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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

U. 8 GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF TIE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
J. W. POWELL IN CHARGE

CONTRIBUTIONS

NORTH AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

VOLUME 1V

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1881

fae Cu
aely te
SOA

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
U. 8. GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
J. W. POWELL 1N CHARGE

HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE

OF THE

AMERICAN ABORIGINES

BY

eNOS ,El. MOR G AUN

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1881

(iii)

PRERA CE.

The following work substantially formed the Fifth Part of the origi-
nal 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 Aborig-
ines.” 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
“ Archeological 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. hus additional strength is given to the argu-
ment 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
Vv

vi PREFACE.

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 dif-
ferent degrees of advancement of these several tribes would naturally pro-
duce. 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 fur-
nish the key to its explanation. These pages are designed as a commence-
ment 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

PREFACE. Vil

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 prin-
ciple 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 under-
standing of the house life of the aborigines. These organizations form the
basis of American ethnology. Although the discussion falls short of a com-
plete 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 re-
lating 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 prog-
ress, and inaugurated an improved condition. For these reasons the period
of savagery has been divided into three subperiods, and that of barba-
rism also into three; the latter of which are chiefly important in their rela-
tion 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

vill PREFACE.

two very different and very dissimilar conditions of life. The larger por-
tion 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
Tam indebted for many valuable suggestions, and for constant encourage-
ment 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.
Rocuester, 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 EI
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—Univer-
sality 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 house-
hold—Long Houses of the Iroquois—Several families in 2 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 « common stock—Fishing bands on the Columbia—Vhe capture
a common stock—Large households in tribes of the Columbia—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 WITIL 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, Jemez, and Zuni—Among Aztecs or Ancient Mexi-
cans, as presented by Mr. Bandelier ; in Peru—The usage of having but one prepared meal each day,
a dinner—Rnle among Northern tribes—A breakfast as well as a dinner claimed for the Mexicans—
Separation at meals, the men eating first, and by themselyes, and the women and children after-
wards.

Ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

a

CHAPTER V.

TIOUSES OF INDIAN TRIBES NORTH Ol 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 house-
hold—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-Ivoquois—Dirt Lodge of Mandans and Minne-
tarees—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 Zuni—Ceiling—Water-
jars and hand-mill—Moki pueblo—Room in same—Ceiling like that at Zuni—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 intro-
duction—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 Payie—Pueblo of Chettro-Kettle—
Room in same—Form of ceiling—Pueblo Bonito—Room in same—Restoration of Pueblo—Pueblo
del Arroyo—Pueblo Pefiasca Blanca—Seven large pteblos and two smaller ones—Pueblo Alto with-
out 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 appear-
ance of the valley when inhabited.

CHAPTER VIII.

HOUSES IN RUINS OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF THE SAN JUAN RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES—(Con-
tinued.)

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 pueblo 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 eulture—Mound-Builders probable emigrants from this region—Historical
tribes of Mexico emigrants from same—Indian migrations—Made under control of physical causes,

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xl

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 embank-
ments—Conjectural restoration of this 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 explained—Similar to those in New Mexico—Communism in living probable
—Cortez in Pueblo of Mexico—His quarters—Explanation of Diaz—Of Herrera—Of Bandelier—
House occupied by Montezuma—A communal house—Montezuma’s dinner—According to Diaz—To
Cortez—To llerrera—To H. H. Bancroft—Excessive exaggerations—Dinner in common by a com-
munal 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 architectnre—Pueblos were occupied when discovered—Uxmal houses erected on pyra-
midal elevations—Governor’s house—Character of its arehitecture—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—Presumptively inherited from
their ancestors—Ruins of Zayi—The closed house—Apartments constructed over a core of masonry
—Palenqne—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.—Zuni Water Carrier.

Fie. 1. Earth Lodges of the Sacramento Valley .--------------------+--++++++------- to face page
Fic. 2. Gallinomero Thatched Lodge ...--. ----------- ------ -----+ +--+ 2+ eee ree-- to face page
Fie. 3. Maidu Lodge in the high Sierra ...--. ----------- ------ -----+++-+--++------ to face page
Tig. 4. Y6kuts Tule Lodges...--.------.----- ------ -22--+ -----+ een ee tees cree eee to face page
ines Gy, Ukvirdletin boys) Gasca seacha dances Jab eae eases eee SEER =a eee SS —eo SOS Roo o ec eo oceocoes
Fic. 6. Ground-plan of Necrchokioo....-..-.----.--------- -+---+ -----+ eee 2222 reer reece
Fic. 7. Frame of Ojibwa Wig-e-wam..----.----------- -----+-----+ e+ ree eee e ee ne reer recess
Fic. 8. Dakota Wiikd-yo, or Skin Tent...------------------------ +--2-+ e---- + 2-2-2 rrr eee cree
Fic. 9. Village of Pomeiock -..--. ..---. -------- -----2 22-0 se cee eee eee ee ce re reen rere renee
Fig. 10. Village of Secotan ...-..------ -----.----- ---+ e-2 + eee eee eee eee rete ee nee to face page
Fie. 11. Interior of House of Virginia Indians. -.-..-.-.----------------------- +++ -++-++--++----
Fig. 12. Ho-dé-no-sote of the Seneca-Iroquois .-.------------------ ---------22+ --- 2-2 errr eee
Fig. 13. Ground-plan of Seneca-Iroquois Long-House..-.-..----- ------ ¢2---++---2+ 2222222 e eee
Fic. 14. Bartram’s ground-plan and cross-section of Onondaga Long-House ..---. --------------
Fre. 15. Palisaded Onondaga Village -----..------------------------ +++ -----+eee--- to face page
Fic. 16. Mandan Village Plot..---. .----. ------------- ----+ +--+ eee ree coer ee cern ee cere ee eee
Fic. 17. Ground-plan of Mandan House .----- ------

Fie. 18. Cross-section of Mandan Touse...---.----. -----+ ------ -------++---+ +--+ So becsonescooD
Tce MEL Wilby ROE Oe 5 soso Janes BAC REE OSreOe See ned 2aScIGo SSeO=o BSC CoS SOO co Sede br econ nosccos
Fia. 20. Mandan Drying-Seatfold. ...--.-..---. .----- ---- +--+ 2+ +2222 ee ee eee cee ere eee
Hire. 21. Mandan ladder: -----.. ----2----- -.-- --- = 223 - = 2s anna aie sane nee ee scene =n =
Fic. 22. Pueblo of Santo Domingo ....-.-. ..---. ---.-----+ ---- -----+ ++ 2-22 +--+ -2-- to face page
Wes CBE TCO! YAR noes spars csce Hone Hobo dogo eee eboS aeeese6 =e Eeeordeors to face page
IE, OG Ikon tha Arm BONES <oos feos coos cmos ence aaSens Bese Seok scommede psuc SECO nE IME)
TES, TETAS WON ils cadee sodese dnoSoc cuobeo Se DoD UES SESS oraa Srep CamCeomnesss to face page
TRE GS. Teton a Ceo eee es eee so He ecooS ons COB SOD SOOO RICE SROs RoRRCc SeCcED a econ Soto.
Fie. 27. North Pueblo of Taos .<.--- ..---.----------- ---- ---- e--- ---- 22+ = === +o =e -- to face page
GaSe OO MeO neh lol Of. LAOS) =a eee tenets ear asi ola iste = ie ne ies li to face page
Fre. 29. Map of a portion of Chaco Canon---.--.----------------------------------- to face page
Fig. 30. Ground-plans of Pueblos Pintada and Wejegi ..-. .---------------- .-------to face page
Fic. 31. Ground-plans of Pueblos of Una Vida and Hungo Pavie-...---------------- to face page
Fic. 32. Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavic......-...------------+----.------------to face page
Fic. 33. Ground-plan of Pueblo Chettro Kettle ...-...--...----.-------------------- to face page
F rq. 34. Interior of a Room in Pueblo Chettro Kettle. .........--..-----------------to face page
HrGuoo Ground planon LUeb10) BONO eee ae (eimai = = = =~ = 2 = = oininivie se) to face page
RiGee SosRoomin >oeblo Bonito] ss sees nee eee eee ena aan ee ool la. bOtaceypare
ING SZ/5 INA OTHE TEE NIGV Saute) coon Kooamege noas done Soe SeSe meen cneees Genes to face page
Fic. 38. Gronnd-plan of Pueblo del Arroyo ...-...----.------- (Seeed cabo Bosses os Sear to face page
Fig. 39. Ground-plan of Pueblo Penasca Blanca..--.. ...---.--.----.--------------- to face page
Fic. 40. Ground-plan of the Pueblo on Animas River .--......-..-------------------------+----
Fic. 41. Stone from Doorway ------ Sonoono cok ods abotos odt6 coe ces ocean coe Sap ooobesss saeSeesga”

xu

Page.

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156
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. 55.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

z. 4la. A finished block of Sandstone (for comparison with Fig. 41) ........---.---.....-.--.-
x. 42.
. 43.
G. 44.
. 45.
G. 46.
) Restoration of) High Bank Pueblo- se --— ~-e= e-em eee ee ae to face page
. Ground-plan and sections of house, High Bank Pueblo............----..--- to face page
. Mound with: artificialiclay basin- 25>. 22-202 -an-) soso a teeta ee
. Side elevation of Pyramidal Platform of Governor’s House .....--.....-.-...-.-. -----
IGOVEXNOLs MOUSE) ab UKIN al ae ema a= lente acronis ae elas ee ee to face page
. Ground-plan of Governor’s House, Uxmal ..-...--.--2- 2.- .--22--- enee-eee to face page
7 Ground-planior the Mouse.of the Nuns---- = sssec =e se nee eee nee eee
. Section of room in House of the Nuns........-...---.----- SooSeeinesis so0sce to face page

Section of Cedar lintel: ..2.)- 20. 25.2.2. face Saisie ce eee eee eee eee eee eee

Outline plan of Stone Pueblo near base of Ute Mountain .... -....-..-----.-.---.------
Ground-plan of High Bank Pueblo--- ~~. 25 2-2 sees ats se een nele eee eee to face page

Ground-plan (ol Zayin. 2 0. oo=5 05.2 co scles ees se eee ne eee eee

. Cross-section through one apartment...... --.--- ---2 -eccee sone cone nnn --e- to face page

HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMHERI-
CAN ABORIGINES.

