut the timber
+without metallic implements, and to transport it without animal power,
+indicate a degree of persevering industry highly creditable to a
+people who, at this stage of progress, are averse to labor on the
+part of the males. Habitual male industry makes its first appearance
+in the next or the Middle Status of barbarism. The men here did the
+heavy work.
+
+In the spaces between the lodges were their drying-scaffolds (Fig. 20),
+one for each lodge, which were nearly as conspicuous in the distance
+as the houses themselves. They were about twenty feet long, twelve
+feet wide, and seven feet high to the flooring, made of posts set
+upright, with cross-pieces resting in forks. Other poles were then
+placed longitudinally, upon which was a flooring of willow mats.
+These scaffolds, mounted with ladders (Fig. 21), were used for
+drying their skins, and also their maize, meat, and vegetables.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Drying scaffold.]
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Mandan ladder.]
+
+The Indians knew the use of the ladder, and some of them made an
+excellent article before the discovery of America. When Coronado
+visited and captured the seven so-called cities of Cibola in
+1540-1542, he found the people living in seven or eight large
+joint-tenement houses, each capable of holding about a thousand
+persons. These houses were without entrances from the ground, but
+they mounted to the first terrace by means of ladders, and so to
+each successive story above. "The ladders which they have for their
+houses," Coronado says in his relation, "are all in a manner movable
+and portable as ours be." [Footnote: Hakluyt, Coll. of Voyages,
+London ed., 1812, vol. 5, p. 498.]
+
+The ladders at the Mandan village were made of two limbs growing
+nearly parallel and severed below the junction, as shown in the
+figure, and set with the forked end upon the ground, and the ends
+against the scaffold. Depressions were sunk in the rails to receive
+the rounds, which were secured by rawhide strings. They were usually
+from ten to twelve feet long, and one or two at each scaffold.
+
+Situated thus picturesquely on a bluff, at an angle of the river,
+with houses of this peculiar model and with such an array of
+scaffolds rising up among them, the village was strikingly
+conspicuous for some distance both above and below on the river, and
+presented a remarkable appearance.
+
+Afterwards, at the present Minnetaree and Mandan village about
+sixty-five miles above on the east side of the Missouri, and also at
+the new Arickaree village on the west side, and quite near it, I had
+an opportunity to see houses precisely similar to those described in
+actual occupation by the Indians, with their interior arrangements
+and their mode of life.
+
+A reference, at least, should be made to the Maricopas and Mohaves
+of the Lower Colorado River, who, although village Indians of the
+pueblo type, still live in ordinary communal houses of the northern
+type, which are thus described by General Emory: "They (the Maricopas)
+occupy thatched cottages thirty or forty feet in diameter, made of
+twigs of cottonwood trees, interwoven with straw of wheat, cornstalks,
+and cane." [Footnote: Notes, &c., New Mexico, p. 132. See also
+Bartlet's Personal Narrative, p. 230.]
+
+Those occupied by the Mohaves, as described by Captain Sitgreave,
+are similar in character. [Footnote: Expedition, &c., Zunyi and
+Colorado, p. 19.]
+
+The Pimas of the Gila River, on the contrary, claim that their
+ancestors erected houses of adobe brick, and cultivated by irrigation.
+They point to the remains of ancient structures and of old acequias
+in the valley of the Gila, as Captain Crossman informs us, as
+the works of their forefathers. But now their condition is very
+similar to that of the Mohaves. The last-named writer remarks that
+"generally several married couples with their children live in one hut."
+[Footnote: Smithsonian Report for 1871, p. 415.]
+
+The first two tribes, although their antecedent history is little
+known, seem to be in a transitional stage from the Lower to the
+Middle Status of barbarism, having passed into the horticultural and
+sedentary condition without being far enough advanced to imitate
+their near neighbors in the use of adobe brick and of stone in their
+houses. They seem to be existing examples of that ever-recurring
+advancement of ruder tribes in past ages, through which the Village
+Indians of the pueblo type were constantly replenished from the more
+barbarous tribes. The present Taos Indians are another example.
+
+It is made reasonably plain, I think, from the facts stated, that in
+the Upper Status of savagery, and also in the Lower Status of
+barbarism, the Indian household was formed of a number of families
+of gentile kin; that they practiced communism in living in the
+household, and that this principle found expression in their house
+architecture and predetermined its character.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOUSES OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO.
+
+
+We are next to consider the houses and mode of life of the Sedentary
+Village Indians, among whom architecture exhibits a higher
+development, with the use of durable materials, and with the
+defensive principle superadded to that of adaptation to communism in
+living. It will not be difficult to discover and follow this latter
+principle, as one of the chief characteristics of this architecture
+in the pueblo houses in New Mexico, and in the region of the San
+Juan River, and afterwards in those of Mexico and Central America.
+Throughout all these regions there was one connected system of house
+architecture, as there was substantially one mode of life.
+
+In New Mexico, going southward, the Indians, at the epoch of
+discovery, were not in a new dress and in an improved condition.
+They had advanced out of the Lower and into the Middle Status of
+barbarism; the houses in which they dwelt were of adobe brick or of
+stone, two, three, four, and sometimes five and six stories in height,
+and containing from fifty to five hundred apartments. They
+cultivated maize and plants by means of irrigating canals. The water
+was drawn from a running stream, taken at a point above the pueblo
+and carried down and through a series of garden beds. They wore
+mantles of cotton, as well as garments of skin.
+
+[Footnote: "They have no cotton-wool growing, because the country is
+cold, yet they wear mantles thereof, as your honor may see by the
+show thereof; and true it is, that there was found in their houses
+certain yarn made of cotton-wool."--Coronado's Relation, Hakluyt's
+Coll. of Voyages, London ed., 1600, iii, p. 377.]
+
+[Footnote: "Their garments were of cotton and deer skins, and the
+attire, both of men and women, was after the manner of Indians of
+Mexico.... Both men and women wore shoes and boots, with good soles
+of neat's leather--a thing never seen in any part of the Indies."--
+Voyages to New Mexico, by Friar Augustin Rueyz, a Franciscan, in 1581,
+and Antonio de Espejo in 1583. Explorations for Railroad Route, &c.,
+Report Indian Tribes, vol. iii, p. 114.]
+
+The present Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are in the main their
+descendants. They live, some of them, in the same identical houses
+their forefathers occupied at the time of Coronado's expedition to
+New Mexico in 1541-1542, as at Acoma, Jemez, and Taos, and although
+their plan and mode of life have changed in some respects in the
+interval, it is not unlikely that they remain to this day a fair
+sample of the life of the Village Indians from Zunyi to Cuzco as it
+existed in the sixteenth century.
+
+The Indians north of New Mexico did not construct their houses more
+than one story high, or of more durable materials than a frame of
+poles or of timber covered with matting or bark, or coated over with
+earth. A stockade around their houses was their principal protection.
+In New Mexico, going southward, are met for the first time houses
+constructed with several stories. Sun-dried brick must have come
+into use earlier than stone. The practice of the ceramic art would
+suggest the brick sooner or later. At all events, what are supposed
+to be the oldest remains of architecture in New Mexico, such as the
+Casas Grandes of the Gila and Salinas rivers, are of adobe brick.
+They also used cobble-stone with adobe mortar, and finally thin
+pieces of tabular sandstone, prepared by fracture, which made a
+solid and durable stone wall. Some of the existing pueblo houses in
+New Mexico are as old as the expedition of Coronado (1540-1542).
+Others, constructed since that event, and now occupied, are of the
+aboriginal model. There are at present about twenty of these pueblos
+in New Mexico, inhabited by about 7, 000 Village Indians, the
+descendants of those found there by Coronado. They are still living
+substantially under their ancient organization and usages. Besides
+these, there are seven pueblos of the Mokis, near the Little Colorado,
+occupied by about 3,000 Indians, who have remained undisturbed to
+the present time, except by Roman Catholic missionaries, and among
+whom the entire theory of life of the Sedentary Village Indians may
+yet be obtained. These Village Indians represent at the present
+moment the type of life found from Zunyi to Cuzco at the epoch of
+the Discovery, and, while they are not the highest, they are no
+unfit representatives of the entire class.
+
+The Yucatan and Central American Indians were, in their architecture,
+in advance of the remaining aborigines of North America. Next to them,
+probably, were the Aztecs, and some few tribes southward. Holding
+the third position, though not far behind, were the Village Indians
+of New Mexico. All alike they depended upon horticulture for
+subsistence, and cultivated by irrigation; cotton being superadded
+to the maize, beans, squashes, and tobacco, cultivated by the
+northern tribes. Their houses, with those previously described,
+represent together an original indigenous architecture, which, with
+its diversities, sprang out of their necessities. Its fundamental
+communal type, I repeat, is found not less clearly in the houses
+about to be described, and in the so-called palace at Palenque, than
+in the long-house of the Iroquois. An examination of the plan of the
+structures in Mexico, New Mexico, and Central America will tend to
+establish the truth of this proposition.
+
+New Mexico is a poor country for civilized man, but quite well
+adapted to Sedentary Indians, who cultivate about one acre out of
+every hundred thousand. This region, and the San Juan, immediately
+north of it, possessed a number of narrow fertile valleys,
+containing together, possibly, 50,000 inhabitants, and it is
+occupied now by their descendants (excepting the San Juan) in manner
+and form as it was then. Each pueblo consisted either of a single
+great house, or of three or four such houses grouped together; and
+what is more significant, the New Mexican pueblo is a fair type of
+those now found in ruins in Yucatan, Chiapas, Guatemala, and Honduras,
+in general plan and in situation. All the people lived together in
+these great houses on terms of equality, for their institutions were
+essentially democratical. Common tenements for common Indians around
+these structures were not found there by Coronado in 1541, neither
+have any been found there since. There is not the slightest ground
+for supposing that any such tenements ever existed around those in
+Yucatan and Central America. Every structure was in the nature of a
+fortress, showing the insecurity in which they lived.
+
+Since the year 1846, the date of the conquest of New Mexico, a
+number of military reconnaissances, under the direction of the War
+Department, have been made in various parts of the Territory. The
+army officers in change devoted their chief attention to the
+physical geography and resources of the regions traversed; but,
+incidentally, they investigated the pueblos in ruins, and the
+present condition of the Pueblo Indians. The admirable manner in
+which they have executed the work is shown by the series of reports
+issued from time to time by the government. More recently, the
+Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, under Prof. F.
+V. Hayden, geologist in charge, and also the Geographical and
+Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, Maj. J. W. Powell,
+geologist in charge, have furnished a large amount of additional
+information concerning the ruins on the San Juan and its tributaries,
+the Cliff Houses on the Mancos River and elsewhere, and the Moki
+Pueblos. Valuable as this information is to us, it falls short of a
+full exposition of these several subjects.
+
+At the time of Coronado's expedition to capture the Seven Cities of
+Cibola, so called in the relations of the period, the aborigines of
+New Mexico manufactured earthen vessels of large size and excellent
+workmanship, wove cotton fabrics with spun thread, cultivated
+irrigated gardens, were armed with the bow, arrow, and shield, wore
+deer-skins and buffalo robes and also cotton mantles as external
+garments, and had domesticated the wild turkey.
+
+[Footnote: "We found here Guinea cocks [turkeys], but few. The
+Indians tell me in all these seven cities that they eat them not,
+but that they keep them only for their feathers. I believe them not,
+for they are excellent good, and greater than those of Mexico."--
+Coronado Rel., Hakluyt, iii, 377.]
+
+"They had hardly provisions enough for themselves," remarks
+Jaramillo of the Cibolans, "and what they had consisted of maize,
+beans, and squashes." [Footnote: Relation of Capt. Juan Jaramillo,
+Coll. Terneaux-Compans, ix, 369.]
+
+"What was true of the Cibolans in this respect was doubtless true of
+the Sedentary Indians in general. Each pueblo was an independent
+organization under a council of chiefs, except as several contiguous
+pueblos, speaking dialects of the same language, were confederated
+for mutual protection, of which the seven Cibolan pueblos, situated
+probably in the valley of the Rio Chaco, within an extent of twelve
+miles, afford a fair example." The degree of their advancement is
+more conspicuously shown in their house architecture.
+
+The present Village Indians of New Mexico, or at least some of them,
+still manufacture earthen vessels, and spin and weave cotton fabrics
+in the aboriginal manner, and live in houses of the ancient model.
+Some of them, as the Mokis and Lagunas, are organized in gentes, and
+governed by a council of chiefs, each village being independent and
+self-governing. They observe the same law of hospitality universally
+practiced by the Northern Indians. Upon this subject, Mr. David J.
+Miller, of Santa Fe, writes as follows to the author: "A visitor to
+one of their houses is invariably tendered its hospitality in the
+form of food placed before him. A failure to tender it is deemed a
+grave breach of hospitality and an insult; and a declension to
+partake of it would be regarded as a breach of etiquette. As among us,
+they have their rich and their poor, and the former give to the
+latter cheerfully and in due plenty." Here we find a nearly exact
+repetition of the Iroquois and Mandan rules of hospitality before
+given. Whether or not they formerly practiced communism in household
+groups, I am not informed. Their houses are adapted to this mode of
+life, as will presently be shown; and upon that fact and their stage
+of social advancement, the deduction of the practice must for the
+present rest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+JOINT TENEMENT HOUSES OF VILLAGE INDIANS IN NEW MEXICO.
+
+Santo Domingo is composed of several structures of adobe brick
+grouped together, as shown in the engraving, Fig 22. Each is about
+two hundred feet long, with two parallel rows of apartments on the
+ground, of which the front row is carried up one story, and the back
+two; the flat roof of the first story forming a terrace in front of
+the second. The first story is closed up solid for defensive reasons,
+with the exception of small window openings. The first terrace is
+reached by means of ladders from the ground; the rooms in the first
+story are entered through trap-doors in the floors, and in the
+second through doors opening upon the terrace, and also through
+trap-doors through the floors which form the roof. These structures
+are typical of all the aboriginal houses in New Mexico. They show
+two principal features: first, the terraced form of architecture,
+common also in Mexico, with the house tops as the social gathering
+places of the inmates; and, second, a closed ground story for safety.
+Every house, therefore, is a fortress. Lieutenant Abert remarks upon
+one of the houses of this pueblo, of which he gives an elevation,
+that "the upper story is narrower than the one below, so that there
+is a platform or landing along the whole length of the building. To
+enter, you ascend to the platform by means of ladders that could
+easily be removed; and, as there is a parapet wall extending along
+the platform, these houses could be converted into formidable forts."
+[Footnote: Ex. Doc. No. 41, 1st session 30th Congress, 1848, p. 462.]
+
+The number of apartments in each house is not stated. The different
+houses at that time were inhabited by eight hundred Indians.
+Chimneys now appear above the roofs, the fire-place being at the
+angle of the chamber in front. These were evidently of later
+introduction. The defensive element, so prominent in this
+architecture, was not so much to protect the Village Indians from
+each other, as from the attacks of migrating bands flowing down upon
+them from the North. The pueblos now in ruins throughout the
+original area of New Mexico, and for some distance north of it,
+testify to the perpetual struggle of the former to maintain their
+ground, as well as prove the insecurity in which they lived. It
+could be shown that the second and additional stories were suggested
+by the defensive principle.
+
+Zunyi, Fig. 23, is the largest occupied pueblo in New Mexico at the
+present time. It probably once contained five thousand inhabitants,
+but in 1851 the number was reduced to fifteen hundred. The village
+consists of several structures, most of them accessible to each from
+their roof terraces. They are constructed of adobe brick, and of
+stone embedded in adobe mortar, and plastered over.
+
+In the summer of 1879, Mr. James Stevenson, in charge of the field
+parties under Major Powell, made an extended visit to Zunyi and the
+neighboring pueblos, for the purpose of making collections of their
+implements, utensils, etc., during which time the photographs from
+which the accompanying illustrations of the pueblos were made. His
+wife accompanied him, and she has furnished us the following
+description of that pueblo:
+
+"Zunyi is situated in Western New Mexico, being built upon a knoll
+covering about fifteen acres, and some forty feet above the right
+bank of the river of the same name.
+
+"Their extreme exclusiveness has preserved to the Zunyians their
+strong individuality, and kept their language pure. According to
+Major Powell's classification, their speech forms one of four
+linguistic stocks to which may be traced all the pueblo dialects of
+the southwest. In all the large area which was once thickly dotted
+with settlements, only thirty-one remain, and these are scattered
+hundreds of miles apart from Taos, in Northern New Mexico to Islet,
+in Western Texas. Among these remnants of great native tribes, the
+Zunyians may claim perhaps the highest position, whether we regard
+simply their agricultural and pastoral pursuits, or consider their
+whole social and political organization.
+
+"The town of Zunyi is built in the most curious style. It resembles
+a great beehive, with the houses piled one upon another in a
+succession of terraces, the roof of one forming the floor or yard of
+the next above, and so on, until in some cases five tiers of
+dwellings are successively erected, though no one of them is over
+two stories high. These structures are of stone and 'adobe'. They
+are clustered around two plazas, or open squares, with several
+streets and three covered ways through the town.
+
+"The upper houses of Zunyi are reached by ladders from the outside.
+The lower tiers have doors on the ground plan, while the entrances
+to the others are from the terraces. There is a second entrance
+through hatchways in the roof, and thence by ladders down into the
+rooms below. In many of the pueblos there are no doors whatever on
+the ground floor, but the Zunyians assert that their lowermost
+houses have always been provided with such openings. In times of
+threatened attack the ladders were either drawn up or their rungs
+were removed, and the lower doors were securely fastened in some of
+the many ingenious ways these people have of barring the entrances
+to their dwellings. The houses have small windows, in which mica was
+originally used, and is still employed to some extent; but the
+Zunyians prize glass highly, and secure it, whenever practicable, at
+almost any cost. A dwelling of average capacity has four or five
+rooms, though in some there are as many as eight. Some of the larger
+apartments are paved with flagging, but the floors are usually
+plastered with clay, like the walls. Both are kept in constant
+repair by the women, who mix a reddish-brown earth with water to the
+proper consistency and then spread it by hand, always laying it in
+semicircles. It dries smooth and even, and looks well. In working
+this plaster the squaw keeps her mouth filled with water, which is
+applied with all the dexterity with which a Chinese laundry-man
+sprinkles clothes. The women appear to delight in this work, which
+they consider their special prerogative, and would feel that their
+rights were infringed upon were men to do it. In building, the men
+lay the stone foundations and set in place the huge logs that serve
+as beams to support the roof, the spaces between these rafters being
+filled with willow-brush; though some of the wealthier Zunyians use
+instead shingles made by the carpenters of the village. The women
+then finish the structure. The ceilings of all the older houses are
+low; but Zunyi architecture has improved and the modern style gives
+plenty of room, with doors through which one may pass without
+stooping. The inner walls are usually whitened. For this purpose a
+kind of white clay is dissolved in boiling water and applied by hand.
+A glove of undressed goat-skin is worn, the hand being dipped in the
+hot liquid and then passed repeatedly over the wall.
+
+"In Zunyi, as elsewhere, riches and official position confer
+importance upon their possessors. The wealthy class live in the
+lower houses, those of moderate means next above, while the poorer
+families have to be content with the uppermost stories. Naturally
+no one will climb into the garret who has the means of securing
+more convenient apartments, under the huge system of 'French
+flats', which is the way of living in Zunyi. Still there is
+little or no social distinction in the rude civilization, the whole
+population of the town living almost as one family. The Alcalde, or
+Lieutenant-Governor, furnishes an exception to the general rule, as
+his official duties require him to occupy the highest house of all,
+from the top of which he announces each morning to the people the
+orders of the Governor, and makes such other proclamation as may be
+required of him.
+
+"Each family has one room, generally the largest in the house, where
+they work, eat, and sleep together. In this room the wardrobe of the
+family hangs upon a log suspended beneath the rafters, only the more
+valued robes, such as those worn in the dance, being wrapped and
+carefully stored away in another apartment. Work of all kinds goes
+on in this large room, including the cookery, which is done in a
+fire-place on the long side, made by a projection at right angles
+with the wall, with a mantel-piece on which rests the base of the
+chimney. Another fire-place in a second room is from six to eight
+feet in width, and above this is a ledge shaped somewhat like a
+Chinese awning. A highly-polished slab, fifteen or twenty inches in
+size, is raised a foot above the hearth. Coals are heaped beneath
+this slab, and upon it the Waiavi is baked. This delicious kind of
+bread is made of meal ground finely and spread in a thin batter upon
+the stone with the naked hand. It is as thin as a wafer, and these
+crisp, gauzy sheets, when cooked, are piled in layers and then
+folded or rolled. Light bread, which is made only at feast times, is
+baked in adobe ovens outside the house. When not in use for this
+purpose the ovens make convenient kennels for the dogs and
+play-houses for the children. Neatness is not one of the
+characteristics of the Zunyians. In the late autumn and winter
+months the women do little else than make bread, often in fanciful
+shapes, for the feasts and dances which continually occur. A sweet
+drink, not at all intoxicating, is made from the sprouted wheat. The
+men use tobacco, procured from white traders, in the form of
+cigarettes from corn-husks; but this is a luxury in which the women
+do not indulge.
+
+"The Pueblo mills are among the most interesting things about the
+town. These mills, which are fastened to the floor a few feet from
+the wall, are rectangular in shape, and divided into a number of
+compartments, each about twenty inches wide and deep, the whole
+series ranging from five to ten feet in length, according to the
+number of divisions. The walls are made of sandstone. In each
+compartment a flat grinding stone is firmly set, inclining at an
+angle of forty-five degrees. These slabs are of different degrees of
+smoothness, graduated successively from coarse to fine. The squaws,
+who alone work at the mills, kneel before them and bend over them as
+a laundress does over the wash-tub, holding in their hands long
+stones of volcanic lava, which they rub up and down the slanting
+slabs, stopping at intervals to place the grain between the stones.
+As the grinding proceeds the grist is passed from one compartment to
+the next until, in passing through the series, it becomes of the
+desired fineness. This tedious and laborious method has been
+practiced without improvement from time immemorial, and in some of
+the arts the Zunyians have actually retrograded."
+
+The living-rooms are about twelve by eighteen feet and about nine
+feet high, with plastered walls and an earthen floor, and usually a
+single window opening for light. To form a durable ceiling round
+timbers about six inches in diameter are placed three or four feet
+apart from the outer to the inner wall. Upon these, poles are placed
+transversely in juxtaposition. A deep covering of adobe mortar is
+placed upon them, forming the roof terrace in front, and the floor
+of the apartments above in the receding second story. Water-jars of
+their own manufacture, of fine workmanship, and holding several
+gallons, closely woven osier baskets of their own make, and blankets
+of cotton and wool, woven by their own hand-looms, are among the
+objects seen in these apartments. They are neatly kept, roomy and
+comfortable, and differ in no respect from those in use at the
+period of the conquest, as will elsewhere be shown. The mesa
+elevation upon which the old town of Zunyi was situated is seen in
+the background of the engraving, Fig. 23.
+
+It should be noticed that this architecture, and the necessities
+that gave it birth, led to a change in the mode of life from the
+open ground to the terraces or flat roofs of these great houses.
+When not engaged in tillage, the terraces were the gathering and
+living places of the people. During the greater part of the year
+they lived practically in the open air, to which the climate was
+adapted, and upon their housetops, first for safety and afterwards
+from habit.
+
+Elevations of the principal pueblos of New Mexico have from time to
+time been published. They agree in general plan, but show
+considerable diversity in details. Rude but massive structures, they
+accommodated all the people of the village in security within their
+walls.
+
+The Moki Pueblos are supposed to be the towns of Tusayan, visited by
+a detachment of Coronado's expedition in 1541. Since the acquisition
+of New Mexico they have been rarely visited, because of their
+isolation and distance from American settlements.
+
+The accompanying illustration of Wolpi, Fig. 25, one of these pueblos,
+is from a photograph taken by Major Powell's party.
+
+In 1858 Lieut. Joseph C. Ives, in command of the Colorado Exploring
+Expedition, visited the Moki Pueblos, near the Little Colorado. They
+are seven in number, situated upon mesa elevations within an extent
+of ten miles, difficult of access, and constructed of stone.
+Mi-shong'-i-ni'-vi, the first one entered, is thus described. After
+ascending the rugged sides of the mesa by a flight of stone steps,
+Lieutenant Ives remarks: "We came upon a level summit, and had the
+walls of the pueblo on one side and an extensive and beautiful view
+upon the other. Without giving us time to admire the scene, the
+Indians led us to a ladder planted against the front face of the
+pueblo. The town is nearly square, and surrounded by a stone wall
+fifteen feet high, the top of which forms a landing extending around
+the whole. Flights of stone steps led from the first to a second
+landing, upon which the doors of the houses open. Mounting the
+stairway opposite to the ladder, the chief crossed to the nearest
+door and ushered us into a low apartment, from which two or three
+others opened towards the interior of the dwelling. Our host
+courteously asked us to be seated upon some skins spread along the
+floor against the wall, and presently his wife brought in a vase of
+water and a tray filled with a singular substance (tortillas), that
+looked more like a sheet of thin blue wrapping paper than anything
+else I had ever seen. I learned afterwards that it was made from
+corn meal, ground very fine, made into a gruel, and poured over a
+heated stone to be baked. When dry it has a surface slightly polished,
+like paper. The sheets are folded and rolled together, and form the
+staple article of food of the Moki Indians. As the dish was intended
+for our entertainment, and looked clean, we all partook of it. It
+has a delicate fresh-bread flavor, and was not at all unpalatable,
+particularly when eaten with salt.... The room was fifteen feet by
+ten; the walls were made of adobes; the partitions of substantial
+beams; the floors laid with clay. In one corner were a fire-place
+and chimney. Everything was clean and tidy. Skins, bows and arrows,
+quivers, antlers, blankets, articles of clothing and ornament were
+hanging upon the walls or arranged upon the shelves. At the other
+end was a trough divided into compartments, in each of which was a
+sloping stone slab, two or three feet square, for grinding corn upon.
+In a recess of an inner room was piled a goodly store of corn in the
+ear.... Another inner room appeared to be a sleeping apartment, but
+this being occupied by females we did not enter, though the Indians
+seemed to be pleased rather than otherwise at the curiosity evinced
+during the close inspection of their dwelling and furniture.... Then
+we went out upon the landing, and by another flight of steps
+ascended to the roof, where we beheld a magnificent panorama.... We
+learned that there were seven towns.... Each pueblo is built around
+a rectangular court, in which we suppose are the springs that
+furnish the supply to the reservoirs. The exterior walls, which are
+of stone, have no openings, and would have to be scaled or battered
+down before access could be gained to the interior. The successive
+stories are set back, one behind the other. The lower rooms are
+reached through trap-doors from the first landing. The houses are
+three rooms deep, and open upon the interior court. The arrangement
+is as strong and compact as could well be devised but as the court
+is common, and the landings are separated by no partitions, it
+involves a certain community of residence." [Footnote: Colorado
+Exploring Expedition, p. 121.]
+
+This account leaves a doubt whether the stones receded from the
+inclosed court outward or from the exterior inward. Lieutenant Ives
+does not state that he passed through the building into the court
+and ascended to the first platform from within, and yet the
+remainder of the description seems to imply that he did, and that
+the structure occupied but three sides of the court, since he states
+that "the houses are three rooms deep and open upon the interior
+court." The structure was three stories high.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 26.--Room in Moki House.]
+
+The above engraving was prepared for an article by Maj. Powell, on
+these Indians. Two rooms are shown together, apparently by leaving
+out the wooden partition which separated them, showing an extent of
+at least thirty feet. The large earthen water-jars are interesting
+specimens of Moki 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,
+Lieutenant 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." [Footnote: Colorado Exploring
+Expedition, p. 120.]
+
+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. [Footnote: Relation of
+Castenada, Coll. H. Ternaeux-Compans. ix, 138. Trans. of American
+Ethnological Society.]
+
+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 hundred 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 chimneys have been added to the
+principal room of each family; but it is evident that they are modern,
+and that the suggestion came from Spanish sources. They are
+constructed in the corner of the room. The first story is built up
+solid, and those above recede in the terraced form. Ladders planted
+against the walls show the manner in which the several stories are
+reached, and, with a few exceptions, the rooms are entered through
+trap-doors by means of ladders. Children and even dogs run up and
+down these ladders with great freedom. The lower rooms are used for
+storage and granaries, and the upper for living rooms; the families
+in the rooms above owning and controlling the rooms below. The
+pueblo has its chiefs.
+
+The measurements of the two edifices were furnished to the writer in
+1864 by Mr. John Ward, at that time a government Indian agent, by
+the procurement of Dr. M. Steck, superintendent of Indian affairs in
+New Mexico. Among further particulars given by Mr. Ward are the
+following: "The thickness of the walls of these houses depends
+entirely upon the size of the adobe and the way in which it is laid
+upon the wall; that is, whether lengthwise or crosswise. There is no
+particular standard for the size of the adobes. On the buildings in
+question the adobes on the upper stories are laid lengthwise, and
+will average about ten inches in width, which gives the thickness of
+the walls. On the first story or ground rooms the adobes are in most
+places laid crosswise, thus making the thickness of these walls just
+the length of the adobe, which averages about twenty inches. The
+width of an adobe is usually one-half its length, and the thickness
+will average about four inches. The floors and roofs are coated with
+mud mortar from four to six inches thick, which is laid on and
+smoothed over with the hand. This work is usually performed by women.
+When the right kind of earth can be obtained the floor can be made
+very hard and smooth, and will last a very long time without needing
+repairs. The walls both inside and out are coated in the same manner.
+On the inside, however, more care is taken to make the walls as even
+and smooth as possible, after which they are whitewashed with gesso
+or gypsum."
+
+Several rooms on the ground floor were measured by Mr. Ward and
+found to be, in feet, 14 by 18, 20 by 22, and 24 by 27, with a
+height of ceiling averaging from 7 to 8 feet. In the second story
+they measured, in feet, 14 by 23, 12 by 20, and 15 by 20, with a
+height of ceiling varying from 7 to 7 1/2 feet. The rooms in the
+third, fourth, and fifth stories were found to diminish in size with
+each story. There is probably a mistake here, as the main
+longitudinal partition walls must have been carried up upon each
+other from bottom to top. A few of the doorways were measured and
+found to range from 2 1/2 feet wide by 4 1/2 feet high and 2 1/3
+feet wide by 4 10/12 feet high. The scuttles or trap-doors in the
+floors, through which they descended into these rooms by means of
+ladders, were 3 feet by 2 1/2, 3 feet by 2, and 1 feet 10 inches by
+2 1/2 feet, and the window openings through the walls were, in
+inches, 14 by 14, 8 by 16, 16 by 20, and 18 by 18.
+
+Mr. Ward then proceeds: "No room has more than two windows; very few
+have more than one. The back rooms usually have one or more round
+holes made through the walls from six to eight inches in diameter
+These openings furnish the apartments with a scanty supply of light
+and air The first story or the ground rooms are usually without
+doors or windows, the only entrance being through the scuttle-holes
+or doors in the roof, which are within the rooms comprising the
+story immediately above. These basement rooms are used for
+store-rooms. Those in the upper stories are the rooms mostly
+inhabited. Those located in the front part of the building receive
+their light through the doors and windows before described. The back
+rooms have no other light than that which goes in through the
+scuttle-holes and the partition walls leading from the front rooms,
+that is, where a room is so situated as to have both. Others again
+have no other light than that which enters through the holes already
+described. Such rooms are always gloomy. Some families have as many
+as four or five rooms, one of which is set apart for cooking, and is
+furnished with a large fire-place for the purpose. Those who have
+only two or three rooms usually cook and sleep in the same apartment,
+and in such cases they cook in the usual fireplace, which stands in
+one corner of the room. No perceptible addition has been made to
+either of the buildings for many years, and it is evident that after
+the death or removal of their owners they were entirely neglected.
+Those in good condition are still occupied. From the best
+information attainable the original buildings were not erected all
+at one time, but were added to from time to time by additional rooms,
+including the second, third, and more stories. There are no regular
+terraces, the roof of the rooms below answering that purpose. Thus
+it is that no entire circuit can be made around any one of these
+stories, the only thing that can be called a terrace being the
+narrow space left in front of some of the rooms from the roofs of
+the lower rooms."
+
+Mr. Ward seems to object to the word "terrace" in defining the
+platform left in front of each story as a means of access to its
+apartments and to the successive stories. It was used by the early
+Spanish writers to explain the same peculiarity found in many of the
+great houses in the pueblo of Mexico and elsewhere over Mexico, the
+roofs being flat and the stories receding from each other. While
+this platform is not in strictness a terrace, the term expresses
+this architectural feature with sufficient clearness. The two
+structures at Taos are large enough to accommodate five hundred
+persons in each, the inmates living in the Indian fashion. They were
+occupied in 1864 by three hundred and sixty-one Taos Indians.
+
+"Each terrace is reached," remarks Mr. Miller before mentioned,
+speaking of the pueblos in general, "by a wooden ladder, first from
+the ground and afterward from the one below; and ingress and egress
+to and from the rooms below is on the inside in the room above
+through trap-doors and upon ladders. It is wonderful to see with
+what agility the Indian children and the dogs run up and down these
+ladders. Nowhere is there any side communication between the rooms
+in the great building, and but one family occupy each series of
+rooms situated one above the other." This last statement is too
+broadly made, as we have seen that Mr. Ward has given the
+measurements of doors through partition walls. Such doors will also
+be shown in a subsequent engraving. But there is no doubt of the
+fact that the number of lateral rooms communicating with each other
+was small, and that the families or groups, if such existed, united
+in a communal household, were separated from each other by solid
+partition walls, a fact which will reappear in the house-architecture
+of Yucatan.
+
+In 1877, David J. Miller, esq, of Santa Fe, visited the Taos Pueblo
+at my request, to make some further investigations. He reports to me
+the following facts: The government is composed of the following
+persons, all of whom, except the first, are elected annually. 1. A
+cacique or principal sachem. 2. A governor or alcalde. 3. A
+lieutenant-governor. 4. A war captain, and a lieutenant war captain.
+5. Six fiscals of policemen. "The cacique," Mr. Miller says,
+"has the general control of all officers in the performance of their
+duties, transacts the business of the pueblo with the surrounding
+whites, Indian agents, etc., and imposes reprimands or severer
+punishments upon delinquents. He is keeper of the archives of the
+pueblo; for example, he has in his keeping the United States patent
+for the tract of four square leagues on which the pueblo stands,
+which was based upon the Spanish grant of 1689; also deeds of other
+purchased lands adjoining the pueblo. He holds his office for life.
+At his death, the people elect his successor. The cacique may,
+before his death, name his successor, but the nomination must be
+ratified by the people represented by their principal men assembled
+in the estufa. In this cacique may be recognized the sachem of the
+northern tribes, whose duties were purely of a civil character.
+Mr. Miller does not define the duties of the governor. They were
+probably judicial, and included an oversight of the property rights
+of the people in their cultivated lands, and in rooms or sections of
+the pueblo houses."
+
+"The lieutenant-governor," he remarks, "is the sheriff to receive
+and execute orders. The war captain has twelve subordinates under
+his command to police the pueblo, and supervise the public grounds,
+such as grazing lands, the cemetery, estufas, &c. The lieutenant war
+captain executes the orders of his principal, and officiates for him
+during his absence, or in case of his disability. The six fiscals
+are a kind of town police. It is their duty to see that the
+catechism (Catholic) is taught in the pueblo, and learned by the
+children, and generally to keep order and execute the municipal
+regulations of the pueblo under the direction of the governor, who
+is charged with the duty of seeing to their execution."
+
+"The regular time for meeting in the estufa is the last day of
+December, annually, for the election of officers for the ensuing year.
+The cacique, governor, and principal men nominate candidates, and
+the election decides. There may also be a fourth nomination of
+candidates, that is, by the people. In the election, all adult males
+vote; the officers first, and then the general public. The officers
+elected are at the present time sworn in by the United States
+Territorial officials."
+
+In this simple government we have a fair sample, in substance and in
+spirit, of the ancient government of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.
+Some modification of the old system may be detected in the
+limitation of officers below the grade of cacique to one year. From
+what is known of the other pueblos in New Mexico, that of Taos is a
+fair example of all of them in governmental organization at the
+present time. They are, and always were, essentially republican,
+which is in entire harmony with Indian institutions. I may repeat
+here what I have ventured to assert on previous occasions, that the
+whole theory of governmental and domestic life among the Village
+Indians of America from Zunyi to Cuzco can still be found in New
+Mexico.
+
+The representation of a room in this pueblo, Fig. 28, is from a
+sketch by Mr. Galbraith, who accompanied Major Powell's party to New
+Mexico.
+
+What Mr. Miller refers to as "property rights and titles" and
+"ownership in fee" of land, is sufficiently explained by the
+possessory right which is found among the northern Indian tribes.
+The limitations upon its alienation to an Indian from another pueblo,
+or to a white man, not to lay any stress upon the absence of written
+titles or conveyances of land which have been made possible by
+Spanish and American intercourse, show very plainly that their ideas
+respecting the ownership of the absolute title to land, with power
+to alienate to whomsoever the person pleased, were entirely above
+their conception of property and its uses. All the ends of
+individual ownership and of inheritance were obtained through a mere
+right of possession, while the ultimate title remained in the tribe.