BY LEWIS H. MORGAN.

CHAP TER I.
SOCIAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.

In a previous work* I have considered the organization of the Ameri-
can 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.

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, Kuropean, 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 establish-
ment 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 Ameri-
can aborigines. In like manner tie Irish sept, the Scottish clan, the phrara
of the Albanians, and the Sanskrit ganas, without extending the comparison
further, are the same as the American Indian gens, which has usually been

— -

* “Ancient Society ; or, Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery through Bar-

barism to Civilization.” Henry Holt & Co. 1877. .
1

2, HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

ralled 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 organi-
zation 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, yévos, and ganas in Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit have alike the
primary signification of kim. They contain the same element as gigno,
ylyvomas, and ganamai, 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 com-
mon ancestor, distinguished by a gentile name, and bound together by affini-
ties 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, to-
gether with the children of her female descendants, through females, in per-
petuity; 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,

MORGAN, ] THE GENS FOUNDED UPON KIN. 3

Grecian, and Sanskrit speaking tribes, with whom it became such a conspic-
uous 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, endur-
ing 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 com-
menced. 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, gradu-
ally 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 in-
vestigation 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

4 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 organiza-
tions 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 assem-
blage 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 fun-
damental. 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,

MORGAN.) DESCENT IN FEMALE LINE IN ARCHAIC PERIOD. 5

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 ascer-
tainable, 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 the 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 thou-
sands 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 con-
ceptions, 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

6 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

divided between them. Resting on the bond of kin as its cohesive prin-
ciple, 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 Ganowdnian 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 manu-
factured 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; * 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 gar-
ments, 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 aborigines of the continent.”+

* These loaves or cakes were about six inches in diameter and an inch thick.
+ North American Review, April No., 1873, p. 370, Note.

MORGAN] GENTES USUALLY NAMED AFTER ANIMALS. a

- 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:

Senecas. Cayugas. Onondagas. Oneidas. Mohawks.
.. Wolf. Wolf. Wolf. Wolf. Wolf.
_. Bear. Bear. Bear. Bear. Bear.
_.- Turtle. Turtle. Turtle. Turtle. Turtle.
_.Beaver. Beaver. Beaver.

_. Deer. Deer. Deer.
. - Snipe. Snipe. Snipe.
_. Heron. Eel. Eel.
.-Hawk. Hawk. Ball.

nanoanw fF wn

Tuscaroras.
Gray Wolf.
Bear.

Great Turtle.
Beaver.
Yellow Wolf.
Snipe.

Kel.

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 obli-

gations conferred and imposed upon its members, and which made up the

jus gentilicium:
I. The right of electing its sachem and chiefs.
Il. 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.
VIL. 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.

8 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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. hese 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 univer-
sally 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 gen-
erally 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

MORGAN.) NUMBER OF PERSONS IN A GENS. 9

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 U pper
Status of barbarism on different continents, and in full vitality in the Gre-
cian 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 sys-
tems 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 organiza-
tion to mankind, while in a savage and in a barbarous state, must be
regarded as abundantly demonstrated.

THE PHRATRY.

The phratry (gparpz@) is a brotherhood, as the term imports, and a
natural growth from the organization into gentes. It is an organie union
or association of two or more gentes of the same tribe for certain common

10 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

objects. These gentes were usually such as had been formed by the seg-
mentation 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 under-
standing 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-ai-non-di’-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 sub-
divisions. It is thus seen that the phratry had a natural foundation in the

MORGAN. ] PHRATRIES COMPOSED OF KINDRED GENTES. 11

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 equi-
librium 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 sep-
aration 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 Iro-
quois from time immemorial, It is probably older than the confederacy
which was established more than four centuries ago. The amount of dif-
ference 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. 7

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 com-
mon 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 phra-

12. HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

try 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 per-
sonal 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.*

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 coun-
cil, and then addressed itself to the other phratry, to which it sent a delega-
tion 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 con-
donation would he increased, especially if there were extenuating circum-
stances. 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 pun-
ishment, 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

* League of the Iroquois, p. 294.

MORGAN.) PHRATRIC ORGANIZATION AT FUNERALS. 13

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 phraty conducted the ceremonies. At the funeral of Hand-
some Lake (Gii-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 suc-
cessor 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

14 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 con-
dition 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 gens
and tribe. The phratric institution among the Iroquois was in its rudi-
mentary archaic form; but it grew into life by natural and inevitable devel-
opment, 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. Un-
fortunately 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 occu-
pied the four quarters of the pueblo of Tlascala were, in all probability, so
many phratries. They were sufticiently 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 (Zeuctli), who was its general military commander.
They went forth to battle by phratries. The organization of a military

MORGAN] PHRATRY IN THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION. 15

force by phratries and by tribes was not unknown to the Homeric Greeks.
Thus, Nestor advises Agamemnon to “separate the troops by phratries and
by tribes, so that phratry may support phratry and tribe tribe.”* 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 organ-
ized 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. Itis 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 phra-
tries, 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

* Tliad, ii, 362.

16 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.—1. Wild Cat. 2. Bird. 3. Fish. 4. Deer.
Il. Spanish Phratry.
Gentes—5. Raccoon. 6. Spanish. 7. Royal. 8. Hush-ko’-ni. 9. Squir-
rel. 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.
Il. Turtle Phratry.
Gentes—5. Little Turtle. 6. Mud Turtle. 7. Great Turtle. 8. Yellow
Eel.
IL. Turkey Phratry.
Gentes.—9. Turkey. 10. Crane. 11. Chicken.

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. Itis 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.

MORGAN.) THE TRIBE—THIRD STAGE OF ORGANIZATION. UP

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 phra-
tries, as follows :

I. Wolf Phratry.
Gentes—1. Bear. 2. Eagle. 3. Dolphin. 4. Shark. 5. Alea.
Il. 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 mem-
bers 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 Gano-
wanian 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 organ-
ization of the great body of the American aborigines. The large number
of independent tribes into which they had fallen by the natural process of

3

18 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

segmentation is the striking characteristic of their condition. Each tribe
was individualized by a name, by a separate dialect, by a supreme govern-
ment, 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 indepen-
dent 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 abo-
rigines, 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 Mis-
souris with the Otoes 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 insti-
tutions. A small portion only had attained to the ultimate stage known
among them, that of a confederacy of tribes speaking dialects of the same

MORGAN. | TRIBES AND GENTES CONTINUALLY FORMING. 19

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 hinder-
ance 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 inter-
ests 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 oceur a gradual outflow of people from some overstocked geograph-
ical center, which possessed superior advantages in the means of subsist-
ence. 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 feel-
ing, 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

290 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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. Dia-
lectic 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 Gano-
wanian family is locked up in the life and growth of the gentes._ If investi-
gation 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.

MORGAN.] CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRIBE. 21

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.
Il. 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 organiza-
tion 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 govern-
ment 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 gener-
ally among tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism. ‘The second stage was
a government co-ordinated between a council of chiefs and a general mili-
tary commander, one representing the civil and the other the military fune-
tions. 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

22 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

ra

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 coun-
cil 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 Par-
liament, of Congress, and of legislatures. In like manner the office of gen-
eral 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 bar-
barism. 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 gov-
ernment, with improvements in the arts of life; but no evidence exists of
the overthrow among them of gentile society and the substitution of politi-

cal. It is impossible to found a political society or a state upon gentes.

MORGAN. | THE CONFEDERACY OF TRIBES. 23

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 per-
petual 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 remarka-
ble in plan and structure. Among the number may be mentioned the Iro-
quois 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

24 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 accom-
plished 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 sys-
tematic 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 knowl-
edge 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 con-
tiguous territories, the confederacy reintegrated them in a higher organiza-
tion 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 com=
mon lineage of the gentes, and their dialects, still mutually intelligible,
yielded the material elements for a confederation. The confederacy, there-
fore, had the gentes for its basis and center, and stock language for its cir-
cumference. 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,* 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 con-

*They were admitted into the Creek Confederacy after their overthrow by the French.

MORGAN.) THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY. 25

federacy 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 possi-
bly 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 dis-
tinct tribes, the Mohawks, the Onondagas, and the Senecas. One tribe sub-
sequently 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 settle-
ments eastward to the Hudson and westward to the Genesee. Their tra-
ditions further declare that a long period of time elapsed after their settle-
ment in New York before the confederacy was formed, during which they
made common cause against their enemies, and thus experienced the advan-
tages 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

26 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

reached that number. Precarious subsistence and incessant warfare re-
pressed 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 culmi-
nating 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. 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 barba-
rous 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 con-
ditions previously named were present. The Lroquois were in five inde-
pendent 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 con-
federacy. 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 conti-
nent without confederating. The fact that the Iroquois tribes accomplished
the work affords evidence of their superior capacity. Moreover, as the

* About 165155 they expelled their kindred tribes, the Eries, from the region between the Gene-
see 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.

t 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 Tusearora)
would make it more ancient. Schooleraft’s History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes,
5, p. 631.

MORGAN.] ORIGIN OF THE PLAN OF A CONFEDERACY. Dili

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
betore 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 legisla-
tion. 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, tradition-
ary person, Hd-yo-went'-hd, 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 Onon-
dagas, Da-gd-no-we'-dd, 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 Hd-yo-went'-hd
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 tradi-
tion, 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 illustra-
tion 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 disad-
vantages this condition implies.

Which of the two persons was the founder of the confederacy it is dif-
ficult to determine. The silent Hd-yo-went'-hd was, not unlikely, a real per-
son of Iroquois lineage ;* but tradition has enveloped his character so com-
pletely in the supernatural that he loses his place among them as one of

their number. If Hiawatha were a real person, Da-gd-no-we'-dé must hold

*My friend Horatio Hale, the eminent philologist, came, as he informed me, to this conclusion.

298. HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

a subordinate place; but if a mythical person invoked for the occasion,
then to the latter belongs the credit of planning the confederacy.

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.

IL. It created a General Council of Sachems, who were limited in number,
equal in rank and authority, and invested with supreme powers ovgr all matters
pertaining to the Confederacy.

IIL. 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
Jurther 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 wpon the others.

VIL. Lhe Council of each Tribe had power to convene the General Council ;
but the latter had no power to convene itself.

VILL. The General Council was open to the orators of the people for the
discussion af public questions ; but the Council alone decided.

MORGAN.) GENERAL FEATURES OF THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY. 29

IX. The Confederacy had no chief Executive Magistrate or official head.

X. Experiencing the necessity for a General Military Commander, they
ercated 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 with-
out 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 heredi-
tary were empowered to elect successors from among their respective mem-
bers when vacancies occurred, as elsewhere explained. As a further meas-
ure 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 sachem-
ship was bestowed upon him. By this name he was afterwards known
among them. They were all upon equality in rank, authority, and priv-
ileges.

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 Sene-
cas 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 institu-
tion of the Confederacy, with the names which have been borne by their

sachems in succession, from its formation to the present time, is subjoied,

30 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.*

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.
Table of sachemships of the Iroquois.’

MOHAWKES.

I. 1. Da-gii-e’-o-ga.’ 2. Hii-yo-went’-ha.” 3. Da-gii-no-we’-di.®
II. 4. So-ii-e-wii’-ah* 5. Da-yo’-ho-go.’ 6. O-ii-a'-go-wi.®
Ill. 7. Da-an-no-gii’e-neh.” 8. Sii-da’-gii-e-wii-deh.* 9. _Hiis-dii-weh’-
se-ont-hii.°
ONEIDAS.
I. 1. Ho-diis’-hii-teh."” 2. Ga-no-gweh’-yo-do." 3. Da-yo-hii’-gwen-
da.”
Il. 4. So-no-sase’.’
III.

* §. To-no-ii-gi’-o.* 6. Hia-de-ai-dun-nent’-hi.”

6

|

Da-wii-dii’-o-dii-yo.* 8. Gii-ne-ii-dus’-ha-yeh.” 9. Ho-wus’-ha- -

da-o.®
ONONDAGAS.

1. To-do-dii’-ho.” 2. To-nes’-sa-ah. 3. Da-iit’-ga-dose.”°
4. Gii-neii-di’-je-wake.' 5. Ah-wii’-ga-yat.” 6. Da-ii-yat’-gwi-e.
Ill. 7. Ho-no-we-ni-to.”
8. Gii-wi-ni’-san-do.“. 9. Hii-e’-ho.” 10. Ho-yo-ne-ii’-ne.* 11.
Sa-dii’-kwii-seh.”
V. 12. Sii-go-ga-hii’.* 13. Ho-sa-hi’-do* 14. Skii-no’-wun-de.”

1These names signify as follows: 1. ‘‘ Neutral,” or ‘‘‘The Shield.” 2. ‘*Man who Combs.” 3.
“Tnexhaustible.” 4. ‘Small Speech.” 5, ‘‘At the Forks.” 6. ‘At the Great River.” 7. ‘“‘Dragging
his Horns.” 8. ‘‘Eyen-Tempered,” 9. ‘‘ Hanging up Rattles.’? The sachems in class one belonged to
the Turtle gens, in class two to the Wolf gens, and in class three to the Bear gens.

10. ‘‘A Man bearing a Burden.” 11. ‘‘A Man covered with Cat-tail Down.” 12. ‘Opening
through the Woods.” 13. ‘‘A Long String.” 14, ‘A Man with a Headache.” 15. ‘Swallowing Him-
self.” 16. ‘‘Place of the Echo.” 17. ‘*War-club on the Ground.” 18. ‘‘A Man Steaming Himself.”
The sachems in the first class belong to the Wolf gens, in the second to the Turtle gens, and in the
third to the Bear gens.

19. “Tangled,” Bear gens. 20. ‘‘On the Watch,” Bear gens. This sachem and the one before
him were hereditary councillors of the To-do-di/-ho, who held the most illustrious sachemship. 21.
““Bitter Body,” Snipe gens. 22. Turtle gens. 23. This sachem was hereditary keeper of the wampum;
Wolf gens.

24. Deer gens. 25. Deer gens. 26. Turtle gens. 27. Bear gens. 28. ‘‘ Having a Glimpse,” Deer
gens, 29. ‘‘Large Mouth,” Turtle gens. 30. ‘‘Over the Creek,” Turtle gens.

MORGAN] TABLE OF SACHEMSHIPS OF THE IROQUOIS. 31

CAYUGAS.

I. 1. Da-gi’-a-yo." 2. Da-je-no’-dii-weh-o. 3. Gii-dii/-gwa-sa.*
4. So-yo-wasé.* 5. Hii-de-iis‘yo-no.®
II. 6. Da-yo-0-yo'go.* 7. Jote-ho-weh’-ko.“” 8. De-ii-wate’-ho.®
III. 9. To-dii-e-ho’ 10. 10. Des-gii/-heh.”

SENECAS.

L.
iste
ILI.
Ve

Ga-ne-o-di'-yo.” 2. Sii-dii-gii’-o-yase."

2“

Gii-no-gi’-e* 4. Sii-geh’-jo-wii.”

’ Si-de-a-no’-wus.* 6. Nis-hii-ne-a/-nent.””

hex

Gii-no-go-e-dii/-we. 8. Do-ne-ho-gii’-weh.”

Two of these sachemships have been filled but once since their crea-
tion. Hd-yo-went'-had and Da-gi-no-we'-da consented to take the office
among the Mohawk sachems, and to leave their names in the list upon con-
dition 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.

31. ‘*Man Frightened,” Deer gens. 32. Heron gens. 33. Bear gens. 34. Beargens. 35. Turtle
gens. 36. Not ascertained. 37. ‘Very Cold,” Turtle gens. 38. Heron gens. 39. Snipe gens. 40.
Snipe gens.

41. “Handsome Lake,” Turtle gens. 42. “Level Heavens,” Snipe gens. 43. Turtle gens. 44.
“Great Forehead,” Hawk gens. 45. ‘‘ Assistant,” Bear gens. 46. “Falling Day,” Snipe gens. 47.
“Hair Burned Off,” Snipe gens. 43. ‘‘ Open Door,” Wolf gens.”

32 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

The names bestowed upon the original sachems became the names of
their respective successors in perpetuity. For example, upon the demise of
Gd-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 con-
junction 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 confedera-
tion, 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 Onon-
dagas were allowed fourteen sachems and the Senecas but eight; and a
larger body of sachems would naturally exercise a stronger influence in

MORGAN.) CONFEDERACY FOUNDED ON KINSHIP. 33
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 Onon-
dagas were made “ Keepers of the Wampum,” and ‘“ Keepers of the Coun-
cil 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. 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 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 mem-
bers of the same gens is never lost.

3

34 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 con-
federacy 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;
ina word, brother against brother. The history of the Iroquois demon-
strates 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 organi-
zation.

The ‘Long House” (Ho-de'-no-sote) was made the symbol of the con-
federacy,' and they styled themselves the ‘People of the Long House”
(Ho-de'-no-sau-nee). 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 Sabine gentes into the Roman people

1'The Long House was not peculiar to the Iroquois, but used by many other tribes, as the Pow-
hattan Indians of Virginia, the Nyacks of Long Island, and other tribes.

MORGAN] OBJECTS OF THE COUNCIL. 35

and nation was a result of the same processes. In all alike the gens, phra-
try, 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 knowl-
edge 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 mani-
fested 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 con-
federacy. 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 com-
mon 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 em-
bassies, 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

86 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

was made an occasion for the confederated tribes to unite under the auspices
of a general council in the observance of common religious 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 them-
selves 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-gd-e-o'jda).
The Onondagas came next, under the epithet of ‘‘Name-Bearer” (Ho-de-san-

no'-ge-td), 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 per-
petual 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.

KY

MORGAN. | DECISIONS OF THE COUNCIL. 37

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 sev-
eral 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.

38 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

Under a confederacy of tribes the office of general (Hos-gd-d-geh'-da-
go-wa), “Great War Soldier,” 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 magis -
trate, 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 (Za-wan'-ne-ars, signifying
needle-breaker) was made hereditary in the Wolf, and the other (So-m0'-so-
wa, 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 con-
vened 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

MORGAN.] ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY. 39

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 with-
out 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 becom-
ing 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 func-
tions 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 Ameri-
can 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 expe-
rience 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 insti-
tutions of mankind.

40 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

The Iroquois confederacy is an excellent exemplification of a gentile
society under this form of organization. It seems to realize all the capa-
bilities of gentile institutions in the Lower Status of barbarism, leaving an
opportunity for further development, but no subsequent plan of govern-
ment 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, remain-
ing 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 democ-
racy, 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 approach-
ing 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 ther rela-
tions 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 Neu-
tral 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

MORGAN. ] THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY. 41

small, but they counted in their ranks a large number of able men. ‘This

proves the high grade of the stock.*

* Fer 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. Ban-
delier by personal exploration among the Pueblo tribes in New Mexico, who speak the Quéris language,
among whom his work thus far has been confined. Descent is in the female line. The same idefatiga-
ble 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 organiza-
tion among the Sedentary Tribes in Central America. It seems highly probable that this organization
was anciently universal among the tribes in the Ganowanian family.

OBA PTE Rd.
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 with-
out the art of pottery, and without horticulture, and were, therefore, in sav-
agery. 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 Terri-
tory, in parts of Canada, California, and Mexico, and some of thé 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,
Minnitarees, and other tribes of the United States east of the Missouri River,
together with certain tribes of Mexico and South America in the same con-
dition 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 con-
structed joint tenement houses of adobe bricks and of stone, usually more
than one story high. Such were the tribes of New Mexico, Mexico, Cen-
tral America, and upon the plateau of the Andes. These tribes were in the

Middle Status of barbarism.
42

MORGAN.) ETHNIC OR CULTURE PERIODS. 43

The weapons, arts, usages, and customs, inventions, architecture, insti-
tutions, 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 accumu-
lated 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 replen-
ished the ranks of the Village Indians, as well as the continent, with inhabit-
ants. 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.*

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

*PROPOSED ETHNIC OR CULTURE PERIODS.