+According to the statement of Mr. Miller, if the father dies, his
+land is divided between his widow and children, and if a woman, her
+land is divided equally between her sons and daughters. This is an
+important statement, because, assuming its correctness, it shows
+inheritance of children from both father and mother, a total
+departure from the principles of gentile inheritance. In 1878 I
+visited the Taos pueblo. I could not find among them the gens or clan,
+[Footnote: Mr. Baudelier has since ascertained that they are
+organized in gentes.] and from lack of time did not inquire into
+their property regulations or rules of inheritance. The dozen large
+ovens I saw while there near the ends or in front of the two
+buildings, each of which was equal to the wants of more than one
+family, were adopted from the Spanish. They not unlikely had some
+connection with the old principle of communism.
+
+It will prove a very difficult undertaking to ascertain the old mode
+of life three hundred and fifty years ago in New Mexico, Mexico, and
+Central America, as it was then in full vitality, a natural
+outgrowth of Indian institutions. The experiment to recover this
+lost condition of Indian society has not been tried. The people have
+been environed with civilization during the latter portion of this
+period, and have been more or less affected by it from the beginning.
+Their further growth and development was arrested by the advent of
+European civilization, which blighted their more feeble culture.
+Since their discovery they have steadily declined in numbers, and
+they show no signs of recovery from the shock produced by their
+subjugation. Among the northern tribes, who were one Ethnical Period
+below the Pueblo Indians, their social organization and their mode
+of life have changed materially under similar influences since the
+period of discovery. The family has fallen more into the strictly
+monogamian form, each occupying a separate house; communism in
+living in large households has disappeared, the organization into
+gentes has in many cases fallen out or been rudely extinguished by
+external influences; and their religious usages have yielded. We
+must expect to find similar and even greater changes among the
+Village Indians of New Mexico. The white race were upon them in
+Mexico and New Mexico a hundred years earlier than upon the Indian
+tribes of the United States. But, as if to stimulate investigation
+into their ancient mode of life, some of these tribes have continued
+through all these years to live in the same identical houses
+occupied by their forefathers in 1540 at Acoma, Jemez, and Taos.
+These pueblos were contemporary with the pueblo of Mexico captured
+by Cortez in 1520. The present inhabitants are likely to have
+retained some part of the old plan of life, or some traditionary
+knowledge of what it was. They must retain some of the usages and
+customs with respect to the ownership and inheritance of sections of
+these houses, and of the limitations upon the power of sale that
+they should not pass out of the kinship. The same also with respect
+to sections of the village garden. All the facts with respect to
+their ancient usages and mode of life should be ascertained, so far
+as it is now possible to do so from the present inhabitants of these
+pueblos. The information thus given will serve a useful purpose in
+explaining the pueblos in ruins In Yucatan and Central America, as
+well as on the San Juan, the Chaco, and the Gila.
+
+At the time of their discovery the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico
+generally worshiped the sun as their principal divinity. Although
+under constraint they became nominally Roman Catholic, they still
+retain, in fact, their old religious beliefs. Mr. Miller has sent me
+some information upon this subject concerning the pueblos of Taos,
+Jemez, and Zia.
+
+"Before the Spaniards forced their religion upon the people, the
+pueblo of Taos had the Sun for their God, and worshiped the Sun as
+such. They had periodical assemblages of the authorities and the
+people in the estufas for offering prayers to the Sun, to supplicate
+him to repeat his diurnal visits, and to continue to make the maize,
+beans, and squashes grow for the sustenance of the people. 'The Sun
+and God,' said the governor (Mirabal) to me, 'are the same. We
+believe really in the Sun as our God, but we profess to believe in
+the God and Christ of the Catholic Church and of the Bible. When we
+die, we go to God in Heaven. I do not know whether Heaven is in the
+Sun, or the Sun is Heaven. The Spaniards required us to believe in
+their God, and we were compelled to adopt their God, their church,
+and their doctrines, willing or unwilling. We do not know that under
+the American Government we may exercise any religion we choose, and
+that the National Government and the church government are wholly
+disconnected. We have very great respect and reverence for the Sun.
+We fear that the Sun will punish us now, or at some future time, if
+we do evil. The modern pueblos have the Sun religion really, but
+they profess the Christian religion, of which they know nothing but
+what the Catholic religion teaches. They always believed that
+Montezuma would come again as the messiah of the pueblo. The
+Catholic religion has been so long outwardly practiced by the people
+that it could not now, they think, be easily laid aside, and the old
+Sun religion be established, because it is looked upon as
+established by the law of the land, and therefore necessarily
+practiced. Nevertheless, the Indians will always follow and practice,
+as they do, both religions. If,' said the governor, 'one Indian here
+at this pueblo were to declare that he intended to renounce and
+abandon the religion of his fathers (the worship of the Sun) and
+adopt the Christian religion as his only faith, and another Indian
+were to declare that he intended to repudiate the Christian religion
+and adopt and practice only the Sun religion, the former would be
+expelled the pueblo, and his property would be confiscated, but the
+other would be allowed to remain with all his rights.'
+
+"There are three old men in the pueblo whose duty it is to impart
+the traditions of the people to the rising generation. These
+traditions are communicated to the young men according to their ages
+and capacities to receive and appreciate them. The Taos Indians have
+a tradition that they came from the north; that they found other
+Indians at this place (Taos) living also in a pueblo; that these
+they ejected after much fighting, and took and have continued to
+occupy their place. How long ago this was they cannot say, but it
+must have been a long time ago. The Indians driven away lived here
+in a pueblo, as the Taos Indians now do."
+
+Mr. Miller also communicates a conversation had with Juan Jose, a
+native of Zia, and Jose Miguel, a native of Pecos, but then (December,
+1877) a resident of the pueblo of Jemez, which he wrote down at the
+time, as follows: "Before the Spaniards came, the religion of Jemez,
+Pecos and Zia, and the other pueblos, was the Montezuma religion. A
+principal feature of this religion was the celebration of Dances at
+the pueblo. In it, God was the sun. Seh-un-yuh was the land the
+Pueblo Indians came from, and to it they went when dead. This
+country (Seh-un-yuh) was at Great Salt Lake. They cannot say whether
+this lake was the place where the Mormons now live, but it was to
+the north. Under this great lake there was a big Indian Pueblo, and
+it is there yet. [Footnote: The Iroquois have a similar tradition of
+the ancient existence of an Indian village under Otsego Lake in New
+York.] The Indian dances were had only when prescribed by the cacique.
+The Pueblo Indians now have two religions, that of Montezuma, and
+the Roman Catholic. The Sun, Moon, and Stars were Gods, of which the
+greatest and most potent was the Sun; but greater than he was
+Montezuma. In time of drought, or actual or threatened calamity, the
+Pueblo Indians prayed to Montezuma, and also to the Sun, Moon, and
+Stars. The old religion (that of Montezuma) is believed in all the
+New Mexican pueblos. They practice the Catholic religion ostensibly;
+but in their consciences and in reality the old religion is that of
+the pueblos. The tenets of the old religion are preserved by
+tradition, which the old men communicate to the young in the estufas.
+At church worship the Pueblo Indians pray to God, and also to
+Montezuma and the Sun; but at the dances they pray to Montezuma and
+the Sun only. During an actual or threatened calamity the dances are
+called by the cacique. They have two Gods; the God of the Pueblos,
+and the God of the Christians. Montezuma is the God of the Pueblo."
+
+This account of the Sun worship of the Taos Indians, in which is
+intermingled that of Montezuma, and the further account of the
+worship of Montezuma at the pueblos of Zia and Jemez, with the
+recognition of the worship of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, are both
+interesting and suggestive. It is probable that Sun worship is the
+older of the two, while that of Montezuma, as a later growth,
+remained concurrent with the other in all the New Mexican pueblos
+without superseding it. In this supernatural person, known to them
+as Montezuma, who was once among them in bodily human form, and who
+left them with a promise that he would return again at a future day,
+may be recognized the Hiawatha of Longfellow's poem, the
+Ha-yo-went'-ha of the Iroquois. It is in each case a ramification of
+a widespread legend in the tribes of the American aborigines, of a
+personal human being, with supernatural powers, an instructor of the
+arts of life; an example of the highest virtues, beneficent, wise,
+and immortal.
+
+"They have," remarks Mr. Miller, "one curious custom which has
+always been observed in the pueblo. It is for some one (sometimes
+several simultaneously) to seclude themselves entirely from the
+outer world, abstaining absolutely from all personal communication
+with others, and devoting themselves solely to prayer for the pueblo
+and its inhabitants. This seclusion lasts eighteen months, during
+which they are furnished daily, by a confidential messenger, with a
+little food, just enough to preserve life, and during which time
+they may not even inquire about their wives or children or be told
+anything of them though the messenger may know that some of them are
+sick or have died. The food the recluse is permitted to use is corn,
+beans, squashes, and buffalo and deer meat; that is, such food as
+was used before the coming of the Spaniards. This religious
+seclusion is in honor of the Sun. It is one of the rites of the
+ancient religion of the Pueblo, preserved and practiced now. One of
+the old men I talked with said that he had himself the previous year
+emerged from this hermitage; three others were now in, they having
+retired to exile in February, 1877, and will emerge in August, 1878,
+then to learn the news of the previous year and a half."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+RUINS OF HOUSES OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF THE SAN JUAN RIVER
+AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
+
+
+The finest structures of the Village Indians in New Mexico, and
+northward of its present boundary line, are found on the San Juan
+and its tributaries, unoccupied and in ruins. Even the regions in
+which they are principally situated are not now occupied by this
+class of Indians, but are roamed over by wild tribes of the Apaches
+and the Utes. The most conspicuous cluster of these ruined and
+deserted pueblos are in the canyon or valley of the Rio Chaco, which
+stream is an affluent of the San Juan, a tributary of the Colorado.
+Similar ruins of stone pueblos are also found in the valley of the
+Animas River, and also in the region of the Ute Mountain in
+Southwestern Colorado. Ruins of clusters of small single houses
+built of cobble-stone and adobe mortar, and of large pueblos of the
+same material, are to be seen in the La Plata Valley, and in the
+Montezuma Valley, west of the Mancos River. On the Mancos River are
+a large number of cliff houses of stone, and also round towers of
+stone, of which the uses are not at present known. Cliff houses are
+also found on the Dolores River. Other ruins are found in the canyon
+of the Rio de Chelly.
+
+The supposition is reasonable that the Village Indians north of
+Mexico had attained their highest culture and development where
+these stone structures are found. They are similar in style and plan
+to the present occupied pueblos in New Mexico, but superior in
+construction, as stone is superior to adobe or to cobble-stone and
+adobe mortar. They are also equal, if not superior, in size and in
+the extent of their accommodations, to any Indian pueblos ever
+constructed in North America. This fact gives additional interest to
+these ruins, which are here to be considered.
+
+Two separate explorations and reports upon the Chaco ruins have been
+made. The first was by Lieut. J. H. Simpson, who examined them in
+1849 and first brought them to notice, and the second was a
+re-examination by William H. Jackson in 1877. He was connected with
+Prof. F. V. Hayden's Geological and Geographical Survey of the
+Territories, and his report is in that of Professor Hayden,
+published in 1878, p. 411.
+
+The canyon of the Chaco, which commences about one hundred and ten
+miles northwest from Santo Domingo, on the Rio Grande, is quite
+remarkable. It has enough of the characteristics of the canyon to
+justify the application of this peculiar term. But it differs from
+the great canyons in the lowness of the bordering walls and in the
+great breadth of the space between. Neither Simpson nor Jackson
+describe the canyon or valley with as much particularity as could be
+desired, but Mr. Jackson has furnished a map, Fig. 29, showing the
+course of the stream with the walls of the canyon shaded in, and
+with the breaks or gullies through these walls reduced to a scale.
+This shows that the level plain between the encompassing walls
+ranges from half a mile to a mile in places. The walls of the canyon
+are composed of friable sandstone, and are usually vertical. Their
+height is not given with precision. The engraving also shows the
+outline forms and comparative size of the several structures, with
+specimens of three varieties of masonry used in the walls. No. 2
+shows an alternation of courses of stone from four to six inches
+thick and from eight to twelve inches long, with intervening courses
+of several thin stones. The same alternation of courses reappears in
+the pueblos in ruins on the Animas River, about sixty miles north.
+The canyon commences very much like the McElmo Canyon in
+Southwestern Colorado, whose vertical walls are at first about three
+feet high, with a level space between from three hundred to five
+hundred feet in width; its walls rising slowly as you descend.
+Without a present running stream, and bordered with open prairie land,
+it makes a novel appearance to the eye. Lieutenant Simpson remarks
+that after leaving the pueblo Pintado, which is above the
+commencement of the canyon, "two miles over a slightly rolling
+country, our general course still being to the northwest, brought us
+to the commencement of the Canyon de Chaco, its width here being
+about two hundred yards. Friable sandstone rocks, massive above,
+stratified below, constitute its enclosing walls." [Footnote:
+Lieutenant Simpson's Report, p. 77.]
+
+And Mr. Jackson, who entered it from the same point, remarks that
+"two miles from the river we descended into the canyon of the Chaco.
+It is here only about fifty feet in depth, with vertical walls of
+yellowish gray sandstone." [Footnote: Hayden's Report, p. 436.]
+
+At a point twelve miles down, at the Pueblo Una Vida, he remarks
+that "the canyon is here about five hundred yards wide, and is
+perfectly level from one side to the other."
+
+[Footnote: ib., p. 437.] Farther down the walls of the canyon rise
+about a hundred feet, as appears in the restorations of the Pueblo
+Bonito and of the Pueblo of Hungo Pavie. Whether the canyon is
+accessible or not from the table-land above over against the several
+pueblos, by means of the arroyos which break through the walls and
+enter the canyon, does not appear from these reports; but it seems
+probable, Mr. Jackson says, that near the Pueblo Bonito he ascended
+to the top of the bluff by means of a stairway partly cut in the
+face of the rock. [Footnote: ib., p. 448.]
+
+Lieutenant Simpson, in his report, has furnished ground plans of
+five of these structures with measurements. Mr. Jackson has
+furnished eleven ground plans with measurements, two of which are
+without the canyon. They agree substantially, but we shall follow
+Mr. Jackson, as his are the most complete. The following engravings,
+with two or three exceptions, are taken from his report. The
+remainder are from Lieutenant Simpson's report.
+
+The great edifices on the Chaco are all constructed of the same
+materials, and upon the same general plan, but they differ in ground
+dimensions, in the number of rows of apartments, and, consequently,
+in the number of stories. They contained from one hundred to six
+hundred apartments each, and would severally accommodate from five
+hundred to four thousand persons, living in the fashion of Indians.
+Speaking of the Pueblo of Pintado, Lieutenant Simpson remarks as
+follows: "Forming one structure, and built of tabular pieces of hard,
+fine-grained, compact, gray sandstone (a material entirely unknown
+in the present architecture of New Mexico), to which the atmosphere
+has imparted a reddish tinge, the layers or beds being not thicker
+than three inches, and sometimes as thin as one-fourth of an inch,
+it discovers in the masonry a combination of science and art which
+can only be referred to a higher stage of civilization and
+refinement than is discoverable in the works of Mexicans or Pueblos
+of the present day. Indeed, so beautifully diminutive and true are
+the details of the structure as to cause it at a little distance to
+have all the appearance of a magnificent piece of mosaic work."
+
+"In the outer face of the buildings there are no signs of mortar,
+the intervals between the beds being chinked with stones of the
+minutest thinness. The filling and backing are done in rubble masonry,
+the mortar presenting no indications of the presence of lime. The
+thickness of the main wall at base is within an inch or two of three
+feet; higher up, it is less, diminishing every story by retreating
+jogs on the inside, from bottom to top. Its elevation at its present
+highest point is between twenty-five and thirty feet, the series of
+floor beams indicating that there must have been originally three
+stories. The ground plan, including the court, in exterior
+development is about 403 feet. On the ground-floor, exclusive of the
+out-buildings, are fifty-four apartments, some of them as small as
+five feet square, and the largest about twelve by six feet. These
+rooms communicate with each other by very small doors, some of them
+as contracted as two and a half by two and a half feet; and in the
+case of the inner suite, the doors communicating with the interior
+court are as small as three and a half by two feet. The principal
+rooms, or those most in use, were, on account of their having large
+doors and windows, most probably those of the second story. The
+system of flooring seems to have been large transverse unhewn beams,
+six inches in diameter, laid transversely from wall to wall, and
+then a number of smaller ones, about three inches in diameter, laid
+longitudinally upon them. What was placed upon these does not appear,
+but most probably it was brush, bark, or slabs, covered with a layer
+of mud-mortar. The beams show no signs of the saw or axe; on the
+contrary, they appear to have been hacked off by means of some very
+imperfect instrument. On the west face of the structure, the windows,
+which are only in the second story, are three feet two inches by two
+feet two inches. On the north side they are only in the second and
+third stories, and are as small as fourteen by fourteen inches. At
+different points about the premises were three circular apartments
+sunk in the ground, the walls being of masonry. These apartments the
+Pueblo Indians called estufas, or places where the people held their
+political and religions meetings." [Footnote: Simpson's Report, p. 76.]
+
+The main building, Fig. 30, is two hundred and thirty-eight feet long,
+and the wing one hundred and seventy-four feet. It seems probable,
+from the symmetrical character of most of these structures, that the
+original plan contemplated an extension of the main building, the
+addition of another wing, to be followed by the connection of the
+wings with a wall, thus closing the court. These buildings were not
+all completed at once, but were extended and increased in the number
+of stories from generation to generation, as the people increased in
+numbers and prosperity. The plan upon which these houses were
+erected favored such extension. The great size of some of these
+structures can only be explained by the hypothesis of growth through
+long periods of time. The stone for building this pueblo was found
+quite near. Mr. Jackson remarks that "on the side of the bluff
+facing the valley is an outcrop of a yellowish-gray sandstone,
+showing in some places a seam of from twelve to eighteen inches in
+thickness, where the rock breaks into thin slate-like layers. It was
+from this stratum that most of the material in the walls was obtained."
+[Footnote: Jackson's Report, p. 433.] He further remarks concerning
+the estufas: "In the northwest angle of the court are two circular
+rooms, or estufas, the best preserved one of which is built into the
+main building and forms a portion of it, while the other stands
+outside, but in juxtaposition, and is evidently a later and less
+perfect addition. They are each twenty-five feet in diameter. The
+inside walls are perfectly cylindrical, and in the case of the inner
+one are in good preservation for a height of about five feet....
+There are no side apertures, so that light and access was probably
+obtained through the roof. These estufas, which figure so
+prominently in these ruins and in fact in all the ancient ruins
+extending southward from the basin of the Rio San Juan, are so
+identical in their structure, position, and evident uses with the
+similar ones in the pueblos now inhabited, that they indisputably
+connect one with the other, and show this region to have been
+covered at one time with a numerous population, of which the present
+inhabitants of the pueblos of Moki and of New Mexico are either the
+remnants or the descendants.... Beneath the ground plan [in Fig. 30]
+is a section through a restoration of the pueblo from north to south,
+showing the manner in which the stories were probably terraced from
+the interior of the court outward. There is no positive evidence in
+any of these ruins that they were thus built, but this arrangement
+naturally suggests itself as being the only way in which light and
+ease of access to the inner rooms could be readily obtained. It is
+also quite certain from the character of the standing walls that
+they were not terraced symmetrically but irregularly, after the
+manner of the present pueblos. There is every reason to believe that
+the first story was, in every case, reached from the outside by
+ladders, the succeeding stories being also approached from the
+outside, either by ladders or by stone stairways, after the manner
+of the Moqui pueblos. There is no positive evidence to sustain any
+conjecture upon this point, as in every ruin the upper stories are
+so entirely dismantled that no indications of any sort of stairway
+have ever been found. The ground-floor was divided into smaller
+apartments than the second floor, many of the rooms, as shown in the
+plan, being in the lower story divided into two or three. It would
+be impossible to say how high this story had been, as the floor is
+covered to a considerable extent with stones from the fallen walls.
+The second floor was ten feet between joists, and the third somewhat
+less, about seven feet, as near as we could judge from below. It is
+probable that there was a fourth story, but there is now very little
+evidence of it. Not a vestige of the vigas or other floor-timbers
+now remain. Some of the lintels over the doors or windows, composed
+of sticks of wood from one to two inches in thickness, laid close
+together, are now in fair preservation." [Footnote: Jackson's Report,
+p. 434.]
+
+Twelve miles down the canyon from the Pueblo Pintado, are the ruins
+of the Pueblo Wege-gi, Fig. 30. The main building is two hundred and
+twenty-four feet, and the length of each wing is one hundred and
+twenty feet, measured on the outside, but which would include the
+depth of the main building. It is remarkably symmetrical. The rooms,
+Mr. Jackson says, are small, the largest being eight by fourteen feet,
+and the smallest eight feet square, and the estufas are each thirty
+feet in diameter. It is built like the last pueblo "of small tabular
+pieces of sandstone, arranged with beautiful effect of regularity
+and finish."
+
+The Pueblo of Una Vida, Fig. 31, seems to have been in process of
+construction, and designed, when completed, to have been one of the
+largest in the valley. The main building is two hundred and fifty
+feet in length, and the wing two hundred feet. It requires for its
+completion a considerable extension of the main building, and the
+addition of another wing. If this supposition is tenable, it serves
+to show that these great houses were of slow construction, by the
+process of addition and extension from time to time, with the
+increase of the people in numbers. Upon this theory of construction,
+the first row of the main building on the court side would first be
+completed one story high, and covered with a flat roof; after which,
+by adding one parallel wall with partition walls at intervals, as
+many more apartments would be obtained; and by a third and fourth
+parallel wall, with partitions, twice as many more. The second row
+was carried up two stories, the third three, and the fourth four;
+the successive stories receding from the court side in the form of
+great steps or terraces, one above the other. The wings would be
+commenced and completed in the same manner. Further than this, it
+seems evident, from the present condition of the structure, that the
+main building was to be considerably extended, with a second wing
+like the first to fill out the original design and produce a
+symmetrical edifice. If these inferences are warranted, the
+interesting conclusion is reached that these Indian architects
+commenced their great houses upon a definite plan, which was to be
+realized in its completeness after years and perhaps generations had
+passed away. Like the pueblo last named, it is built of tabular
+pieces of sandstone, and is two miles and a half lower down in the
+canyon.
+
+The highest portions of the wall still standing in this pueblo are
+fifteen feet in height, twenty-five feet in Wege-gi, and thirty feet
+in Hungo Pavie.
+
+The Pueblo of Hungo Pavie or Crooked Nose, Fig. 31, is situated one
+mile further down in the canyon, upon the north side, and quite near
+the bordering walls. In exterior development, including the court,
+it is eight hundred and seventy-two feet, of which the back wall
+measures three hundred, and the side walls or wings one hundred and
+forty-four feet each. It is of medium size, but symmetrical, and
+larger than any single aboriginal structure in Central America in
+ground dimensions. There are seventy-three apartments in the first
+story, some of which are unusually large, being about thirteen by
+eighteen feet, and with fifty-three rooms in the second story, and
+twenty-nine in the third, contain an aggregate of one hundred and
+fifty-five rooms. It would accommodate from eight hundred to one
+thousand Indians.
+
+To complete the representation of the architectural design of these
+"great houses of stone," the annexed elevation is given, Fig. 32. It
+is a restoration of the Pueblo of Hungo Pavie, made by Mr. Kern, who
+accompanied General Simpson as draughtsman, and copied from his
+engraving. The walls of the canyon are seen in the background of
+engraving. We may recognize in this edifice, as it seems to the
+author, a very satisfactory reproduction of the so-called palaces of
+Montezuma, which, like this, were constructed on three sides of a
+court which opened on a street or causeway, and in the terraced form.
+From the light which this architecture throws upon that of the Aztecs,
+which was contemporary, it appears extremely probable that these
+famous palaces, considered as exclusive residences of an Indian
+potentate, are purely fictitious; and that, on the contrary, they
+were neither more nor less than great communal or joint-tenement
+houses of the aboriginal American model, and with common Indians
+crowding all their apartments. From what is now known of the
+necessary constitution of society among the Village Indians, it
+scarcely admits of a doubt that the great house in which he lived
+was occupied on equal terms by many other families in common with
+his own, all the individuals of which were joint proprietors of the
+establishment which their own hands had constructed.
+
+Two miles further down, and upon the north side of the canyon, near
+the bluff, are the ruins of the Pueblo of Chettro Kettle, or the
+Rain Pueblo, Fig. 33. The main building and the wings face the court,
+from which alone they are entered, and from which the several
+stories recede outward. Including the court, this great edifice has
+an exterior development of one thousand three hundred feet. The
+exterior wall of the main building measures four hundred and
+fifty-two feet in length, and the longest of the wings two hundred
+and twenty feet. These measurements are according to General Simpson.
+
+From these measurements some impression may be formed of the extent
+of the accommodations such an edifice would afford, especially in
+Indian life, where a married pair and their children are found in a
+smaller space than one of these apartments supplied. The plan shows
+one hundred and seventy-five apartments in the ground story; one
+hundred and thirty-four in the second; one hundred and thirteen in
+the third; sixty in the fourth, and twenty-four in the fifth--making
+an aggregate of five hundred and six apartments. It is not probable
+that the several stories were carried up symmetrically, which would
+involve a diminution of some of the rooms in the upper stories. This
+pueblo is constructed of the same materials as those before named.
+"The circular estufas," Lieutenant Simpson remarks, "of which there
+are six in number, have a greater depth than any we have seen, and
+differ from them also in exhibiting more stories, one of them
+certainly showing two, and possibly three, the lowest one appearing
+to be almost covered up with debris."
+
+This room, Fig. 34, is described by Lieutenant Simpson, but at the
+time of Mr. Jackson's visit he was unable to find it. "In the
+northwest corner of the ruins," Lieutenant Simpson remarks,
+"we found a room in an almost perfect state of preservation.... This
+room is fourteen by seven and a half feet in plan, and ten feet in
+elevation. It has an outside doorway, three and a half feet high by
+two and a quarter wide, and one at its west end, leading into the
+adjoining room, two feet wide, and at present, on account of rubbish,
+only two and a half feet high. The stone walls still have their
+plaster upon them in a tolerable state of preservation. In the south
+wall is a recess or niche, three feet two inches high by four feet
+five inches wide by four deep. Its position and size naturally
+suggested the idea that it might have been a fire-place, but if so,
+the smoke must have returned to the room, as there was no chimney
+outlet for it. In addition to this large recess, there were three
+smaller ones in the same wall. The ceiling showed two main beams,
+laid transversely; on these, longitudinally, were a number of
+smaller ones in juxtaposition, the ends being tied together by a
+species of wooden fibre, and the interstices chinked in with small
+stones; on these, again, transversely, in close contact, was a kind
+of lathing of the odor and appearance of cedar, all in a good state
+of preservation." [Footnote: Lieutenant Simpson's Report, p. 63.]
+
+When in its original condition, this fine pueblo must have made a
+very striking appearance.
+
+Immediately under the walls of the canyon, and about a quarter of a
+mile below the last pueblo, are the ruins of the still-greater
+Pueblo Bonito, Fig. 35. This edifice is, in some respects, the most
+interesting of the series as well as the best preserved in certain
+portions. Its exterior development, including the court, is one
+thousand three hundred feet. Its corners are rounded, and the east
+wing, now the most ruinous part of the structure, appears to have
+had row upon row of apartments added, until nearly one-third of the
+area of the court was covered. "Its present elevation," General
+Simpson observes, "shows that it had at least four stories of
+apartments. The number of rooms on the ground floor is one hundred
+and thirty-nine. In this enumeration, however, are not included the
+apartments which are not distinguishable in the eastern portion of
+the pueblo, and which would swell the number to about two hundred.
+There, then, having been at least four stories of rooms ... there
+must be a reduction ... of one range of rooms for every story after
+the first, which would increase the number to six hundred and
+forty-one." [Footnote: Simpson's Report, p. 81.]
+
+No single edifice of equal accommodations, it may be here repeated,
+has ever been found in any part of North America. It would
+accommodate three thousand Indians.
+
+One of the best of its rooms is shown in the engraving, Fig. 36. It
+will compare, not unfavorably, with any of equal size to be found at
+Palenque or Uxmal, although, from the want of a vaulted ceiling, not
+equal in artistic design. The nice mechanical adjustment of the
+masonry and the finish of the ceiling are highly creditable to the
+taste and skill of the builders. "It is walled up," says Simpson,
+"with alternate beds of large and small stones, the regularity of
+the combination producing a very pleasant effect. The ceiling of
+this room is also more tasteful than any we have seen, the
+transverse beams being smaller and more numerous, and the
+longitudinal pieces, which rest upon them, only about an inch in
+diameter, and beautifully regular These latter have somewhat the
+appearance of barked willow. The room has a doorway at each end, and
+one at the side, each of them leading into adjacent apartments. The
+light is let in by a window two feet by eight inches on the north
+side." [Footnote: Simpson's Report, p. 81.]
+
+Mr. Jackson's study of the ruins enabled him to produce a restoration,
+which is given in his report, and of whose plate Fig. 37 is a copy.
+It is an interesting work, considered as a restoration, which can
+only claim to be an approximation. It will be noticed that three
+passage-ways were left open into the court, although the ground plan
+shows but one. In the Yucatan edifices, as the House of the Nuns at
+Uxmal, there is usually an arched gateway through the center of the
+building facing the court. The court was also open at each of the
+four angles, which, however, might have been protected by palisades
+in time of danger. The walls of the canyon are seen in the
+background of the engraving.
+
+Of this pueblo, Mr. Jackson remarks that "three hundred yards below
+are the ruins of the Pueblo del Arroyo, Fig. 38, so named probably
+because it is on the verge of the deep arroyo which traverses the
+middle of the canyon." This was given only a passing glance by
+Simpson, but it well repays more careful inspection. It is of the
+rectangular form, but with the open space or court facing a few
+degrees north of east. The west wall is two hundred and sixty-eight
+feet long, and the two wings one hundred and twenty-five and one
+hundred and thirty-five feet, respectively; their ends connected by
+a narrow and low semi-circular wall. The wings are the most
+massively-built and best-preserved portion of the whole building,
+that portion which lies between them and back of the court being
+much more ruinous and dissimilar in many respects. The walls, of the
+south wing, which are in the first story, very heavy and massive,
+are still standing to the height of the third story. Many, of the
+vigas are still in place, and are large and perfectly smooth and
+straight undressed logs of pine, averaging ten inches in thickness;
+none of the smaller beams or other wood-work now remains. There is
+one estufa thirty-seven feet in diameter in this wing. In the north
+wing the walls are standing somewhat higher, but do not indicate
+more than three stories, though there was probably another. The
+vigas of the second floor project through the wall for a distance of
+about five feet along its whole northern face, the same as in the
+Pueblo Hungo Pavie. There are two estufas; one near the east end of
+the wing, which is twenty-seven feet in diameter, was three stories
+in height. The floor-beams are removed, but the remains show this
+plainly. The interior is nearly filled up, but it was originally
+over twenty-five feet in depth. The ruins of the other estufa are
+insignificant compared with this, and it probably consisted of but
+one low room. Facing the center of the court are remains of what
+were three circular rooms. At the end of the wings, outside of the
+building, are faint outlines of other circular apartments or
+inclosures, shown by dotted lines on the plan. In the central
+portion of the ruin, between the two wings, some rooms have been
+preserved entire. I crawled down into one of these through a small
+hole in the covering, and found its walls to consist of delicate
+masonry, thinly plastered and whitewashed. The ceiling was formed in
+the usual manner, fine willow brush supporting the earthen floor
+above, instead of the lath-like sticks or thin boards that were used
+in the exceptional cases noted.
+
+Two miles below the Pueblo del Arroyo are the ruins of the Pueblo of
+Penyasca Blanca, Fig. 39. "This is the largest pueblo in plan we
+have seen," Lieutenant Simpson remarks, "and differs from others in
+the arrangement of the stones composing its walls. The walls of the
+other pueblos were all of one uniform character in the several beds
+composing it; but in this there is a regular alternation of large
+and small stones, which are about one foot in length and one-half a
+foot in thickness, form but a single bed, and then, alternating with
+these, are three or four beds of very small stones, each about an
+inch in thickness. The general plan of the structure also differs
+from the others in approximating the form of the circle. The number
+of the rooms at present discoverable upon the first floor is one
+hundred and twelve: and the existing walls show that there have been
+at least three stories of apartments. The number of circular estufas
+we counted was seven." [Footnote: Simpson's Report, p. 64.]
+
+"In point of size," Mr. Jackson remarks, "the rooms of this ruin
+will average larger than in most of the others; the twenty-eight
+rooms, as they appear on the outer circumference, average twenty
+feet in length from wall to wall inside. The smallest, which are
+only ten feet wide, are at the two ends. The width of the rooms of
+each tier appears to have been constant throughout the length of the
+whole ruin. The dimensions given in these drawings are, in nearly
+every case, of those apartments which constitute the second story,
+as it is in those that there is the least obscuration of the walls.
+
+"In most of the ruins the first floor is almost entirely filled up
+with debris, but when the ruins can be followed they show that this
+floor is generally divided into much smaller apartments, two or
+three occurring sometimes in place of each one above them. The
+eastern half of the ellipse, as above said, consists of a single
+continuous line of small apartments, with a uniform width of
+thirteen feet inside and an average length of twenty feet. By a
+curious coincidence the same number of rooms are in this row as in
+the outer tier of the main building. The walls of the central
+portion for a distance of about two hundred feet are in fair
+preservation, standing in places six to eight feet in height, the
+dividing walls showing apertures leading from one room to another.
+They are built of stones uniform in size, averaging six by nine by
+three and a half inches. Mortar was used between the stones instead
+of the small plates of stone. At both ends, for a distance of some
+two hundred feet from the point of juncture with the main building,
+the walls are entirely leveled, but enough remains to show the
+dimensions of each apartment. Twenty yards from the south end of the
+building are the ruins of a great circular room fifty feet in
+diameter, with some portions of its interior wall in such
+preservation that its character is readily discernible." [Footnote:
+Hayden's Tenth Annual Report, 1878, p. 446.]
+
+Without the canyon, upon the mesa, and about half a mile back of the
+bluff, upon the north side, are the ruins of the Pueblo Alto,
+constructed of stone on three sides of a court, like those before
+described. The main building is three hundred feet long, and one
+wing is two hundred feet measured externally from the back end of
+the main building, the other wing is one hundred and seventy feet
+measured the same way. This wing is but two rooms deep, while the
+main building and the other wing are each three rooms deep. It has
+six estufas, with remains of a convex wall, connecting the two wings,
+and inclosing the court. These estufas, like those in the other
+pueblos, suggest the probability that they were places for holding
+the councils of the gentes and phratries.
+
+This great ruin, with two others of smaller size, shown in Fig. 38
+as No. 8 and No. 9, of which the first is one hundred and
+thirty-five feet long and one hundred feet deep, and the other
+seventy-eight by sixty-three feet, both of stone, complete the list
+of ruins in the canyon. The pueblo of Pintado, is, however, at the
+upper end, and without the canyon, and the Pueblo Alto, not yet
+described, is not in the canyon, but on the bluff. It is a
+remarkable display of ancient edifices; the most remarkable in New
+Mexico. With the bordering walls of the canyon, rising vertically,
+in places, one hundred feet high, it presented long vistas in either
+direction, with natural and inclosing walls. Shut in from all view
+of the table lands at the summit of these walls, this valley, at the
+time its great houses were occupied, must have presented a very
+striking picture of human life as it existed in the Middle Period of
+Barbarism. The greater part of the valley must have been covered
+with garden beds, from which the people derived their principal
+support, as the mesa lands without the canyon were too dry for
+cultivation. It no doubt presented an interesting picture of
+industrious and contented life, with a corresponding advancement in
+the arts of this period. There is still some uncertainty concerning
+the time when these pueblos were last occupied, and the fate of
+their inhabitants. There are a number of circumstances tending to
+show that they were the "Seven Cities of Cibola," against which the
+expedition of Coronado was directed in 1540-1542. There are seven
+pueblos in ruins in the canyon, without reckoning Nos. 8 and 9, the
+smallest in the valley. Some of the facts which point to these
+pueblos as the Towns of Cibola may here be noted.
+
+In his Relation to the Viceroy, which is dated from the province of
+Cibola, August 3, 1540, Coronado describes his conquest and
+intimates his disappointment in the following language:
+
+"It remaineth now to certify your Honor of the seven cities, and of
+the kingdoms and provinces whereof the Father Provincial made report
+unto your Lordship. And, to be brief, I can assure your Honor he
+said the truth in nothing that he reported, but all was quite
+contrary, saving only the names of the cities, and great houses of
+stone, for although they be not wrought with turqueses, nor with lime,
+nor bricks, yet they are very excellent good houses, of three, or
+four, or five lofts high, wherein are good lodging and fair chambers,
+with ladders instead of stairs, and certain cellars under the ground,
+very good and paved, which are made for winter,--they are in manner
+like stoves; and the ladders which they have for their houses are in
+a manner moveable and portable, which are taken away and set down
+when they please; and they are made of two pieces of wood, with
+their steps, as ours be. The seven cities are seven small towns, all
+made with these kind of houses that I speak of; and they stand all
+within four leagues together, and they are all called the Kingdom of
+Cibola, and every one of them have their particular name, and none
+of them is called Cibola, but all together they are called Cibola.
+And this town, which I call a city, I have named Granada, as well
+because it is somewhat like unto it, as also in remembrance of your
+Lordship. In this town where I now remain there may be some two
+hundred houses, all compassed with walls; and, I think, that, with
+the rest of the houses which are not so walled, they may be together
+five hundred. There is another town near this, which is one of the
+seven, and it is somewhat bigger than this, and another of the same
+bigness that this is of, and the four are somewhat less; and I send
+them all painted unto your Lordship with the voyage. And the
+parchment wherein the picture is was found here with other parchments.
+The people of this town seem unto me of a reasonable stature, and
+witty, yet they seem not to be such as they should be, of that
+judgment and wit to build these houses in such sort as they are....
+They travel eight days' journey unto certain plains lying towards
+the North Sea. In this country there are certain skins, well dressed;
+and they dress them and paint them where they kill their oxen
+[buffalo]; for so they say themselves." [Footnote: Hakluyt, vol iii,
+p. 377.]
+
+On the fourth day after the capture of Cibola, Coronado further says:
+"They set in order all their goods and substance, their women and
+children, and fled to the hills, leaving their towns as it were
+abandoned, wherein remained very few of them." [Footnote: ib., vol.
+iii, p. 379.]
+
+It will be observed that the phrases "great houses of stone," and
+"good houses of three, or four, or five lofts high," not only
+describe the pueblo on the Chaco in apt language, but there are no
+other pueblos in New Mexico, exclusively of stone, of which we have
+knowledge, except those of the Mokis, in the Canyon de Chelly, on
+the Animas River, and elsewhere in Southwestern Colorado. There is
+an apparent difficulty in the narrative, in the reference made to
+the number of houses; but it is evident, I think, that Coronado
+meant apartments or sections, treating each great house as a block
+of houses, and expressing a doubt of their "judgment and wit to
+build these houses in such sort as they are." If any doubt remained,
+it is entirely removed by the fact that all the pueblo houses in New
+Mexico, whether occupied or in ruins, are great edifices constructed
+like these on the communal principle, and that two hundred such
+houses grouped in one town were an utter impossibility.
+
+Jaramillo, who wrote his Relation some time after the return of the
+expedition, remarks, "that all the water-courses that we fell in with,
+whether brook or river, as far as that of Cibola, and I believe for
+one or two days' journey beyond, flow in the direction of the South
+Sea [the Pacific]; farther on they take the direction of the North
+Sea [the Atlantic]". [Footnote: Col. H. Ternaux-Compans, vol. ix, p.
+370.]
+
+This tends to show that Cibola was situated on a tributary of the
+Colorado, which gathers all the waters of New Mexico west of the Rio
+Grande and north of the Gila, and also that it was situated quite
+near the dividing ridge. It is but ten miles from the Canyon de
+Torrejon, on the Puerco, a tributary of the Rio Grande, to the
+commencement of the Rio de Chaco, an affluent of the San Juan, and
+but twenty-three miles to the Pueblo Pintado. In this respect the
+sites of the ruins on the Chaco are in close agreement with the
+description of the situations of the towns of Cibola. Castanyada,
+after speaking of the seven villages, and the character of the houses,
+remarks that "the valley is very narrow, between precipitous
+mountains" ["C'est une vallee tres-etroite entre des montagues
+escarpees"], [Footnote: Castenyada Relation, Ternaux-Compans, ix, p.
+164.] which, in the light of Coronado's declaration, that "the
+country is all plain, and on no side mountains," may perhaps have
+reference to the encompassing walls of the canyon. This language,
+literally interpreted, does not describe this canyon, neither is
+there any valley in New Mexico, occupied by pueblos, which answers
+this description.
+
+Upon the evidence contained in these several narratives, and with
+our present knowledge of New Mexico, the sites of the seven towns of
+Cibola cannot be determined with certainty. It is a question of
+probabilities; and those which seem the strongest in favor of the
+ruins on the Chaco are the following: Firstly, they are superior,
+architecturally, to any pueblos in New Mexico, now existing or in
+ruins, and agree in number and in proximity to each other, with the
+towns of Cibola as described. Secondly, they are upon an affluent of
+the San Juan, and within "one or two days' journey" of the waters
+which flow into the Gulf of Mexico; in other words, they are near
+the summit of the watershed of the two oceans, where Jaramillo
+distinctly states Cibola was situated. Thirdly, they are within
+eight days of the buffalo ranges, the nearest of which are upon the
+northeastern confines of New Mexico. Cibola was said to be thus
+situated. Moreover, the name Cibola implies the buffalo country. We
+are also told by Friar Marcos that the Indians south of the Gila
+trafficked with the Cibolans for ox-hides, which he found them
+wearing. Zunyi, the only known place, showing a probability that it
+was one of the seven towns, is too far distant from the buffalo
+ranges to answer to this portion of the narrative. Lastly, the
+evidence, collectively, favors a far northern as well as far eastern
+position for Cibola. The people of Cibola knew nothing of either
+ocean. This could hardly have been true of the people of Zunyi with
+respect to the Pacific, or at least the Gulf of California. Coronado
+himself was in doubt as to which sea was nearest, and seems to have
+been conscious of the widening of the continent upon both sides of
+him. Assuming that the pueblos on the Chaco were inhabited in 1540,
+they were the finest structures then in New Mexico. Coronado
+captured all the villages on the Rio Grande, and probably sent a
+detachment to the Moki Pueblos, and remained two years in the country.
+It seems impossible, therefore, that he should have failed to find
+the pueblos on the Chaco; and they answer his description better
+than any other pueblos in New Mexico.
+
+With respect to the manner of constructing these houses, it was
+probably done, as elsewhere remarked, from time to time, and from
+generation to generation. Like a feudal castle, each house was a
+growth by additions from small beginnings, made as exigencies
+required. When one of these houses, after attaining a sufficient size,
+became overcrowded with inhabitants, it is probable that a strong
+colony, "like the swarm from the parent hive, moved out, and
+commenced a new house, above or below, in the same valley." This
+would be repeated, as the people prospered, until several pueblos
+grew up within an extent of twelve or fifteen miles, as in the
+valley of the Chaco. When the capabilities of the valley were
+becoming overtaxed for their joint subsistence, the colonists would
+seek more distant homes. At the period of the highest prosperity of
+these pueblos, the valley of the Chaco must have possessed
+remarkable advantages for subsistence. The plain between the walls
+of the canyon was between half a mile and a mile in width near the
+several pueblos, but the amount of water now passing through it is
+small. In July, according to Lieutenant Simpson, the running stream
+was eight feet wide and a foot and a half deep at one of the pueblos;
+while Mr. Jackson found no running water and the valley entirely dry
+in the month of May, with the exception of pools of water in places
+and a reservoir of pure water in the rocks at the top of the bluff.
+The condition of the region is shown by these two statements. During
+the rainy season in the summer, which is also the season of the
+growing crops, there is an abundance of water; while in the dry
+season it is confined to springs, pools and reservoirs. From the
+number of pueblos in the valley, indicating a population of several
+thousand, the gardens within it must have yielded a large amount of
+subsistence; the climate being favorable to its growth and ripening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+RUINS OF HOUSES OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF THE SAN JUAN RIVER
+AND ITS TRIBUTARIES--CONTINUED.
+
+
+About sixty miles north of the pueblos on the Chaco, and in the
+valley of the Animas River, is a cluster of stone pueblos, very
+similar to the former. These I visited in 1878. The valley is broad
+at this point, and for some miles above and below to its mouth. At
+the time of our visit (July 22) the river was a broad stream,
+carrying a large volume of water. We followed down the river from
+the point of its rise in the dividing range, where it was a mere
+brook, nearly the whole distance through Silverton to Animas City.
+The constant accession of mountain streams, and the rapid descent of
+its bed, soon changed it into a noisy and dashing stream. About
+twenty miles above Animas City we were compelled to ascend to the
+top of the bordering mountains to avoid the narrow canyon below,
+which was impassable; and in descending from Animas City to visit
+these pueblos we crossed over to the La Plata Valley, and after
+passing through this valley we recrossed to the Animas Valley to
+avoid similar canyons also impassable. The supply of water for
+irrigation at the pueblo was abundant. [Footnote: The engravings of
+Figs. 40, 41 and 41a were kindly loaned by Mr. F. W. Putnam of the
+Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass.]
+
+The pueblo of which the ground plan is shown, Fig. 40, is one of
+four situated within the extent of one mile on the west side of the
+Animas River in New Mexico, about twelve miles above its mouth.
+Besides these four, there are five other smaller ruins of inferior
+structures within the same area. This pueblo was five or perhaps six
+stories high, consisting of a main building three hundred and
+sixty-eight feet long, and two wings two hundred and seventy feet
+long, measured along the external wall on the right and left sides,
+and one hundred and ninety-nine feet measured along the inside from
+the end back to the main building.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 40--Ground plan of Pueblo on Animas River, N.
+M.]
+
+A fourth structure crosses from the end of one wing to the end of
+the other, thus inclosing an open court. It was of the width of one
+and perhaps two rows of apartments, and slightly convex outward,
+which enlarged somewhat the size of the court. The main building and
+the wings were built in the so-called terraced form; that is to say,
+the first row of apartments in the main building and in each wing on
+the court side were but one story high. The second row back of these
+were carried up two stories high, the third row three stories, and
+so on to the number of five stories for the main building and four
+for each wing. The external wall rose forty or fifty feet where the
+structure was five stories high and but ten feet on the court side,
+including a low parapet wall, where the structure was but one story
+high. There was no entrance to these great structures in the ground
+story. After getting admission within the court, they ascended to
+the roof of the first row of apartments by means of ladders, and in
+the same way, by ladders, to each successive story. As the second
+story receded from the first, the third from the second, and so on,
+each successive story made a great step ten feet high. The
+apartments were entered through trap-doors in the roof of each story,
+the descent being by ladders inside. In some places, without doubt,
+the upper stories were entered by doorways from the roof of the
+story in front.
+
+The two wings are a mass of ruins. Pit-holes along the summit show
+the forms of the rooms, with plain traces of the original walls here
+and there, and excavations, made by curious settlers, have opened a
+number of rooms in the ground story of one of the wings. These we
+entered and measured. Some of the rooms were faced with stone, i.e.,
+we found a stone wall regularly laid up, like the one in the main
+building, as will elsewhere be shown. Some of the walls in these
+rooms were of cobblestone and adobe; others were of stone with
+natural faces and cobblestone intermixed. We saw no wall of adobe
+brick alone. The fallen walls formed a mass about twelve feet deep
+over the site of the wings, being the deepest on the outside and
+thinning out on the court side.
+
+The mass of material used in the construction of these edifices was
+very great and surprises the beholder. It is explained in part by
+the thickness of the walls. We measured a number of them. They were
+two feet four inches, two feet six inches, two feet nine inches,
+three feet, and in rare cases three feet six inches thick. None
+measured less than two feet.
+
+The main building was originally the best constructed part of the
+edifice, it may be supposed, because a part of it now remains
+standing. The walls of the first story, of some part of the second,
+and, in some places, of a part of the third story, forming the
+second row of apartments from the outside, are still standing, and
+rise about twenty five feet from the ground. The measurements of the
+second row of apartments, as shown in the diagram were from the
+standing walls, and were made in the second story.
+
+The first or basement story is filled up with the rubbish of the
+fallen walls, ceilings, and floors, in the second row of apartments
+named. In some cases they are full above the line of the original
+ceilings; in others nearly up to them. The main ceiling beams were
+of yellow cedar from eight to twelve inches in diameter, usually
+three and four in number, and were placed across the narrow way of
+the room. Stubs of these beams still remain in the walls parallel
+with the court. Just above the line of these beams in the other two
+walls were the ends of a row of poles about four inches in diameter,
+which passed transversely across the cedar beams Stubs of these poles,
+broken off short at the line of the walls, still remain in place.
+Upon these poles were originally thin pieces of split cedar limbs,
+and then the floor of adobe mortar, four or five inches thick. We
+thus get the position and height of the floor of the first and
+second stories, which were about nine feet six inches for the ground
+story, and nine feet for the second story.
+
+The external wall of the main building has fallen the entire length
+of the structure. As these ruins are resorted to by the few settlers
+in the valley as a stone quarry to obtain stone for foundations to
+their houses and barns, and for stoning up their wells, the loose
+material is being gradually removed, and when the standing walls are
+more convenient to take they will be removed also. One farmer told
+me he thought that one quarter of the accessible material of this
+and the adjacent stone pueblo had already been removed. It is to be
+hoped that the number of these settlers inclined to Vandalism will
+not increase.
+
+A part of the partition walls which connected the outside wall with
+the next parallel wall is still standing where the wall last named
+rises above the second story. They stand out for three or four feet
+like buttresses against the wall, and show that the masonry of the
+parallel and transverse walls was articulated, that the partition
+walls were continuous from front to rear, and that the walls of the
+several stories rested upon each other. All this is seen by a bare
+inspection of the walls as they now stand.
+
+The masonry itself is the chief matter of interest in these
+structures. Every room in the main building was faced with stone on
+the four sides, having an adobe floor and a wooden ceiling. Each
+room had, as far as walls now remain to show, two doorways through
+the walls parallel with the court, and four openings about twelve
+inches square, two on the side of each doorway, near the ceiling.
+These openings were for light and ventilation. In a limited sense it
+may be said that the stones were dressed, and also that they were
+laid in courses, but, in the high and strict meaning of these terms,
+neither is true. The stones used were small and of different sizes.
+Sometimes they were nearly square, from six to eight inches on a side;
+sometimes a foot long by six inches wide. The latter is the size of
+the stones used at Uxmal and Chichen Itza, according to Norman. In
+some cases longer and thicker stones were used without any attempt
+to square the ends. In some instances thin pieces of stone were
+employed with parallel faces. In all cases the stone was a sandstone,
+now of a reddish brown color. It is the prevailing stone in the
+bluffs of the Animas River, and of all the rivers parallel with it
+running into the San Juan, as far as personal observation enabled me
+to judge. It is a soft rather than a hard stone, usually of a buff
+color when first quarried, and some of it has decayed in the using.
+The wasted and weatherworn appearance of some of these stones would
+otherwise indicate a very great age for the structure. With stone of
+the size used a good face can be formed by simple fracture, and a
+joint sufficiently close may be made by a few strokes with a stone
+maul. If finer work was aimed at, it must have been accomplished by
+rubbing the stones to a face. But this work is sufficiently
+explained by the former processes. In the row of apartments and
+stories named, both faces of each wall were of stone, so that all of
+the apartments were of stone on the inside. They were fair walls,
+both in masonry and workmanship, and creditable to the builders.
+There was an attempt to lay up these walls in courses of uniform
+thickness, but each course differing from the one above and below it.
+The attempt was only partially successful. They did not hesitate to
+break in upon the regularity of the courses. Some of the standing
+walls are now sprung; but most of them are straight, and fairly
+vertical, the adobe mortar being sound and the bond unbroken.
+
+The Indian had a string from time immemorial. With it he could
+strike a circle, and lay out the four sides of a quadrangular
+structure with tolerable correctness. It is not too much to assume
+that with a string and sinker attached the Village Indian had the
+plumb-line, and could prove his wall as well as we can. At all events,
+the eye still proves the general correctness of their work.
+
+The adobe mortar of the Pueblo Indians is something more than mud
+mortar, although far below a mortar of lime and sand. Adobe is a
+kind of finely pulverized clay with a bond of considerable strength
+by mechanical cohesion. In Southern Colorado, in Arizona, and New
+Mexico, there are immense tracts covered with what is called adobe
+soil. It varies somewhat in the degree of its excellence. The kind
+of which they make their pottery has the largest per cent of alumina,
+and its presence is indicated by the salt weed which grows in this
+particular soil. This kind also makes the best adobe mortar. The
+Indians use it freely in laying their walls, as freely as our masons
+use lime mortar; and although it never acquires the hardness of
+cement, it disintegrates slowly. The mortar in these walls is still
+sound, so that it requires some effort of strength to loosen a stone
+from the wall and remove it. But this adobe mortar is adapted only
+to the dry climate of Southern Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico,
+where the precipitation is less than five inches per annum. The
+rains and frosts of a northern climate would speedily destroy it. To
+the presence of this adobe soil, found in such abundance in the
+regions named, and to the sandstone of the bluffs, where masses are
+often found in fragments, we must attribute the great progress made
+by these Indians in house-building.
+
+The exclusive presence of this adobe mortar in all New Mexican
+structures of the aboriginal period shows that the tribes of New
+Mexico were then ignorant of a mortar of lime and sand. And here a
+digression may be allowed to consider whether a cement of this grade
+was known to the aborigines. Theoretically, the use of a mortar
+composed of quick-lime and sand, which gives a cement chemically
+united, would not be expected of the Indian tribes either in North
+or South America. There is no sufficient proof that they ever
+produced a cement of this high grade. It requires a kiln,
+artificially constructed, and a concentrated heat to burn limestone
+into lime, supposing they had learned that lime could be thus
+obtained, and some knowledge of the properties of quick-lime before
+they reached the idea of a true cement. The Spanish writers
+generally speak of walls of lime and stone, thus implying a mortar
+of lime and sand. Thus, Bernal Diaz speaks of the great temple in
+the Pueblo of Mexico as surrounded "with double enclosures built of
+stone and lime."
+
+[Footnote: The True History of the Conquest of Mexico, Keatinge's
+Translation, Salem ed., 1803, vol. i, p. 208.] Clavigero remarks
+that "the houses of lords and people of circumstances were built of
+stone and lime." [Footnote: History of Mexico, Cullen's Trans., Phila.
+ed., 1817, vol. ii, p. 232.]
+
+Again, "the ignorant Mr. De Pauw denies that the Mexicans had either
+the knowledge or made use of lime; but it is evident from the
+testimony of all the historians of Mexico, by tribute rolls, and
+above all from the ancient buildings still remaining, that all these
+nations made the same use of lime as all the Europeans do." [Footnote:
+ib., vol. ii, p. 237.]
+
+In like manner, Herrera, speaking of Zempoala, near Vera Cruz,
+remarks that the Spaniards, entering the town, found "the houses
+[were] built of lime and stone;" [Footnote: History of America,
+Stevens' Trans., London ed., 1725, vol ii, p. 266.] and again,
+speaking of the houses in Yucatan, he remarks that "at the place
+where the encounter happened, there were three houses built of lime
+and stone." [Footnote: ib., p. 112.]
+
+These several statements can hardly be said to prove the fact of the
+use of a mortar of lime and sand. Mr. John L. Stephens, in speaking
+of the ruins at Palenque, is more explicit: "The building was
+constructed of stone, with a mortar of lime and sand, and the whole
+front was covered with stucco, and painted." [Footnote: Central
+America, Chiapas and Yucatan, vol. ii, p. 310.]
+
+The back wall of the governor's house at Uxmal is nine feet thick
+through its length of two hundred and seventy feet. In this wall, by
+means of crowbars, "the Indians made a hole six and seven feet deep,
+but throughout the wall was solid and consisted of large stones
+imbedded in mortar, almost as hard as rock." [Footnote: ib., vol. i,
+p. 178.]
+
+At the ruins of Zayi, there was one row of ten apartments, two
+hundred and twenty feet long, called the Casas Cerrada, or closed
+house, because the core over which the triangular ceiling was
+constructed had not been removed when the house was abandoned, of
+which Stephens says, "We found ourselves in apartments finished with
+the walls and ceilings like the others, but filled up (except so far
+as they had been emptied by the Indians) with solid masses of mortar
+and stones." [Footnote: Central American, Chiapas and Yucatan, vol.
+ii, p. 23.]
+
+Norman, speaking of the ruins of the House of the Cacique at Chichen,
+remarks, "that the wall is made of large and uniformly square blocks
+of limestone set in mortar, which appears to be as durable as the
+stone itself." [Footnote: Rambles in Yucatan, p. 120.]
+
+Elsewhere, speaking of the ruins of Yucatan generally, he observes,
+"the stones are cut in parallelopipeds of about twelve inches in
+length and six in breadth, the interstices filled up of the same
+materials of which the terraces are composed." [Footnote: ib. p. 127]
+
+That these tribes used mortar of some kind in their stone walls
+cannot be doubted, but these several statements do not prove the use
+of quick-lime, which is the main question. Mr. Stephens' statement
+satisfied me until I saw the New Mexican pueblos. These show that a
+very efficient mortar can be had without the use of lime. The
+Indians of Mexico and the coast tribes near Vera Cruz plastered
+their houses externally with gypsum, which made them a brilliant
+white, and the stucco used upon the inner walls of houses in Chiapas
+and Yucatan was not unlikely made of gypsum. This mineral is
+abundant as well as easily treated. From it comes plaster of Paris,
+and from it may have come in some form the bond which held the
+mortar together, to the strength of which Mr. Stephens refers.
+
+The neatness and general correctness of the masonry is now best seen
+in the doorways. In the standing walls of the second story, and of
+the first, where occasionally uncovered, there are to be seen two
+doorways in each room, as before stated, running in all cases across
+the building from the court side toward the external wall, and never
+in the direction of its length. These doorways measured some three
+feet two inches in height by two feet six inches in width, and
+others three feet four inches by two feet seven inches.
+
+The stone used in these doorways are rather smaller than those in
+other parts of the wall, but prepared in the same manner.
+
+I brought away two of these stones, taken from the standing walls of
+the main building, as samples of the character of the work with
+respect to size and dressing. Fig. 41 represents one of them,
+engraved from a photograph. It measures eight inches in its greatest
+length by six inches in its greatest width, and it is two and
+three-quarter inches in thickness.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 41.--Stone from doorway.]
+
+The upper and lower faces of the stone are substantially but not
+exactly, parallel. It also shows one angle, which is substantially,
+but not exactly a right angle and it was so adjusted that the long
+edge was on the doorway and short one in the wall of a chamber or
+apartment, with the right angle at the corner between them. This
+stone was evidently prepared by fracture, probably with a stone maul,
+and the regularity of the breakage was doubtless partly due to skill
+and partly to accident. It shows no marks of the chisel or the drove,
+or of having been rubbed, and where the square is applied to the
+sides or angles the rudeness of the stone is perfectly apparent.
+
+Fig. 41a represents a sandstone cut by American skilled workmen in
+the form of a brick, and it is intended to show by comparison the
+great difference between the dressed stone of the civilized man and
+the ruder stone of the mason in the condition of barbarism. The
+comparison shows that no instruments of exactness were used in the
+stone work of the pueblo, and that exactness was not attempted. But
+the accuracy of a practiced eye and hand, such as their methods
+afforded, was reached, and this was all they attempted. With stones
+as rude as that shown in the figure, a fair and even respectable
+stone wall may be laid. The art of architecture in stone is of slow
+and difficult growth. Stone prepared by fracture with a stone hammer
+precedes dressed stone, which requires metallic implements. In like
+manner mud mortar or adobe mortar precedes a mortar of lime and sand.
+The Village Indians of America were working their way experimentally,
+and step by step, in the art of house-building, as all mankind have
+been obliged to do, each race for itself; and the structures the
+Village Indians have raised in various parts of America, imperfect
+as they are by contrast, are highly creditable to their intelligence.
+
+Stone lintels were not used for these doorways, as stones three feet
+long would have been required. No stones of half that length are to
+be seen in any of the walls. They had, however, the idea of a stone
+lintel, for they used them in this structure over the foot-square
+openings for light and air. We found a stone lintel over an opening
+eighteen inches wide in a cliff house on the Mancos River. This was
+so firmly imbedded that we found its removal impossible. They used
+for a lintel six round cedar cross-pieces, Fig. 42, each about four
+inches in diameter and now perfectly sound.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 42.--Section of Cedar Lintel.]
+
+In some of these doorways we noticed a peculiar feature. On the side
+toward the external wall, one and sometimes two of these wooden
+lintels were placed, four and sometimes six inches lower than the
+remainder, so that on entering from the outside room into the second
+room, the top of the doorway rose higher as the room was entered. A
+necessity was experienced to save the head from bumps, and the
+wonder is that it did not occur to them to raise the doorways to the
+height of the body. As the doorways were always open, no doors being
+used, it may well be that larger openings would have created
+stronger currents of air through the building than they wished. The
+ends of these lintels were hacked off by stone implements of some
+kind.
+
+The peculiar arrangement of the doorways tends to show that this
+great house was divided into sections by the partition walls
+extending from the court to the exterior wall; and that the rooms
+above were connected with those below by means of trap-doors and
+ladders. If this supposition be well founded, the five rooms on the
+ground floor; from the court back; communicated with each other by
+doorways. The four in the second story communicated with each other
+in the same manner, and with those below through trap-doors in the
+floors. The three rooms in the third story communicated with each
+other by doorways, and with those below as before. The same would be
+true of the two rooms of the fourth story. It seems probable that
+the connected rooms were occupied by a group of related families.
+
+We afterwards found the same thing nearly exemplified in the present
+occupied Pueblo of Taos, in New Mexico. We found that the families
+lived in the second and upper stories, and used the rooms below them
+for storage and for granaries. Each family had two, four, and six
+rooms, and those who held the upper rooms held those below.
+
+In the south wing before mentioned, several rooms on the ground
+floor are still perfect, with the ceilings in place upholding the
+rubbish above. The openings or trap-doorways of two of these rooms
+are still perfect, but the ladders are gone. The rooms had been
+opened, us elsewhere stated, by late explorers. One of these
+trap-doors measured sixteen by seventeen inches, and the other
+sixteen inches square. Each was formed in the floor by pieces of
+wood put together. The work was neatly done. These rooms were
+smaller than the rooms above. Some were as narrow as four feet six
+inches, others six feet, showing that one room had been divided into
+two. The basement rooms were probably occupied for storage
+exclusively, whence their division. They were dark, except as light
+entered through the trap-doorway from above.
+
+The structure connecting the wings and bounding the court was
+evidently a single or double row of apartments. This is shown by the
+amount of fallen material, which is larger than a wall would require,
+and from pits or depressions which plainly marked the outline of
+apartments.
+
+There are two circular estufas in the main building, one
+twenty-three feet and the other twenty-eight feet in diameter. A
+part of the wall of the first estufa is still standing. It is of
+stone, mostly of blocks about five inches square, and laid in courses,
+with considerable regularity. The work is equal to the best masonry
+in the edifice. In the open court, and near the outer structure,
+bounding it in front, is another estufa of great size, sixty-three
+and a half feet in diameter. These estufas, which are used as places
+of council, and for the performance of their religious rites, are
+still found at all the present occupied pueblos in New Mexico. There
+are six at Taos, three at each house, and they are partly sunk in
+the ground by an excavation. They are entered through a trap-doorway
+in the roof, the descent being by a ladder.
+
+Outside the front wall closing the court, and about thirty feet
+distance therefrom, are the remains of a low wall crossing the
+entire front and extending beyond it. The end structures were about
+sixty-five feet long by forty feet wide, while at the center was a
+smaller structure, fifty-four feet long by eighteen wide. All its
+parts were connected. It was evidently erected for defensive purposes;
+but it is impossible to make out its character from the remains. One
+wing is several feet longer than the other, and the wall on the
+court side is about twenty feet longer than the opposite exterior
+wall, thus showing that they used no exact measurements.
+
+There were no fire-places with chimneys in this structure. There are
+none in the ruins in Yucatan and Central America. It is a fair
+inference, therefore, that chimneys were entirely unknown to the
+aborigines at the time of their discovery. They have since that time
+been adopted into the old pueblo houses from American or Spanish
+sources. They are placed in one corner of the room. We saw recently
+at Taos two chimneys and two fire-places in one and the same room,
+one for cooking and the other for a fire to warm the room; proof
+conclusive that they were not to the chimney born. They were in an
+apartment of one of the principal chiefs.
+
+In a number of rooms are recesses like niches left in the wall,
+about two feet six inches wide and high, and about eighteen inches
+deep. These furnished places to set household articles in, in the
+place of a mantel or shelf. We afterwards saw niches precisely
+similar at Taos, and thus used.
+
+It remains to consider the number of rooms or apartments contained
+in this great edifice. It is plain that it was built in the terraced
+form, the second story set back from the first, the third from the
+second, and so on to the last, which was a single row of apartments,
+on the top somewhere, but not necessarily on the back side. Pueblos
+were not entirely uniform in this respect The edifice at Taos
+recedes in front and rear and even upon the sides. This may have
+been built in the same way, but it can neither be proved nor
+disproved from the ruins. The number of apartments would not vary
+much whether the upper stories were symmetrically or irregularly
+formed. If symmetrical, the main building contained two hundred and
+sixty apartments, and each wing seventy, making the computation for
+the latter by area and from the number of depression still
+discernible, thus making an aggregate of four hundred rooms.
+
+The house was a fortress, proving the insecurity in which the people
+lived. It was also a joint tenement house of the aboriginal American
+model, indicating a plan of life not well understood. It may
+indicate an ancient communism in living, practiced by large
+households formed on the principle of kin. In such a case the
+communism was limited to the household as a part of a kinship.
+
+Those familiar with the remains of Indian Pueblos in ruins will
+recognize at once the resemblance between this pueblo and the stone
+pueblos in ruins on the Rio Chaco, in New Mexico, about sixty miles
+distant from these ruins, particularly the one called Hungo Pavie,
+so fully described by General J. H. Simpson. There is one particular
+in which the masonry agrees, viz., in the use of courses of thin
+stones, about half an inch in thickness, sometimes three together,
+and sometimes five and six. These courses are carried along the wall
+from one side to the other, but often broken in upon. The effect is
+quite pretty. These stones measure six inches in length by one-half
+an inch in thickness. General Simpson found the same courses of thin
+stones, and even thinner, in the Chaco ruins, and comments upon the
+pleasing effect they produced.
+
+This edifice was a credit to the skill and industry of the men among
+the Village Indians; for the men, and not the women, were the
+architects and the masons, although the women undoubtedly assisted
+in doing the work. Women brought stone and adobe and cedar, and made
+adobe mortar, without a doubt, as they still do. One of the hopeful
+features in their advancement was the beginning of the reversal of
+the old usage which put all labor upon the women. It is now the rule
+among the Village Indians for the men to assume the heavy work,
+which was doubtless the case when this pueblo was constructed. They
+cultivated maize, beans, and squashes, in garden beds, and irrigated
+them with water drawn from the river by means of a canal, and passed
+in several smaller streams through their gardens. The men now engage
+in the work of cultivation. This is a sure sign of progress.
+
+Off the south wing of the building, and without it, are the remains
+of an additional building, large enough for twenty or thirty rooms
+on the ground, some part of which were, doubtless, carried up two or
+more stories high; but it is a mass of indistinct ruins, about which
+little can be said except that some of the rooms were unusually large.
+This may have been the first building constructed, and the one
+occupied while the stone pueblo was being built.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 43.--Outline of a Stone Pueblo on Animus River.]
+
+This outline plan is submitted with some hesitation, because the
+sketch from which it is taken was made in haste, and with no
+expectation of using it. It is but an approximation. Near the pueblo
+last described, and about five hundred feet northeasterly therefrom,
+is another pueblo in two sections, Fig. 43, with a space about
+fifteen feet wide between them. They may have been, and probably were,
+connected and inhabited as one structure. Some of the walls are
+still standing, and a number of the rooms in the ground story are
+well preserved, the ceilings still remaining in place. Although the
+structure is chiefly of stone like the last, some of the walls are
+of cobblestone and adobe mortar. The largest section seems to have
+had an open court in the center in the form of a parallelogram. This
+feature increased the difficulty of understanding the original form
+of the house and the arrangement of the rooms. The walls of the first,
+of parts of the second, and occasionally of parts of the third story,
+are still standing in places. Many of the rooms are small, as the
+measurements of the following rooms in the second story of the
+smallest building of the two will show:
+
+3 feet 4 inches by 6 feet 6 inches, 4 feet by 8 feet 4 inches, 4 feet
+7 inches by 14 feet 2 inches, 6 feet 5 inches by 14 feet 9 inches,
+7 feet 3 inches by 16 feet 9 inches, 6 feet 4 inches by 11 feet 7
+inches, 7 feet 3 inches by 7 feet 5 inches, 8 feet 7 inches by 15
+feet. Height of rooms, 8 feet. The rooms were faced with stone laid
+up in the main in courses. They were small, from four to eight
+inches square, and the walls from two to three feet in thickness.
+Adobe mortar was used abundantly in the inner part of the wall, but
+not showing on the face at the joints, the stones being laid
+together as closely as the natural surfaces of the stone would permit,
+and without mortar near the edge. This feature was also
+characteristic of the walls of the pueblo first described.
+
+Mr. Bandelier made to me recently the important suggestion that as
+far as any progress or improvement in this architecture, in style or
+character, can be discerned, it seems to have been from smaller to
+larger rooms, followed by a reduction of the size of the house in
+ground dimensions. The last is more particularly illustrated by the
+houses in Yucatan, where single rooms are found, in rare cases,
+sixty feet long, but where the size of the house in ground
+dimensions is much smaller than of those in New Mexico. It was in
+consequence of an examination of some very old pueblo ruins in New
+Mexico, east of the Rio Grande, near Santo Domingo. There the pueblo
+was more like a cluster of cells than of rooms, as many of them were
+but four or five feet square, contrasting strongly with the present
+inhabited pueblos. The same fact may be seen at Taos. It was
+mentioned (p. 144) that the Taos Indians many years ago conquered
+and dispossessed the former occupants of a pueblo at this place,
+and that some remains of the old pueblo were still standing. In
+1878 I visited one of the ground-rooms in the old structure still
+standing, and entirely alone. It was about five feet by six in
+ground-dimensions, and was then occupied by a solitary Taos Indian,
+a sort of hermit, as his place of residence. A bunk across one side
+furnished him both a bed and a seat, and the remaining room was
+scarcely sufficient to turn around in, but it gave him all the home
+he had, and, doubtless, all the room he needed. Another room, a few
+feet distant, also a part of the old pueblo, was still standing.
+These rooms were of adobe, and were about six feet high. As the
+Indian gained in experience and knowledge in the use and
+construction of the joint-tenement houses, improvements would
+gradually manifest themselves. It is important to find and trace
+this progress, as we have every reason to believe that it is one
+system of architecture throughout North America at least, with a
+connection of all its forms.
+
+Along the curving or westerly side of the first building, and along
+the northerly side, there are cedar beams projecting about four feet
+from the wall in the second story on the line of the ceiling. They
+are about four inches in diameter. Their object is not apparent.
+
+In one of the basement rooms of the second building are a series of
+pictographs upon a plastered wall. Our limited time would not permit
+a sketch.
+
+Midway between the pueblo, Fig. 40, and the one now being considered
+is a circular ruin three hundred and thirty feet in circuit, which
+seems to have consisted of two concentric rows of apartments around
+an inclosed estufa. It was built of cobblestone and adobe mortar.
+Pit-holes indicate the form and plan of the inclosing rooms, but the
+ruin is too indistinct to form a clear idea of its structure. A
+removal of the loose material would probably disclose the original
+ground plan.
+
+A few hundred feet north are the ruins of four other structures of
+cobblestone and adobe quite near each other. They were, without doubt,
+pueblo houses, but they are now a mass of undistinguishable ruins,
+and, from present appearance, were probably ruins, when the stone
+pueblos were inhabited. The river here runs nearer the western
+border of the valley than the eastern, and quite near the pueblo
+last noticed, but from this point it bears toward the east side of
+the valley.
+
+About a mile in a direction a little south of east and near the
+river are the ruins of two other large pueblos, of which the lower
+one is one thousand and forty feet in circuit, and the one above
+four hundred and fifty-two feet. Both are built of sandstone and
+cobblestone and adobe mortar. No part of the walls are standing
+above the rubbish; but they were apparently contemporary with the
+stone pueblos. The first stands upon the brink of the river, which
+is now cutting away its foundations, thus proving that it was
+insecurely located. The mass of fallen material is very great,
+showing an apparent depth of at least fifteen feet. Some of the
+basement rooms in each of these pueblos are probably still entire,
+judging from the great mass of material over them. Great pit-holes
+indicate the position of chambers and inclosing-walls. The largest
+of the two pueblos is 300 feet in depth. In one place, where some
+excavation has been done, the corner of a basement room is in sight.
+All these ruins ought to be re-examined, and so far excavated as to
+recover complete ground plans.
+
+Near the mouth of the river are said to be still other ruins, and
+still others on the east side of the river, which we had no time to
+examine.
+
+The valley of the Animas River is here broad and beautiful, about
+three miles wide. The river passes nearly through the center of the
+valley. The cliff, on the east side of the level plain, is bold and
+mountainous, rising from fifteen hundred to two thousand feet high,
+while on the west side the valley is bordered with the mesa
+formation in two benches, one rising back of the other, and both as
+level as a floor, with the highlands forming the divide between the
+Animas and La Plata Rivers in the distance.
+
+From the number and size of the houses, there was probably a
+population of at least five thousand persons at this settlement,
+living by horticulture. It is not now known by what tribe of Indians
+these pueblos were inhabited or constructed.
+
+These pueblos, newly constructed and in their best condition, must
+have presented a commanding appearance. From the materials used in
+their construction, from their palatial size and unique design, and
+from the cultivated gardens by which they were doubtless surrounded,
+they were calculated to impress the beholder very favorably with the
+degree of culture to which the people had attained. It is a singular
+fact that none of the occupied pueblos in New Mexico at the present
+time are equal in materials or in construction with those found in
+ruins. It tends to show a decadence of art among them since the
+period of European discovery.