PERIOD OF SAVAGERY. PERIOD OF BARBARISM.

Subperiods. Conditions. Subperiods. Conditions.
(QM PURI cee Bae eaene oma Dba CaaS Lower Status. Older) Period =.= a=ccence =e sncn sees Lower Status.
Middle Period....-.-.-...--..----. Middle Status. Middle Period........-...--.------ Middle Status.
EOP iP envio. 3-2-1500 == === == Upper Status. JOG PIATO = 045. acinS Code cmon s Coec Upper Status.

PERIOD OF CIVILIZATION.
RECAPITULATION.
OLDER PERIOD OF SAVAGERY.—Lrom the infancy of the human race to the knowledge of fire and the
acquisition of a fish subsistence. .
MippLe Perrop.—lrom the acquisition of a fish subsistence to the invention of the bow and arrow.
Later Pertop.—lrom the invention of the bow and arrow to the invention of the art of pottery.
OLDER PERIOD OF BARBARISM.—Irom 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 PrRTOD.—From the domestication of animals, §c., to the invention of the process of smelting
iron ore. ;
LATER Prriop.—Ilrom the knowledge of iron to the invention of a phonetic alphabet, or to the use of
hieroglyphs upon stone as an equivalent.
Crv1LizaTION.—From the invention of a phonetic alphabet and the use of letters in literary composition
to the present time.

44. HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

power and spread their migrating bands over the most valuable areas to
the gradual displacement of the ruder tribes. But in this respect they sig-
nally failed. The means of sustaining life among the latter were remarka-
bly 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 archi-
tecture 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 erec-
tion 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 Vil-
lage Indians. Numerous tribes were thus raised out of savagery into bar-
barism 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 cus-
toms, 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.
Il. Communism in living.
IIL. The ownership of lands in common.

MORGAN.) THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY. 45

IV. The practice of having but one prepared meal each day—a dinner.

V. Their separation at meals, the men cating first and by themselves, and
the women and children afterards.

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 amount-
ing 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. Asa 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 char-
acteristic 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. Hun-
ger 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 Reserva-
tion 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

46 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

civilized life, took the position of housekeeper. The old man, referring to
the ancient custom, requested his daughter to keep the usual food con-
stantly 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.

In July, 1743, John Bartram made a journey from Philadelphia to
Onondaga to attend, with Conrad Weisar, a council of the Onondaga, Mo-
hawk, 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 lug-
gage, 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 sim-
plicity of ancient times, and is so persistently adhered te that not only what
is already dressed is immediately set before a traveler, but the most press-
ing 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.”” We have here a per-
fect 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 afeast. 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

1William Parker was the chief named, a noble specimen of a Seneca Iroquois.
2 Bartram’s Obseryations, &c., London edition, 1751, p. 16.

MORGAN. | VIRGINIA INDIANS. AT

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.”

“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.”

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 Bar-
low, under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, which visited the Aleonkin
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

1Bartram’s Journal, p. 59. 2Tb., p. 63.

48 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 Be-
yond this isle is the main land, and the great river Occam, on which stand-
eth a town called Pomeiok.”

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 appli-
cation 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 enemity, 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.”” 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.’ “At Coca 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

1Smith’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.

2 Historical Collections of Louisiana, part ii. A Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando de
Soto into llorida, by a Gentleman of Elvas, p. 139.

IIb. p. 147.

—— <=

a

MORGAN, ] HECKEWELDER’S GENERAL ACCOUNT. AY

reached from one to the other.”" 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.”

The justly celebrated Moravian missionary, John Heckewelder, obtained,
through a long experience, an intimate acquaintance with the mamers 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 Lroquois lin-
eage. 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 fol-
lows: “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. *What-
ever 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 every 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 sup-
ply 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 hos-
pitality, 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

'Tb. p. 152. 2Tb. p. 175.
4

50 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN. ABORIGINES.

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.”

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.”” This was simply
applying their rules of hospitality among themselves to their white visitors.

About 1837~88 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 praries. ‘‘ 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

1 Heckewelder, Indian Nations, Philadelphia ed., 1876, p. 101.
2 Travels, ete., London edition, 1814, p. 649.

_

MORGAN. | MANDAN HOSPITALITY. Hl

boiling over the fire, and any one who is hungry, either from the house-
hold 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 com-
munities 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." 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 pro-
visions 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 Pereés “set

1 Manners and Customs of the North American Indians, Hazard’s edition, 1857, i, 200.

52 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 acake, 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.”’ 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 neighbor-
ing 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.”

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 enter-
ing 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 sal-
mon was sufficiently boiled for use It was then taken out, put on a plat-
ter of rushes neatly made, and laid before Captain Clarke, and another was
boiled for each of his men.”

One or two additional cases, of which a large number are mentioned
by these authors, will sufficiently illustrate the practice of hospitality of

‘Travels, ete., p. 330. 2 Travels, ete., p. 334, 8Travels, ete., 353.

MORGAN, ] MARQUETTE’S ACCOUNT, ae

these tribes and its universality. They went to a village of seven houses
of the Chilluckittequaw tribe 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 inhabit-
ants were unusually hospitable and good humored.”? While among the
Shoshonees, and before arriving at the Columbia, they “reached an Indian
lodge of brush inhabited by seven families of the Shoshonees. They
behaved with great civility, and gave the whole party as much boiled sal-
mon as they could eat, and added a present of several dried salmon and a
considerable quantity of chokechinies ;”” 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.” Thus far among the tribes we
find a literal repetition of the rule of hospitality as practiced by the Iro-
quois. Mr. Dall, speaking of the Aleiits, says, ‘hospitality was one of
their prominent traits,”* 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.”

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

! Travels, etc., p. 375-376.

2Th. p. 288.

3 Ib, p. 268.

4Onthe Remains of Later Prehistoric Man, Alaska Ter., Smithsonian Cont., No. 318, p.3. Travels,
ete., Phila. ed., 1796, p. 171.

5 Powell’s Contributions to North American Ethnology, Power's Tribes of California, vol. iii, p. 153,

54 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.”

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 beai’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.””

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.” The
“community of goods, which is so prevalent among them,” is explained by
their large households tormed of related families, who shared their provis-
ions in common. The ‘seven families of Shoshonees” 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 Cher-
okes, Choetas, 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

1 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.
2Tb., p. 293. 3Carver’s Travels, etc., Phila. ed. 1796, p. 171.

MORGAN. ] ADAIR’S STATEMENT. a5

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—
sinnawah na wora, 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 travel-
ing 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 astate-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 kind-
ness—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.”’ 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.

6c )

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.

| History of the American Indians, London ed., i775, p. 17.

56 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 unfre-
quently 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 gov-
ernor’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.”!
In 1858 Lieut. Joseph C. Ives was at the Moki Pueblo of Mooshahneh [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 COuEIGOnaLy asked us to be seated upon

18¢ hooleraft? 8 History, Condition, and Brospeens of ‘the Indian Tribes, iv, 81.

MORGAN.) PIMA VILLAGES ON THE GILA RIVER. Dit

e

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.”?

Lieutenant-Colonel (now General) Emory visited the Pima villages
on the Gila River in 1846. ‘TI rode leisurely in the rear through the
thatched huts of the Pimos. 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 in the pod for drying. In the houses were stowed
watermelons, pumpkins, beans, corn, and wheat, the three last articles gener-
ally 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 Pimos and Maricopas together is estimated variously
at from three to ten thousand. The first is evidently too low. This peace-
ful 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.”? In this case and in those stated by Lieutenant Ives and Dr.

1 Report upon Colorado River of the West, Lieut. [ves, p. 121,
2 Military Reconnaissance in New Mexico, pp. 85, 86,

58 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 abund-
ance of compliments, and people were already appointed to find the Span-
iards quarters and furnish provisions.” When near Tlascala the Tlascal-
lans “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 Span-
iards, considering the distress they were in;”° and when at Tlascala, Cortes
and his men “‘ were generously treated, and supplied with all necessaries.”?
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.”*

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 sev-
eral 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 tene-
ment house, but not unlikely broken up into several household groups. The
pueblo consisted sometimes of one, sometimes of two or three, and some-
times of a greater number of such houses. The plan of life within these

1 Herreru’s History of America, ii, 212. 2Tb., ii, 261. 3Ib., 1, 279. 4Tb., ii, 311.

MORGAN] MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN. 59

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 every-
body eat that comes into their houses, which is everywhere practiced in

travelling.”?

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, sev-
ral sorts of fruit, and bread made of Indian wheat.” 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

78 'They numbered one hundred and

with provisions during their stay.
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. 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.”°
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,
a Heer Eictony of America, iv, 171, Wa a, iii, 361. aie
2Tb., ii, 126. 6Tb., iii, 362.
3Tb., iii, 359.

60 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

and brought them all the game they would ask for. * * * They per-
ceived that they kept markets or fairs, and that they made use of jars,
pitchers, pots, dishes, and porringers, besides other vessels of several
shapes.”, 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”” 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.” 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 Caxamalea, that he might have provisions on the way.”
* * * The next day more messengers came from Atahuallpa with provis-
ions, which he received with thanks.”” The native historian, Garcilasso de la
Viga, remarks: ‘‘ Nor were the Incas, among their other charities, forgetful
of the conveniences for travellers, 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 journies out of the royal
stores ; and in case any traveller fell sick on the way, he was there attended
and care taken of him in a better manner perhaps than at his own home.”®

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 hospi-
tality 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

1 Herrera’s Hist. America, iv, 248. 2Ib., i, 229. %Ib., iv, 3. 4Ib., iti, 399. *Ib., iv, 244.
® Royal Commentaries of Peru, Lond. ed., 1688; Rycant Trans., p. 145.

moRGAN.| NUMBER OF PERSONS IN A HOUSE IMPLIES COMMUNISM: 61

was the duty of the women of the house to set food before him. An omis-
sion 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 appear-
ance among them. Considering the number of the Spaniards often in mili-
tary 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.'

Attention has been called to this law of hospitality, and to its univer-
sality, 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 habitflally 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 care-
fully 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
lar ee households, and possibly for the village, with which to maintain vil-

1“ The appetite of the Spaniards eed to the inertia insatiz ante voracious ; ma 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.)

62 HWOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMBRICAN ABORIGINES.

lage 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 prac-
tice 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.

CHEAP Re: LAPT.
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.' Wherever the
gentile organization prevailed, several families, related by kin, united as «
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 the 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 com-
munism 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

1 Ancient Society, p. 459.
63

64 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 fmally 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 cov-
ered 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. Hach 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 house-
hold 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 per-
sons of different gentes; but this would not prevent the numerical ascend-
ency 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 in 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. Whatever was

gained by any member of the household on hunting or fishing expeditions,

! Documentary History of New York, i, 13.

MORGAN. | FACT OF COMMUNION AMONG IROQUOIS. 65

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 hun-
dred 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. 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, D. D., 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.

1The late Mrs. William Parker, of Tonawanda.

66 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 diso-
bey; the house would be too hot for him; and unless saved by the inter-
cession 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 were 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 influ-
ence 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 prey-
alence 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.

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

‘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 prin-
ciple of kin, as among the Iroquois.

MORGAN. | COMMUNISTIC HOUSES OF VIRGINIA INDIANS. 67

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 pos-
itive 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 hand-
somely, 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 ina house * * * In some places are from two to fifty
of these houses together, or but little separated by groves of trees.”' 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

”2 and speaking of one of the

manner, some thirty, some forty yards long ;
houses of Powhatan he says, ‘This house is fifty or sixty yards in length;”*
and again, at Pamunky, ‘‘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

1 Smith’s History of Virginia, Richmond ed., 1819, i, 130. 21b., i, 143. 31b., i, 142.

68 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

sit." We here find among the Virginia Indians at the epoch of their dis-
covery 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.”” Here the fact of several families uniting on the princi-
ple 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 pre-
vailed among them. * * * And though they do not keep one promiscu-
ous 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.’”?

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 ‘for-
merly the Indian law obliged every town to work together in one body, in
sowing or planting their crops, though their fields were divided by proper
marks, and their harvest is gathered separately. The Cherokees and Mus-
cogees [Creeks] still observe that old custom, which is very necessary for

74

such idle people.”* They cultivated, like the Iroquois, three kinds of maize,

1 Smith’s Hist. Va., Richmond ed., 1519, i, 160.

? Schoolcraft’s Hist. Cond. and Pros. of Indian Tribes. vol. v. 262.
3 History of the American Indians, p. 17.

‘Ib., p. 430.

MORGAN.) TRIBES OF THE PLAINS. GE

an “early variety,” the “hominy corn,” and the “bread corn,”

also beans,
squashes, pumpkins, and tobacco. 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.

Among the tribes of the plains, who subsist almost exclusively upon
animal food, their usages in the hunt indicate the same tendency to com-
munism 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 excep-
tion of the half-blood Crees, observe the same custom of making a com-
mon stock of the capture. It tended to equalize, at the outset, the means
of subsistence obtained. They cut the beet 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 spear-
ing, 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

1 History of the American Indians, p. 430. 2Tb., pp. 406, 408,

70 HOUSES AND HOUSE.-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.’

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 imme-
diately under the hole in the roof. * * * On entering one of these
houses he [Captain Clarke] found it crowded with men, women, and chil-
dren, who immediately provided a mat for him to sit on, and one of the
party immediately undertook to prepare something to eat.”? 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.”* 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.”* In enumerating the people

1Alfred W. Howitt, I. G. S., of Bariusdale, Australia, mentions, in a letter to the author, the fol-
lowing 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) :

“Ist cel. 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.

“Ath eel. Front half his elder daughters; hind half his younger daughters.

“Sth 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 Zgo. It foots up himself and wife, wife’s mother and sister, his sons and daughters, his
brother’s sons and daughter’s, and his daughter’s husband. It implies also other members of the house-
hold, who are obliged to take care of themselves; viz, his brothers and sisters.

? Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, pp. 351-353. 3)b., p. 357. 4Ib., p. 376,

MORGAN. ] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE COLUMBIA. ria

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.”?

Speaking generally of the usages and customs of the tribes of the “‘Co-
lumbia 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 com-
mon, 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.”* 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 vourts, 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 yourts were very large, as shown by the ruins, being from thirty
to eighty yards long and twenty to forty in width. .* * * In these
large yourts the primitive Aleuts lived by fifties and hundreds for the double

object of protection and warmth.”*

2Tb., p. 443.

1 Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, pp. 426-428.
3 Harper’s Magazine, vol. 55, p. 806,

72 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

Whether these tribes at this time were organized in gentes and phra-
tries 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

”1 The household, according to the cutsom of

of the respective proprietors.
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 house-
hold 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.”

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 provis-
ions, 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 gen-

‘North American Indians, Philadelphia ed., 1357, i, 139.
2Tb., i, 210.

MORGAN. ] NUMBER OF PERSONS IN A HOUSEHOLD. 73

erous disposition, render it nearly of the same effect.”* 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

‘ In a previous chapter (supra p. 49.) Hecke-

enough for several families.”
welder’s observations upon hospitality among the Delawares and Munsees,
implying the principle of communism, have been given He remarks fur-
ther that ‘there is nothing in an Indian’s house or family without its par-

ticular owner. Every individual knows what belongs to him, from the

5

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 dif-
ferent 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”* 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 num-
ber, the Shoshonee household of seven families, the households of the
Sauks, of the Iroquois, and of the Creeks each composed of several fami-
lies, 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.

* Travels, etc., p. 171. 1 Travels, etc., Phila. ed. 1796, p. 29. 2Tndian Nations, p. 158,

74 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 eases five hundred
apartments in a house. They are built in the terraced form, with fire-
places 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 perpetu-
ally assailed. Each house was probably occupied by a number of house-
hold 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 fami-
lies, and are governed by a eacique or sachem and certain other offi-
cers 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 gen-
erally, a fruitful source of evil among this people. Their women generally
have control over the granary, and they are more provident than their Span-
ish 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 suc-
ceeding each other that pueblos as a community suffer hunger.” 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

1Address, p. 14.

MORGAN.) TRIBES OF YUCATAN. 15

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,” here-
after 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 Cen-
tral 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 occu-
pied 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 con-
sists 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 pre-
pared 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

76 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 some-
times heard of among us; and as theirs has existed for an unknown length
of time, and can no longer be considered merely experimental, Owen or
Fourier might perhaps take lessons from them with advantage.” A hundred
working men indicate a total of five hundred persons, who were then depend-
ing 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 truth-
ful 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 Span-
ish 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 per-
sonal 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 emi-
nently 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 travelled 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

1 Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, ii, 14.

MORGAN,] TRIBES OF PERU. ad

seats; * * * and they gave them boiled roots to eat, which tasted like
chestnuts.’ 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 ih 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”” 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 hus-
bands, 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.”’ This shows
communism in husbands as well as wives, and rendered communism in food
anecessity 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 ham-
mocks”* 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 individu-
als. 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.’ Herrera, however, says generally that the people
lived from common stores ‘The Spaniards drawing near to Caxamalea
begun to have a view of the Inca army lying near the bottom of a mount-
ain. * * * 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.”> 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

1 Herrera, i, 55. 2Tb., 216. 3Ib., 1, 216. , 4Tb., 348.
5 Royal Com. 1. ¢., pp. 154, 157. 6 Herrera, iv, 249.

78 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 house-
hold 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 fami-
lies 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 individu-
alized family of civilization.

CHAPTER LV.

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 re-
quired 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 _ per-
son 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 inheritance, 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, pay-
ment for the lands went to the tribe, and for improvements to the individ-

ual who had the possessory right. At the Tonawanda Reservation of the
79

80 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 Jands.
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 Niag-
ara 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 tim-
ber. 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 posses-
sion, 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 possess-
ory 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 opin-
ion 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. Itis to be hoped that this policy will never be
adopted by any National Administration, as it is fraught with nothing but

MORGAN.] OWNERSHIP OF LANDS IN SEVERALTY. 81

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 individ-
ual 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 identi ral 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 Shawnees 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 indi-
vidual ownership with power to sell that had done the work.

In managing the affairs of our Indian tribes, we must apply a little
Gommon sense to their condition. In their brains they are in the same stage
of growth and development with our remote forefathers when they learned

6

82 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 govern-
ment 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 in-
formed by David J. Miller, esq. of the surveyor-general’s office at Santa
Fé, 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 ther, 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 2 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 pur-
chase 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

MORGAN.) USAGES AMONG PUEBLO INDIANS. 83

t

can do it for themselves; but the right of property isin the children. When
a piece of land is sold it is done in the presence of witnesses, if it is so de-
sired. 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 per-
sonal 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. ht
is not allowed at any of the pueblos that a white person acquire prop-
erty 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 under-

84 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFH OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

stood 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 !878 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 Archeology 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.’'| The term for these relationships, in the Na-
huatl 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.” The ground thus occupied by the ‘ealpulli’ was nov, as

1 Duran (Cap. V, p. 42). Acosta (Lib. VII, cap. VII, p. 467). Herrera (Dee. III, Lib. II, cap.
XI, p. 61).

2 Torquemada (Lib. I, cap. LX VIII, p.194. ‘‘Estaba de ordinario, recogido en una grande Sala
(6 calpul).” (Lib, ILI, cap. XXVII, p. 305. Lib. IV, cap. XIX, p. 396 (que asi Jlaman las Salas grandes
de Comunidad, i 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).

MORGAN. | LANDS AMONG ANCIENT MEXICANS. 85

Torquemada admits, assigned to it by a higher power ; the tribal government
itself held No pomain which it might apportion among subdivisions or to
“individuals, either gratuitously or on condition of certain prestations, or
barter against a consideration! 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 organi-
zation and state of culture”

“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 con-
quest ‘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.’ ,

‘The division into ‘‘ quarters” is every where 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.