+
+Westward of the Animas, the La Plata, and the Mancos Rivers, which
+run southwesterly into the San Juan, is the Montezuma Valley, a
+broad and level plain, so named by General Heffernan, of Animas City.
+It is about fifty miles in length, and apparently ten miles wide at
+the ranch of Mr. Henry L. Mitchell, which is situated at the
+commencement of the McElmo Canyon.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Pueblos at commencement of McElmo Canyon.]
+
+It stretches southward thirty-six miles to the San Juan. In this
+valley, which has no flowing stream through it at present (and there
+is no certainty that it ever had), and which is without water,
+except in springs and pools, and has but a slight rainfall during
+the year, Mr. Mitchell was successfully cultivating, at the time of
+our visit, wheat, oats, maize, and the garden vegetables. The valley
+is uninhabited, except by the family of Mr. Mitchell, and a solitary
+man living four miles westward. Their nearest neighbors are on the
+Mancos River, twenty-five miles distant. The bluffs bordering the
+eastern side of the valley rise boldly about fifteen hundred feet,
+with table lands above, while on the west the valley is bordered
+with mountains. About ten miles southwest of Mr. Mitchell's ranch
+the Ute Mountain rises out of the plain, and from this point appears
+as a solitary and detached mountain. The McElmo Canyon passes along
+its north and westerly sides, while the main valley passes southward
+along its eastern base. This high and noble mountain is situated in
+the southwest corner of Colorado, near the intersection of the
+boundary lines of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. It is a
+conspicuous object from the La Plata Valley. The Montezuma Valley
+possesses features of remarkable natural beauty.
+
+Near Mr. Mitchell's ranch, and within a space of less than a mile
+square are the ruins of nine pueblo houses of moderate size. They
+are built of sandstone intermixed with cobblestone and adobe mortar.
+They are now in a very ruinous condition, without standing walls in
+any part of them above the rubbish. The largest of the number is
+marked No. 1 in the plan Fig. 44, of which the outline of the
+original structure is still discernible. It is ninety-four feet in
+length and forty-seven feet in depth, and shows the remains of a
+stone wall in front inclosing a small court about fifteen feet wide.
+The mass of material over some parts of this structure is ten or
+twelve feet deep. There are, no doubt, rooms with a portion of the
+walls still standing covered with rubbish, the removal of which
+would reveal a considerable portion of the original ground-plan.
+
+A short distance below the pueblos last named is another cluster of
+the same number of pueblos, and much in the same condition; and upon
+rising ground near the foot of the bluff, on the east side of the
+valley, there are, as Mr. Mitchell informed me, the ruins of several
+pueblos of stone. He also informed me that similar ruins were to be
+found here and there in the valley to the San Juan. Four miles
+westerly, near the ranch of Mr. Shirt, are the ruins of another
+large stone pueblo, together with an Indian cemetery, where each
+grave is marked by a border of flat stones set level with the ground
+in the form of a parallelogram eight feet by four feet. Near the
+cluster of nine pueblos shown in the figure are found strewn on the
+ground numerous fragments of pottery of high grade in the
+ornamentation, and small arrow-heads of flint, quartz, and
+chalcedony delicately formed, and small knife-blades with convex and
+serrated edges in considerable numbers.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 45.--Outline plan of a stone pueblo near the
+base of Ute Mountain.]
+
+This is an immense ruin with small portions of the walls still
+standing, particularly of the round tower of stone of three
+concentric walls, incorporated in the structure, and a few chambers
+in the north end of the main building. The round tower is still
+standing nearly to the height of the first story. In its present
+condition it was impossible to make a ground-plan showing the
+several chambers, or to determine with certainty which side was the
+front of the structure, assuming that it was constructed in the
+terraced form. It is situated upon a vertical bluff of yellowish
+sandstone rock about twenty feet high and about four miles below
+Mr. Mitchell's ranch in the direction of the Ute Mountain and near
+its northeastern base. The bluff is broken through to the bottom in
+one place about twenty feet wide. Here there are some evidences that
+a spring of water was inclosed in a reservoir by means of masonry.
+The building is in two sections, separated by this break, of which
+the main one is five hundred and ten feet long, and the smallest one
+hundred and twenty feet, forming a nearly continuous front. They
+stand back ten or fifteen feet from the verge of the bluff, and are
+built of tabular pieces of sandstone and adobe mortar. Numerous
+pit-holes in each structure indicate the chambers and the line of
+the inclosing walls. The removal of the loose material would
+doubtless disclose the ground-plan, but it would involve immense
+labor. With the Ute Mountain rising majestically in the background,
+and the broad valley in front, the situation of the pueblo is
+remarkably fine.
+
+The Round Tower is the most singular feature in this structure.
+While it resembles the ordinary estufa, common to all these
+structures, it differs from them in having three concentric walls.
+No doorways are visible in the portion still standing, consequently
+it must have been entered through the roof, in which respect it
+agrees with the ordinary estufa. The inner chamber is about twenty
+feet in diameter, and the spaces between the encircling walls are
+about two feet each; the walls are about two feet in thickness, and
+were laid up mainly with stones about four inches square, and, for
+the most part, in courses. There is a similar round tower, having
+but two concentric walls, at the head of the McElmo Canyon, and near
+the ranch of Mr. Mitchell. It is shown in Fig. 44, and stands
+entirely isolated. The diameter of the tower is thirty-four feet, of
+which the inner chamber is twenty-three feet; the space between the
+two walls is about six feet, and the thickness of the walls about
+two feet six inches. It is laid up in the same manner as the one
+last named, with stones about the same size, and the walls still
+standing are about five feet in height. Partition walls divide the
+outer space, one of which measured twenty inches in thickness.
+
+Several hundred feet from the pueblo last named, further down the
+valley, is another pueblo of large extent, and in a very ruined
+condition.
+
+A mile or more below the ranch of Mr. Mitchell, in the bordering
+walls of the McElmo Canyon, are two cliff houses. The walls of the
+bluff are here about twenty feet high, with large cavities formed in
+them here and there. These houses, each of which consists of but two
+or three small chambers, are built of stone, and stand but a few
+feet above the bottom of the canyon. They are narrow, and not very
+high, as the cavity in the rock is not very deep. Corrals for some
+kind of domestic animals are found by the side of these houses in
+the same hollows in the rock. This is proved by a mass of excrement,
+about a foot in depth, still there, whether of the goat or sheep
+cannot be stated, but this fact shows that they were inhabited
+subsequent to the period of European discovery, although they may
+have been built and used before. The canyon, at this point, is from
+three hundred to five hundred feet wide.
+
+I wish to call attention again to the San Juan district, to its
+numerous ruins, and to its importance as an early seat of Village
+Indian life. These ruins and those of a similar character in the
+valley of the Chaco, together with numerous remains of structures of
+sandstone, of cobblestone, and adobe in the San Juan Valley, in the
+Pine River Valley, in the La Plata Valley, in the Animas River Valley,
+in the Montezuma Valley, on the Hovenweep, and on the Rio Dolores,
+suggest the probability that the remarkable area within the drainage
+of the San Juan River and its tributaries has held a prominent place
+in the first and most ancient development of Village Indian life in
+America. The evidence of Indian occupation and cultivation
+throughout the greater part of this area is sufficient to suggest
+the hypothesis that the Indian here first attained to the condition
+of the Middle Status of barbarism, and sent forth the migrating
+bands who carried this advanced culture to the Mississippi Valley,
+to Mexico, and Central America, and not unlikely to South America as
+well.
+
+Indian migrations are gradual outflows from an overstocked area,
+followed by organization into independent tribes, and continuing
+through centuries of time, until the ethnic life of each tribe is
+expended, or a successful establishment is finally gained in a new
+and perhaps far distant land. They planted gardens and constructed
+houses as they advanced from district to district, and removed as
+circumstances prompted a change of location.
+
+Since the cultivation of maize and plants precedes or is synchronous
+with this stage of development, it leads to the supposition that
+maize must have been indigenous in this region, and that it was here
+first brought under cultivation. There are some facts that seem to
+favor this hypothesis.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end.]
+
+At present I wish to call attention to such existing evidence as
+points to the San Juan district as the anterior home of a number of
+historic Indian tribes.
+
+1. The Mound-Builders. Although these tribes had disappeared at the
+epoch of European discovery, and cannot be classed with any known
+Indian stock, their condition as horticultural tribes, their
+knowledge of some of the native metals, and the high character of
+their stone implements and pottery place them in the clans of
+Village Indians. The nearest region from which they could have been
+derived is New Mexico. There is no reason for referring them to the
+San Juan region more than to the nearer country of the Rio Grande,
+unless it should appear probable that the inhabitants of the latter
+valley were themselves migrants from the same region. But there are
+good reasons for deriving the Mound-Builders from the Village
+Indians in some part of New Mexico.
+
+2. The Mexican Tribes. The seven principal tribes of Mexico, called
+collectively the Nahuatlacs, spoke dialects of the same language,
+and all alike had a tradition that their ancestors came from the
+north, and that the separate tribes came into Mexico at long
+intervals apart. They arrived in the following order as to time: 1,
+Sochomilcos; 2, Chalcas; 3, Tepanecans; 4, Tescucans; 5, Tlatluicans;
+6, Tlascalans; 7, Aztecs or Mexicans. They settled in different
+parts of Mexico. The Cholulans, Tepeacas, and Huexatsincos spoke
+dialects of the Nahuatlac language, and were severally subdivisions
+of one or the other preceding tribes. They had the same tradition of
+a northern origin. These several tribes were among the most
+prominent in Mexico at the period of Spanish discovery. Some of the
+tribes of Yucatan and Central America also had similar traditions of
+an original migration of their ancestors from the north.
+
+Acosta, who visited Mexico in 1585, and whose work was published at
+Seville in 1589, states the order of the migration of the Mexican
+tribes as above given, and further says that they "come from other
+far countries which lie toward the north, where now they have
+discovered a kingdom they call New Mexico. There are two provinces
+in this country, the one called Aztlan, which is to say, a place of
+Herons [Cranes], and the other Teculhuacan, which signifies a land
+of such whose grandfathers were divine. The Navatalcas [Nahuatlacs]
+point their beginning and first territory in the figure of a cave,
+and say they came forth of seven caves to come and people the land
+of Mexico." [Footnote: The Natural and Moral History of the East and
+West Indies, London ed., 1604, Grimstone's Trans., pp. 497, 504.]
+The same tradition substantially, is given by Herrera, [Footnote:
+General History of America, London ed., 1725, Stevens's Trans. III,
+188.] and also by Clavigero.
+
+[Footnote: History of Mexico, Cullen's Trans., 1, 119.]
+
+If by the word Aztlan was intended "place of Cranes", and on the
+supposition that these tribes migrated from the San Juan region, the
+reasons for the designation are justified. The Sandhill Crane
+(Grus Canadensis) is one of the largest and most conspicuous of
+American birds, and is still found from the British Possessions to
+New Mexico, and winters in the latter. I saw a pair of these great
+birds in 1878, in the valley of the Animas River. Dr. Cones remarks
+that "thousands of Sandhill Cranes repair each year to the Colorado
+River Valley, flock succeeding flock along the course of the great
+stream from their arrival in September until their departure the
+following spring. Taller than the Wood Ibises or the largest Herons
+with which they are associated, the stately birds stand in the
+foreground of the scenery of the valley.... Such ponderous bodies
+moving with slowly-beating wings give a great idea of momentum from
+mere weight, a force of motion without swiftness; for they plod
+along heavily, seeming to need every inch of their ample wings to
+sustain themselves." [Footnote: Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 534.]
+
+It is an Indian trait to mark localities by some conspicuous feature
+or fact, and the selection of the Sandhill Crane to indicate their
+home country would have accorded with Indian usages.
+
+Again, Herrera, who presents the current traditions, observes, that
+"these peoples painted their original in the manner of a cave, and
+said they came out of seven caves to people the country of Mexico....
+After the six above mentioned races departed from their country, and
+settled in New Spain, where they were much increased, the seventh
+race being the Mexican nation, a warlike and polite people, who
+adoring their god Vitsilpuztli, he commanded them to leave their own
+country, promising them they should rule over other races in a
+plentiful country, and much wealth." [Footnote: History of America,
+iii, p. 188, 190.]
+
+It is worthy of remark that the cave dwellings or cliff houses are
+in the San Juan district, the most of them being on the Mancos River,
+and on the western portion of the San Juan. These traditions may in
+fact refer to these cave dwellings as the original homes of their
+ancestors, and at the same time without precluding the supposition
+that they also constructed and inhabited some of the pueblo
+structures now in ruins in other parts of the same area. All the
+early accounts concur in representing the Aztecs or Mexicans, when
+they first arrived in Mexico, as subsisting by the cultivation of
+maize and plants, as constructing houses of stone, and with a
+religious system which recognized personal gods. These statements
+are probably true. They had attained to the statue of Village Indians.
+This again renders New Mexico their probable original home as the
+only area in the north where ruins of structures of tribes so far
+advanced have been found.
+
+The San Juan district is remarkably situated in its geographical
+relations. This river, rising in the crests of the high mountains
+forming the water-shed or divide between the Atlantic and Pacific,
+flows southward until it enters the table-land formation, through
+which it flows in a southwesterly and then northwesterly direction,
+making a long, sweeping curve in New Mexico and Arizona, after which
+it runs westerly to its confluence with the Colorado. It receives
+from the north the following tributaries, rising like itself in the
+high mountains, the Piedra, Pine River (Los Pinos), the Animas, the
+La Plata, the Mancos, the McElmo, now dry, and the Hovenweep and
+Montezuma creeks, now nearly dry. Its southern tributaries are the
+Navajo, Chaco, and De Chelly.
+
+With such evidences of ancient occupation, here and elsewhere in the
+San Juan country, we are led to the conclusion that the Village
+Indians increased and multiplied in this area, and that at some
+early period there was here a remarkable display of this form of
+Indian life, and of house architecture in the nature of fortresses,
+which must have made itself felt in distant parts of the continent.
+On the hypothesis that the valley of the Columbia was the seed-land
+of the Ganowanian family, where they depended chiefly upon a fish
+subsistence, we have in the San Juan country a second center and
+initial point of migrations founded upon farinaceous subsistence.
+That the struggle of the Village Indians to resist the ever
+continuous streams of migration flowing southward along the mountain
+chains has been a hard one through many centuries of time, is proved
+by the many ruins of abandoned or conquered pueblos which still mark
+their settlements in so many places. At the present moment there is
+not a Village Indian in the San Juan district. It is entirely
+deserted of this class of inhabitants.
+
+That the original ancestors of the principal historic tribes of
+Mexico once inhabited the San Juan country is extremely probable.
+That the ancestors of the principal tribes of Yucatan and Central
+America owe their remote origin to the same region is equally
+probable. And that the Mound Builders came originally from the same
+country, is, with our present knowledge, at least a reasonable
+conclusion.
+
+Indian migrations have occurred under the influence, almost
+exclusively, of physical causes, operating in a uniform manner.
+These migrations, involving the entire period of the existence here
+of the inhabitants of both American continents, will be found to
+have a common and connected history. A study of all the facts may
+yet lead to an elucidation and explanation of these migrations with
+some degree of certainty. The hypothesis that the valley of the
+Columbia River was the seed-land of the Ganowanian family holds the
+best chance of solving the great problem of the origin and
+distribution of the Indian tribes.
+
+[Relocated Footnote: Where maize was indigenous is unknown, except
+that it was somewhere upon the American continent. It is the only
+cereal America has given to the world. At the period of European
+discovery, it was found cultivated and a staple article of food in a
+large part of North America and in parts of South America. There
+were also found beans, squashes, and tobacco, with the addition in
+some areas of peppers, tomatoes, cocoa and cotton. The problem of
+the place of the origin of maize is probably insoluble, but
+speculations are legitimate and such are all I have to offer.
+
+The fecundity of plant-life in the Rocky Mountains is remarkable,
+particularly on the southern slopes, where they subside into the mesa,
+or table-land formation, north of the San Juan River. The
+continental divide is in the eastern margin of the region. The first
+suggestion I wish to make is that all cereals and cultivated plants
+must have originated in the great continental mountains of the two
+hemispheres, and have propagated themselves along the water courses
+of the mountain valleys down to the plains traversed by the great
+rivers formed by these mountain tributaries. All the cereals belong
+to the family of the Grasses (Gramineae), and each of them, doubtless,
+is the last of a series of antecedent forms.
+
+I saw rye, barley and oats growing wild by self-propagation in the
+mountain valleys of Colorado the present season; and also the wild
+pea, whose stunted seeds had the taste of the cultivated pea. Turnips,
+onions, tomatoes, and hops are found growing wild in the Pine River
+Valley, and the pie-plant or rhubarb is said to grow luxuriantly in
+the Elk Mountain valleys. I also saw wild flax and the gourd growing
+by self-propagation in the valley of the Animas. Currants,
+gooseberries, raspberries, and strawberries are found in the
+mountain valleys in numerous places, together with flowering plants
+of many species and varieties. Tiny forms of flowering plants are to
+be seen above patches of snow in places where the snow had recently
+melted. This fecundity of plant-life from ten to twelve thousand
+feet above sea level, and the relation of these mountain tributaries
+to the San Juan, which runs from east to west, not remotely from the
+base of these mountains, in such a manner as to invite and receive
+into its lap, so to express it, the vegetable wealth developed in
+these mountain chains, are facts that force themselves upon the
+attention of the observer.
+
+The altitude of the San Juan Valley ranges from seven thousand feet
+at Pagosa Springs to five thousand nine hundred and seventy feet at
+the mouth of the Animas, and diminishing to four thousand four
+hundred and forty-six feet near the point where it empties into the
+Colorado (Hayden's Atlas of Colorado, Sheet 111). The altitude at
+Conejos is seven thousand eight hundred and eighty feet (ib.,) which
+is about as great an elevation as admits of the successful
+cultivation of maize. I noticed in a field of maize growing at
+Conejos that the stalk grew only about three feet high, and that the
+ear grew out of it but six inches from the ground. Specimens of the
+ear we obtained showed that it was about five inches long, with the
+kernel small and flinty. The ear is in four colors, white, red,
+yellow, and black, each being one or the other of these colors. In a
+few cases two colors were intermixed in the same ear. It seemed
+probable that this the primitive maize of the American aborigines,
+from which all other varieties have been developed. A few cobs which
+we found at a cliff house on the Mancos River corresponded with the
+Conejos ear in size, and were probably the same variety. Afterwards
+at Taos I found the same ear in white, red, yellow, and black; the
+staple maize now cultivated at this pueblo, but much larger. I
+brought away several fine ears saved for seed. One black ear
+measured twelve inches in length, with twelve rows of kernels, while
+the white variety, both at Conejos and Taos, had each fourteen rows.
+
+Finally, a dry country, neither excessively hot nor moist, like the
+San Juan region, would seem to be most favorable for the development
+and self-propagation of maize as well as plants until man appeared
+for their domestication. These are but speculations, but if they
+should prompt further investigations concerning the place of
+nativity of this wonderful cereal, which has been such an important
+factor in the advancement of the Indian family, and which is also
+destined to prove such a support to our own, these suggestions will
+have not been made in vain.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+HOUSES OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
+
+
+The general view of the house-life and houses of the Indian tribes
+thus far presented will tend to strengthen the hypothesis about to
+be stated concerning the earth-works of the Mound-Builders. Apart
+from the explanation that the long-houses of the Northern Tribes and
+the joint-tenement house of the Sedentary Indians are capable of
+affording, they are wholly inexplicable. The Mound-Builders worked
+native copper, cultivated maize and plants, manufactured pottery and
+stone implements of higher grade than the tribes of the Lower Status
+of barbarism; and they raised earth-works of great magnitude,
+superior to any works of the former tribes. They fairly belong to
+the class of Sedentary Village Indians, though not in all respects
+of an equal grade of culture and development. Their embankments,
+which inclosed a rectangular space, were in all probability, the
+foundations upon which they erected their houses. It is proposed to
+consider these embankments under this hypothesis.
+
+Under the name of Mound-Builders certain unknown tribes of the
+American aborigines are recognized, who formerly inhabited as their
+chief area the valley of the Ohio and its tributary streams. Traces
+of their occupation have been found in other places, from the Gulf
+of Mexico to Lakes Erie and Superior, and from the Alleghanies to
+the Mississippi, and in some localities west of this river.
+
+Without entering upon a discussion of these works, this chapter will
+be confined to four principal questions:
+
+I. The house-life of the American aborigines, in the usages of which
+the Mound-Builders were necessarily involved.
+
+II. The probable center from which the Mound-Builders emigrated into
+these areas.
+
+III. The uses for which their principal earth-works were designed,
+with a conjectural restoration of one of their pueblos; and,
+
+IV. The probable numbers of the people.
+
+The Mound-Builders have disappeared, or, at least, have fallen out
+of human knowledge, leaving these works and their fabrics as the
+only evidence of their existence. Consequently the proposed questions,
+excepting the first, are incapable of specific answers; but they are
+not beyond the reach of approximate solutions. The mystery in which
+these tribes are enshrouded, and the unique character of their
+earth-works, will lead to deceptive inferences, unless facts and
+principles are carefully considered and rigorously applied, and such
+deductions only are made as they will fairly warrant. It is easy to
+magnify the significance of these remains and to form extravagant
+conclusions concerning them; but neither will advance the truth.
+They represent a status of human advancement forming a connecting
+link in the progressive development of man. If, then, the nature of
+their arts, and more especially the character of their institutions,
+can be determined with reasonable certainty, the true position of
+the Mound-Builders can be assigned to them in the scale of human
+progress, and what was possible and what impossible on their part
+can be known.
+
+THE HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES, IN THE USAGES OF WHICH
+THE MOUND-BUILDERS WERE NECESSARILY INVOLVED.
+
+It will be assumed that the tribes who constructed the earth-works
+of the Ohio Valley were American Indians. No other supposition is
+tenable. The implements and utensils found in the mounds indicate
+very plainly that they had attained to the Middle Status of barbarism.
+They do not fully answer the tests of this condition, since they
+neither cultivated by irrigation, so far as is known, nor
+constructed houses of adobe bricks or of stone; but, in addition to
+the earth-works to be considered, they mined native copper and
+wrought it into implements and utensils--acts performed by none of
+the tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism; and they depended
+chiefly upon horticulture for subsistence. They had also carried the
+art of pottery to the ornamental stage, and manufactured textile
+fabrics of cotton or flax, remains of which have been found wrapped
+around copper chisels. These facts, with others that will appear,
+justify their recognition as in the same status with the Village
+Indians of New and Old Mexico and Central America. They occupied
+areas free from lakes as a rule, and, therefore, the poorest for a
+fish subsistence. This shows of itself that their chief reliance was
+upon horticulture. The principal places where their villages were
+situated were unoccupied areas at the epoch of European discovery,
+because unadapted to tribes in the Loner Status of barbarism, who
+depended upon fish and game as well as upon maize and plants.
+
+A knowledge of the general character of the houses of the American
+aborigines will enable us to infer what must have been the general
+character of those of the Mound-Builders. This, again, was
+influenced by the condition of the family. Among the Indian tribes,
+in whatever stage of advancement, the family was found in the
+pairing form, with separation at the option of either party. It was
+founded upon marriage between single pairs, but it fell below the
+monogamian family of civilized society. In their condition it was
+too weak an organization to face alone the struggle of life, and it
+sought shelter in large households, formed on the basis of kin, with
+communism in living as an incident of their plan of life. While
+exceptional cases of single families living by themselves existed
+among all the tribes, it did not break the general rule of large
+households, and the practice in them of communism in living. These
+usages entered into and determined the character of their house
+architecture. In all parts of North and South America, at the period
+of European discovery, were found communal of joint-tenement houses,
+from those large enough to accommodate five, ten, and twenty families,
+to those large enough for fifty, a hundred, and in some cases two
+hundred or more, families. These houses differed among themselves in
+their plan and structure as well as size; but a common principle ran
+through them which was revealed by their adaptation to communistic
+uses. They reflect their condition and their plan of life with such
+singular distinctness as to afford practical hints concerning the
+houses of the Mound-Builders.
+
+THE PROBABLE CENTER FROM WHICH THE MOUND-BUILDERS EMIGRATED INTO
+THESE AREAS.
+
+It is well known that the highest type of Village Indian life was
+found in Yucatan, Chiapas, and Guatemala, and that the standard
+declines with the advance of the type northward into Mexico and New
+Mexico, thus tending to show that it was best adapted to a warm
+climate; but it does not follow that we must look to these distant
+regions for the original home of the Mound-Builders. The nearest
+point from which they could have been derived was New Mexico, and
+that is rendered the probable point from physical considerations,
+and still more from their greater nearness in condition to the
+Village Indians of New Mexico, below whom they must be ranked. The
+migrations of the American Indian tribes were gradual movements
+under the operation of physical causes, occupying long periods of
+time and with slow progress. There is no reason for supposing, in
+any number of cases, that they were deliberate migrations with a
+definite destination. With maize, beans, and squashes (the staples
+of an established horticulture), the Village Indians were
+independent of fish and game as primary means of subsistence, and
+with the former they possessed superior resources for migrating over
+the wide expanses of open prairies between New Mexico and the
+Mississippi. The movement of the tribes who constructed the
+earth-works in question can be explained as a natural spread of
+Village Indians from the valley of the Rio Grande, on the San Juan,
+to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and thence northward to the
+valley of the Ohio, which was both easy and feasible. Its successful
+extension for any considerable distance north of the gulf was
+rendered improbable, by reason of the increasing severity of the
+climate. There are some reasons for supposing that climate delayed
+the movement for centuries, and finally defeated the attempt to
+transplant permanently even the New Mexican type of village life
+into a northern temperature so much lower during the greater part of
+the year.
+
+A number of archeologists, who have considered the question of the
+probable anterior home of the Mound-Builders, are inclined to derive
+them from Central America. The ground for this opinion seems to be
+the fact that horticulture must have originated in a semi-tropical
+region, where this type of village life was first developed, and,
+therefore, that all the forms of this life were derived from thence.
+It would be a mistake, as it seems to the writer, to adopt the track
+of horticulture as that of Indian migration. In its first spread
+horticulture would be more apt to return upon the line of the latter
+than wait to be carried, by actual migrations, with the people.
+Moreover it is unnecessary to invoke such an argument, for the
+reason that New Mexico had been for ages the seat of horticultural
+and Village Indians, and was necessarily occupied by them long
+before the country east of the Mississippi. Every presumption is in
+favor of their derivation from New Mexico as their immediate
+anterior home, where they were accustomed to snow and to a moderate
+degree of cold.
+
+[Footnote: At a recent meeting of the National Academy of Science at
+Washington, where this subject was presented, Prof. O. C. Marsh
+remarked, in confirmation of this suggestion, that "in a series of
+comparisons of Indian skulls, he had been struck with the similarity
+between those of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and of the
+Mound-Builders. As the shape of the Mound-Builder's skull is very
+peculiar, the coincidence is a very striking one."]
+
+THE USES FOR WHICH THEIR PRINCIPAL EARTHWORKS WERE DESIGNED, WITH A
+CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF ONE OF THEIR PUEBLOS.
+
+A brief reference to the character and extent of these works is
+necessary as a means of understanding their uses. The authors of the
+volume "The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" remark, in
+their preface, that "the ancient inclosures and groups of works
+personally examined and surveyed are upwards of one hundred....
+About two hundred mounds of all forms and sizes, and occupying every
+variety of position, have also been excavated." [Footnote:
+Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge, Preface, XXXIV.] Out of ninety-five
+earthworks, exclusive of mounds, figured and described in this
+valuable memoir, and which probably mark the sites of Indian villages,
+forty-seven are of the same type and may unhesitatingly be assigned
+to the Mound-Builders; fourteen are groups of emblematical earthworks,
+mostly in Wisconsin, and may also be assigned to them; but the
+remaining thirty-four are very inferior as well as different in
+character. They are not above the works of the Indians in the Lower
+Status of barbarism, and, therefore, do not probably belong to the
+Village Indians who constructed the works in the Scioto Valley. If
+to those first named are added the emblematical earth-works figured
+and described by Lapham, [Footnote: Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge,
+Vol. V.] and a few other works not known to Squier and Davis, and
+since described by other persons, there are something more than one
+hundred works, large and small, indicating the sites of Indian
+villages, of which perhaps three quarters were occupied at the same
+time. The conical mounds raised over Indian graves, which are
+numerous, are not included. [Footnote: When a calamity befalls an
+Indian settlement it is usually abandoned.]
+
+"A large, perhaps the larger portion of these works," observe the
+same authors, "are regular in outline, the square and circle
+predominating.... The regular works are almost invariably erected on
+level river terraces.... The square and the circle often occur in
+combination, frequently connecting with each other.... Most of the
+circular works are small, varying from two hundred and fifty to
+three hundred feet in diameter, while others are a mile or more in
+circuit." [Footnote: Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge, I, pp. 6 and 8.]
+
+These embankments are, for the most part, slight, varying from two
+feet to six, eight, ten, and twelve feet in height, with a broad base,
+caused by the washing down of the banks in the course of centuries.
+These facts are shown by numerous cross-sections furnished with the
+ground-plans by the authors. But the circular embankments are
+usually about half as high as the rectangular.
+
+Some idea of the size of Indian villages, and of their nearness to
+each other, is necessary to form an impression of their plan of life
+and mode of settlement. The illustrations should be drawn from the
+Village Indians, to which class the Mound-Builders undoubtedly
+belonged. Not knowing the use of wells, they established their
+settlements on the margins of rivers and small streams, which
+afforded alluvial land for cultivation, and often within a few miles
+of each other. In the valley of the Rio Chaco, in New Mexico, there
+were several pueblos within an extent of twelve miles, each
+consisting of a single joint-tenement house, constructed usually
+upon three sides of a court; and westward of the Chaco Valley were,
+and still are, the seven Moki pueblos, within an extent of
+twenty-five miles. At the present time, in the valley of the Rio
+Grande, a single pueblo house, accommodating five hundred persons
+makes an Indian village. Two or three such houses as at Taos and
+Santo Domingo form a large pueblo and a group of several such houses
+as at Zunyi a pueblo of the largest size which once contained
+perhaps five thousand persons, now reduced to fifteen hundred. There
+are no reasons for supposing that any pueblo in Yucatan or Central
+America contained as high a number as ten thousand inhabitants at
+the period of the Spanish conquest, although these countries were
+extremely favorable for an increase of Indian population. Their
+villages were numerous and small. Castanyada, who accompanied the
+expedition of Coronado to New Mexico in 1540-1542, estimated the
+population of the seventy villages visited by detachments and
+situated between the Colorado River Zunyi and the Arkansas at twenty
+thousand men which would give a total population in this wide area
+of a hundred thousand Indians.
+
+There were seven villages each of Cibola, Tusayan, Quivira, and Hemes,
+and twelve of Tiguex; it would give an average of about fourteen
+hundred and fifty persons to each village. In all probability these
+are fair samples as to the number of inhabitants of the villages of
+the Mound Builders with exceptional cases as the village on the site
+of Marietta in Ohio where there may have been five thousand if an
+impression may be formed from the extent of the earth works occupied
+in the manner hereafter suggested. Where several villages were found
+near each other on the same stream as in New Mexico, the people
+usually spoke the same dialect, which tends to show that those in
+each group were colonists from one original village. The earth works
+of the Mound Builders must be regarded as the sites of their villages.
+The question then recurs for what purpose did they raise these
+embankments at an expenditure of so much labor? The must have lived
+somewhere in upon or around them. No answer has been given to this
+question and no serious attempt has been made to explain their uses.
+They have been called defensive enclosures but it is not supposable
+that they lived in houses within the embankments for this would turn
+the places into slaughter pens in case of in attack. Some of them
+have been called sacred enclosures but this goes for nothing apart
+from some knowledge of their uses. They were constructed for a
+practical intelligent purpose and that purpose must be sought in the
+needs and mode of life of the Mound-Builders as Village Indians; and
+it should be expressed in the works themselves. If a sensible use for
+these embankments can be found, its acceptance will relieve us from
+the delusive inferences which are certain to be drawn from them so
+long as they are allowed to remain in the category of the mysteries.
+
+It is proposed to submit a conjectural explanation of the objects
+and uses of the principal embankments, and to advocate its
+acceptance on the ground of inherent probability. It will be founded
+on the assumption that the Mound-Builders were horticultural Village
+Indians who had immigrated from beyond the Mississippi; that as such
+they had been accustomed, to live in houses of adobe bricks, like
+those found in New Mexico; that they had become habituated to living
+upon their roof terraces as elevated platforms, and in large
+households; and that their houses were in the nature of fortresses,
+in consequence of the insecurity in which they lived. Further than
+this, that before they emigrated to the valley of the Ohio they were
+accustomed to snow, and to a moderate degree of winter cold; wore
+skin garments, and possibly woven mantles of cotton, as the Cibolans
+of New Mexico did at the time of Coronado's expedition.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end.]
+
+The food of the New Mexicans, at this time, consisted of maize, beans,
+and squashes, and a limited amount of game, which was doubtless the
+food of the Mound-Builders. Captain Juan Jaramillo, who accompanied
+the same expedition, remarks in his relation that the Cibolans
+"had hardly provisions enough for themselves; what they had
+consisted of maize, beans, and squashes (maiz, des haricots, et des
+courges).... The Indians clothe themselves with deer skins, very
+well prepared. They have also buffalo-skins tanned, in which they
+wrap themselves." [Footnote: Coll. Ternaux-Compans, ix, 369.]
+
+Although several centuries earlier in time, the Mound-Builders, with
+habits of life similar to those of the Cibolans, in 1540, would
+understand, besides horticulture, the use of adobe bricks, and the
+art of constructing long joint-tenement houses, closed up in the
+first story for defensive reasons, and built in the terraced form two,
+three, and four stories high, the ascent to the roof of the first
+story being made by ladders.
+
+If, then, a tribe of Village Indians, with such habits and experience,
+emigrated centuries ago in search of new homes, and in course of
+time they, or their descendants, reached the Scioto Valley, in Ohio,
+they would find it impossible to construct houses of adobe bricks
+able to resist the rains and frosts of that climate, even if they
+found adobe soil. Some modification of their house architecture
+would be forced upon them through climatic reasons. They might have
+used stone, if possessed of sufficient skill to quarry it and
+construct walls of stone; but they did not produce such houses. Or
+they might have fallen back upon a house of inferior grade, located
+upon the level ground, such as the timber-framed houses of the
+Minnitarees and Mandans, in which case there would have been no
+necessity for the embankments in question. Or, they might have
+raised these embankments of earth, inclosing rectangles or squares,
+and constructed long houses upon them, which, it is submitted, is
+precisely what they did. Such houses would agree in general
+character and in plan, and in the uses to which they were adapted,
+with those of the aborigines found in all parts of America.
+
+The elevated platform of earth as a house-site is an element in
+Indian architecture which reappears in a conspicuous manner in the
+solid pyramidal platforms upon which the great stone structures in
+Yucatan and Central America were erected, and which sprang from the
+defensive and the communal principles in living. This latter
+principle required large houses for the accommodation of a number of
+families in the Lower Status of barbarism, and large enough in some
+cases, when the people were in the Middle Status, to accommodate an
+entire tribe. When adobe bricks were used the house was usually a
+single structure, three or four rooms deep and three or four stories
+high, constructed in a block, and in the nature of a fortress. The
+ground story was little used, except for storage, and they lived,
+practically, upon the roof terraces. When the use of stone came in,
+the structure often consisted of a main building four or five
+hundred feet long, and two wings two and three hundred feet in length,
+inclosing three sides of an open court, the fourth side being
+protected by a low stone wall. Such were the pueblos now in ruins
+upon the Rio Chaco in New Mexico.
+
+In the highest form of this architecture in Yucatan and Chiapas, the
+pyramidal elevation appears faced with dry stone walls. The
+buildings upon its summit were often in the form of a quadrangle,
+with an open court in the center; but the buildings were generally
+disconnected at the four angles, as in the House of the Nuns at Uxmal.
+All of these forms are parts of one system of indigenous architecture;
+and the several parts are susceptible of articulation in a series
+representing a progressive development of a common thought, that of
+joint residence, with the practice of communism in living in large
+groups in the same house, or in one group consisting of the entire
+household.
+
+Let us, then, inquire whether the principal embankments of the
+Mound-Builders were adapted, as raised platforms of earth, for the
+sites of long houses constructed on the communistic principle, and
+in the general style of the houses of the American aborigines.
+
+In the valley of the Scioto, in Ohio, and within an extent of twelve
+miles, were found the remains of seven villages of the Mound-Builders,
+four upon the east and three upon the west side of the river. They
+are among the best of their works, and furnish fair examples of the
+whole. One of the number, the High Bank Pueblo, is shown in
+ground-plan in the engraving, Fig. 46. It is the only one in which
+the inclosure is octagonal instead of square. The remains of each of
+the seven consist principally of embankments like railway grades
+several feet high and correspondingly broad at the base, inclosing a
+square or slightly irregular area, the embankment on each of the
+four sides being about a thousand feet long, with an opening or
+gateway in the middle and at the four angles of the square. Attached
+to or quite near to five of the seven are large circular inclosures,
+each formed by a similar though lower embankment of earth and
+inclosing a space somewhat larger than the squares. The respective
+heights of the embankments, forming four of the rectangles, are
+given at four, six, ten, and twelve feet; and of three of the
+circular embankments, at five and six feet, respectively.
+
+The embankments inclosing the squares were probably the site of
+their houses; since, as the highest, and because they are straight,
+they were best adapted to the purpose. The situations of these
+pueblos at short distances from each other on the same stream
+accords with the usages of the Village Indians of New and Old Mexico
+and Central America in locating their villages. These pueblos were
+probably occupied by Mound-Builders of the same tribe, and were not
+unlikely under a common government, consisting of a council of chiefs.
+It is probable, also, that they were constructed, one after the other,
+by colonists from an original village.
+
+In the engraving, Fig. 46, the form and relations of the embankments
+are shown, with cross-sections indicating their elevation and
+present ground-dimensions. It was taken from the work of Squier and
+Davis. [Footnote: Smith Con., vol. i, p1. xvi.]
+
+These authors remark that "the principal work consists of an octagon
+and circle, the former measuring nine hundred and fifty feet, the
+latter ten hundred and fifty feet in diameter.... The walls of the
+octagon are very bold, and, where they have been least subject to
+cultivation, are now between eleven and twelve feet in height by
+about fifty feet base. The wall of the circle is much less, nowhere
+measuring over four or five feet in altitude. In all these respects,
+as in the absence of a ditch and the presence of the two small
+circles, this work resembles the Hopeton Works." [Footnote: ib., p.
+50.]
+
+Of the latter, which is nine miles above on the Scioto, they remark
+that "the walls of the rectangular work are composed of a clayey
+loam twelve feet high by fifty feet base.... They resemble the heavy
+grading of a railway, and are broad enough on the top to admit of
+the passage of a coach." [Footnote: ib., p. 51.]
+
+It will be noticed that the octagonal work shown in the engraving
+consists of seven distinct embankments. Six of these are about four
+hundred and fifty feet long, and the remaining one, which once
+consisted of two equal sections, as shown by the mound to face an
+original opening in the center, now forms one continuous embankment
+facing one side of the inclosed area. If these embankments were
+reformed, with the materials washed down and now spread over a base
+of fifty feet, with sloping sides and a level summit, they would
+form new embankments thirty-seven feet wide at base, ten feet high,
+and with a summit platform twenty-two feet wide. If a surface
+coating of clay were used, the sides could be made steeper and the
+summit platform broader. On embankments thus reformed out of their
+original materials respectable as well as sufficient sites would be
+provided for long joint-tenement houses, comparted into chambers
+like stalls opening upon a central passage way through the structure
+from end to end, as in the long-houses of the Iroquois. Such
+embankments were strikingly adapted to houses of the aboriginal
+American model, the characteristic feature of which was sufficient
+length to afford a number of apartments. This feature became more
+marked in the houses of the Village Indians, among whom houses three
+hundred, four hundred, and even five hundred feet in length have
+been found, as elsewhere stated.
+
+These embankments answered as a substitute for the first story of
+the house constructed of adobe bricks, which was usually from ten to
+twelve feet high, and closed up solid on the ground, externally. The
+gateways entering the square were protected, it may be supposed,
+with palisades of round timber set in the ground, each row of stakes
+commencing at the opposite ends of the embankments and contracting
+after passing each other to a narrow opening on the inside, which
+might be permanently closed. Indian tribes in a lower condition than
+the Mound-Builders were familiar with palisades. The inclosed square
+was thus completely protected by the long-houses standing upon these
+embankments and the gateways guarding the several entrances. The
+pueblo, externally, would present continuous ramparts of earth ten
+feet high, around an inclosed area, surmounted with timber-framed
+houses with walls sloping like the embankments, and coated with
+earth mixed with clay and gravel, rising ten or twelve feet above
+their summits; the two forming a sloping wall of earth twenty feet
+high. It seems extremely probable, for the reasons stated, that they
+raised these embankments as foundations, and planted their
+long-houses upon them, thus uniting the defensive principle with
+that of communism in living. Such houses would harmonize with the
+general plan of life of the American aborigines, and with the
+general type of their house architecture.
+
+It is not necessary to know the exact form or internal plan of these
+houses in order to establish this hypothesis. It is sufficient to
+show that these embankments as restored were not only adapted, but
+admirably adapted, to joint-tenement houses of the aboriginal
+American type. The restoration, Fig. 47, was drawn by my friend
+James G. Cutler, esq., of Rochester, architect, in accordance with
+the foregoing suggestions. It shows not only the feasibility of
+occupying these embankments with long houses, but also that each
+pueblo was designed by the Mound-Builders to be a fortress, able to
+resist assault with the appliances of Indian warfare. From the
+defensive character of the great houses of the Village Indian in
+general, this feature might have been expected to appear in the
+houses of the Mound-Builders.
+
+In this restoration the houses are nearly triangular and of simple
+construction. Indians much ruder than they are supposed to have been,
+as the Minnitarees and Mandans, walled their houses with slabs of
+wood standing on a slope, and roofed them at a lower angle, covering
+both the sloping external walls and the roof with a "concrete of
+tough clay and gravel," a foot or more thick. Long triangular houses
+of the width of the summit of these embankments, with their doorways
+opening upon the square, and with the interior comparted in the form
+of stalls upon each side of a central passage way, would realize,
+with the inclosed court, some of the features and nearly all the
+advantages of the New Mexican pueblo houses. Occupying to the edge
+of the embankments, these of the Mound-Builders could not be
+successfully assailed from without either by Indian weapons or by
+fire; and within, their apartments would be as secure and capacious
+as those of the Village Indians in general at the period of their
+discovery. The inclosed court, which is of unusual size, is one of
+the remarkable features of the plan. It afforded a protected place
+for the villagers and a place of recreation for their children, as
+well as room for their drying-scaffolds, of which Mr. Cutler has
+introduced a number of the Minnetaree and Mandan model, and for
+gardens if they chose to use a part of the area for that purpose.
+They would also require room for a large accumulation of fuel for
+winter use. The only assailable points are the gateways, of which
+the embankments show seven. These undoubtedly were protected by rows
+of round timber set in the ground, and passing each other in such a
+manner as to leave a narrow opening, with a mound back of each, upon
+which archers could stand and shoot their arrows over the heads of
+those between them and the gateway in front. Such at least is the
+object which the presence of the mound in each case suggests.
+
+In the engraving, Fig. 48, there is a ground plan of a section of
+one of the long-houses resting upon the restored embankment. It
+shows eight apartments upon opposite sides of the central passage,
+each nine feet wide by six feet deep, and surrounded by raised bunks
+used both for seats and beds. The passage is eight feet wide and
+runs through the house from end to end, with fire-pits in the center
+for each four apartments. In interior plan it is an exact transcript
+of the long-house of the Iroquois, and therefore adapted to the
+joint habitation of a large number of related families, and to the
+practice of communism.
+
+Another section shows the embankment below the line A-B, which, as
+stated, is ten feet high upon a base thirty-seven feet wide, and
+with a summit platform twenty-two feet wide, which forms the floor
+of the house. Above this is a cross-section of the structure. Round
+posts six inches in diameter are set in the ground upon the lines of
+the central passage, defining also the several stalls. These posts,
+which rise eight feet above the level of the floor and are forked at
+the top, support string-pieces which run the length of the house.
+Against these, planks of split timber are placed so as to form a
+sloping external wall, and these are covered with clay and gravel a
+foot or more thick. A simpler method would be the use of poles set
+close together and sunk in the ground, afterwards coated in the same
+manner. Cross-pieces of round timber rest upon the stringers over
+each pair of posts. The roof over the central passage is formed
+independently of poles bracing against each other at the center from
+opposite sides. This is also covered with concrete or mud mortar.
+Openings through the roof are left over the fire-pits for the exit
+of the smoke. The principle of construction adopted is that employed
+in the dirt lodges of the Minnitarees and Mandans of the Upper
+Missouri. As thus restored, this pueblo of the Mound-Builders is not
+superior in the mechanism of the houses to those of the tribes named.
+[Footnote: There are some reasons for supposing that the Minnitarees
+are descendants of the Mound Builders.]
+
+An elevation of a portion of one of the houses, on the court side,
+is also furnished, showing the embankment with a ladder resting upon
+it used as steps, and which could be taken up at night; also one of
+the doors by which the house was entered.
+
+It is not necessary, as before suggested, that the actual form and
+structure of the houses of the Mound-Builders should be shown to
+establish the hypothesis that these embankments were the veritable
+sites of their houses. If it is made evident that the summit
+platforms of these embankments, when reformed from their own
+materials, would afford practicable sites for houses, which when
+constructed would have been comfortable dwellings adapted to the
+climate and to Indian life in the Middle Status of barbarism, this
+is all that can be required. The restoration of this pueblo
+establishes the affirmative of this proposition, with the superadded
+confirmation of that defensive character which marks all the house
+architecture of the Village Indians in New and Old Mexico and
+Central America.
+
+With their undoubted advancement beyond the Iroquois and Minnitarees,
+the Mound-Builders may have constructed better houses upon these
+platform elevations than the plans indicate. No remains of adobes
+have been found in connection with these embankments, and nothing to
+indicate that walls of such brick had ever been raised upon them.
+The disintegrated mass would have shown itself in the form of the
+embankment after the lapse of many centuries. On the contrary, they
+were found in the precise form they would have assumed, under
+atmospheric influences, after structures of the kind described had
+perished, and the embankments had been abandoned for centuries.
+
+These embankments, therefore, require triangular houses of the kind
+described, and long-houses, as well, covering their entire length.
+But the interior plan might have been different, for example, the
+passage way might have been along the exterior wall, and the stalls
+or apartments on the court side, and but half as many in number, and,
+instead of one continuous house in the interior, four hundred and
+fifty feet in length, it might have been divided into several,
+separated from each other by cross partitions. The plan of life,
+however, which we are justified in ascribing to them, from known
+usages of Indian tribes in a similar condition of advancement, would
+lead us to expect large households formed on the basis of kin, with
+the practice of communism in living in each household, whether large
+or small. There is a direct connection in principle between the
+platform elevations inclosing a large square on which the High Bank
+Pueblo was constructed, and the pyramidal platforms in Yucatan,
+smaller in diameter but higher in elevation, upon which were erected
+the most artistic houses constructed by the American aborigines. In
+the latter cases the central area rises to the common level of the
+embankments upon which the houses were constructed. The former has
+the security gained by a house-site above the level of the
+surrounding ground; and it represents about all the advance made by
+the Village Indians in the art of war above the tribes in a lower
+condition of barbarism. They placed their houses and homes in a
+position unassailable by the methods of Indian warfare.
+
+There is some diversity, as would be expected, in the size of the
+squares inclosed by these embankments. They range from four hundred
+and fifty to seventeen hundred feet, the majority measuring between
+eight hundred and fifty and a thousand feet. Gateways are usually
+found at the four angles and at the center of each side. A
+comparison of the dimensions of twenty of these squares, figured in
+the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," gives for the
+average nine hundred and thirty-seven feet. The aggregate length of
+the embankments shown in Fig. 46 is three thousand six hundred feet,
+which, at an average of ten feet for each apartment, would give
+three hundred and sixty upon each side of the passage way, or seven
+hundred and twenty in all. From this number should be deducted such
+as were used for storage, for doorways, and for public uses.
+Allowing two apartments for each family of five persons, the High
+Bank Pueblo would have accommodated from fifteen hundred to two
+thousand persons, living in the fashion of Indians, which is about
+the number of an average pueblo of the Village Indians. This result
+may be strengthened by comparing houses of existing Indian tribes.
+The Seneca-Iroquois village of Tiotohatton, two centuries ago, was
+estimated at a hundred and twenty houses. Taking the number at one
+hundred, with an average length of fifty feet, and it would give a
+lineal length of house-room of five thousand feet. It was the
+largest of the Seneca, and the largest of the Iroquois villages, and
+contained about two thousand inhabitants. A similar result is
+obtained by another comparison. The aggregate length of the
+apartments in the pueblo of Chettro Kettle, in New Mexico, now in
+ruins, including those in the several stories, is four thousand
+seven hundred feet. It contained probably about the same number of
+inhabitants.
+
+The foregoing explanation of the uses of these embankments rests
+upon the defensive principle in the house architecture of the
+Village Indians, and upon a state of the family requiring joint
+tenement houses communistic in character. To both of these
+requirements this conjectural restoration of one of the pueblos of
+the Mound-Builders responds in a remarkable manner. In the
+diversified forms of the houses of the Village Indians, in all parts
+of America, the defensive principle is a constant feature. Among the
+Mound-Builders a rampart of earth ten feet high around a village
+would afford no protection, but surmounted with long-houses, the
+walls of which rose continuous with the embankments, the strength of
+these walls, though of timber coated with earth, would render a
+rampart thus surmounted and doubled in height a formidable barrier
+against Indian assault. The second principle, that of communism in
+living in joint-tenement houses, which is impressed not less clearly
+upon the houses of the Village Indians in general than upon the
+supposed houses of the Mound-Builders, harmonized completely with
+the first. From the two together sprang the house architecture of
+the American aborigines, with its diversities of form, and they seem
+sufficient for its interpretation. The Mound-Builders in their new
+area east of the Mississippi finding it impossible to construct
+joint tenement houses of adobe bricks to which they had been
+accustomed substituted solid embankments of earth in the place of
+the first story closed up on the ground and erected triangular
+houses upon them covered with earth. When circumstances compelled a
+change of plan, the second is not a violent departure from the first.
+There is a natural connection between them. Finally, it is deemed
+quite sufficient to sustain the interpretation given that these
+embankments were eminently adapted to the uses indicated, and that
+the pueblo as restored, and with its inclosed court, would have
+afforded to its inhabitants pleasant, protected and attractive homes.
+
+With respect to the large circular inclosures, adjacent to and
+communicating with the squares, it is not necessary that we should
+know their object. The one attached to the High Bank Pueblo contains
+twenty acres of land, and doubtless subserved some useful purpose in
+their plan of life. The first suggestion which presents itself is,
+that as a substitute for a fence it surrounded the garden of the
+village in which they cultivated their maize, beans, squashes, and
+tobacco. At the Minnetaree village a similar inclosure may now be
+seen by the side of the village surrounding their cultivated land,
+consisting partly of hedge and partly of stakes, the open prairie
+stretching out beyond. We cannot know all the necessities that
+attended their mode of life; although houses, gardens, food, and
+raiment were among those which must have existed.
+
+There is another class of circular embankments, about two hundred
+and fifty feet in diameter, connected with each other in some cases
+by long and low parallel embankments, as may be seen in Fig 46.
+Undoubtedly they were for some useful purpose, which may or may not
+be divined correctly, but a knowledge of which is not necessary to
+our hypothesis respecting the principal embankments. It may be
+suggested as probable that the Mound-Builders were organized in
+gentes, phratries, and tribes. If this were the case, the phratries
+would need separate places for holding their councils and for
+performing their religious observances. These ring embankments
+suggest the circular estufas found in connection with the New
+Mexican pueblos, two, four, and sometimes five at one pueblo. The
+circles were adapted to open-air councils, after the fashion of the
+American Indian tribes. As there are two of these connected with
+each other, and two not connected, it is not improbable that the
+Mound-Builders at this village were organized in two and perhaps
+four phratries, and that they performed their religious ceremonies
+and public business in these open estufas.
+
+[Footnote: The solid rectangular platforms found at Marietta, Ohio,
+and at several places in the Gulf region, are analogous to those in
+Yucatan. They are an advance upon the ring inclosures, and were
+probably designed for religious uses. That the Mound Builders were
+at one time accustomed to adobe brick is proven by their presence at
+Seltzertown, in the State of Mississippi, forming a part of the wall
+of a mound. (See Foster's Pre-Historic Races of the U.S., p. 112.)]
+
+Practice of Cremation.--Among other works are the conical mounds,
+which are numerous, found in or near circular embankments. They vary
+in height from five to ten and twenty feet; with one, the Grave
+Creek Mound, seventy feet high. They are classified by Squier and
+Davis, who surveyed and examined them, into "Mounds of Sacrifice,"
+"Mounds of Sepulture," and "Mounds of Observation." The first kind
+only in which the so-called altars are found will be noticed.
+
+At the center of each of the mounds of this class, and on the ground
+level there was found a bed of clay artificially formed into a
+shallow basin and then hardened by fire These basins have been
+termed "altars" by Squier and Davis in their work on the "Ancient
+Monuments of the Mississippi Valley." Mr. Squier remarks in a resume
+of this work published separately that "some are round others
+elliptical and others square or parallelograms.... The usual
+dimensions are from five to eight feet." [Footnote: Trans. Am Eth Soc]
+
+[Illustration: FIG 49--Mound Artificial Clay Basin]
+
+At Mound City on the Scioto River there is a group of twenty six
+mounds in one inclosure an engraving of one of which taken from
+Mr. Squier's paper is shown in Fig 49. It is seven feet high by
+fifty five feet base and contained the artificial clay basin in
+question. 'F' is the basin which is round, and measures from c to d
+nine feet, and from a to e five feet. The height from b to e is
+twenty inches, and the dip of the curve a to e is nine inches.
+"The body of the altar," Mr. Squier remarks, "is burned throughout,
+though in a greater degree within the basin where it was so hard as
+to resist the blow of a heavy hatchet, the instrument rebounding as
+if struck upon a rock. The basin, or hollow of the altar, was filled
+up even full with dry ashes, intermingled with which were some
+fragments of pottery.... One of the vases, taken in fragments from
+the mound, has been very nearly restored. The sketch B presents its
+outlines and the character of its ornaments. Its height is six, and
+its greatest diameter eight inches.... Above the deposit of ashes,
+and covering the entire basin, was a layer of silvery or opaque mica
+in sheets overlapping each other, and immediately over the center of
+the basin was heaped a quantity of human bones, probably the amount
+of a single skeleton, in fragments. The position of these is
+indicated by O in the section. The layer of mica and calcined bones,
+it should be remarked to prevent misapprehension, was peculiar to
+this individual mound, and not found in any other of the class."
+[Footnote: Observations, etc, Trans Am Eth Soc ii p 161] Calcined
+bones, however, were found in three out of some twenty mounds of
+this class examined. [Footnote: Ane Monte pp. 157, 159]
+
+The question now recurs, what was the use of the basin of clay, and
+what the object of the mound itself? The terms "altars" and
+"mounds of sacrifice," employed in describing them, imply that human
+sacrifices were offered on these "altars," "upon which glowed the
+sacrificial fires." [Footnote: Ib, p. 15]
+
+There is no propriety, I respectfully submit, in the use of either
+of these terms, or in the conclusions they would force us to adopt
+Human sacrifices were unknown in the Lower Status of barbarism; but
+they were introduced in the Middle Status, when the first organized
+priesthood, distinguished by their apparel, appears. In parts of
+Mexico, and, it is claimed, in parts of Central America, these
+atrocious rites were performed, but they were unknown in New Mexico,
+and, without better evidence than these miscalled altars afford,
+they cannot be fastened upon the Mound-Builders. Moreover, these
+clay beds were not adapted to the barbarous work. Wherever human
+sacrifices are known to have occurred among the American aborigines,
+the place was an elevated mound platform, in the nature of a temple,
+as the Teocalli of Mexico, and the raised altar or sacrificial stone
+stood before the idol in whose worship the rites were performed.
+There is neither a temple nor an idol, but a hollow bed of clay
+covered by a mound raised in honor over the ashes of a deceased chief,
+for assuredly such a mound would not have been raised over the ashes
+of a victim. Indians never exchanged prisoners of war. Adoption or
+burning at the stake was the alternative of capture; but no mound
+was ever raised over the burned remains. Human sacrifices seem to
+have originated in an attempt to utilize the predetermined death of
+prisoners of war in the service of the gods, until slavery finally
+offered a profitable substitute, in the Upper Status of barbarism.
+
+Another use suggests itself for this artificial basin more in
+accordance with Indian usages and customs, namely, that cremation of
+the body of a deceased chief was performed upon it, after which the
+mound in question was raised over his ashes in accordance with
+Indian custom.
+
+Cremation was practiced by the Village Indians only among the
+American aborigines. It was not general even among them, burial in
+the ground being the common usage; but it was more or less general
+in the case of chiefs. The mode of cremation varied in different
+areas, but the full particulars are not given in any instance. In
+Nicaragua the body of a deceased chief of the highest grade was
+wrapped in clothes and suspended by ropes before a fire until the
+body was baked to dryness; then, after keeping it a year, it was
+taken to the market-place, where they burned it, believing that the
+smoke went "to the place where the dead man's soul was." [Footnote:
+Herrera's Hist. America, ii, 133.] From this or some similar conceit
+the practice of cremation probably originated.
+
+
+THE PROBABLE NUMBERS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
+
+There are no reasons for supposing, from the number of their
+villages, that the Mound-Builders were a numerous people. My friend,
+Prof. Charles Whittlesey, in a discussion of the rate of increase
+of the human race, estimates them at 500,000. [Footnote: Trans.
+Am. Ass. for the Adv. of Science, 1873, p. 320.]
+
+With thanks for the moderateness of the estimate, one-third of that
+number would have been more satisfactory. Dense populations, an
+expression sometimes applied to the Mound-Builders, have never
+existed without either flocks and herds, or field agriculture with
+the use of the plow. In some favored areas, where the facilities for
+irrigation were unusual, a considerable population has been
+developed upon horticulture; but no traces of irrigating canals have
+been found in connection with the works of the Mound-Builders.
+Furthermore, it was unnecessary in their areas. Transplanted from a
+comparatively mild to a cold climate, they must have found the
+struggle for existence intensified. Like the Cibolans in 1540, it
+was doubtless at all times equally true of them, that "they had
+barely provisions enough for themselves." And yet there is no cereal
+equal to maize in the rich reward it returns even for poor
+cultivation. It grows in the hill, can be eaten green as well as ripe,
+and is hardy and prolific. At the same time, while it can be made
+the basis of human subsistence, it is not sufficient of itself for
+the maintenance of vigorous, healthful life. Vegetables and game
+were requisite to complete the supply of food. The difficulties in
+the way of production set a limit to their numbers. These also
+explain the small number of their settlements in the large areas
+over which they spread. Although they found native copper on the
+south shore of Lake Superior, and beat it into chisels and a species
+of pointed spade, the number of copper tools found is small, much
+too small to lead to the supposition that it sensibly influenced
+their cultivation. A pick pointed with a stone chisel, a spade of
+wood, and a triangular piece of flint set in a wooden handle and
+used as a knife, were as perfect implements as they were able to
+command. Horticulture practiced thus rudely was necessarily of
+limited productiveness.
+
+The idea has been advanced that "the condition of society among the
+Mound-Builders was not that of freemen, or, in other words, that the
+state possessed absolute power over the lives and fortunes of its
+subjects." [Footnote: Foster's Pre-historic Races, etc., p. 386.]
+
+It is a sufficient answer to this remarkable passage that a people
+unable to dig a well or build a dry stone wall must have been unable
+to establish political society, which was necessary to the existence
+of a state.
+
+From the absence of all traditionary knowledge of the Mound-Builders
+among the tribes found east of the Mississippi, an inference arises
+that the period of their occupation was ancient. Their withdrawal
+was probably gradual, and completed before the advent of the
+ancestors of the present tribes, or simultaneous with their arrival.
+It seems more likely that their retirement from the country was
+voluntary than that they were expelled by an influx of wild tribes.
+If their expulsion had been the result of a protracted warfare, all
+remembrance of so remarkable an event would scarcely have been lost
+among the tribes by whom they were displaced. A warm climate was
+necessary for the successful maintenance of the highest form of
+Village Indian life. In the struggle for existence in this cold
+climate Indian arts and ingenuity must have been taxed quite as
+heavily to provide clothing as food. It is therefore not improbable
+that the attempt to transplant the New Mexican type of village life
+into the valley of the Ohio proved a failure, and that after great
+efforts, continued through centuries of time, it was finally
+abandoned by their withdrawal, first into the gulf region through
+which they entered, and, lastly, from the country altogether.
+
+The Tlascalans practiced cremation, but it was generally limited to
+the chiefs. [Footnote: Herrera's Hist. America, ii, 302.] It was the
+same among the Aztecs. "Others were burnt and the ashes buried in
+the temples, but they were all interred with whatever things of
+value they possessed." [Footnote: ib., iii, 220.] The Mayas of
+Yucatan came nearer the Romans in the practice, for they preserved
+the ashes in earthen vessels. "The dead were much lamented," remarks
+Herrera, "in silence by day and with dismal shrieks by night....
+filling their mouths with ground wheat [maize] that they might not
+want food in the other world.... The bodies of their lords were
+burnt and their ashes put into large vessels, over which temples
+were built. Some made wooden statues of their parents, and leaving
+an hollow in the necks of them, put in their ashes and kept them
+among their idols with great veneration." [Footnote: ib., iv, 175.]
+In New Mexico cremation is occasionally practiced at the present time.
+
+That the Mound-Builders should have had this custom, in view of its
+prevalence among the Village Indians, would afford no cause of
+surprise. I think we may, not without reason, recognize in this
+artificial basin of clay a cremation bed, upon which the body was
+placed in a sitting posture, covered with fuel, and then burned--in
+some cases partially, and in others until every vestige of the body
+had been burned to ashes--after which, or even before the burning, a
+mound was raised over them as a mark of honor and respect. These
+mounds have yielded a large number of copper and stone implements,
+pipes, fragments of water jars, and other articles usually entombed
+with the remains of the dead. It seems to have been their method of
+cremation; and it must be admitted to be quite as respectable as any
+known form of this strange practice of a large portion of the human
+race.
+
+[Relocated Footnote: "The snow and cold are wont to be great,"
+Coronado remarks in his relation, "for so say the inhabitants of the
+country; and it is very likely so to be, both in respect of the
+manner of the country and of the fashion of their houses, and their
+furs and other things, which the people have to defend them from cold....
+They have no cotton-wool growing, because the country is cold, yet
+they wear mantles thereof, as your honor may see by the show thereof;
+and true it is that there was found in their houses certain yarn
+made of cotton-wool.... In this country there are certain skins,
+well dressed, and they dress them and paint them when they kill
+their oxen [buffaloes], for so they say themselves."--Hakluyt's Coll.
+of Voyages, Lond. ed., 1600, iii, 377.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+HOUSES OF THE AZTECS OR ANCIENT MEXICANS.
+
+
+The first accounts of the pueblo of Mexico created a powerful
+sensation in Europe. In the West India Islands the Spanish
+discoverers found small Indian tribes under the government of chiefs,
+but on the continent, in the Valley of Mexico, they found a
+confederacy of three Indian tribes under a more advanced but similar
+government. In the midst of the valley was a large pueblo, the
+largest in America, surrounded with water, approached by causeways;
+in fine, a water-girt fortress impregnable to Indian assault. This
+pueblo presented to the Spanish adventurers the extraordinary
+spectacle of an Indian society lying two ethnical periods back of
+European society, but with a government and plan of life at once
+intelligent, orderly, and complete. There was aroused an insatiable
+curiosity for additional particulars, which has continued for three
+centuries, and which has called into existence a larger number of
+works than were ever before written upon any people of the same
+number and of the same importance.
+
+The Spanish adventurers who captured the pueblo of Mexico saw a king
+in Montezuma, lords in Aztec chiefs, and a palace in the large
+joint-tenement house occupied, Indian fashion, by Montezuma and his
+fellow-householders. It was, perhaps, an unavoidable self-deception
+at the time, because they knew nothing of the Aztec social system.
+Unfortunately it inaugurated American aboriginal history upon a
+misconception of Indian life which has remained substantially
+unquestioned until recently. The first eye-witnesses gave the
+keynote to this history by introducing Montezuma as a king,
+occupying a palace of great extent crowded with retainers, and
+situated in the midst of a grand and populous city, over which, and
+much beside, he was reputed master. But king and kingdom were in
+time found too common to express all the glory and splendor the
+imagination was beginning to conceive of Aztec society; and emperor
+and empire gradually superseded the more humble conception of the
+conquerors. [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 1 relocated to
+chapter end.]
+
+A psychological fact, which deserves a moment's notice, is revealed
+by these works, written as they were with a desire for the truth and
+without intending to deceive. These writers ought to have known that
+every Indian tribe in America was an organized society, with
+definite institutions, usages, and customs, which, when ascertained,
+would have perfectly explained its government, the social relations
+of the people, and their plan of life. Indian society could be
+explained as completely and understood as perfectly as the civilized
+society of Europe or America by finding its exact organization. This,
+strange to say, was never attempted, or at least never accomplished,
+by any one of these numerous and voluminous writers. To every author,
+from Cortes and Bernal Diaz to Brasseur de Bourbourg and Hubert H.
+Bancroft, Indian society was an unfathomable mystery, and their
+works have left it a mystery still. Ignorant of its structure and
+principles, and unable to comprehend its peculiarities, they invoked
+the imagination to supply whatever was necessary to fill out the
+picture. When the reason, from want of facts, is unable to
+understand and therefore unable to explain the structure of a given
+society, imagination walks bravely in and fearlessly rears its
+glittering fabric to the skies. Thus in this case, we have a grand
+historical romance, strung upon the conquest of Mexico as upon a
+thread; the acts of the Spaniards, the pueblo of Mexico, and its
+capture, are historical, while the descriptions of Indian society
+and government are imaginary and delusive. These picturesque tales
+have been read with wonder and admiration, as they successively
+appeared, for three hundred and fifty years; though shown to be
+romances, they will continue to be read as Robinson Crusoe is read,
+not because they are true, but because they are pleasing. The
+psychological revelation is the eager, undefinable interest aroused
+by any picture of ancient society. It is felt by every stranger when
+he first walks the streets of Pompeii, and, standing within the
+walls of its roofless houses, strives to picture to himself the life
+and the society which flourished there eighteen hundred years ago.
+In Mexico the Spaniards found an organized society several thousand
+years further back of their own than Pompeian society, in its arts,
+institutions, and state of advancement. It was this revelation of a
+phase of the ancient life of mankind which possessed and still
+possesses such power to kindle the imagination and inspire enthusiasm.
+It caught the imagination and overcame the critical judgment of
+Prescott, our most charming writer; it ravaged the sprightly brain
+of Brasseur de Bourbourg, and it carried up in a whirlwind our
+author at the Golden Gate.
+
+The commendation these works have received from critical journals
+reveals with painful distinctness the fact that we have no science
+of American ethnology. Such a science, resting as it must upon
+verified facts, and dealing with the institutions, arts and
+inventions, usages and customs, languages, religious beliefs, and
+plan of government of the Indian tribes, would, were it fairly
+established, command as well as deserve the respect of the American
+people. With the exception of an amateur here and there, American
+scholars have not been willing to devote themselves to so vast a work.
+It may be truly said at this moment that the structure and
+principles of Indian society are but partially known, and that the
+American Indian himself is still an enigma among us. The question is
+still before us as a nation whether we will undertake the work of
+furnishing to the world a scientific exposition of Indian society,
+or leave it as it now appears, crude, unmeaning, unintelligible, a
+chaos of contradictions and puerile absurdities. With a field of
+unequaled richness and of vast extent, with the same Red Race in all
+the stages of advancement indicated by three great ethnical periods,
+namely the Status of savagery, the Lower Status of barbarism, and
+the Middle Status of barbarism, [Footnote: See ante, page 43, note,
+for a definition of proposed ethnical or culture periods, and
+Ancient Society, chapter 1, "Ethnical Periods."] more persons ought
+to be found willing to work upon this material for the credit of
+American scholarship. It will be necessary for them to do as
+Herodotus did in Asia and Africa, to visit the native tribes at
+their villages and encampments, and study their institutions as
+living organisms, their condition, and their plan of life. When this
+has been done from the region of the Arctic Sea to Patagonia, Indian
+society will become intelligible, because its structure and
+principles will be understood. It exhibits three distinct phases,
+each with a culture peculiar to itself, lying back of civilization,
+and back of the Upper Status of barbarism, having very little in
+common with European society of three hundred years ago, and very
+little in common with American society of to-day. Its institutions,
+inventions, and customs find no analogues in those of civilized
+nations, and cannot be explained in terms adapted to such a society.
+Our later investigators are doing their work more and more on the
+plan of direct visitation, and I make no doubt a science of American
+ethnology will yet come into existence among us and rise high in
+public estimation from the important results it will rapidly achieve.
+Precisely what is now needed is the ascertainment and scientific
+treatment of this material.
+
+After so general a condemnation of Spanish and American writers, so
+far as they represent Aztec society and government, some facts and
+some reasons ought to be presented to justify the charge.
+Recognizing the obligation, I propose to question the credibility of
+so much of the second volume of "The Native Races" and of so much of
+other Spanish histories as relate to two subjects--the character of
+the house in which Montezuma resided, which is styled a palace; and
+the account of the celebrated dinner of Montezuma, which is
+represented as the daily banquet of an imperial potentate. Neither
+subject, considered in itself, is of much importance; but if the
+accounts in these two particulars are found to be fictitious and
+delusive, a breach will be made in a vital section of the fabric of
+Aztec romance, now the most deadly encumbrance upon American
+ethnology.
+
+It may be premised that there is a strong probability, from what is
+known of Indian life and society, that the house in which Montezuma
+lived was a joint-tenement house of the aboriginal American model,
+owned by a large number of related families, and occupied by them in
+common as joint proprietors; that the dinner in question was the
+usual single daily meal of a communal household, prepared in a
+common cook-house from common stores, and divided, Indian fashion,
+from the kettle; and that all the Spaniards found in Mexico was a
+simple confederacy of three Indian tribes, the counterpart of which
+was found in all parts of America.
+
+It may be premised further that the Spanish adventures who thronged
+to the New World after its discovery found the same race of Red
+Indians in the West India Islands, in Central and South America, in
+Florida, and in Mexico.
+
+[Footnote: "But among all the other inhabitants of America there is
+such a striking similitude in the form of their bodies, and the
+qualities of their minds, that notwithstanding the diversities
+occasioned by the influence of climate, or unequal progress in
+improvement, we must pronounce them to be descended from one source."--
+Robertson's History of America, Law's ed., p. 69.]
+
+In their mode of life and means of subsistence, in their weapons,
+arts, usages, and customs, in their institutions, and in their
+mental and physical characteristics, they were the same people in
+different stages of advancement. No distinction of race was observed,
+and none in fact existed. They were broken up into numerous
+independent tribes, each under the government of a council of chiefs.
+Among the more advanced tribes, confederacies existed, which
+represented the highest stage their governmental institutions had
+attained. In some of them, as in the Aztec confederacy, they had a
+principal war-chief, elected for life or during good behavior, who
+was the general commander of the military bands. His powers were
+those of a general, and necessarily arbitrary when in the field.
+Behind this war-chief--noticed, it is true, by Spanish writers, but
+without explaining or even ascertaining its functions--was the
+council of chiefs, "the great council without whose authority,"
+Acosta remarks, Montezuma "might not do anything of importance".
+[Footnote: The Natural and Moral History of the East and West Indies,
+Lond. ed., 1604, Grimstone's Trans., p. 485.]
+
+The civil and military powers of the government were in a certain
+sense coordinated between the council of chiefs and the military
+commander. The government of the Aztec confederacy was essentially
+democratic, because its organization and institutions were so. If a
+more special designation is needed, it will be sufficient to
+describe it as a military democracy.
+
+The Spaniards who overran Mexico and Peru gave a very different
+interpretation of these two organizations. Having found, as they
+supposed, two absolute monarchies with feudal characteristics, the
+history of American Indian institutions was cast in this mold. The
+chief attention of Europeans in the sixteenth century was directed
+to these two governments, to which the affairs of the numerous
+remaining tribes and confederacies were made subordinate. Subsequent
+history has run in the same grooves for more than three centuries,
+striving diligently to confirm that of which confirmation was
+impossible. The generalization was perhaps proper enough, that if
+the institutions of the Aztecs and Peruvians, such well-advanced
+Indian tribes, culminated in monarchy, those of the Indian tribes
+generally were essentially monarchical, and therefore those of
+Mexico and Peru should represent the institutions of the Red Race.
+
+It may be premised, finally, that the histories of Spanish America
+may be trusted in whatever relates to the acts of the Spaniards, and
+to the acts and personal characteristics of the Indians; in whatever
+relates to their weapons, implements, and utensils, fabrics, food,
+and raiment, and things of a similar character. But in whatever
+relates to Indian society and government, their social relations and
+plan of life, they are nearly worthless, because they learned
+nothing and knew nothing of either. We are at full liberty to reject
+them in these respects, and commence anew; using any facts they may
+contain which harmonize with what is known of Indian society. It was
+a calamity to the entire Red Race that the achievements of the
+Village Indians of Mexico and Central America, in the development of
+their institutions, should have suffered a shipwreck so nearly total.
+The only remedy for the evil done them is to recover, if possible, a
+knowledge of their institutions, which alone can place them in their
+proper position in the history of mankind.
+
+In order to understand so simple an event in Indian life as
+Montezuma's dinner, it is necessary to know certain usages and
+customs, and even certain institutions of the Indian tribes generally,
+which had a direct bearing upon the dinner of every Indian in
+America at the epoch of the Spanish conquest. Although it may seem
+strange to the reader, it requires a knowledge of several classes of
+facts to comprehend this dinner, such as: 1. The organization in
+gentes, phratries, and tribes. 2. The ownership of lands in common. 3.