? There is no evidence of any tribute or prestation due by the quarters to the tribe. The eustom
always remained, that the ‘ calpulli” was sovereign within its limits. See Alonzo de Zurita (‘‘ Rapport
sur les différentes 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 altepetlalli
(‘‘altepetl,” tribe), soil of the tribe. Clayigero even says that the lands called .“‘ altepetlalli,” belong-
ing to the communities ‘‘of the towns and yillages, were divided into so many parts as there were
quarters in the town, each quarter having i's own, without the least connection wi'h the other.” (Lib. VII,
cap. XIV.) This indicates plainly that the kinships held the soil, whereas the tribe occupied the terri-
torial 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.

3See Torquemada (Lib. II, cap. XI, and Lib. III, cap XXII). Duran (cap. V). The quotation is
from Herrera (Dee. II, Lib. VII, cap. XIII, p. 190), and is contirmed by Torquemada (Lib. III, cap. XXIII,
p. 291), and especially by Gomara (‘‘ Conquista de Méjico,” 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 hygh as a mannes Girdle, were also built of stone, by reason of the
swellyng of the lake through the floode, or washing flote of the Ryvers fallying into it. Vpon those
greate foundations, they builde the reste of the house, with Bricke dryed, or burned in the sunne, inter-
mingled with Beames of Tymber, and the common houses have but one floore or planchin.” We are

86 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

“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 horti-
cultural; they aspired to cultivate the soil as they had once been accus-
tomed to, and after the manner of the kindred tribes surrounding them.
For this purpose they began throwing up little artificial garden beds, ‘ chi-
nampas,’ on which they planted Indian corn and perhaps some cther vege-
tables. 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 gen-
erally about a yard, and thus forms a small fertile garden, covered with
the finest culinary vegetables, fruits, and flowers. * * *’

‘Bach 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 there-
fore very simple. The tribe claimed its ferritory, ‘ALTEPETLALLI,’ an unde-
fined expanse over which it might extend—the ‘calpules,’ however, held and
possessed within that territory such portions of it as were productive; each

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 occu-
pying a single house.” See also the highly valuable Introduction to the second Dialogue of Cervantes-
Saldzar (‘‘ Mexico in 1554”) by my excellent friend Sr. Icazbalceta (pp. 73 and 74).

1 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).

|
>

pr

MorGAN) OWNERSHIP OF LANDS AMONG ANCIENT MEXICANS. 87

‘calpulli’ being sovereign within its limits, and assigning to its individual
members for their use the minor tracts into which the soil was pareelled in
consequence of their mode of cultivation. I, therefore, the terms ‘altepet-
lalli’ 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 what-
ever 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.

“Tn the course of time, as the population further increased, segmentation
occurred within the four original ‘ quarters,’ new ‘calpulli’ being formed." For
governmental purposes this segmentation produced a new result by leaving,
more particularly in military affairs, the first four clusters as great subdivis-
ions? 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.’ A further consequence of this disaggrega-

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 Qquiché (see
“ Popol-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 Culhuacan (id.,
pp- 98 and 99). This indicates an increase.

2 Art of War, ete.,” pp. 115 and 120.

3 Torquemada (Lib, HI, eap. 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
of the aforesaid clusters sometimes contained three, four, and more calpules,
*) 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 paim 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 Méjico,” 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.”

it happened that one
according to the population of the place (‘pueblo

83 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

tion 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.

“This building was the ‘feepan’ called, even by Torquemada, ‘house of
the community’; it was, therefore, since the council of chiefs was the high-
est 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 occu-
pancy 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 itsincumbent. The ‘teepan’ was occupied by the head war-
chiefs only as long as they exercised the functions of that office.” * * *

“Of those tracts whose products were exclusively applied to the gov-
ernmental 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 com-

pensation for the work they performed-on the official buildings.

1Compare 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 publie building was certainly
their latest kind of construction.

*Nearly every author who attempts to describe minutely the ‘‘ chief-house” (teepan) mentions it
as containing great halls (council-roors). See the description of the teepan of Tezeuco by Ixtlilxochitl
(‘‘ Hist. des Chichiméques,” cap. XXXVI, p. 247).

ers,”

MORGAN.) DIVISION OF THE LANDS. 89

‘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." The crops raised on such went exclusively to the require-
ments of the household at the ‘teepan,’ comprising the head-clief 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.”

“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.’

“The establishing and maintaining of these areal subdivisions was very
simple with the tribes of the mainland, since they all possessed ample terri-
tories 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

equal to three Castilian rods . . . .” See “Art of War” (p. 944, note 183). ‘The rod” (vara) is equal
to 2.78209 feet English (Guyot).

2Veytia (Lib. III, cap. VI, p. 195). It is superfluous to revert to the erroneous impression that
the chiefs might dispose of it.

3¢Patrimonial 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 indi-
vidual ownership. “ Eredad” (heirloom) is called indiseriminately ‘‘milli” and ‘‘cenemitl” (Molina,
Parte Ia, p. 57). The latter is also rendered as “tierra labrada, 6 camellon” (Molina, Parte Ila, 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 0 eredades
de particulares, juntas en 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 com-
munal lands, divided into lots improved by particular families, as the idea of communal tenure neces-
iarily implies.

90 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.’ While the remnants of the origi-
nal ‘teepantlalli’ and of the ‘tlatocatlalli’ still remained visible in the gar-
dens, 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 Iztapala-
pan, Mexicaltzinco, and at Huitzilopocheo to the south, but these were only
military positions, and beyond them the territory proper of the Mexicans
never extended.’ Tribute, therefore, had to furnish the means for sustaining
their governmental requirements in the matter of food, and the ¢ribute 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* 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

1“ Art of War” (pp. 150 and 151). L. H. Morgan (‘‘ Ancient Society,” Part II, cap. VII, pp. 190
and 191).

2Humboldt (‘Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne,” Vol. I, Lib. III, cap. VIII, p. 50):
Nearly all the old authors describe the public buildings as surrounded by pleasure-grounds or orna-
mental gardens. It is very striking that, the pueblo having been founded in 1525, and nearly a century
haying been spent in adding sufficient artificial sod 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!

3 The Mexican tribe proper clustered exclusively within the pueblo of Tenuchtitlan. The settle-
ments at Iztapalapan, Huitzilopochco, 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. Chapultepee was a sacred spot, not inhabited by any num-
ber of people, and only held by the Mexicans for burial purposes, and on account of the springs furnish-
ing fresh water to their pueblo. :

4Tezozomoe (Cap. XV, p. 24).

MORGAN] SIMILAR TO LAND TENURES IN PERU. 91

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 organi-
zation, 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.”
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 pro-
duce 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 con-
sidered 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’” * -* *

he expanse held and occupied by the calpulli, and therefore called
‘ealpulalli’ was possessed by the kin in joint tenure.* It could neither be

1 Storia del Messico” (Lib. VII, cap. XVI).

2 ‘Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Yneas, translated from the original Spanish manu-
scripts, 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).

3 Zurita (‘‘ Rapport,” ete., ete., 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. ‘‘Chinanealli,” however, after Molina
means ‘cercado de seto’ (Parte Ha, p. 21), or an inclosed area, and if we conneet it with the old origi-
nal ‘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 inter-
pretation as ‘family’ in the QQuiché tongue of Guatemala, which we have already mentioned, turns
up here as of further importance ; th. is chiefs of an old race or family, from the word ealpulli or chi-
nancalli, which is the same, and signifies a quarter (barrio), inhabited by a family known, or of old

92 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

alienated nor sold; in fact, there is no trace of barter or sale of land pre-
vious to the conquest. 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.” 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 dis-
tributed among all the remaining calpulli”* 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 abso-
lute, since on all important occasions a general meeting of the kindred was
convened.* The council in turn selected an executive, the ‘calpullec’ or

‘chinancallec,’ who in war officiated as ‘achcacauhtin’ or ‘teachcauhtin’

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 chiefs 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 inhabit-
ant of the village in particular, but to the ca!pulli, which possesses them in common.” Don Ramirez
de Fuenleal, letter dated Mexico, 3 Noy., 1532 (‘* Recueil de piéces,” etce., Ternaux-Compans, p. 253):
“There are very few people in the villages which have lands of theirown; * * * the landsare held
in common and cultivated in common.” Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 135) confirms, in a
condensed form, the statements of Zurita, ‘‘ and they are not private lands of each one, but heldin com-
mon.” 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 ealpulalli, 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,” ete., Parte IIIa, cap. V. p. 232).

' Zurita (p. 52): ‘He who obtained them from the sovereign has not the right to dispose of
them.” Herrera (Dee. 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 (‘‘ Wnes des Cordilléres et monuments indigenes des
peuples de ?Amérique,” 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, their enjoyment alone being given to individuals and their families.

* Zurita (p. 95): ‘In case of need it was permitted to farm out the lands of a calpulli to the in-
habitants of another quarter.” Herrera (Dee. ILI, lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 134): ‘ They could be rented out
to another lineage.” ;

* Zurita (p. 52): ‘When a family dies out, its lands revert to the calpulli, and the chief dis-
tributes them among such members of the quarter as are most in need of it.”

+Zurita (pp. 60, 61, 62). Ramirez de Fuenleal (‘ Letter,” etc., Ternaux-Compans, p. 249),

MORGAN. ] SMALLEST SUBDIVISIONS. S/3)

(elder brother).! This office was for life or during good behavior.* It was
one of his duties to keep a reckoning of the soil of the calpulli, or ‘ calpu-
lalli,’ together with a record of its members, and of the areas assigned to
each family, and to note also whatever changes occurred in their distribu-
tion.? Such changes, if unimportant, might be made by him; more impor-
tant ones, or coutested cases, had to be referred to the council of the kin-
ship, which in turn. often appealed to a gathering of the entire quarter.*
“The ‘calpulalli’ was divided into lots or arable beds, ‘tlalmilli.’®
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. IH 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 them-
selves. The fact of improvement under the ame of a certain tenant was

only required to insure this tenant's rights.°

1 Zurita (p. 60): The calpulli have a chief taken necessarily from among the tribe; he must be
one of the principal inhabitants, an able mau 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, * * * Ifthe 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. 8. (‘‘ De Vordre de succession,” ete. ; “Recueil,” p. 225): As to the mode of regulating
the jurisdiction and‘eclection of the alcaldes and regidors of the villages, they nominated men of note
who had the title of acheacaulitin. * * * There were no otherelections of officers.” * * * © Art
of War,” etc. (pp. 119 and 120).

2 Zurita (pp. 60 and 61). Herrera (Dec. II, Lib. IV, cap. XV, cap. 125): ‘Tle elegian entre si y
tenlan por maior.”

‘Zurita (pp. 6L and 62): ‘This chief has charge of the lands of the ecalpulli. It is his duty to
defend their possession. He keeps paintings showing the tracts, the names of their holders, the situa-
tion, the limits, the number of men tilling them, the wealth of private individuals, the designations of
such 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
thisthey are very skillful.” It is singalar that Motolinia, in his ‘‘ Epistola proémial” (‘‘Col. de Does
Ieazbaleeta, Vol. I, p. 5), among the five ‘ books of paintings” which he says the Mexicans had, makes
no mention of the above. Ncither does he notice it in his letter dated Cholula, 27 Aug., 1554 (‘‘ Recueil
de piéces,” ete., Ternaux-Compans).

4Zurita ‘ Rapport,” etc., pp. 56 and 62). We quote him in preference, since no other author
known to us has been so detailed.

5'Tlalmilli” “tierras, 4 heredades de particulares, que estan juntas en alguna vega” (Molina,
Part Ila, p. 124).

6 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 cf it—see Id., p. 53), who has no Jands applies to the chief of the eal-
pulli, 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, PE ks ll te)

94 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

“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’

“The ‘tlalmilpa,’ whether held by chiefs or by ordinary members of

hands of the soil.’

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.” Among most of the

was called upon to improve them, and if he failed to do so they were given to another the following
year.” Bustamante (Tezcoco, ete., Parte Ila, p. 190, cap I): “The fact that any holder of a ‘tlal-
milli’ 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 per-
forming 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 improve-
ment, but the fact of improvement for a certain purpose and benefit, which secured the possession or
tenancy.”

‘From ‘tlalli” soil, and ‘‘maitl’ hand. Hands of the soil. Molina (Parte Ila, p. 124) has:
‘“tlalmaitl”—“ labrador, 0 gatian.” 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 “teepanpouhque” or ‘‘teepantlaca” formerly mentioned
as attending to a class of official lands (p. 221, Zurita). Herrera (Dee. III, Lib. IV, cap. XVII, p. 138):
“These mayeques could not go from one tract to another, neither leave those which they cultivated, and
they paid a rent to its masters according as they agreed upon (‘en lo que se concertaban’) in what they
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.

2Motolinia (Tratado II, cap. V, p. 120): “‘But they left their houses and lands to their chil-
dren . . .” 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 hagan

a

MORGAN.) IN MEXICO MALES INHERITED. Se)

northern Indians a large cluster participated.’ In conformity with the or-
ganization of society based upon kin, when in the first stage of its devel-
opment, 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.” Such may have been the case even among
the Muysca of New Granada.’ It was different, however, in Mexico, where

e meet with traces of a decided progress. Not only Maal descent been
changed to the male line,* but heirship was limited, to the exclusion of the
kin and of the agnates themselves, to the children of the male sex.2 What-
ever personal effects a father left, which were not offered up in sacrifice at
the ceremonies of his funeral," they were distributed among his male off-

ellos lo que e! les eee Clavigero (Lib. VII, cap. XIII): ‘* In Mexico, and “aoa the entire realm,
the royal family excepted as already told, the sons sueceeded to the father’s rights; and if there were
no sons, then the brothers, and the brothers’ sons inherited.’”’? Bustamante (‘‘'Tezcoco,” ete., p. 219):
In all these cases, Bustamante only speaks of chiefs; but the quotations from Motolinia and Gomara
direetly apply to the people in general.

‘Mr. L. H. Morgan has investigated the customs of inheritance, not only among the northern
Indians, but also among the pueblo Indians of New Mexico. He establishes the fact, that the “kin-
ship” 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 So-
ciety,” Part II, cap. Il, 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. Chick-
asas, 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.

2“Ancient Society” (Part II, cap. Il, p. 75; Part 1V, cap. I, pp. 528, 530, 531, 536, and 537).

3Gomara (‘‘Historia de las Indios,” Vedia I, p. 201). Garcia (“Origen de los Indios,” Lib. LV,
cap. 23, p. 247). Piedrahita (Parte 1, Lib. I, cap. 5, p. 27). Joaquin Acosta (‘‘Compendio historico del
Desecumbrimiento y Colonisazion de la Nueya-Granada,” Cap. XT, p. 201). Ternanx-Compans (“L’ancien
Cundinamarca,” pp. 21 and 38).

4Motolinia (Trat. II, cap. V, p. 120). Gomara (p. 434). Clavigero (Lib. VII, cap. XIII). Zurita
(pp. 12 and 43).

5 Letter of Motolinia and Diego d’Olarte, to Don Luis de Velasco, Cholula, 27 Ang., 1554 GrBe:
cueil,” ete., 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 GTO of
daughters at all. In Tlaxcallan, it is also expressly mentioned that the daughters did not inherit (Tor-
quemada, 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. XII, pp.
30, 31, 32, and 33. The fact is generally conceded). H. H. Bancroft, ‘Native Races,” Vol. II, cap.
VI, p. 224, ete.

6 Motolinia (Trat. II, cap. V, p. 120). Torquemada (Lib. XIII, cap. XLIT to XLVI, pp. 515 to
529). Acosta (Lib. V, cap. VIII, pp. 320, 321, and 322). Gomara (pp. 436 and 437, Vedia, I). Mendicta
(Lib. I, cap. XL, pp. 162 and 163). Claviger » (Lib. VI, tap: XXXIX). ‘They burnt the clothes, ar-
rows, and a portion of the household utensils 5

96 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

springs, 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.

“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’ 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 Mexi-
cans, 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.* 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 hus-
band, 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 de-
ceased had held, the more display was made at his cremation, and conse-
quently 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 suc-
cession’ is generally admitted as having existed. Thus, with the Tezcutans,

the office of head war-chief might pass from father to son,* at Mexico from

1Gomara (‘‘Conq. de Méjico, 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. 8. (‘‘Re-
cueil,” etc.; ete., p. 224): “Relative to the calpulalli . . . . the sons mostly inherited.”

2 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 abil-
ities and to his strength.” Herrera (Dec. III, Lib. IV, cap. XV, p. 185).

3 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 attend-
ants to worship, they participated in the tributes furnished towards it by each ecalpulli, of which we
have spoken.

‘Zurita (p. 12). Gomara (VediaI, p. 434). Torquemada (Lib. IX, cap. IV, p. 177; Lib. XI,
cap. 27, p. 356, etc. etc.).

a

MORGAN.) CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING MEXICAN OWNERSHIP. O77

brother to brother, and from uncle to nephew.’ This might, eventually,
have tended to perpetuate the office in the family, and with it also the pos-
session 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 éwnerships.

“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 con-
ceptions 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 culti-
vation 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 chief-
taincy. 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.

1This 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.

7

98 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

‘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 insti-
tutions 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.”*

While these several statements may not present the exact case in all
respects in Peru, Mexico, or among the Northern Indian tribes, they suf-
ficiently 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 knowl-
edge 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.

1Royal Commentaries of Peru, Lond. ed., 1688. Rycaut, trans., p. 154,

—_

MORGAN.) ONE PREPARED MEAL EACH DAY. 99

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 bar-
barism. 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 domes-
tic 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 eat-
ing, 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

100 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

advanced families of the Iroquois tribes. There are still upon the Iroquois
reservations in this State many log houses 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 propo-
sition that man and wife should eat together, which was so contrary to im-
memorial 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 aday. 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 sub-
sist on, eat less than any civilized population of equal numbers that I have

ever travelled among.”!

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.’ Adair contents himself
with stating of the Chocta and Cherokee tribes that ‘‘they have no stated
meal time.” There was doubtless some variation in different localities, and

even in the same household; but as a general rule, from what is known of

1 North American Indians, Philadelphia ed., 1857, i, 203.
2 Indian Nations, 193.
3 History of the American Indian, Lond. ed., 1775, p. 17.

yes Soe

MORGAN.] SAME AMONG ANCIENT MEXICANS. 101

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.

Aithough 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 prod-
ucts, and its monogamian family, affords a breakfast and supper in addi-
tion 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.” The
‘‘oruel 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 proba-
ble 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 per-
son 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,

1History of Mexico, ii, 262.

102 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

where they were taken up one by one by the male members of the house-
hold, 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 house-
hold 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 Montézuma’s dinner a cook-house or kitchen is men-
tioned, in which the dinner tor the large household of the ‘“'Teepan” 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 Teepan or ofticial-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”! 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 travelled in the

1 History of America, New York ed., 1856, 178.

MORGAN] AMONG NORTHERN TRIBES. 103

Indian country, [ have never seen an Indian woman eating with her hus-
band. Men form the first group at the banquet, and women and children
and dogs all come together at the next.”’ And Adair ‘‘for the men feast by
themselves and the women eat the remains.”* 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”* 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.”* 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 man-

ners of barbarism, we leave the subject.

! North American Indians, i, 202. 2History of the American Indians, p. 140.
3 History of America, iv, 175. 4 Historia General, lib. iv, 36.

CHAPTER ve
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, con-
sidered 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 architec-
ture 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 com-
parison 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 exist-
ing 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 con-
struction, 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
104

| al

MORGAN. ] HOUSES ADAPTED TO COMMUNISM IN LIVING. 105

inferences with respect to the social condition and the degree of advance-
ment of these tribes have been constantly drawn from it both fallacious and
deceptive, when the plain truth would have been more creditable to the abo-
rigines. 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 Palenque, and the ‘ House of the
Nuns” at Uxmal. It is the principle of adaptation to communism m 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 occu-
pied by one large household, as among the Iroquois, or by several house-
hold 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
1 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 struc-
tures of the latter class are obviously communal, the practice of commun-
ism 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 com-
munism of the Village Indians has been presented.