+The law of hospitality. 4. The practice of communism in living. 5.
+The communal character of their houses. 6. Their custom of having
+but one prepared meal each day, a dinner. 7. Their separation at
+meals, the men eating first, and the women and children afterwards.
+These several topics have been considered in previous chapters.
+
+Not a vestige of the ancient pueblo of Mexico (Tenochtitlan) remains
+to assist us to a knowledge of its architecture. Its structures,
+which were useless to a people of European habits, were speedily
+destroyed to make room for a city adapted to the wants of a
+civilized race. We must seek for its characteristics in contemporary
+Indian houses which still remain in ruins, and in such of the early
+descriptions as have come down to us, and then leave the subject
+with but little accurate knowledge. Its situation, partly on dry
+land and partly in the waters of a shallow artificial pond formed by
+causeways and dikes, led to the formation of streets and squares,
+which were unusual in Indian pueblos, and gave to it a remarkable
+appearance. "There were three sorts of broad and spacious streets,"
+Herrera remarks; "one sort all water with bridges, another all earth,
+and a third of earth and water, there being a space to walk along on
+land and the rest for canoes to pass, so that most of the streets
+had walks on the sides and water in the middle". [Footnote: History
+of America, ii, 361.]
+
+Many of the houses were large, far beyond the supposable wants of a
+single Indian family. They were constructed of adobe brick and of
+stone, and plastered over in both cases with gypsum, which made them
+a brilliant white; and some were constructed of a red porous stone.
+In cutting and dressing this stone flint implements were used.
+[Footnote: Clavigero, ii, 238.]
+
+The fact that the houses were plastered externally leads us to infer
+that they had not learned to dress stone and lay them in courses. It
+is not certainly established that they had learned the use of a
+mortar of lime and sand. In the final attack and capture, it is said
+that Cortes, in the course of seventeen days, destroyed and leveled
+three-quarters of the pueblo, which demonstrates the flimsy
+character of the masonry. Some of the houses were constructed on
+three sides of a court, like those on the Rio Chaco in New Mexico,
+others probably surrounded an open court or quadrangle, like the
+House of the Nuns at Uxmal; but this is not clearly shown. The best
+houses were usually two stories high, an upper and lower floor being
+mentioned. The second story receded from the first, probably in the
+terraced form. Clavigero remarks that "the houses of the lords and
+people of circumstance were built of stone and lime. They consisted
+of two floors, having halls, large court-yards, and the chambers
+fitly disposed; the roofs were flat and terraced; the walls were so
+well whitened, polished, and shining that they appeared to the
+Spaniards when at a distance to have been silver. The pavement or
+floor was plaster, perfectly level, plain, and smooth.... The large
+houses of the capital had in general two entrances, the principal
+one to the street, the other to the canal. They had no wooden doors
+to their houses." [Footnote: History of Mexico, ii, 232.]
+
+The house was entered through doorways from the street, or from the
+court, on the ground-floor. Not a house in Mexico is mentioned by
+any of the early writers as occupied by a single family. They were
+evidently joint-tenement houses of the aboriginal American model,
+each occupied by a number of families ranging from five and ten to
+one hundred, and perhaps in some cases two hundred families in a
+house.
+
+Before considering the house architecture of the Aztecs, it remains
+to notice, briefly, the general character of the houses of the
+Village Indians within the areas of Spanish visitation. They were
+joint-tenement houses, usually, of the American model, adapted to
+communism in living, like those previously described, and will aid
+us to understand the houses of the pueblo of Mexico.
+
+Herrera, speaking of the natives of Cuba, remarks that "they had
+caciques and towns of two hundred houses, with several families in
+each of them, as was usual in Hispaniola". [Footnote: ib., ii, 15.]
+
+The Cubans were below the Sedentary Indians. In Yucatan, the houses
+of the Mayas, and of the tribes of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Honduras,
+remain in ruins to speak for themselves, and will form the subject
+of the ensuing chapter. On the march to Mexico, Cortez and his men,
+"being come down into the plain, took up their quarters in a country
+house that had many apartments." [Footnote: ib., ii, 320.]
+
+"At Iztapalapa he was entertained in a house that had large courts,
+upper and lower floors and very delightful gardens. The walls were
+of stone, the timber work well wrought, there were many and spacious
+rooms, hung with cotton hangings extraordinary rich in their way."
+[Footnote: "History of America", 325.]
+
+His accommodations in the pueblo of Mexico will elsewhere be noticed.
+After the capture of the pueblo Alvaredo was sent southward with two
+hundred foot and forty horse to the province of Tututlepec on the
+Pacific. "When he arrived the lord of Tututlepec offered to quarter
+the Spaniards in his palace which was very magnificent."
+
+"In 1525 Cortez made his celebrated march to Guatemala with one
+hundred and fifty horse, the same number of foot, and three hundred
+Indians. Being well received in the city of Apoxpalan, Cortez and
+all the Spaniards with their horses were quartered in one house, the
+Mexicans being dispersed into others, and all of them plentifully
+supplied with provisions during their stay. The first 'palace'
+described by Herrera was discovered by Balboa somewhere in the
+present Costa Rica, and Comagre has gone into history as its
+proprietor. This palace was more remarkable and better built than
+any that had been yet seen on the islands or the little that was
+then known of the continent, being one hundred and fifty paces in
+length and eighty in breadth founded on very large posts inclosed by
+a stone wall with timber intermixed at the top and hollow spaces so
+beautifully wrought that the Spaniards were amazed at the sight of
+it and could not express the manner and curiosity of it. There were
+in it several chambers and apartments and one that was like a
+buttery and full of such provisions as the country afforded, as bread,
+venison, swine's flesh, &c. There was another large room like a
+cellar full of earthen vessel containing several sorts of white and
+red liquors made of Indian wheat etc. The noticeable fact in this
+description is the two chambers containing provisions and stores for
+the household which was undoubtedly the case with all of those named.
+Zempoala near Vera Cruz is described as a very large town with
+stately buildings of good timber work and every house had a garden
+with water so that it looked like a terrestrial paradise.... The
+scouts advancing on horseback came to the great square and courts
+where the prime houses were, which having been lately new plastered
+over, were very light, the Indians being extraordinary expert at
+that work", [Footnote: History of America, ii, 211.] and further
+states that "the houses were built of 'lime and stone'."
+
+These pueblos were generally small, consisting of three or four
+large joint-tenement houses, with other houses smaller in size, the
+different grades of houses representing the relative thrift and
+prosperity of the several groups by whom they were owned and occupied.
+It is doubtful whether there was a single pueblo in North America,
+with the exception of Tlascala, Cholula, Tezcuco, and Mexico, which
+contained ten thousand inhabitants. There is no occasion to apply
+the term "city" to any of them. None of the Spanish descriptions
+enable us to realize the exact form and structure of these houses,
+or their relations to each other in forming a pueblo. But for the
+pueblos, occupied or in ruins, in New Mexico, and the more
+remarkable pueblos in ruins in Yucatan and Central America, we would
+know very little concerning the house architecture of the Sedentary
+Village Indians. It is evident from the citations made that the
+largest of these joint-tenement houses would accommodate from five
+hundred to a thousand or more people, living in the fashion of
+Indians; and that the courts were probably quadrangles, formed by
+constructing the building on three sides of an inclosed space, as in
+the New Mexican pueblos, or upon the four sides, as in the House of
+the Nuns, at Uxmal.
+
+The writers on the conquest have failed to describe the Aztec house
+in such a manner that it can be fairly comprehended. They have also
+failed to explain the mode of life within it. But it can safely be
+said that most of these houses were large, far beyond any supposable
+wants of a single Indian family; that they were constructed, when on
+dry land, of adobe brick, and when in the water, of stone imbedded
+in some kind of mortar, and plastered over in both cases with gypsum,
+which made them a brilliant white. Some also were constructed of a
+red porous stone. Some of these houses were built on three sides of
+a court, like those on the Chaco, but the court opened on a street
+or causeway. Others not unlikely surrounded an open court or
+quadrangle, which must have been entered through a gateway; but this
+is not clearly shown. The large houses were probably two stories high;
+an upper and a lower floor are mentioned in some cases, but rarely a
+third.
+
+Communism in living in large households, the communism being
+confined to the household, was probably the rule of life among the
+ancient Mexicans at the time of the Conquest.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote 2 relocated to chapter end.]
+
+Two of the houses in Mexico were more particularly noted by the
+soldiers of Cortes than others--that in which they were quartered,
+and that in which Montezuma lived. Neither can be said to have been
+described. I shall confine myself to these two structures.
+
+Cortes made his first entry into Mexico in November, 1519, with four
+hundred and fifty Spaniards, according to Bernal Diaz, [Footnote:
+Diaz Conquest of Mex., ed. 1803, Keatinge's Trans., i, 181, 189.
+Herrera says, 300, ii, 327.] accompanied by a thousand Tlaxcallan
+allies. They were lodged in a vacant palace of Montezuma's late
+father, Diaz naively remarks, observing that "the whole of this
+palace was very light, airy, clean, and pleasant, the entry being
+through a great court." [Footnote: Diaz, I, 191.] Cortes, after
+describing his reception, informs us that Montezuma "returned along
+the street in the order already described, until he reached a very
+large and splendid palace in which we were to be quartered. He then
+took me by the hand and led me into a spacious saloon, in front of
+which was a court through which we had entered." [Footnote:
+Dispatches of Cortes, Folsom's Trans., p. 86.]
+
+So much for the statements of two eye-witnesses. Herrera gathered
+some additional particulars. He states that "they came to a very
+large court, which was the wardrobe of the idols, and had been the
+house of Axayacatzin, Montezuma's father.... Being lodged in so
+large a house, that, though it seems incredible, contained so many
+capacious rooms, with bedchambers, that one hundred and fifty
+Spaniards could all lie single. It was also worth observing that
+though the house was so big, every part of it to the last corner was
+very clean, neat, matted, and hung with hangings of cotton and
+feather work of several colors, and had beds and mats with pavilions
+over them. No man of whatsoever quality having any other sort of bed,
+no other being used." [Footnote: History of America, ii, 330.] In
+the tidiness of these rooms we gain some evidence of the character
+of Aztec women.
+
+Joint-tenement houses, and the mode of life they indicate, were at
+this time unknown in Europe. They belonged to a more ancient
+condition of society. It is not surprising, therefore, that the
+Spaniards, astonished at their magnitude, should have styled them
+palaces, and having been received with a great array by Montezuma,
+as the general commander of the Aztec forces, should have regarded
+him as a king, since monarchical government was the form with which
+they were chiefly acquainted. Suffice it then, to say that one of
+the great houses of the Aztecs was large enough to accommodate
+Cortes and his fourteen hundred and fifty men including Indian
+allies as they had previously been accommodated in one Cholulan
+house and elsewhere, on the way to Mexico. From New Mexico to the
+Isthmus of Panama there was scarcely a principal village in which an
+equal number could not have found accommodations in a single house.
+When it is found to be unnecessary to call it a palace in order to
+account for its size, we are led to the conclusion that an ordinary
+Aztec house was emptied of its inhabitants to make room for their
+unwelcome visitors. After their reception, Aztec hospitality
+supplied them with provisions. Mr. Bandelier has, in the article
+above referred to, explained this house in a very satisfactory
+manner as "the tecpan, or official house of the tribe." He says:
+"The house where the Spaniards were quartered was the 'tecpan,' or
+official house of the tribe, vacated by the official household for
+that purpose." In sallying forth to greet the newcomers at the dike,
+"Wrathy chief (Montezuma) acted simply as the representative of the
+tribal hospitality, extending unusual courtesies to unusual,
+mysterious, and therefore dreaded guests. Leaving these in
+possession of the 'tecpan,' he retired to another of the large
+communal buildings surrounding the central square, where the
+official business was, meanwhile, transacted. His return to the
+Spanish quarters, even if compulsory, had less in it to strike the
+natives than is commonly believed. It was a re-installation in old
+quarters, and therefore the 'Tlatocan (Council of Chiefs) itself
+felt no hesitancy in meeting there again, until the real nature of
+the dangerous visitors was ascertained, when the council gradually
+withdrew from the snare, leaving the unfortunate 'chief of men' in
+Spanish hands." [Footnote: 12 Annual Report of Peabody Museum, p.
+680.]
+
+We are next to consider the second so-called palace, that in which
+Montezuma lived, and the dinner of Montezuma which these soldiers
+witnessed, and which has gone into history as a part of the evidence
+that a monarchy of the feudal type existed in Mexico. They had but
+little time to make their observations, for this imaginary kingdom
+perished almost immediately, and the people, in the main, dispersed.
+The so-called palace of Montezuma is not described by Diaz, for the
+reason, probably, that there was nothing to distinguish it from a
+number of similar structures in the pueblo. Neither is it described
+by Cortes or the Anonymous Conqueror; Cortes merely remarking
+generally that "within the city his palaces were so wonderful that
+it is hardly possible to describe their beauty and extent; I can
+only say that in Spain there is nothing equal to them." [Footnote:
+Despatches, p. 121.]
+
+Gothic cathedrals were then standing in Spain, the Alhambra in
+Grenada, and, without doubt, public and private buildings of dressed
+stone laid in courses. While the comparison was mendacious, we can
+understand the desire of the conqueror to magnify his exploits.
+Herrera, who came later and had additional resources, remarks that
+the palace in which Montezuma resided "had twenty gates, all of them
+to the square or market-place, and the principal streets, and three
+spacious courts, and in one of them a very large fountain.... There
+were many halls one hundred feet in length, and rooms of twenty-five
+and thirty, and one hundred baths. The timber-work was small,
+without nails, but very fine and strong, which the Spaniards much
+admired. The walls were of marble, jasper, porphyry, a black sort of
+stone with red veins like blood, white stone, and another sort that
+is transparent. The roofs were of wood, well wrought and carved....
+The rooms were painted and matted, and many of them had rich
+hangings of cotton and coney wool, or of feather-work. The beds were
+not answerable to the grandeur of the house and furniture, being
+poor and wretched, consisting of blankets upon mats or on hay....
+Few men lie in this palace, but there were one thousand women in it,
+and some say three thousand, which is reckoned most likely....
+Montezuma took to himself the ladies that were the daughters of
+great men, being many in number." [Footnote: History of America, ii,
+345.]
+
+The external walls of the houses were covered with plaster. From the
+description it seems probable that in the interior of the large
+rooms the natural faces of the stone in the walls were seen here and
+there, some of the red porous stone, some of marble, and some
+resembling porphyry, for it is not supposable that they could cut
+this stone with flint implements. Large stones used on the inner
+faces of the walls might have been left uncovered, and thus have
+presented the mottled appearance mentioned. The Aztecs had no
+structures comparable with those of Yucatan. Their architecture
+resembles that of New Mexico wherever its features distinctly appear
+upon evidence that can be trusted. The best rooms found in the
+latter region are of thin pieces of sandstone prepared by fracture
+and laid up with a uniform face. Herrera had no occasion to speak of
+the use of marble and porphyry in the walls of this house in such a
+vague manner and upon more vague information. The reference to the
+thousand or more women as forming the harem of Montezuma is a gross
+libel.
+
+Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft, the last of the long line of writers who
+have treated the affairs of the Aztecs, has put the finishing touch
+to this picture in the following language: "The principal palace of
+the king of Mexico was an irregular pile of low buildings enormous
+in extent, constructed of huge blocks of tetzontli, a kind of porous
+stone common to that country, cemented with mortar. The arrangement
+of the buildings was such that they enclosed three great plazas or
+public squares, in one of which a beautiful fountain incessantly
+played. Twenty great doors opened on the squares and on the streets,
+and over these was sculptured in stone the coat-of-arms of the king
+of Mexico, an eagle griping in his talons a jaguar. In the interior
+were many halls, and one in particular is said by a writer who
+accompanied Cortes, known as the Anonymous Conqueror, to have been
+of sufficient extent to contain three thousand men.... In addition
+to these were more than one hundred smaller rooms, and the same
+number of marble baths.... The walls and floors of halls and
+apartments were many of them faced with polished slabs of marble,
+jasper, obsidian, and white tecali; lofty columns of the same fine
+stones supported marble balconies and porticos, every inch and
+corner of which was filled with wondrous ornamental carving, or held
+a grinning, grotesquely sculptured head. The beams and casings were
+of cedar, cypress, and other valuable woods profusely carved and put
+together without nails.... Superb mats of most exquisite finish were
+spread upon the marble floors; the tapestry that draped the walls
+and the curtains that hung before the windows were made of a fabric
+most wonderful for its delicate texture, elegant designs, and
+brilliant colors; through the halls and corridors a thousand golden
+censers, in which burned precious spices and perfumes, diffused a
+subtle odor." [Footnote: Native Races of the Pacific States, ii, 160.]
+
+Upon this rhapsody it will be sufficient to remark that halls were
+entirely unknown in Indian architecture. Neither a hall, as that
+term is used by us, has ever been seen in an Indian house, nor has
+one been found in the ruins of any Indian structure. An external
+corridor has occasionally been found in ruins of houses in Central
+America. The great doors open on the squares and streets; Aztec
+window-curtains of delicate texture, marble baths and porticos, and
+floors of polished slabs of marble, as figments of a troubled
+imagination, recall the glowing description of the great kingdom of
+the Sandwich Islands--with its king, its cabinet ministers, its
+parliament, its army and navy, which Mark Twain has fitly
+characterized as "an attempt to navigate a sardine dish with Great
+Eastern machinery"; and it suggested also the Indian chief
+humorously mentioned by Irving as generously "decked out in cocked
+hat and military coat, in contrast with his breech clout and
+leathern leggins, being grand officer at top and ragged Indian at
+bottom." [Footnote: Bonneville, p. 34.] Whatever may be said by
+credulous and enthusiastic authors to decorate this Indian pueblo,
+its houses and its breech-cloth people, cannot conceal the "ragged
+Indian" therein by dressing him in a European costume.
+
+On the seventh day after the entry into Mexico, Montezuma was
+induced by intimidation to leave the house in which he lived and
+take up his quarters with Cortes, where he was held a prisoner until
+his death, which occurred a few weeks later. Whatever was seen of
+his mode of life in his usual place of residence was practically
+limited to the five days between the coming of the Spaniards and his
+capture. Our knowledge of the facts is in the main derived from what
+these soldiers reported upon slight and imperfect means of
+observation. Bernal Diaz and Cortes have left us an extraordinary
+description, not of his residence, but of his daily life, and more
+particularly of the dinner, which will now be considered. It is
+worth the attempt to take up the pictures of these and succeeding
+authors, and see whether the real truth of the matter cannot be
+elicited from their own statements. There was undoubtedly a basis of
+facts underneath them, because without such a basis the
+superstructure could not have been created.
+
+It may with reason be supposed that the Spaniards found Montezuma,
+with his gentile kindred, in a large joint-tenement house,
+containing perhaps fifty or a hundred families united in a communal
+household. The dinner they witnessed was the single daily meal of
+this household, prepared in a common cook-house from common stores,
+and divided at the kettle. The dinner of each person was placed in
+an earthen bowl, with which in his hand an Indian needed neither
+chair nor table, and, moreover, had neither the one nor the other.
+The men ate first, and by themselves, Indian fashion; and the women,
+of whom only a few were seen, afterwards and by themselves. On this
+hypothesis the dinner in question is susceptible of a satisfactory
+explanation.
+
+It has been shown that each Aztec community of persons owned lands
+in common, from which they derived their support. Their mode of
+tillage and of distribution of the products, whatever it may have
+been, would have returned to each family or household, large or small,
+its rightful share. Communism in living in large households composed
+of related families springs naturally from such a soil. It may be
+considered a law of their condition, and, plainly enough, the most
+economical mode of life they could adopt until the idea of property
+had been sufficiently developed in their minds to lead to the
+division of lands among individuals with ownership in fee, and power
+of alienation. Their social system, which tended to unite kindred
+families in a common household, their ownership of lands in common,
+and their ownership, as a group, of a joint-tenement house, which
+would necessarily follow, would not admit a right in persons to sell,
+and thus to introduce strangers into the ownership of such lands or
+such houses. Lands and houses were owned and held under a common
+system which entered into their plan of life. The idea of property
+was forming in their minds, but it was still in that immature state
+which pertains to the Middle Status of barbarism. They had no money,
+but traded by barter of commodities; very little personal property,
+and scarcely anything of value to Europeans. They were still a
+breech-cloth people, wearing this rag of barbarism as the
+unmistakable evidence of their condition; and the family was in the
+syndyasmian or pairing form, with separation at any moment at the
+option of either party. It was the weakness of the family, its
+inability to face alone the struggle of life, which led to the
+construction of joint-tenement houses throughout North and South
+America by the Indian tribes; and it was the gentile organization
+which led them to fill these houses, on the principle of kin, with
+related families.
+
+In a pueblo as large as that of Mexico, which was the largest found
+in America, and may possibly have contained thirty thousand
+inhabitants, there must have been a number of large communal houses
+of different sizes, from those that were called palaces, because of
+their size, to those filled by a few families. Degrees of prosperity
+are shown in barbarous as well as in civilized life in the quarters
+of the people. Herrera states that the houses of the poorer sort of
+people were "small, low, and mean," but that, "as small as the
+houses were, they commonly contained two, four, and six families."
+[Footnote: History of America, ii, 360.]
+
+Wherever a household is found in Indian life, be the married pairs
+composing it few or many, that household practiced communism in
+living. In the largest of these houses it would not follow
+necessarily that all its inmates lived from common stores, because
+they might form several household groups in the same house; but in
+the large household of which Montezuma was a member, it is plain
+that it was fed from common stores prepared in a common cook-house,
+and divided from the kettle, in earthen bowls, each containing the
+dinner of a single person. Montezuma was supposed to be absolute
+master of Mexico, and what they saw at this dinner was interpreted
+with exclusive reference to him as the central figure. The result is
+remarkably grotesque. It was their own self-deception, without any
+assistance from the Aztecs. The accounts given by Diaz and Cortes,
+and which subsequent writers have built upon with glowing enthusiasm
+and free additions, is simply the gossip of a camp of soldiers
+suddenly cast into an earlier form of society, which the Village
+Indians of America, of all mankind, then best represented. That they
+could understand it was not to have been expected. Accustomed to
+monarchy and to privileged classes, the principal Aztec war-chief
+seemed to them quite naturally a king, and sachems and chiefs
+followed in their vision as princes and lords. But that they should
+have remained in history as such for three centuries is an amusing
+commentary upon the value of historical writings in general.
+
+The dinner of Montezuma, witnessed within the five days named by the
+Spanish soldiers, comes down to us with a slender proportion of
+reliable facts. The accounts of Bernal Diaz and of Cortes form the
+basis of all subsequent descriptions [Footnote: The Anonymous
+Conqueror does not notice it.]. Montezuma was the central figure
+around whom all the others are made to move. A number of men, as
+Diaz states, were to be seen in the house and in the courts, going
+to and fro; a part of whom were thought to be chiefs in attendance
+upon Montezuma, and the remainder were supposed to be guards. Better
+proof of the use of guards is needed than the suggestion of Diaz. It
+implies a knowledge of military discipline unknown by Indian tribes.
+It was noticed that Indians went barefooted into the presence of
+Montezuma, which was interpreted as an act of servility and deference,
+although bare feet must have been the rule rather than the exception
+in Tenochtitlan. Diaz further informs us that "his cooks had upwards
+of thirty different ways of dressing meats, and they had earthen
+vessels so contrived as to keep them always hot. For the table of
+Montezuma himself above three hundred dishes were dressed, and for
+his guards above a thousand. Before dinner Montezuma would go out
+and inspect the preparations, and his officers would point out to
+him which were the best, and explain of what birds and flesh they
+were composed, and of these he would eat.... Montezuma was seated on
+a low throne or chair at a table proportionate to the height of his
+seat. The table was covered with white cloth and napkins, and four
+beautiful women presented him with water for his hands in vessels
+which they called xicales, with other vessels under them like plates
+to catch the water; they also presented him with towels. Then two
+other women brought him small cakes of bread, and when the king
+began to eat, a large screen of wood-gilt was placed before him, so
+that people should not during that time see him. The women having
+retired to a little distance, four ancient lords stood by the throne,
+to whom Montezuma from time to time spoke or addressed questions,
+and as a matter of particular favor gave to each of them a plate of
+that which he was eating.... This was served on earthenware of
+Cholula, red and black.... I observed a number of jars, about fifty,
+brought in filled with foaming chocolate, of which he took some
+which the women presented to him. During the time Montezuma was at
+dinner, two very beautiful women were busily employed making small
+cakes, with eggs and other things mixed therein. These were
+delicately white, and when made they presented them to him on plates
+covered with napkins. Also another kind of bread was brought to him
+in long loaves, and plates of cakes resembling wafers. After he had
+dined they presented to him three little canes, highly ornamented,
+containing liquid amber mixed with an herb they call tobacco; and
+when he had sufficiently viewed the singers, dancers, and buffoons,
+he took a little of the smoke of one of these canes and then laid
+himself down to sleep; and thus his principal meal concluded. After
+this was over, all his guards and domestics sat down to dinner, and
+as near as I can judge, above a thousand plates of these eatables
+that I have mentioned were laid before them, with vessels of foaming
+chocolate, and fruit in immense quantity. For his women and various
+inferior servants, his establishment was a prodigious expense, and
+we were astonished, amid such a profusion, at the vast regularity
+that prevailed." [Footnote: History of the Conquest of Mexico, i,
+198-202.] Diaz wrote his history more than thirty years after the
+conquest (he says he was writing it in 1568), [Footnote: ib., ii,
+423.] which may serve to excuse him for implying the use of
+veritable chairs and a table where neither existed, and for
+describing the remainder as sitting down to dinner. Tezozomoc, who
+is followed by Herrera, says the table of Montezuma consisted of two
+skins. How they were fastened together and supported does not appear.
+
+The statements in the Despatches of Cortes, as they now appear, are
+an improvement upon Diaz, the pitch being on a higher key. He
+remarks that Montezuma "was served in the following manner: Every day,
+as soon as it was light, six hundred nobles and men of rank were in
+attendance at the palace, who either sat or walked about in the
+halls and galleries, and passed their time in conversation, but
+without entering the apartment where his person was. The servants
+and attendants of these nobles remained in the courtyards, of which
+there were two or three of great extent, and in the adjoining street,
+which was also very spacious. They all remained in attendance from
+morning till night; and when his meals were served, the nobles were
+likewise served with equal profusion, and their servants and
+secretaries also had their allowance. Daily his larder and
+wine-cellar were open to all who wished to eat or drink. The meals
+were served by three or four hundred youths, who brought in an
+infinite number of dishes; indeed, whenever he dined or supped the
+table was loaded with every kind of flesh, fish, fruits and
+vegetables that the country produced. As the climate is cold, they
+put a chafing-dish with live coals under every plate and dish, to
+keep them warm. The meals were served in a large hall in which
+Montezuma was accustomed to eat, and the dishes quite filled the room,
+which was covered with mats and kept very clean. He sat on a small
+cushion, curiously wrought of leather. During the meal there were
+present, at a little distance from him, five or six elderly caciques,
+to whom he presented some of the food. And there was constantly in
+attendance one of the servants, who arranged and handed the dishes,
+and who received from others whatever was wanted for the supply of
+the table. Both at the beginning and end of every meal, they
+furnished water for the hands, and the napkins used on these
+occasions were never used a second time, and this was the case also
+with the plates and dishes, which were not brought again, but new
+ones in place of them; it was the same with the chafing-dishes."
+[Footnote: Despatches of Cortes, Folsom's Trans, p. 123]
+
+Since cursive writing was unknown among the Aztecs, the presence of
+these secretaries is an amusing feature in the account. The
+wine-cellar also is remarkable for two reasons; firstly, because the
+level of the streets and courts was but four feet above the level of
+the water, which made cellars impossible; and, secondly, because the
+Aztecs had no knowledge of wine. An acid beer (pulque), made by
+fermenting the juice of the maguey, was a common beverage of the
+Aztecs, but it is hardly supposable that even this was used at dinner.
+It will he noticed that according to this account the dinner was
+served to all at the same time, Montezuma and several chiefs eating
+at one end of the room, but no mention is made of the manner in
+which the remainder ate. The six hundred men (or less) who remained
+about the house and courts during the day, we may well suppose, were,
+with their families, joint residents and joint proprietors with
+Montezuma of the establishment. Two or three structures are mingled
+in these descriptions, which were probably entirely distinct in
+their uses.
+
+Herrera gathered up the subsequent growth of the story, which
+undoubtedly made a great sensation in Europe as a part of the
+picture of life in the New World; and embellished it from sheer
+delight in a marvelous tale. The few facts stated by Bernal Diaz,
+expressing the interpretation of the Spanish soldiers, were fruitful
+seeds planted three hundred years ago, which the imaginations of
+enthusiastic authors have developed into a glowing and picturesque
+narrative. The principal part of Herrera'a account runs as follows:
+"Montezuma did always eat alone, and so great a quantity of meat was
+served up to his table, such great variety, and so richly dressed,
+that there was sufficient for all the prime men of his household.
+His table was a cushion, or two pieces of colored leather; instead
+of a chair, a little low stool, made of one piece, the seat hollowed
+out, carved and painted in the best manner that could be; the
+table-cloth, napkins, and towels of very fine cotton as white as snow,
+and never served any more than once, being the fees of the proper
+officers. The meat was brought in by four hundred pages, all
+gentlemen, sons of lords, and set down together in a hall; the king
+went thither, and with a rod, or his hand, pointed to what he liked,
+and then the sewer set it upon the chafing-dishes that it might not
+be cold; and this he never failed to do, unless the steward at any
+time very much recommended to him some particular dishes. Before he
+sat down, twenty of the most beautiful women came and brought him
+water to wash his hands, and when seated the sewer did shut a wooded
+rail that divided the room, lest the nobility that went to see him
+dine should encumber the table, and he alone set on and took off the
+dishes, for the pages neither came near nor spoke a word. Strict
+silence was observed, none daring to speak unless it was some jester,
+or the person of whom he asked a question. The sewer was always upon
+his knees and barefooted, attending him without lifting up his eyes.
+No man with shoes on was to come into the room upon pain of death.
+The sewer also gave him drink in a cup of several shapes, sometimes
+of gold, and sometimes of silver, sometimes of gourd, and sometimes
+of the shells of fishes." [Footnote: Solis, thinking a cocoanut shell
+altogether too plain, embellishes the shell with jewels: "He had
+cups of gold, and salvers of the same; and sometimes he drank out of
+cocoas and natural shells very richly set with jewels."--History of
+the Conquest of Mexico, Lond., ed. 1738, Townshend's Trans., I, 417.]
+
+"Six ancient lords attended at a distance, to whom he gave some
+dishes of what he liked best, which they did eat there with much
+respect. He had always music of flutes, reeds, horns, shells,
+kettle-drums, and other instruments, nothing agreeable to the ears
+of the Spaniards.... There were always at dinner dwarfs, crooked and
+other deformed persons, to provoke laughter, and they did eat of
+what was left at the further end of the hall, with the jesters and
+buffoons. What remained was given to three thousand Indians, that
+were constantly upon guard in the courts and squares, and therefore
+there were always three thousand dishes of meat and as many cups of
+liquor; the larder and cellar were never shut, by reason of their
+continual carrying in and out. In the kitchen they dressed all sorts
+of meat that were sold in the market, being a prodigious quantity,
+besides what was brought in by hunters, tenants, and tributaries.
+The dishes and all utensils were all of good earthenware, and served
+the king but once. He had abundance of vessels of gold and silver,
+yet made no use of them, because they should not serve twice."
+[Footnote: History of America, ii, 336.] Further on, and out of its
+place, Herrera gives us what seems to have been a call of the
+scattered household to dinner. "When it was dinner-time," he remarks,
+"eight or ten men whistled very loud, beating the kettle-drums hard,
+as it were to warn those that were to dance after dinner; then the
+dancers came, who, to entertain their great sovereign, were all to
+be men of quality, clad as richly as they could, with costly
+mantles, white, red, green, yellow, and some of several colors."
+[Footnote: ib., 443.]
+
+The four women of Diaz who brought water to Montezuma have now
+increased to twenty; but, as the Spanish writers claimed a wide
+latitude in the matter of numbers, fivefold is not, perhaps,
+unreasonable, especially as it did not occur to Herrera that Diaz may,
+at the outset, have quadrupled the actual number. The "three or four
+hundred youths" who brought in the dinner, according to Cortes,
+settle down under Herrera to "four hundred pages, all gentlemen,
+sons of lords"; and here we must recognize the discrimination of the
+historian in that he found the highest number stated by Cortes fully
+adequate to the occasion. Two other things may be noticed: shoes
+have disappeared from all Indian feet in the face of a terrific
+penalty, and three thousand hungry Indians stand in peaceful quietude,
+while their dinner grows cold upon the floor, as Montezuma eats
+alone in solitary grandeur. No American Indian could be made to
+comprehend this picture. It lacks the realism of Indian life, and
+embodies an amount of puerility of which the Indian nature is not
+susceptible. Europeans and Americans may rise to the height of the
+occasion because their mental range is wider, and their imaginations
+have fed more deeply upon nursery tales. Diaz had contented himself
+with saying that Montezuma "had two hundred of his nobility on guard
+in apartments adjoining his own," [Footnote: History of the Conquest
+of Mexico, I, 198.] in whom may be recognized his fellow-householders;
+but Cortes generously increased the number to "six hundred nobles
+and men of rank," who appeared at daylight and remained in
+attendance during the day. Neither number, however, was quite
+sufficient to meet the conceptions of the historiographer of Spain,
+and accordingly three thousand, all guards, were adopted by Herrera
+as a suitable number to give eclat to Montezuma's dinner. If any man
+conversant with Indian character could show by what instrumentality
+five hundred Indians could be kept together twelve hours in
+attendance upon any human being from a sense of duty, he would add
+something to our knowledge of the Red Race; and could he prove
+further that they had actually waited, in the presence of as many
+earthen bowls, smoking with their several dinners, while their
+war-chief in the same room was making his repast alone, the verifier
+would thereby endow the Indian character with an element of
+forbearance he has never since been known to display. The block of
+wood hollowed out for a stool or seat may be accepted, for it savors
+of the simplicity of Indian art. That the Aztecs had napkins of
+coarse texture, woven by hand, is probable; as also that they were
+white, because cotton is white.
+
+Imagination might easily expand a napkin into a table-cloth,
+provided a table existed to spread it upon; but in this case,
+without duly considering the relation between the two, the
+table-cloth has been created, but the table refuses to appear. The
+napkin business, therefore, seems to have been slightly overdone.
+Finally, the call of the scattered household to dinner by
+kettle-drums and whistling savors too strongly of Indian ways and
+usages to be diverted into a summons to the dancers, as Herrera
+suggests. This Aztec dinner-call, on a scale commensurate with a
+large communal household, would have been lost to history but for
+the special use discerned in it to decorate a tale. It recognizes
+the loitering habits of an Aztec household, and perhaps the
+irregularity of the dinner-hour.
+
+Passing over the descriptions of Sahagun, Clavigero, and Prescott,
+who have kindled into enthusiasm over this dinner of Montezuma,
+Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft shall be allowed to furnish us with the very
+latest version. "Every day," he remarks, "from sunrise until sunset
+the antechambers of Montezuma's palace in Mexico were occupied by
+six hundred noblemen and gentlemen, who passed their time lounging
+about and discussing the gossip of the day in low tones, for it was
+considered disrespectful to speak loudly or make any noise within
+the palace limits. They were provided with apartments in the palace,
+and took their meals from what remained of the superabundance of the
+royal table, as did after them their own servants, of whom each
+person of quality was entitled to from one to thirty according to
+his rank. These retainers, numbering two or three thousand, filled
+several outer courts during the day. The king took his meals alone
+in one of the largest halls of the palace.... He was seated upon a
+low leather cushion, upon which were thrown various soft skins, and
+his table was of a similar description, except that it was larger
+and rather higher, and was covered with white cotton cloths of the
+finest texture. The dinner-service was of the finest ware of Cholula,
+and many of the goblets were of gold and silver, or fashioned with
+beautiful shells. He is said to have possessed a complete service of
+solid gold, but as it was considered below a king's dignity to use
+anything at table twice, Montezuma, with all his extravagance, was
+obliged to keep this costly dinner-set in the temple. The bill of
+fare comprised everything edible of fish, flesh, and fowl that could
+be procured in the empire or imported beyond it. Relays of couriers
+were employed in bringing delicacies from afar.... There were
+cunning cooks among the Aztecs, and at these extravagant meals there
+was almost as much variety in the cookery as in the matter cooked.
+Sahagun gives a most formidable list of roast, stewed, and broiled
+dishes, of meat, fish, and poultry, seasoned with many kinds of herbs,
+of which, however, that most frequently mentioned is chile. He
+further describes many kinds of bread, all bearing a more or less
+close resemblance to the Mexican tortilla ... then tamales of all
+kinds, and many other curious messes, such as frog spawn and stewed
+ants, cooked with chile.... Each dish was kept warm on a
+chafing-dish placed under it. Writers do not agree as to the exact
+quantity of food served up at each meal, but it must have been
+immense, since the lowest number of dishes given is three hundred
+and the highest three thousand. They were brought into the hall by
+four hundred pages of noble birth, who placed their burdens upon the
+matted floor and retired noiselessly. The king then pointed out such
+viands as he wished to partake of, or left the selection to his
+steward, who doubtless took pains to study the likes and dislikes of
+the royal palate. The steward was a functionary of the highest rank
+and importance; he alone was privileged to place the designated
+delicacies before the king upon the table; he appears to have done
+duty both as royal carver and cup-bearer; and, according to
+Torquemada, to have done it barefooted and on his knees. [Footnote:
+The 'cup-bearer' agrees reasonably well with the 'window-curtains.']
+Everything being in readiness, a number of the most beautiful of the
+king's women entered, bearing water in round vessels called Xicales,
+for the king to wash his hands in, and towels that he might dry them,
+other vessels being placed upon the ground to catch the drippings.
+Two other women at the same time brought him some small loaves of a
+very delicate kind of bread, made of the finest maize flour, beaten
+up with eggs. This done, a wooden screen, carved and gilt, was
+placed before him that no one might see him while eating. There were
+always present five or six aged lords, who stood near the royal
+chair barefooted and with bowed heads. To these, as a special mark
+of favor, the king occasionally sent a choice morsel from his own
+plate. During the meal the monarch amused himself by watching the
+performances of his jugglers and tumblers, whose marvellous feats of
+strength and dexterity I shall describe in another place; at other
+times there was dancing, accompanied by singing and music.... The
+more solid food was followed by pastry, sweetmeats, and a
+magnificent dessert of fruit. The only beverage drank was chocolate,
+of which about fifty jars were provided; it was taken with a spoon,
+finely wrought of gold or shell, from a goblet of the same material.
+Having finished his dinner, the king again washed his hands in water
+brought to him, as before, by the women. After this, several painted
+and gilt pipes were brought, from which he inhaled, through his
+mouth or nose, as best suited him, the smoke of a mixture of liquid
+amber and an herb called tobacco. This siesta over, he devoted
+himself to business, and proceeded to give audience to foreign
+ambassadors or deputations from cities in the empire, and to such of
+his lords and ministers as had business to transact with him."
+[Footnote: Native Races of the Pacific States, ii, 174-178.]
+
+In this account, although founded upon those of Diaz and Cortes, and
+showing nothing essentially new, we have the final growth of the
+story to the present time, but without any assurance that the limits
+of its possible expansion have been reached. The purification of our
+aboriginal history, by casting out the mass of trash with which it
+is so heavily freighted, is forced upon us to save American
+intelligence from deserved disgrace. Whatever may be said of the
+American aborigines in general, or of the Aztecs in particular, they
+were endowed with common sense in the matter of their daily food,
+which cost them labor, forethought, and care to provide. The picture
+of Indian life here presented is simply impossible. Village Indians
+in the Middle Status of barbarism were below the age of tables and
+chairs for dinner service; neither had they learned to arrange a
+dinner to be eaten socially at a common table, or even to share
+their dinner with their wives and children. Their joint-tenement
+houses, their common stores, their communism in living, and the
+separation of the sexes at their meals, are genuine Indian customs
+and usages which explain this dinner. It was misconceived by the
+Spaniards quite naturally, and with the grotesque results herein
+presented; but there is no excuse for continuing this misconception
+in the presence of known facts accessible to all.
+
+There is no doubt whatever that Montezuma was treated with great
+consideration by all classes of persons. Indians respect and
+venerate their chiefs. As their principal war-chief, Montezuma held
+the highest official position among them. He is represented as
+amiable, generous, and manly, although unnerved by the sudden
+appearance and the novel and deadly arms of the Spaniards. He had
+charge of the reception and entertainment of Cortes and his men,
+who requited him savagely for his hospitality and kindness. But
+when his home-life is considered, he fared no better than his
+fellow-householders, sharing with them their common dinner. These
+accounts, when divested of their misconceptions, render it probable
+that Montezuma was living with his gentle kinsmen in a house they
+owned in common; and that what the Spaniards saw was a dinner in
+common by this household, which, with the women and children, may
+have numbered from five hundred to a thousand persons. When the
+scattered members of the household had been summoned, the single
+daily meal was brought in by a number of persons from the common
+cook-house in earthen bowls and dishes, and set down upon the floor
+of an apartment used as a place for dinner in the fashion of Indians.
+Indians as they were, they doubtless took up these bowls one by one,
+each containing the dinner of one person divided at the kettle. They
+ate standing, or it may be sitting upon the floor, or upon the
+ground in the open court. Indians as they were, the men ate first
+and by themselves, and the women and children afterwards. After
+dinner was over, they were diverted, probably, with music and dancing,
+and made themselves merry, as well-fed Indians are apt to do. That
+the same dinner, conducted in a similar manner, occurred at all the
+houses in the pueblo, large and small, once a day, there can
+scarcely be a doubt.
+
+The dinner of Montezuma which has gone into history, and been read
+for three centuries with wonder and admiration, is an excellent
+illustration of the slender material out of which American
+aboriginal history has been made. It shows, moreover, as a warning,
+what results flow from great misconceptions through the constructive
+faculty of authors.
+
+A confederacy of three Indian tribes, speaking dialects of the same
+language, was precisely what the Spaniards found in Mexico, and this
+was all they found. They had no occasion in their accounts to
+advance a step beyond this simple fact. A satisfactory explanation
+of this confederacy can be found in similar Indian confederacies. It
+was a growth from the common institutions of the Indian family.
+Underneath these delusive pictures a council of chiefs is revealed,
+which was the natural and legitimate instrument of government under
+Indian institutions. No other form of government was possible among
+them. They had, beside, which was an equally legitimate part of this
+system, an elective and deposable war-chief (Teuchtli), the power to
+elect and to depose being held by a fixed constituency ever present,
+and ready to act when occasion required. The Aztec organization
+stood plainly before the Spaniards as a confederacy of Indian tribes.
+Nothing but the grossest perversion of obvious facts could have
+enabled Spanish writers to fabricate the Aztec monarchy out of a
+democratic organization.
+
+Without ascertaining the unit of their social system, if organized
+in gentes, as they probably were, and without gaining any knowledge
+of the organization that did exist, they boldly invented for the
+Aztecs a monarchy, with high feudal characteristics, out of the
+reception of Cortes by their principal war-chief, and such other
+flimsy materials as Montezuma's dinner. This misconception has stood,
+through American indolence, quite as long as it deserves to stand.
+
+Since the foregoing was written, the investigations of Mr.
+Bandelier "On the Social Organization and Mode of Government of the
+Ancient Mexicans" have been published. With the new light thus
+thrown upon the subject, this chapter should have been re-written.
+He shows that the Aztecs were composed of twenty gentes or clans.
+"The existence of twenty autonomous consanguine groups is thus
+revealed, and we find them again at the time of the conquest, while
+their last vestiges were perpetuated until after 1690, when Fray
+Augustin de Vetancurt mentions four chief quarters with their
+original Indian names, comprising and subdivided into twenty
+'barrios'. Now the Spanish word 'barrio' is equivalent to the
+Mexican term 'calpulli.' Both indicate the kin, localized and
+settled with the view to permanence." [Footnote: Twelfth Annual
+Report of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge,
+1880, p. 591.]
+
+This organization, as was to have been expected, lies at the
+foundation of their social system. He names the following as among
+the rights, duties, and obligations of the kinship:
+
+I. The kin claimed the right to name its members.
+
+II. It was the duty of the kin to educate or train its members to
+every branch of public life.
+
+III. The kin had the right to regulate and to control marriage.
+
+IV. It was one of the attributes of the kin to enjoy common burial.
+
+V. The right of the kin to 'separate worship' appears not only
+established within the kin's territory, but it is also recognized
+even at the central medicine-lodge of the tribe.
+
+VI. The kin was obligated to protect and defend the persons and
+property of its members, and to resent and punish any injury done to
+them, as if it were a crime committed against the kin itself.
+
+VII. The kin had the right to elect its officers, as well as the
+right to remove or depose them for misbehavior.
+
+[Footnote: Twelfth Ann. Rept. Peabody Museum, pp. 615-638.]
+
+He also regards the four "brotherhoods" who occupied the four
+quarters of the pueblo as probably phratries. [Footnote: ib., p. 584.]
+He also shows that the government was under the control of a council,
+Tlatocan, composed of a body of chiefs. [Footnote: ib., p. 646, et
+seq.]
+
+One of the most interesting results of this investigation is the
+discovery of a class of persons unattached to any gens, "outcasts
+from the bond of kinship." [Footnote: ib., p. 608, et seq.] Such a
+class grows up in every gentile society, when as far advanced as the
+Aztecs were. It finds its analogue in the Roman Plebeians. This
+remarkable essay will abundantly repay a careful study.
+
+When we have learned to speak of the American Indians in language
+adapted to Indian life and Indian institutions, they will become
+comprehensible. So long as we apply to their social organizations
+and domestic institutions terms adapted to the organizations and to
+the institutions of civilized society, we caricature the Indians and
+deceive ourselves. There was neither a political society, nor a state,
+nor any civilization in America when it was discovered; and,
+excluding the Eskimos, but one race of Indians, the Red Race.
+
+[Relocated Footnote 1: In the Despatches of Cortes the term King
+"El rey" is not used in speaking of Montezuma, but Senhor and cacique.
+
+The Valley of Mexico, including the adjacent mountain slopes and
+excluding the area covered by water, was about equal to the State at
+Rhode Island, which contains thirteen hundred square miles; an
+insignificant area for a single American Indian tribe. But the
+confederacy had subdued a number of tribes southward and
+southeastward from the valley as far as Guatemala, and placed them
+under tribute. Under their plan of government it was impossible to
+incorporate these tribes in the Aztec confederacy; the barrier of
+language furnished an insuperable objection; and they were left to
+govern themselves through their own chiefs, and according to their
+own usages and customs. As they were neither under Aztec government
+nor Aztec usages, there is no occasion to speak of them as a part of
+the Aztec confederacy or even as an appendage of its government. The
+power of the confederacy did not extend a hundred miles beyond the
+Pueblo of Mexico on the west, northwest, north, northeast, or east
+sides, in each of which directions they were confronted by
+independent and hostile tribes.
+
+The population of the three confederate tribes was confined to the
+valley, and did not probably exceed two hundred and fifty thousand
+souls, including the Moquiltes, Xochomileos, and Chaleans, if it
+equaled that number, which would give nearly twice the present
+population of New York to the square mile, and a greater population
+to the square mile than Rhode Island now contains. The Spanish
+estimates of Indian populations were gross exaggerations. Those who
+claim a greater population for the Valley of Mexico than that
+indicated will be bound to show how a barbarous people, without
+flocks and herds and without field agriculture, could have sustained
+in equal areas a larger number of inhabitants than a civilized
+people armed with these advantages.]
+
+[Relocated Footnote 2: My learned friend, Mr. Ad. F. Bandelier, of
+Highland, Ill., has arrived at the same conclusion, substantially,
+as stated in the conclusion of his recent "Memoir on the Social
+Organization and Mode of Government of the Ancient Mexicans," 12th
+Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and
+Ethnology. Cambridge, 1880, p. 699.
+
+"Taking all this together, and adding it to the results of our
+investigations into the military organization of the ancient Mexicans,
+as well as of their communal mode of holding and enjoying the soil,
+we feel authorized to conclude that the social organization and mode
+of government of the ancient Mexicans was a military democracy,
+originally based upon communism in living."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+RUINS OF HOUSES OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF YUCATAN
+AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
+
+
+At the epoch of their discovery, Yucatan, Chiapas, and Guatemala
+were probably more thickly peopled than any other portion of North
+America of equal area; and their inhabitants were more advanced than
+the remaining aborigines. Their pueblos were planted along the
+rivers and streams, often quite near each other, and presented the
+same picture of occupation and of village life which might have been
+seen at the same time in the valley of the Rio Grande, of the Rio
+Chaco, and probably of the San Juan, and, at a still earlier period,
+of the Scioto. They consisted of a single great house, or of a
+cluster of houses near each other, forming one pueblo or village. In
+some cases, four or more structures were grouped together upon the
+same elevated platform; and where there were several of these
+platforms, each surmounted with one or more edifices, one of them
+was devoted to religious, and a portion of another to social and
+public uses. But there is no reason for supposing, from any ruins
+yet found, or from what is known of the people historically, that
+any one pueblo contained, at most, ten thousand inhabitants. No one
+tribe, or confederacy of tribes, had risen to supremacy within
+either of these areas by the consolidation of surrounding tribes.
+They were found, on the contrary, in the same state of subdivision
+and independence which invariably accompanies the gentile
+organization. Confederacies in all probability existed among such
+contiguous pueblos as spoke the same dialect, as the Cibolans were
+probably confederated, and as the Aztecs, Tezcucans, and Tlacopans
+are known to have been. Such confederacies, however, could not have
+reached beyond a common language of the tribes confederated.
+
+The great houses of stone of the Village Indians within the areas
+named, and particularly in Yucatan and Central America, have done
+more than all other considerations to give to them their present
+position in the estimation of mankind. They are the highest
+constructive works of the Indian tribes. It may also be again
+suggested that, from the beginning, a false interpretation has been
+put upon this architecture, from a failure to understand its object
+and uses, or the condition and plan of domestic life of the people
+who occupied these structures. The design and object for which these
+edifices were constructed still await an intelligent explanation.
+
+The highest type of architecture which then existed among the
+aborigines in any part of America was found in the regions named;
+particularly in Yucatan, Chiapas, and Honduras. Speaking of Yucatan,
+Herrera remarks that "the language is everywhere the same," the Maya
+being the language of its principal tribes, but "the whole country,"
+he continues, "is divided into eighteen districts." [Footnote:
+History of America, l. c., iv, 161.]
+
+If this reference is to a classification by tribes, it shows that
+the Mayas had fallen, by the process of segmentation, into this
+number of independent groups; the pueblos in each district being
+united under one government for mutual defense. It seems probable,
+however, that the group was smaller than a tribe. It is difficult in
+some cases to determine, from Herrera's language, whether he refers
+to native or Spanish divisions. In like manner, speaking of Chiapas,
+he remarks, that "this province is divided into four nations of
+different languages, which are the Chiapanecans, the Toques, the
+Zelsales, and the Quelenes, all of which differ in some particulars....
+There are in it twenty-five towns, the chief of them called Tecpatlan,
+i.e., (among the Toques).... The nation of Zelsales has thirteen
+towns.... the Quelnes have twenty-five towns." [Footnote: ib., iv,
+189.]
+
+Sixty-three pueblos in three of the four tribes who occupied the
+small territory of Chiapas is a very large number, except on the
+supposition that each pueblo consisted usually of a single great
+house, like those in New Mexico, which is probable; but even then it
+seems excessive. It tends, however, to show the mode of occupation
+and settlement of the Village Indians in general. They planted their
+pueblos on the water-courses, where such existed, each tribe or
+subdivision of a tribe gathering in a cluster of houses, four or
+five in number, or in a single house; and, as may he inferred from
+the descriptions of Las Casas, so near together on the same rivulet
+that had not the native forest obstructed the view they would have
+been in sight of each other for miles along its banks. The scattered
+ruins of these pueblos in Yucatan at the present time, often
+consisting of a single large structure, confirms this view.
+
+The tropical region of Yucatan and Central America, then as now, was
+undoubtedly covered with forests, except the limited clearings
+around the pueblos, and, apart from these pueblos, substantially
+uninhabited. Field agriculture was of course unknown, as they had
+neither domestic animals nor plows; but the Indians cultivated maize,
+beans, squashes, pepper, cotton, cacao, and tobacco in garden beds,
+and exercised some care over certain native fruits; cultivation
+tending to localize them in villages. Herrera remarks of the Village
+Indians of Honduras that "they sow thrice a year, and they were wont
+to grub up great woods with hatchets made of flint." [Footnote:
+History of America, iv., 133.]
+
+Without metallic implements to subdue the forest, or even with
+copper axes, such as were found among the Aztecs, a very small
+portion only of the country would have been brought under cultivation,
+and that confined mainly to the margins of the streams.
+
+Las Casas, bishop of Chiapas, who was in Yucatan and Chiapas about
+1539, after remarking of the people of the former country that they
+were "better civilized in morals and in what belongs to the good
+order of societies than the rest of the Indians," proceeds as,
+follows: "The pretence of subjecting the Indians to the government
+of Spain is only made to carry on the design of subjecting them to
+the dominion of private men, who make them all their slaves".
+[Footnote: An Account of the First Voyages, etc., in America, Lond.
+ed., Trans., p. 52.]
+
+And, again, he quotes from a letter of the bishop of St. Martha to
+the King of Spain, to this effect: "To redress the grievances of
+this province, it ought to be delivered from the tyranny of those
+who ravage it, and committed to the care of persons of integrity,
+who will treat the inhabitants with more kindness and humanity; for
+if it be left to the mercy of the governors, who commit all sorts of
+outrages with impunity, the province will be destroyed in a very
+short time." [Footnote: ib., p. 61.]
+
+There are two material questions which require priority of
+consideration: First, whether or not the houses now in ruins in
+Yucatan and Central America were occupied at the time of the Spanish
+conquest; and, second, whether or not the present Indians of the
+country are the descendants of the people who constructed them.
+There is no basis whatever for the negative of either proposition;
+but it is assumed by those who regard the so-called palace at
+Palenque and the Governor's House at Uxmal as the ancient residences
+of Indian potentates that great cities which once surrounded them
+have perished, and, further, that these ruins have an antiquity
+reaching far back of the Spanish conquest.
+
+Mr. Stephens adopts the conclusion "that at the time of the conquest,
+and afterwards, the Indians were living in and occupied these very
+cities." [Footnote: Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, ii, 348, 375.]
+
+He also regarded the present Indians of the country as the
+descendants of those in possession at the time of the conquest. He
+might have added that as the Maya was the language of the aborigines
+of Yucatan at the epoch of the discovery, and is now the language of
+the greater part of the natives who have not lost their original
+speech, there was no ground for either supposition. Herrera remarks
+of the inhabitants of Yucatan, that the "people were then found
+living together very politely in towns, kept very clean ... and the
+reason of their living so close together was because of the wars
+which exposed them to the danger of being taken, sold, and sacrificed;
+but the wars of the Spaniards made them disperse." [Footnote:
+History of America, iv, 168.] This last statement is very significant.
+Mr. Stephens, whose works and whose observations are in the main so
+valuable, is responsible to no small extent for the delusive
+inferences which have been drawn from the architecture of Yucatan,
+Honduras, and Chiapas. If he had repressed his imagination and
+confined himself to what he found, namely, certain Indian pueblos
+built of dressed stone, and in good architecture, which are
+sufficiently remarkable just as they are, in ruins, and had omitted
+altogether such terms as "palaces" and great cities, his readers
+would have escaped the deceptive conclusions with respect to the
+actual condition of society among the aborigines which his
+terminology and mode of treatment were certain to suggest.
+
+It is sufficiently ascertained that within a few years after the
+conquest of Mexico, Yucatan and Central America were overrun by
+military adventurers whose rapacity and violence drove the harmless
+and timid Village Indians from their pueblos into the forests; thus
+destroying in a few years a higher culture than the Spaniards were
+able to substitute in its place. Nothing can be plainer, I think,
+than this additional fact, that all there ever was of Palenque, Uxmal,
+Copan, and other Indian pueblos in these areas, building for
+building and stone for stone, is there now in ruins.
+
+There are reasons for believing, from the more advanced condition of
+their house architecture, that Yucatan was inhabited by Village
+Indians from an earlier, and for a much longer, period than the
+valley of Mexico. The traditions of the Yzaes of Chichenisa,
+possibly Chichen Itza, and of the Cocomes of Mayapan, related by
+Herrera, [Footnote: History of America, iv, 162, 163, 165.] claim a
+more ancient occupation of Yucatan than the Aztec traditions claim
+for the occupation of the valley of Mexico. The type of village life
+among the American aborigines was adapted to a warm climate, and
+presented in this area its highest exemplification.
+
+The notices of the great houses in Yucatan are brief and general in
+the Spanish histories. Speaking of its eighteen districts, Herrera
+remarks that "in all of them were so many, and such stately stone
+buildings, that it was amazing, and the greatest wonder is, that
+having no use of any metal, they were able to raise such structures,
+which seem to have been temples, for their houses were always of
+timber and thatched." [Footnote: ib., iv, 162.]
+
+This last statement is not only at variance with a previous one
+quoted above, but is another of the numerous misconceptions which
+impair so greatly the value of the Spanish histories. The people
+undoubtedly resided in these houses, which were adapted to such a
+use only, and were also in the nature of fortresses, thus proving
+the insecurity in which they lived. Some portion of the tribe may
+have resided in inferior and common habitations in the vicinity of
+these pueblos, and under their protection; but the great houses of
+stone were built for residences and not for temples, and were the
+homes of the body of the people. There were many of these pueblos,
+nearly all of them composed of one or two large structures,
+sprinkled over the face of the country in eligible situations after
+the manner of Village Indian life. The same adaptation to communism
+in living in large households is found impressed upon all the houses
+now in ruins in these areas. They are joint-tenement houses of the
+American type, and very similar to those still found in New Mexico
+and on the San Juan. At the epoch of the Spanish conquest, they were
+occupied pueblos, and were deserted by the Indians to escape the
+rapacity of Spanish military adventurers by whom they were oppressed
+and abused beyond Indian endurance. Instances are mentioned by
+Herrera where large numbers destroyed themselves to escape the
+exactions of Spanish masters, whom they were unable to resist.
+[Footnote: History of America, III, 346.]
+
+The numerous pueblos in ruins scattered through the forests of
+Yucatan and southward are so many monuments of Spanish misrule,
+oppression, and rapacity.
+
+The most extensive group of ruins in Yucatan is that at Uxmal. Its
+several structures are known as the "Governor's House"; the
+"House of the Nuns," which consists of four disconnected buildings,
+facing the four sides of a court; the "House of the Pigeons,"
+consisting of two quadrangles; the "House of the Turtles"; the
+"House of the Old Woman"; and the "House of the Dwarf", with some
+trace of smaller buildings of inconsiderable size, and one or two
+pyramidal elevations unoccupied by structures. Of these, the
+"Governor's House" may have been the Tecan, or Official House of the
+Tribe, from the unusual size of the central rooms The "House of
+the Dwarf" was probably designed for the observance of religious
+rites. The remaining structures were evidently the residence
+portions of the pueblo.
+
+Among the Aztecs, three kinds of houses were distinguished: 1. Calli,
+the ordinary dwelling house, of which the "House of the Nuns" is an
+example. 2. Ticplantlacalk, the "Stone House," which contained
+council halls, etc., of which the "Governor's House" is an example. 3.
+Teocalli, "House of God," such as the "House of the Dwarf." The
+estufas in New Mexican pueblos took the place of the last two in
+Mexico and Yucatan.
+
+Ground plans of the principal structures will be given for
+comparison with those in New Mexico. The pyramidal elevations on
+which they stand are situated quite near each other, and form one
+Indian pueblo. The houses are constructed of stone laid in courses,
+and dressed to a uniform surface, with the upper half of the
+exterior walls decorated with grotesque ornaments cut on the faces
+of the stone. Foster states that "these structures are composed of a
+soft coralline limestone of comparatively recent geological formation,
+probably of the Tertiary period." [Footnote: Prehistoric Races of
+the United States, p 398]
+
+The so-called idols at Copan are the largest stones worked by the
+Central Americans. They are about eleven feet high by three feet
+wide and three feet deep, each face being covered with sculptures
+and hieroglyphics. In a field near the ruins, and near each other,
+are nine of these elaborately ornamented statues. By the side of
+each is a so called altar, about six feet square and four feet high,
+made of separate stone. These Idols and Altars have been supposed to
+have some relation to their religious system, with human sacrifices
+in the background. From their situation and character it may be
+conjectured that we have here the Copan cemetery, and that these
+idols are the grave-posts, and these altars are the graves of Copan
+chiefs. The type of both may still be seen in Nebraska in the
+grave-posts and grave-mounds by their side, of Iowas and Otoes, and
+formerly in all parts of the United States east of the Mississippi.
+If Mr. Stephens had opened one of these altars he would, if this
+conjecture is well taken, have found within or under it an Indian
+grave, and perhaps a skeleton, with the personal articles usually
+entombed beside the dead. It was customary among the Northern
+Indians for the chosen friend of the decedent, with whom he formed
+this peculiar tie, to erect his grave-post, representing the chief
+exploits of the departed upon one side, with ideographs and his own
+upon the opposite side. "The stone," Mr. Stephens observes,
+"of which all these altars and statues are made, is a soft grit-stone."
+[Footnote: Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, 1-153.] Norman had
+previously described the material used as a "fine concrete limestone."
+[Footnote: Rambles in Yucatan, p 126.]
+
+Elsewhere, with respect to the nature of the tools for cutting this
+stone, he remarks that "flint was undoubtedly used." [Footnote: ib.,
+p 184] Stephens makes a similar statement. The exact size of the
+stones used is not given, but they were not large. Norman remarks of
+Chichen Itza that "the stones are cut in parallelopipeds of about
+twelve inches in length and six in breadth, the interstices filled
+up with the same materials of which the terraces are composed."
+[Footnote: Rambles in Yucatan p 127] He also speaks of "huge blocks
+of hewn stone used in the doorways." [Footnote: ib. p. 128]
+
+A soft coralline limestone could be easily worked with flint
+implements when first taken from the quarry, and would harden after
+exposure to the air. The size and nature of the stones used is some
+evidence of limited advancement in solid stone architecture.
+
+These structures, as reproduced in engravings by Stephens and
+Catherwood, may well excite surprise and admiration for the taste,
+skill, and industry they display, and the degree of progress they
+reveal. When rightly understood, they will enable us to estimate the
+extent of the progress actually made, which was truly remarkable for
+a people still in barbarism, and no further advanced than the Middle
+Status.
+
+[Illustration: Side elevation of pyramidal platform of Governor's
+House]
+
+We have seen that the style of architecture in New Mexico brought
+the Indians to the house tops as the common place of living. At
+first suggested for security, it became in time a settled habit of
+life. The same want was met in Yucatan and Chiapas by a new
+expedient namely a pyramidal platform or elevation of earth twenty,
+thirty and forty feet high upon the level summits of which their
+great houses were erected. These platforms were made still higher
+for small buildings. A natural elevation being when practicable
+selected the top was leveled or raised by artificial means, the
+sides made rectangular and sloping and faced on the four sides with
+a dry stone wall, the ascent being made by a flight of stone steps.
+It was not uncommon to find two such platforms and sometimes three,
+one above the other, as shown in the figure. These platforms, called
+terraces, were the gathering and the lounging places, of the
+inhabitants.
+
+The edifices in the regions named are almost invariably but one
+story high, and but two rooms deep, the walls being carried up
+vertically to an equal height on the sides and ends, and terminating
+in a flat roof. The doorways opened upon the platform area or
+terrace when the building was single, and where it was carried
+around the four aides of an inclosed court they opened usually upon
+the court. As their elevation above the level of the surrounding
+area invested them with the character of fortresses, they were
+defended on the line or edge of the terrace-walls, or, rather, at
+the head of the flight of steps by means of which the summit-level
+was reached. Neither adobe brick, nor rubble masonry, nor timber
+roofs could withstand the tropical climate, with its pouring rains
+during a portion of the year. Stone walls and a vaulted ceiling were
+indispensable to a permanent structure. There were, doubtless,
+pueblos of timber-framed houses with thatched roofs here and there
+in Yucatan, Chiapas, and Honduras, as there were further south
+toward the Isthmus; but the prevailing material used was stone, as
+the number of small pueblos in ruins still attest. Upon these
+elevated platforms they enjoyed the same security as the Village
+Indians of New Mexico upon their roof-tops and within the walls of
+their houses. They were also raised above the flight of the
+mosquitoes and flies, the scourge of this hot region. Considering
+the surrounding conditions, single-storied houses upon raised
+platforms was a natural suggestion, harmonizing with a style of
+architecture, the communal character of which was predetermined by
+their social condition. For the details of this architecture
+reference must be made to published works, which are easily
+accessible, its general features and the principles from which they
+sprang being the only subjects within the scope of this inquiry.
+
+The front elevation of the Governor's House at Uxmal, shown in the
+engraving, and which was taken from Stephens' work, will answer as a
+sample of the whole. It stands upon the upper of three platforms, of
+which the lowest is five hundred and seventy-five feet long, fifteen
+feet broad to the base of the middle platform, and three feet high.
+The second is five hundred and forty-five feet long, two hundred and
+fifty feet broad to the base of the upper platform, and twenty feet
+high. The third is three hundred and sixty feet long, thirty feet
+broad in front of the edifice, and nineteen feet high. The upper one
+is formed upon the back half of the middle platform, of which last
+Mr. Stephens observes that "this great terrace was not entirely
+artificial. The substratum was a natural rock, and showed that
+advantage had been taken of a natural elevation as far as it went,
+and by this means some portion of the immense labor of constructing
+the terrace had been saved." [Footnote: Incidents of Travel in
+Yucatan, i, 128.]
+
+The three terraces with their sloping walls are shown in the
+engraving, the house standing upon an elevation forty-two feet above
+the surrounding area. The ascent from terrace to terrace was made by
+flights of stone steps, which are not distinctly shown. When newly
+constructed and inhabited, this structure, from its commanding
+situation, its great size, and conspicuous terraces, must have
+presented a striking appearance. It is doubtful whether any of the
+Aryan tribes, when in the Middle Status of barbarism, have produced
+houses superior to those in Yucatan.
+
+The house is symmetrical in structure, three hundred and twenty-two
+feet long, thirty-nine feet deep, and about twenty-five feet high.
+It has eleven doorways, besides two small openings in front, and
+contains twenty-two apartments, two of which are each sixty feet long.
+The rear wall is solid, and in the central part is nine feet thick.
+A parallel wall through the center divides the interior into two
+rows of apartments, of which those in front are eleven feet six
+inches deep and twenty-three feet high to the top of the arch, and
+those back of them are thirteen feet deep and twenty-two feet high.
+Both inside and out the walls are of dressed stone laid in courses.
+No drawings of the rooms in the Governor's House are furnished in
+Mr. Stephens' work. The back rooms are dark, excepting the light
+received through the front doorway.
+
+"The House of the Nuns," says Mr. Stephens, "is quadrangular, with a
+court yard in the center. It stands on the highest of three terraces.
+The lowest is three feet high and twenty feet wide; the second,
+twelve feet high and forty-five feet wide; and the third, four feet
+high and five feet wide, extending the whole length of the front of
+the building. The front [building] is two hundred and seventy-nine
+feet long, and above the cornice, from one end to the other, is
+ornamented with sculpture. In the centre is a gateway ten feet eight
+inches wide, spanned by the triangular arch, and leading to the
+courtyard. On each side of this gateway are four doorways with
+wooden lintels opening to apartments averaging twenty four feet long,
+ten feet wide, seventeen feet high to the top of the arch, but
+having no connection with each other. The building that forms the
+right or eastern side of the quadrangle measures one hundred and
+fifty-eight feet long; that on the left is one hundred and
+seventy-three feet long, and the range opposite, or at the end of
+the quadrangle measures two hundred and sixty-four feet. These three
+ranges have no doorways outside but the exterior of each is a dead
+wall, and above the cornice all are ornamented with the same rich
+and elaborate sculptures." [Footnote: Incidents of travel in Yucatan,
+i, 299.]
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 53.--Ground plan of the House of the Nuns.]
+
+Altogether, these four structures contain seventy-six apartments,
+which vary in size from twenty to thirty feet long, and from ten to
+twelve feet wide. There are twenty single apartments, and twenty
+five pairs of apartments, half of which, as in the Governor's House,
+are dark, except as they are lighted from the doorways connecting
+with the rooms in front. In the fifth structure, not described,
+there are six pairs of similar apartments. In the building on the
+right there are six rooms connecting with each other, one of which,
+the frost room, is shown in Fig. 54. This number of connecting rooms
+is so unusual in Yucatan architecture as to attract attention. Each
+of the four edifices would accommodate from six hundred to one
+thousand persons, after the fashion of Village Indians.
+
+In this view of the interior of a room in the House of the Nuns, Fig.
+54, which was taken from Stephens' work, is shown the form of the
+triangular ceiling common in all the edifices in Yucatan and Chiapas.
+It is a triangular arch above the line of the exterior cornice,
+without a keystone, and with the faces of the stones beveled, and
+forming a perfect vault over each apartment. But it has this
+peculiarity, that a space a foot or more wide in the center is
+carried up vertically about two feet, and covered with a cap of stone,
+so that the side walls which form the vaulted ceiling do not come
+together so as to rest against each other. The mechanical principle
+is the same as in the New Mexican arch, but is here applied in a
+more extended and more difficult scale. It is the most remarkable
+feature in this architecture, mechanically considered. When we come
+to know that this vaulted ceiling was constructed over a core of
+solid masonry within the chamber, afterwards removed--which was the
+fact--it will be seen that these Indian masons and architects were
+still feeling their way experimentally to a scientific knowledge of
+the art of arts. A projecting cornice or median entablature is seen
+above the doorway on the exterior face of the wall, which balances
+somewhat the interior inward projection of the ceiling as it rises,
+and, since the wall is carried up flush with the cornice, the
+down-weight of the super-incumbent mass sustained the masonry. The
+room shown is thirty-three feet long, thirteen wide, and
+twenty-three feet high to the cap-stone, and the room communicating
+with it is of the same width, and nine feet long. The apartments
+back of these are of corresponding size. [Footnote: Incidents of
+Travel, etc., i, 308.]
+
+There were originally lintels of hard sapote wood over the doorways,
+upon the decay of which a portion of the masonry has fallen. Those
+over the doorways through the partition walls are found in place.
+The proof of the comparatively modern date of these structures is
+conclusive from these facts alone.
+
+It will be observed that there are six single apartments in the
+building on the right of the "House of Nuns" which have no
+connection with the remaining rooms of the building, and that the
+others are in pairs, a back room connecting with the one in front,
+and neither with any others. It seems to show very plainly, in the
+plan of the house itself, that it was designed to be occupied by
+distinct groups composed of related families, each group a large
+household by itself. If the communal principle in living existed in
+fact among them, its expression in the interior arrangement of the
+house, and in this form, might have been expected. This striking and
+significant feature runs through all the structures, in these areas,
+of which ground-plans have been obtained.
+
+The triangular ceiling, in effect is an attempt to extend the lintel
+in sections across the vault of a chamber in the place of joists, and,
+so far as the writer is aware, the only attempt ever made by any
+barbarous people to form a ceiling of stone over ordinary residence
+rooms. In a wall and ceiling formed in this manner, and carried up
+several feet above the apex of the triangular arch, there would be
+no lateral thrust outward of the masonry.
+
+It should be stated that there are neither fire-place, chimneys, nor
+windows in any of these houses; neither have any been found, so far
+as the writer is aware, in any ancient structure in Yucatan or
+Central America. Fires were not needed for warmth; but since they
+were for cooking, it shows very plainly that no cooking was done
+within these houses. A presumption at once arises that their inmates
+prepared their food in the open court, or on the middle terrace, by
+household groups, making a common stock of their provisions, and
+dividing from the earthen cauldron, like the Iroquois. The
+communistic character of these houses is shown by their great size,
+and by the separation of the rooms, generally in pairs, having no
+connection with the remainder of the house. Each pair of rooms would
+accommodate several married pairs with their children; and so would
+each single apartment, according to the mode of life of the Village
+Indians. Moreover, communism in living appears to have been a law of
+man's condition both in the Lower and in the Middle Status of
+barbarism. Among the Iroquois, one regular meal each day was all
+their mode of life permitted; hunger being allayed by hominy kept
+constantly prepared, or such other food as their domestic resources
+allowed. It is not probable that the Aborigines of Yucatan were able
+to superadd either a regular breakfast or a supper. These belong to
+the more highly developed house-keeping of the monogamian family in
+civilization.
+
+Another custom, usual in the Lower Status of barbarism, seems to
+have been continued in the Middle Status; namely, of the men eating
+first and by themselves, and the women and children afterwards.
+Without a knowledge of tables or of chairs, the dinner was of
+necessity a solitary affair between the person and his earthen bowl
+or platter. The time, however, for the dinner was the same to all
+the men, and afterwards to the women and children. Herrera, in his
+summary of the habits of the people of Yucatan, drops the remark
+incidentally, that at their festivals the women "did eat apart from
+the men." This is precisely what would have been expected had
+nothing been said on the subject. [Footnote: History of America, iv,
+175.]
+
+There are some proofs bearing directly upon the question of the
+ancient practice of communism in these Uxmal houses. They are found
+in the present usages of the Maya Indians of Yucatan, the
+descendants of the builders of these houses, which they may
+reasonably be supposed to have derived from their ancestors. At
+Nohcacab, a short distance east of the ruins of Uxmal, there was a
+settlement of Maya Indians, whose communism in living was
+accidentally discovered by Mr. Stephens, when among them to employ
+laborers. He remarks as follows: "Their community consists of a
+hundred labradores or working men; their lands are held in common,
+and the products are shared by all. Their food is prepared at one hut,
+and every family sends for its portion; which explains a singular
+spectacle we had seen on our arrival [in 1841], a procession of
+women and children, each carrying an earthen bowl containing a
+quantity of smoking hot broth, all coming down the same road, and
+dispersing among different huts.... From our ignorance of the
+language, and the number of other and more pressing matters claiming
+our attention, we could not learn all the details of their internal
+economy but it seemed to approximate that improved state of
+association which is sometimes heard of among us; and as thus has
+existed for an unknown length of time, and can no longer be
+considered experimental, Owen and Fourier might perhaps take lessons
+from them with advantage.... I never before regretted so much my
+ignorance of the Maya language." [Footnote: Incidents of Travel, etc.,
+ii, 14.]
+
+A hundred working men indicate a total of five hundred persons who
+were then depending for their daily food upon a single fire, and a
+single cooking-house, the provisions being supplied from common
+stores, and divided from the kettle. It is not unlikely a truthful
+picture of the mode of life in the House of the Nuns, and in the
+Governor's House at the period of European discovery. Each group
+practising communism, for convenience and for economy, may have
+included all the inmates of a single house, or its occupants may
+have subdivided into lesser groups; but the presumption is in favor
+of the larger. Evidence has elsewhere been adduced of the existence
+of the organization into gentes among the Mayas, with descent in the
+male line, from which it may be inferred that the occupation of
+these houses was on the basis of gentile kinship among the families
+in each, the fathers and their children belonging to the same gens,
+and the wives and mothers to other gentes. All the facts seem to
+indicate that communism in living was practiced among the Village
+Indians in general upon a scale then unknown in other parts of the
+world, because they alone represented the culture and mode of life
+of the Middle Status of barbarism. The dinner of Montezuma, before
+considered, is an illustration.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 55.--Ground Plan of Zayi.]
+
+Near Uxmal are the interesting ruins of Zayi, which present a new
+feature in Yucatan house architecture. Upon a low eminence are three
+independent structures, the second within and above the first or
+lowest, and the third within and above the second, presenting the
+appearance, in the distance, of a single quadrangular edifice in
+three receding stories. But each stands on a separate terrace, and
+is built against the one within, which rises above it, except the
+inner one, a single edifice occupying the summit. The outer
+quadrangle stands on the lowest terrace. The measurements of the
+several buildings are indicated on the plan. Together they contain
+eighty-seven apartments, assuming the parts in ruins to have
+corresponded with the parts preserved. The rooms, as usual, are
+either single or in pairs. An external staircase upon the front and
+rear sides interrupts the buildings on these sides from the lower
+terrace to the upper. The dots in the apertures indicate columns,
+which are found in this and several other structures. In case of
+attack, the outer quadrangle was not defensible; but its inhabitants
+could retire to the second terrace above, and defend their fortress
+at the head of the staircases, which were the only avenues of
+approach except by scaling the outer quadrangle, a very improbable
+undertaking.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 56.--Cross-section through one apartment.]
+
+Attention has been called to this pueblo, which would accommodate
+two thousand or more persons, for a special reason. It seems to
+furnish conclusive proof of the manner in which these great edifices
+were erected in order to construct the peculiar triangular stone
+ceiling, which is the striking characteristic of this architecture.
+
+To understand the problem, the annexed cross-section of a single
+room will afford some aid by showing the relations of the walls to
+the chamber and its ceiling. The chamber, with its vaulted ceiling,
+was constructed over a solid core of masonry, laid simultaneously
+with the walls, which was removed after the latter had seasoned and
+settled. It tends to show that with small stones of the size used,
+about a foot long and six inches thick, the triangular ceiling as it
+projected toward the center in rising, required the interior support
+of a core to insure the possibility of construction by their methods.
+Once put together over such a core and carried up several feet above
+the top of the arch, the down weight of the superincumbent mass
+would articulate and hold the masonry together. It shows further
+that the essential feature of the arch is wanting in this contrivance.
+
+The proof of this assertion is found in the actual presence of the
+unremoved core in one of these edifices in all of its apartments.
+Mr. Stephens found every room of the back building on the second
+terrace filled with masonry from bottom to top, left precisely as it
+was when the building was finished. He remarks that "the north half
+of the second range has a curious and unaccountable feature. It is
+called the Casa Cerrada, or 'closed house,' having ten doorways, all
+of which are blocked up on the inside with stone and mortar.... In
+front of several were piles of stones which they [his workmen] had
+worked out from the doorways, and under the lintels were holes
+through which we were able to crawl inside; and here we found
+ourselves in apartments finished with walls and ceilings like all
+the others, but filled up, except so far as they had been emptied by
+the Indians, with solid masses of mortar and stone. There were ten
+of these apartments in all, two hundred and twenty feet long and ten
+feet deep, which thus being filled up made the whole building a
+solid mass; and the strangest feature was that the filling up of the
+apartments must have been simultaneous with the erection of the
+buildings; for, as the filling in rose above the tops of the doorways,
+the men who performed it never could have entered to their work
+through the doors. It must have been done as the walls were built,
+and the ceiling must have closed over a solid mass." [Incidents of
+Travel, etc., ii, 22.]
+
+It does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Stephens that the masonry
+within each room was a core, without which a vaulted chamber in this
+form could not have been constructed with their knowledge of the art
+of building. It shows the rudeness of their mechanical resources as
+well as the real condition of the art among them, but at the same
+time increases our appreciation of their originality, ingenuity, and
+industry. They were working their way upward experimentally in
+architecture, as all other peoples have done, having richly earned
+the right to point with pride to these structures as extraordinary
+memorials of the progress they had made.
+
+An important conclusion follows, namely, that this "closed house"
+was the last, in the order of time, erected in this pueblo, and had
+not been emptied of its core and brought into use when the Spanish
+irruption forced the people to abandon this pueblo. It would fix the
+period of its construction at or after A. D. 1520, thus settling the
+question of its modern date and removing one of the delusions
+concerning the antiquity of the ruins in Yucatan and Central America.
+This structure is as much decayed as any other in Yucatan. There are
+many other structures even better preserved than this.
+
+A brief reference to Palenque will conclude this notice, but without
+dealing with the facts as fully as they deserve. There are four or
+five pyramidal elevations at this pueblo quite similar in plan and
+general situation with those at Uxmal. One is much the largest, and
+the structures upon it are called the "Palace." It has generally
+been regarded as the paragon of American Indian architecture. As a
+palace implies a potentate for its occupation, a character who never
+existed and could not exist under their institutions, it has been a
+means of self-deception with respect to the condition of the
+Aborigines which ought to be permanently discarded. Several distinct
+buildings are here grouped upon one elevated terrace, and are more
+or less connected. Altogether they are two hundred and twenty-eight
+feet long, front and rear, and one hundred and eighty feet deep,
+occupying not only the four sides of a quadrangle, but the greater
+part of what originally was, in all probability, an open court. The
+use of the interior court for additional structures shows a
+decadence of architecture and of ethnic life in the people, because
+it implies an unwillingness to raise a new pyramidal site to gain
+accommodations for an increased number of people. Thus to
+appropriate the original court so essential for light and air as
+well as room, and which is such a striking feature in the general
+plan of the architecture of the Village Indians, was a departure
+from the principles of this architecture. Nearly all the edifices in
+Yucatan and Central America agree in one particular, namely, in
+being constructed with three parallel walls with partition walls at
+intervals, giving two rows of apartments under one roof, usually, if
+not invariably, flat. Where several are grouped together on the same
+platform, as at Palenque, they are severally under independent roofs,
+and the spaces between, called courts, are simply open lanes or
+passageways between the structures. An inspection of the ground plan
+of the Palenque ruins in the folio volume of Dupaix, or in the work
+of Mr. Stephens, will be apt to mislead unless this feature of the
+architecture is kept in mind. There are in reality seven or eight
+distinct edifices crowded together upon the summit level of the
+platform. Mr. Stephens speaks of it as one structure. "The building,"
+he remarks, "was constructed of stone, and the whole front was
+covered with stucco and painted.... The doorways have no doors, nor
+are there the remains of any.... The tops of the doorways were all
+broken. They had evidently been square, and over every one were
+large niches in the wall on each side, in which the lintels had been
+laid. These lintels had all fallen, and the stones above formed
+broken natural arches." [Footnote: Central America, &c., ii, 310-312.]
+
+The interior walls in two rooms shown by engravings were plastered
+over. Architecturally, Palenque is inferior to the House of the Nuns;
+but it is more ornamental. It also has one peculiar feature not
+generally found in the Yucatan structures, namely, a corridor about
+nine feet wide, supposed to have run around the greater part of the
+exterior on the four sides. The exterior walls of these corridors
+rest on a series of piers, and the central or next parallel wall is
+unbroken, except by one doorway on each of three sides and two in
+the fourth, thus forming a narrow promenade. One of the interior
+buildings consists of two such corridors, but wider, on opposite
+sides of a central longitudinal wall. All the rooms in the several
+edifices are large. In one of the open spaces is a tower about
+thirty feet square, rising three stories. The Palenque structures
+are quite remarkable, standing upon an artificial eminence about
+forty feet high, and large enough to accommodate three thousand
+people living in the fashion of Village Indians.
+
+The plan of these houses, as well as of those in Yucatan, seems to
+show that they were designed to be occupied by groups of persons
+composed of a number of families, whose private boundaries were
+fixed by solid partition 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-tenement 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.
+[Footnote: Lieutenant Simpson's Report, Senate Ex. Doc., 1st Sess.,
+31st Congress, 1850, p. 81.]
+
+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 society 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 barbarism 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
+speaking 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 potentates,
+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. [Footnote: Central America, &c., ii, 235.]
+
+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 those [ruins] as yet known, as appears by the plan,
+is not larger than our Park or Battery" [in New York], he proceeds:
+"It is proper to add, however, that considering the space now
+occupied by the ruins as the site of palaces, temples, and public
+buildings, and supposing the houses of the inhabitants to have
+been, like those of the Egyptians and the present race of Indians,
+of frail and perishable materials as at Memphis and Thebes, to
+have disappeared altogether, the city may have covered an immense
+extent." [Footnote: Incidents of Travel, Central America, Chiapas
+and Yucatan, ii, p. 355 ff.] This is a clear case of suggestio falsi
+by Mr. Stephens, who is usually so careful and reliable and, even
+here, so guarded in his language. He had fallen into the mistake of
+regarding these remains as a city in ruins, instead of a small
+Indian pueblo in ruins. But he had furnished a general ground plan
+of all the ruins found of the Palenque pueblo, which made it plain
+that four or five structures upon pyramidal platforms at some
+distance from each other, with the whole space over which they
+were scattered about equal to the Battery, made a poor show for
+a city. The most credulous reader would readily perceive that it
+was a misnomer to call them the ruins of a city; wherefore the
+suggestions of Mr. Stephens, that "considering the space now
+occupied by the ruins as the site of palaces, temples, and public
+buildings, and supposing the houses of the inhabitants made ... of
+frail and perishable materials to have disappeared ... the city
+may have covered an immense extent." That Mr. Stephens himself
+considered or supposed either to be true may have been the case,
+but it seems hardly supposable, and in either event he is
+responsible for the false coloring thus put upon those ruins,
+and the deceptive inferences drawn from them.
+
+These structures are highly creditable to the intelligence of their
+builders, and can be made to reveal the manner of their use and the
+actual progress they had made in the arts of life; but they never
+can be rationally explained while such wild views are entertained
+concerning them. Until the actual character and signification of
+these ruins are made known, such opinions may be expected to prevail
+concerning them. They spring from the assumed existence of a state
+of society far enough advanced to develop potentates and privileged
+classes, with power to enforce labor from the people for personal
+objects. There is no evidence whatever in support of such an
+assumption. It is quite probable that small numbers belonging to
+every pueblo lived a portion of the year in the forests in temporary
+habitations, engaged in cultivation, or in hunting and fishing; but
+enough is known from the brief accounts of the early explorers to
+show us that the body of the inhabitants of Yucatan and Central
+America were gathered in pueblos or villages. Moreover, they were
+animated by the same spirit as the Cibolans in what related to
+personal independence. Rather than live in subjection to Spanish
+taskmasters, the very Indians who erected these houses with so much
+labor, as Coronado states of the Cibolans, "Set in order all their
+goods and substance, their women and children, and fled to the hills,
+leaving their towns, as it were, abandoned," [Footnote: Herrera,
+History of America, iii, 346, cf. 348.] preferring a return to a
+lower stage of barbarism rather than a loss of personal freedom. In
+1524 Cortex sent an officer "to reduce the people of Chiapas, who
+had revolted, which that commander effectually performed, for, when
+they could resist no longer, these desperate wretches cast
+themselves with their wives and children headlong from precipices,
+so that not above two thousand of them remained, whose offspring
+inhabit that province at this time." The inhabitants of Palenque may
+have been included in this description. [Footnote: ib., iv, 169.]
+
+The profiles of the Palenque Indians, copied by Stephens from
+representations in plaster in different parts of the several
+structures, show that they were flat-heads, like the Chinook Indians
+of the Columbia River; their foreheads having been flattened by
+artificial compression. Herrera, speaking generally of the
+inhabitants of Yucatan, remarks, "that they flattened their heads
+and foreheads." [Footnote: ib., iv, 169.] Whether it was a general
+practice does not appear, aside from the Palenque monuments, and the
+off-hand statement of Herrera.
+
+Another important question still remains, namely, whether or not the
+Indians of Yucatan and Central America had reached the first stage
+of scientific architecture, the use of the post and lintel of stone
+as a principle of construction in stone masonry. The Egyptians used
+the post and lintel, whence their architecture has been
+characterized as the horizontal. The Greeks did not get beyond this,
+although they brought in the three orders of architecture. The round
+and the pointed arch, used as principles of construction, with all
+they gave to architecture, were beyond even the Greeks. Speaking of
+the Governor's House, Mr. Stephens remarks, that "the doors are all
+gone, and the wooden lintels over them have fallen." [Footnote:
+Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, i, 175.]
+
+"In some of the inner apartments, the lintels were still in place
+over the doorways, and some were lying on the floor, sound and solid,
+which latter condition was no doubt owing to their being more
+sheltered than those over the outer doorway." [Footnote: ib., p. 178.]
+The same is true of the House of the Nuns, and of a number of other
+structures figured and described in Mr. Stephens' works. But lintels
+of stone are found in some houses. Thus, of one of the buildings at
+Kabah, he says: "The lintels over the doors are of stone." [Footnote:
+ib., i, 398.]
+
+In this case there was a stone column in the middle of the doorway,
+and the lintel was in two sections. Norman, speaking of the ruins at
+Chichen Itza, remarks that the "doorways are nearly a square of
+about seven feet, somewhat resembling the Egyptian; the sides of
+which are formed of large blocks of hewn stone. In some instances
+the lintels are of the same material." [Footnote: Rambles in Yucatan,
+p. 128.]
+
+They used sapote wood usually for lintels, a wood remarkable for its
+solidity and durability. It may safely be said that the lintel of
+wood was the rule in Yucatan, and not the exception. While they
+understood the use of the stone lintel, which alone was capable of
+affording a durable structure, its common and ordinary use was
+beyond their ability. The use of stone of the size required,
+overmatched their ability in stone masonry, as a rule. It cannot,
+therefore, be said that the post and lintel of stone became a
+principle of construction in their architecture. As the Mayas, who
+constructed these edifices, were in the Middle Status of barbarism,
+it was not to have been expected that their architecture would reach
+the scientific stage.
+
+American aboriginal history and ethnology have been perverted, and
+even caricatured in various ways, and, among others, by a false
+terminology, which of itself is able to vitiate the truth. When we
+have learned to substitute Indian confederacy for Indian kingdom;
+Teuchtli, or head war-chief, sachem, and chief, for king, prince,
+and lord; Indian villages in the place of "great cities"; communal
+houses for "palaces," and democratic for monarchic institutions;
+together with a number of similar substitutions of appropriate for
+deceptive and improper terms, the Indian of the past and present
+will be presented understandingly, and placed in his true position
+in the scale of human advancement. While the Aryan family has lost
+neatly all traces of its experiences anterior to the closing period
+of barbarism, the Indian family, in its different branches, offered
+for our investigation not only the state of savagery, but also that
+of both the opening and of the middle period of barbarism in full
+and ample development. The American aborigines had enjoyed a
+continuous and undisturbed progress upon a great continent, through
+two ethnical periods, and the latter part of a previous period, on a
+remarkable scale. If the opportunity had been wisely improved, a
+rational knowledge of the experience of our own ancestors, while in
+the same status, might have been gained through a study of these
+progressive conditions. Beside this, before a science of ethnology
+applied to the American aborigines can come into existence, the
+misconceptions, and erroneous interpretations which now encumber the
+original memorials must be removed. Unless this can in some way be
+effectually accomplished, this science can never be established
+among us.
+
+Our ethnography was initiated for us by European investigators, and
+corrupted in its foundation from a misconception of the facts. The
+few Americans who have taken up the subject have generally followed
+in the same track, and intensified the original errors of
+interpretation until romance has swept the field. Whether it is
+possible to commence anew, and retrieve what has been lost, I cannot
+pretend to determine. It is worth the effort.
+
+Finally, with respect to the condition and structures of the Village
+Indians of Yucatan and Central America, the following conclusions
+maybe stated as reasonable from the facts presented:
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to chapter end.]
+
+First: That the Family among them was too weak an organization to
+face alone the struggle of life, and therefore sheltered itself in
+large households, composed probably of related families.
+
+Second: That they were probably organized in gentes, and, as a
+consequence, were broken up into independent tribes, with
+confederacies here and there for mutual protection; and that their
+institutions were essentially democratic.
+
+Third: That from the plan and interior arrangement of these houses
+the practice of communism in living in households may be inferred.
+
+Fourth: That the people were Village Indians in the Middle Status of
+barbarism; living in a single joint-tenement house or in several
+such houses grouped together, and forming one pueblo.
+
+Fifth: That hospitality and communism in living were laws of their
+condition, which found expression in the form of the houses, which
+were adapted to communism in living in large households.
+
+Sixth: That all there ever was of Uxmal, Palenque, Copan, and other
+pueblos in these areas, building for building, and stone for stone,
+are there now in ruins.
+
+Seventh: That nothing herein stated is inconsistent with the
+supposition that some of these structures were devoted to religious
+uses.
+
+Finally: That a common principle runs through all this architecture,
+from the Columbia River and the Saint Lawrence, to the Isthmus of
+Panama, namely, that of adaptation to communism in living.
+
+When we attempt to understand the "Palace at Palenque" or the
+Governor's House at Uxmal, as the residences of Indian potentates,
+they are wholly unintelligible; but as communal joint-tenement houses,
+embodying the social, the defensive, and the communal principles, we
+can understand how they could have been created, and so elaborately
+and laboriously finished. It is evident that they were the work of
+the people, constructed for their own enjoyment and protection.
+Enforced labor never created them. On the contrary, it is the charm
+of all these edifices, roomy, and tasteful and remarkable as they are,
+that they were raised by the Indians for their own use, with willing
+hands, and occupied by them on terms of entire equality. Liberty,
+equality, and fraternity are emphatically the three great principles
+of the gens, and this architecture responds to these sentiments. And
+it is highly creditable to the Indian mind that while in the Middle
+Status of barbarism they had developed the capacity to plan, and the
+industry to rear, structures of such architectural design and
+imposing magnitude.
+
+I have now submitted all I intended to present with respect to the
+house architecture of the American aborigines. It covers but a small
+part of a great subject. As a key to the interpretation of this
+architecture, two principles, the practice of hospitality and the
+practice of communism in living, have been employed. They seem to
+afford a satisfactory explanation of its peculiar features in
+entire harmony with Indian institutions. Should the general reader
+be able to acquiesce in this interpretation, it will lead to a
+reconstruction of our aboriginal history, now so imperatively
+demanded.
+
+[Relocated Footnote: Whether the Indian tribes of any part of North
+America had learned to quarry stone to use for building purposes, is
+still a question. In New Mexico there is no evidence that they
+quarried stone. They picked up and used such stones as were found in
+broken masses at the base of cliffs, or as were found on the surface
+and could be easily removed from their bed. In Central America, if
+anywhere they must have quarried stone, in the strict sense of this
+term, but as yet there is no decisive evidence of the fact. It will
+be necessary to find the quarries from which the stones were taken,
+with such evidence of their having been worked as these quarries may
+exhibit. The stones used in the edifices in Yucatan and Central
+America are represented as a "soft coralline limestone," and, in
+some cases, as in that of the Copan Idols, so called, of a "soft
+grit stone." It requires the application of more than ordinary
+intelligence and skill to quarry stone, even of this character. The
+native tribes had no metals except native copper gold and silver,
+and these were without the harness requisite for a lever or chisel;
+and they had no explosives to use in blasting. Other agencies may
+have been used. We find the stone lintel for the doorway beyond
+their ability for ordinary use, and that for the want of it, they
+were unable to erect permanent structures in stone. The art of
+quarrying stone is gained by mankind before civilization is gained,
+but it must commence in rude form before more effective means are
+discovered through experience. If any of the American Indian tribes
+had advanced to this knowledge, and possessed the skill and ability
+to quarry stone, it is important that the fact should be established,
+and that they should have credit for the progress in knowledge
+implied by this skill and ability. Dressed stone from the walls at
+Uxmal, Palenque, and elsewhere in Yucatan and Central America should
+be proved by applying the square to find whether a level surface and
+a true angle were formed upon them. It should also be ascertained
+whether the walls are truly vertical, and also whether they had
+learned to make a mortar of quicklime and sand. Before our
+adventurous writers use in connection with our native tribes and
+their works such terms as "civilization, great cities, palaces, and
+temples," and apply such imposing titles as "king, prince, and lord"
+to Indian chiefs, they should be prepared to show that some at least
+of their tribes had learned the use of wells and how to dig them,
+and how to quarry stone, to prepare a mortar of lime and sand; to
+form a right angle and a level face upon a stone, and lay up
+vertical walls. These necessary acquisitions precede the first
+beginnings of civilization.]
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  A.
+
+  Abert, J. W., cited
+  Aboriginal history perverted
+  Acosta, J. de, cited
+  Adair, J., cited
+  Adobe houses, ruins of
+        mortar
+  Aleuts, communal dwellings
+          hospitality of the
+  Altars, Mound-Builders'
+  Amidas, P.
+  Ancient society, uniformity in the plan of
+  Anonymous Conqueror
+  Arroyo pueblo
+  Arickarees
+  Athenian tribes, coalescence of
+  Atolli
+  Aztec Confederacy
+  Aztecs, cremation among the
+          eating customs of the
+          extravagant accounts concerning the
+          governmental institutions of the
+          houses of the
+          social system of the
+
+
+  B.
+
+  Bachofen, Professor
+  Bancroft, H. H.
+            cited
+  Bandelier, A. F., cited
+  Barlow, Arthur
+  Bartram, John, cited
+  Brasseur de Bourbourg, C. E.
+
+
+  C.
+
+  Calpulli
+  Caribs, communal dwellings of the
+          houses of the
+  Carver, J., cited
+  Casa Cerrada or closed house
+  Castanyada, S. de N., cited
+  Catlin, G., cited
+  Champlain, S. de, cited
+  Chiapas, village of
+  Chickasas, gentes and phratries
+  Chilluckittequaw, hospitality of the
+  Chimneys, absence of
+            unknown in Yucatan and Central America
+  Chinooks, houses of the
+  Chocta, gentes and phratries
+  Chopunish, house of the
+  Cibola, Seven Cities of
+                       site of the
+  Clahclellahs, houses of the
+  Clan, the Scottish
+  Clarke, J. S.
+  Clatsops, houses of the
+  Clavigero, F. S. cited
+  Columbus, Christopher
+  Communal dwellings
+                     of tribes in Lower Status of barbarism
+                     of tribes in savagery
+                     of Village Indians of New Mexico
+  Communism among ancient Mexicans
+            in living
+            in relation to dwellings
+  Confederacies, origin of
+  Confederacy confined to a common language
+              Iroquois. See Iroquois Confederacy.
+              of the Aztecs
+                     Creek
+                     Dakota
+                     Moki
+                     Ottawa
+              the nearest analogue of nation
+  Copan grave posts
+        idols
+  Coronado, F. V., cited
+  Core used in the architecture of Yucatan
+  Cortez, F.
+          cited
+  Coues, E., cited
+  Creek Confederacy
+  Creek Indians, communal dwellings of the
+  Crees
+  Cremation among Mound-Builders
+            practice of, among the Aztecs
+                                   Mayas
+                                   Tlascalans
+  Crossman, Captain, cited
+  Culture periods
+  Curia, the Roman
+  Cutler, J. G.
+
+
+  D.
+
+  Dakota League
+         lodge described
+  Dakotans, communism of the
+  Dall, W. H., cited
+  Dankers, Jasper, cited
+  Delawares, communism of the
+             eating customs of the
+             hospitality of the
+  Descent in female line in archaic period
+  De Soto, Hernando, cited
+  Diaz, Bernal, cited
+  Dwellings, communal. See Communial dwellings.
+
+
+  E.
+
+  Earth works, object of the
+               size of the
+  Embankments as base of houses
+  Emory, General W. H., cited
+  Eskimos
+  Ethnic or culture periods
+  Exaggerations in the accounts of the ancient Mexicans.
+
+
+  F.
+
+  Feudalism, absence of in America
+  Food, joint ownership in
+  Foster, J. W.
+  Frontenac, L. de B.
+  Funeral practice, organization at.
+
+
+  G.
+
+  Galbraith, F. G.
+  Garcilasso de la Vega
+  Gardens, artificial
+  Gens, archaic form
+        as it exists among American aborigines
+        founded upon kin
+        intermarriage in, prohibited
+        Iroquois
+                rights, privileges, and obligations
+        number of persons in
+        rights, privileges, and obligations of
+        stages of development
+        the Greek
+        the Latin
+        the Sanskrit
+  Gentes and tribes formed by natural growth
+         Chickasas
+         Chocta
+         Dakotan
+         Iroquois, number of
+                   list of
+         Maya
+         Mohegan
+         named after animals
+         Ojibwa
+         Omaha
+         similar in different tribes
+         Tlingit
+         transfer of, between phratries
+  Gentile organization
+          society distinguished from political
+  Gorman, S., cited
+  Government, growth of the idea of
+              plan of among American aborigines
+              stages in the development of
+  Governor's House
+  Granganimeo
+  Grave posts of chiefs
+  Greenbalgh
+            cited
+  Grenville, R.
+  Grijalva, J., cited
+  Guerra, C., cited
+  Gyneocracy among the Iroquois.
+
+
+  H.
+
+  Halls unknown in Indian architecture
+  Hayden, F. V.
+  Heckewelder, J. cited
+  Heffernan
+  Herrera, A. de, cited
+  Hiawatha
+  High-Bank pueblo described
+  Hindus, communal customs among the
+  Hospitality general among Indians of America
+              law of
+              of the Aleuts
+                     Delawares
+                     Indians of California
+                                Mexico, Central and South America
+                                Ohio
+                                South America
+                                      Carolina
+                                the Columbia
+                                    Northwest
+                     Iroquois
+                     Mandans
+                     Mayas
+                     Nez Perces
+                     North Carolina Indians
+                     Onondagas
+                     Pimas
+                     Southern Indians
+                     tribes of the Missouri
+                                   Upper Mississippi
+                     Village Indians of New Mexico
+  House architecture modified by climate
+  Household, number of persons in
+  House life of the Indians
+        of the Dwarf
+               Nuns at Uxmal
+               Old Woman
+               Pigeon
+               Turtle
+  Houses of Central America
+         capacity of the
+         of Indian tribes north of New Mexico
+            the Aztecs
+                California Indians
+                Caribs
+                Chinooks
+                Chopunish
+                Clahclellahs
+                Clatsops
+                Indians of Columbia Valley
+
+  Houses of the Kutchin
+                Makah Indians
+                Mandans and Minnetarees
+                Maricopas and Mohaves
+                Nyack Indians
+                Pueblo Taos
+                Uxmal
+                Village Indians
+                Virginia Indians
+         ruins of, in Yucatan and Central America
+         safe against Indian assault
+  Howitt, A. W., on Australian customs.
+
+
+  I.
+
+  Idols at Copan
+  Indian society unlike European
+  Indians, house life of the
+           of Mexico and Central America, communal dwellings of the
+                                                 tenure of lands
+              New Mexico, communal dwellings of the
+                          land customs of the
+              Northwest coast, communal dwellings of the
+              Peru, communism of the
+           Southern, communal dwellings of the
+                     eating customs of the
+  Inheritance, customs of
+  Iroquois, communal dwellings of the
+            communion among
+            confederacy
+                       cohesive principles of
+                       democratic
+                       founded on kinship
+                       general features of the
+                       origin of the
+                       seat of the central tribes
+            Council, annual meeting of the
+                     decisions of the
+                     objects of the
+            eating customs of the
+            gens
+                rights, privileges, and obligations
+            gentes, number of the
+                    list of the
+            hospitality of the
+            houses of the, described
+            lands of the
+            Long-House
+            migration of the
+            mother rights
+            number of, in existence
+            number of the
+            phratries
+            phratry, functions and uses
+                     objects of the
+            sachemships of the
+                        table of the
+            sachems, names bestowed upon
+            tribal epithets
+                   government
+            war chiefs
+  Ives, J. C., cited.
+
+
+  J.
+
+  Jackson, W. H.
+                 cited
+  Jaramillo, Juan, cited
+  Joliet, L.
+  Jones, S., cited
+  Jose, J.
+  Jus gentilicium.
+
+
+  K.
+
+  Kern
+  Kinship, rights and duties of, among the Aztecs
+           rights, duties, and obligations of
+  Kin the basis of gentes
+  Kootenays
+  Kutchin, houses of the.
+
+
+  L.
+
+  Lands, division of
+         of the Iroquois
+         ownership of, in common
+                          severalty
+         of Village Indians, rights in
+         tenure of, among ancient Mexicans
+  Languages, stock, number of
+             great number of, among American aborigines
+             verbal, incapable of permanence
+  Lapham, J. A.
+  Las Casas, B. de, cited
+  Latin and Sabine gentes, coalescence of
+  Lewis and Clark, cited
+  Lintels of Pueblos of Mexico
+             wood and stone
+  Lolsel
+  Long-House of the Iroquois described
+                    Onondaga described
+             symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy
+
+
+  M.
+
+  Maine
+  Maize indigenous to America
+  Makah Indians, houses of the
+  Mandan drying scaffolds
+         houses, interior of the
+         ladders
+  Mandans, communal dwellings of the
+           eating customs of the
+           hospitality of the
+           houses of the
+  Marcos, Friar
+  Male labor, first appearance of
+  Maricopas, houses of the
+  Marquette, J. cited
+  Marsh, O. C.
+  Maximilian, Prince
+  Mayas, communism in living
+                   of the
+         cremation among
+         gentes of the
+         hospitality of the
+         of Yucatan
+  Meals, customs relating to
+         separation of the sexes at
+  Mexican houses, size of the
+                  usually two stories high
+          land ownership, conclusions concerning
+  Mexicans, ancient inheritance among.
+
+  Mexican tribes, migration of the
+  Mexico, pueblo of
+                   council-house
+                   largest in America
+  Migration of the Iroquois
+  Migrations occur through physical causes
+  Miller, D. J. cited
+  Minnetarees, houses of the
+  Mishonginivi, pueblo of, described
+  Mitchell, H. L.
+  Mohaves, houses of the
+  Mohegan gentes and phratries
+  Moki confederacy
+       house, interior
+       Pueblos
+  Montezuma
+           a war chief
+           house of
+  Montezuma's dinner
+              palace
+  Mortar, use of among American Indians
+  Mound-Builders
+                arts and industries of the
+                circular enclosures of the
+                cremation among the
+                derived from Village Indians of New Mexico
+                earth-works, uses of
+                houses of the
+                in Middle Status of barbarism
+                migrations of the
+                migrations of, affected by climate
+                modification of house architecture
+                probable number of
+                probably derived from New Mexico
+                social organization of the
+                structure of, in Ohio
+  Mound, Grave Creek
+  Mounds at Mound City
+  Murphy, H. C.
+
+
+  N.
+
+  Nation, a coalition of tribes
+  National Assembly, functions of
+  Ncerchokioo
+  Nez Perces, hospitality of the
+  Norman, B. M., cited
+  Nyack Indians, houses of the.
+
+
+  O.
+
+  Ojibwa gentes
+         lodge, description of
+  Omaha gentes
+  Onondaga, Long-House of the, described
+  Onondagas, hospitality of the
+  Onondaga village described
+  Organization, social and governmental
+  Otoes
+  Ottawa confederacy
+  Ownership of lands in severalty.
+
+
+  P.
+
+  Palenque architecture
+           so-called palace of the
+  Parker William, a Seneca chief
+  Peru, tenure of lands in
+  Phrata of the Albanians
+  Phratric organization at funerals
+  Phratries, Chickasas
+             Chocta
+             composed of kindred gentes
+             Mohegan
+             of the Iroquois
+             Thinklit
+  Phratry, existence of the, in Mexico and Central America
+           in the military organization
+           Iroquois, functions and uses
+                     objects of
+           marriage in the
+           older than the confederacy
+           the
+  Pimas, hospitality of the
+  Plant life in the Rocky Mountains
+  Pomeiock, village of, described
+  Powell, J. W.
+  Powers, Stephen, cited
+  Powhattan Village, communal dwellings of the
+  Prescott, W. H.
+  Pueblo of Chettro Kettle, size of the
+            Mexico
+  Pueblos, number of persons in
+           of North American, number of inhabitants
+              Yucatan and Central America, population of
+           size of
+
+
+  Q.
+
+  Quatmozin
+  Quelenes.
+
+
+  R.
+
+  Raleigh, Sir Walter
+  Religious beliefs
+            seclusion
+  Rights in lands among the Indians of Taos
+  Robertson, cited
+  Round towers
+  Ruins, east of the Rio Grande
+         in McElmo Canyon
+            the San Juan district
+         near base of Ute Mountain
+         in Mexico
+         of houses in New Mexico
+            the pueblo of Bonito
+                          Hungo Pavie
+                          Alto
+                          Chettro Kettle
+                          Penyasca Blanca
+                          Pintado
+                          Una Vida
+                          Wejegi
+                          Zayi
+                          Arroyo
+                       on the Animas River
+                                          outline plan
+                                            of
+
+
+  S.
+
+  Sachems of the Iroquois, names bestowed upon
+  Sachemships of the Iroquois Confederacy
+                              table of
+
+  Sahagun, B. cited
+  Sandhill crane
+  San Juan district, ancient occupation of the
+                     geographic relations of the
+           Valley, altitude of
+  Santo Domingo, pueblo of
+  Sauks, communal dwellings of the
+  Schulz, Carl
+  Secotan, village of, described
+  Seneca-Iroquois. See Iroquois.
+  Senel
+  Sept, the Irish
+  Shawnees, removal of the
+  Shoshones, hospitality of the
+  Sibley tent, aboriginal origin of the
+  Simpson, J. H.
+               cited
+  Sitgreave, L.
+  Shuyter, Peter, cited
+  Smet, P. J. de
+  Smith, John, cited
+  Social and governmental organization
+  Society, organization of
+  Sokulks, commercial dwellings of the
+  Spanish accounts of Aztec society
+          histories, how they should be regarded
+  Squire, E. G., cited
+  Squire and Davis, cited
+  Steck, M.
+  Stephens, J. L., cited
+  Stevenson, J.
+  Stevenson, Mrs. J., description of Zunyi, by
+  Stones of Pueblo dwellings
+  Swan, C.
+  Swan, J. G., cited
+  Symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy
+  Syndyasmian family.
+
+
+  T.
+
+  Taos, houses of
+        Indians, organization of
+        pueblo of described
+  Teepan, or official house of the tribe
+  Tenbroeck, cited
+  Teuchtli
+  Tlingit, gentes and phrates
+  Tiotohatton, size of
+               village of, described
+  Tlascalans, cremation among
+              the four lineages of the
+  Toques
+  Towers, round
+  Tribal government of the Iroquois
+                    stages of
+  Tribe composed of gentes
+        functions and attributes of
+        the
+  Tribe, the characteristics of
+  Tribes and gentes continually forming
+                    formed by natural growth
+         evolved from each other
+         in savagery, continual dwellings of
+  Tribute and tribute lands.
+
+
+  U.
+
+  Uxmal, Governor's House at
+                            described
+         House of the Nuns at
+                             ground plan
+                             room described
+         structures of
+
+
+  V.
+
+  Vega, Garcillasso de la, cited
+  Village Indians, houses of the
+                   of New Mexico, arts of
+                   religious beliefs of
+  Voyage to New York in 1679-1680 by Dankers and Sluyter.
+
+
+  W.
+
+  Walker, F. A., on the Iroquois
+  Ward, J., cited
+  Whittlesry, C.
+  Wocoken, island of
+  Wolpi, pueblo of
+  Wright, A.
+  Wyth, J., cited.
+
+  Y.
+
+  Yucatan and Central American agriculture
+                               architecture
+                               confederacies
+                               general condition of the aborigines
+                               household life in
+                               Indians, condition and structures of
+                               languages of
+                               population of
+                               villages designed as fortresses
+                               ruins of houses in
+                               village life
+
+  Yzaes
+         Maya Indians of
+
+  Z.
+
+  Zaya, apartment in
+        architecture
+        ground plans of
+        ruins of
+  Zelsales
+  Zempoala described
+  Zunyi, pueblo of
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Houses and House-Life of the American
+Aborigines, by Lewis H. Morgan
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSES OF ABORIGENES ***
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