106 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

COMMUNAL HOUSES OF TRIBES IN SAVAGERY.

Mr. Stephen Powers, in his recent and instructive work on the ‘“ Cali-
1

fornia 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; an-
other to the warm coast valleys; another, limited to a small area, constructed
of interlaced willow poles, the interstices being open; another to the wood-
less 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.

“In making a wigwam, they excavated about two fae 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 influ-
ence is all potent.” Elsewhere he remarks upon this form of house as fol-
lows: “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.”* 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 de-

| Powell SGeceeoin al See, fen EhOk: the Pg Mose eee Contributions to enenene
Ethnology, vol. iii, Powers’ Tribes of California, p. 436,

2Tb., p. 221.

3Tb., p, 437.

Fig. 1.—Karth Lodges in the Sacramento Valley.

=
== silly

Vic. 2.—Gallinomero Thatched Lodge.

MORGAN. ] FORM OF HOUSE AMONG TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA. 107

scent 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 ele-
gant 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.

“Tn 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-gran-
aries 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.”’

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
3 s } ;

1 Powers’ Tribes of Cal., p. 284.

108 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

shaman or si-se’-ro. In the mountains there is some approach to this mar-
tial array, but it is universal on the plains.”"

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.”” 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 pre-
serving 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.”*

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. Hach wigwam, therefore, is a pueblo, a law unto itself;
and yet these lodges are grouped in villages, some of which formerly con-
tained hundreds of inhabitants.*. 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.

1 Powers’ Tribes of Cal., p. 370. 3Ib., p. 139. 3Ib., p. 163, 4Tb., —p. 168,

Fic, 3. Maidu Lodge in the High Sierra.

A il ANN
ti Nh

we

HAS

Ay
ye
v

Sh

v4
Tn

‘sodporyT OUT, SINYOK—'p ‘OMT

MORGAN. | KUTCHIN LODGE. 109

A brief reference may be made to the skin lodge of the Kitchin or
Louchoux of the Yukon and Peel Rivers.

This simple structure, the ground plan and elevation of which were
taken from the Smithsonian Report,’ is thus described by Mr. Strachan

Fic. 5.—Kiitchin Lodge.

Jones: “ Deer-skins are dressed with the hair on, and sewed together, form-
ing 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
eround 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 fami-
lies, as the case may be, live on each side of the fire, every one having his
or her particular place.”* 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.”* The principal fact to be noticed is that the lodge is com-
parted 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
Kitchin must be classed as savages, although near the close of that condi-

tion.

‘Report for 1866, p. 321. 21b., p. 322. 8Ib., p. 321.

110 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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, imple-
ments 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 Pereés) as follows: ‘This village of Tumachem-
ootool 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 con-
tains twenty-four fires, about double that number of families, and might

perhaps muster a hundred fighting men.”

This would give five hundred
people in a single house. The number of fies probably indicates the num-
ber of groups practicing communism in living among themselves, though

for aught we know it may have been general in the entire household.

oe 1 ee el ae

Ao Gale
Fic. 6—Ground-plan of Neerchokioo.

Another great house, Neerchokioo, 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

1 Travels, etc., l. c., p. 548.

MORGAN.] HOUSES OF TRIBES OF COLUMBIA. 1a:

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.”’ The apart-
ments, 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.””

The houses of the coast tribes (Clatsops and Chinooks) are also
described. “The houses in this neighborhood are all large wooden build-
ings, 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 hori-

zontally, and secured in the same way with strings of cedar bark. The

1 Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, p. 503. 2Ib., p. 515.

112 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 then 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 fire-
place mats are placed, and serve as seats during the day, and very fre-
quently 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."

These explorers found the houses of the Indian tribes throughout the
Columbia Valley occupied by several families, the smallest of them con-
taining from twenty to forty persons, and the largest fire 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. Speak-
ing of the manner of building these houses in detail, he remarks that “they
are designed to accommodate several families, and are of various dimen-

1Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, p. 431.

MORGAN. OJIBWA LODGE. els

sions; 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.

COMMUNAL HOUSES OF TRIBES IN LOWER STATUS OF BARBARISM.

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 Schooleraft’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 sutticiently shown

by the frame of elastic poles exhib-

ited 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 va- HEE Cie SME LEO OEE NE SESE et
ried 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, ‘‘con-
tains 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

1 Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, No, 220, p.5. 2 Travels, etc., p. 65,

8

114 HOUSES AND HWOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

of computation, five hundred persons, and an average of twelve persons
to a house.

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 princi-
pally in villages in their original area
on the head-waters of the Mississippi,
in the present State of Minnesota.
Forced upon the plains by an advane-

ing white population, but after they

had become possessed of horses, they

invented a skin tent eminently adapted

to their present nomadic condition.

Fic. 8.—Dakota wii-ka-yo, or Skin Tent.

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 con-
sists 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 trans-
ported 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

P
.

MORGAN. ] HOUSES OF THE VIRGINIA INDIANS. Il»

of the prairie region. I have seen it in use among seven ox 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 modifica-
tions of plan, in the United States Army, for service on the plains.

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, be-

fore 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 representa-
tions of the people and of their in-
dustrial arts The description of

Pomeiock is as follows: ‘The towns

in Virginia are very like those of

Se ————

Florida, not, however, so well and ee ee Ope ose cmeiodl

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 resi-
dence 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

116 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.”*

The village consisted of seventeen joint-tenement houses and a council-
house, arranged around a central open space, and surrounded with a pali-
sade. 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 accom-
modate 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 poten-
tate—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 com-
fort 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 (I), in which a sentry is stationed to guard against the dep-
redations 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 sepul-
chre of their chiefs (A). * * * They have gardens for melons (1),
anda 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.”?

The houses of the Powhatan Indians of Virginia proper, as described

1Wyth’s Sketches of Virginia, first published by De Bry, 1690, Langly’s ed., 1841, Plate 21.
2Sketches, etc., of Virginia, description of Plate 22.

:
q

Fic. 10.—Village of Secotan.

Gl
~f

=

MORGAN ] HOUSES OF THE VIRGINIA INDIANS. 117

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 Pow-

hatan as a prisoner is engraved upon his map of Virginia, of which the

Wf <i f
6

“Their houses are |X
\

following is a copy:

aN Of

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 notwith-

standing 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 20

into right over the fire.

Against the fire they lie on
little hurdles of reeds cov-

ered with a mat, borne from

POWHATAN
; Heid this flate & Spoon wher Capt: Sinith
by a hurdle of wood. On EE EE ISTE

these, round about the house, 4007

the ground a foot or more

he : : Fic. 11.—Interior of House of Virginia Indians.
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.”!
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 mat-
tings of canes or willows were secured, as the houses at Pomeiock and Seco-
tan are ribbed externally at intervals of about eight feet, showing four, five,

‘ History of Virginia, i, 130.

118 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 1679~80, by Jasper
Dankers and Peter Sluyter, edited and translated by Hon. Henry C. Mur-
phy, 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

MORGAN.| HOUSES OF THE NYACKS OF LONG ISLAND. 119

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.”

There is nothing in these statements forbidding the supposition that
the household described practiced communism in livmg. The composition
of the household shows that it was formed on the principle of gentile 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.

Fig. ig ose is sete of ROC

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: “"Tio-
tohatton is on the brink or edge of a hill, has not much cleared ground, is

near the river Tiotohatton [outlet of Honeoye Lake], whicl

1 signifies bending.

‘ Journal, ete., p. 124.

120 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

It lies to the westward of Canagora (Canandaigua) about thirty miles, con-
tains 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.”

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 strength-
ened 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.

See es
Beeeeoe es

ie
Fic. 13.—Ground-plan ‘ene Long-House.

The interior of the house was comparted at intevals 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 covered 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 apart-
ments 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 accu-

1 Documentary History of New York, vol. i, p. 13.

MORGAN.) HOUSES OF THE SENECA-IROQUOIS. 121

mulations 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 house-
hold.

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 dis-
tribution 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 *
Since the mothers who dwelt together were usually sisters, own or collat-
eral, 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 hus-
bands were in the minority as to kindred. In case of separation it was the

1 Das Mutterrecht, Stuttgart, 1861.

122 WOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 subor-
dination 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 monog-
amy 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,
‘Jomt in food, worship, and estate,” brought to our notice by Sir Henry
Maine,’ 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 bar-
barous life in the Old World as well as the New, but limited to the house-
hold. Strabo informs us that the Gauls lived in great houses, constructed
of planks and wicker, with dome roofs covered with heavy thatch?
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 them-
selves 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

1 Early History of Institutions, Holt’s ed., pp. 100 and 106. 2 Lib, iv, c. 4,8, 3,

MORGAN] HOUSES OF THE ONONDAGA-IROQUOIS. 1045)

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 Cyclopedia in 1875.

OUR ,
INDIAN
APARTMENTS

°
Ze
>
<
ier)
m
a

Qvows 1234 4!

(2)
=<
m
a
=
25
m
3
3
m
=

p.

80 FEET LONG
Fic. 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.” 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, inter-
spersed 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

1 Documentary History of New York, p. 332,

124 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 extraordi-
nary 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, sr 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.”?
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 vil-
lage was not established until 1877, when General John 8. Clarke, of Au-
burn, by means of Champlain’s map and sketch of the village, and his rela-
tion 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 en-
closed with strong quadruple palisades of large timber, thirty feet high,

! Observations, etc.; Travels to Onondaga, Lond. ed., 1751, pp. 40, 41.

‘VSLI[LA VSvpuoug pepesi~rg—‘ey ‘SI

ha ——
\N
An
\ :

)

HL

wnt

iu

+:

i

MORGAN.] PALISADED IROQUOIS VILLAGE. 25

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, throw-
ing 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.”?

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 en-
graving, 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 sepa-
rated 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
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—

1Doc. Hist. New York, iii, 14.

126 UOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 verti-
cally in the ground, and about ten
feet high, but then in a dilapidated

state.

a The houses were circular in ex-

Too 00

SUT)
PACES

Fic. 16.—Mandan Village Plot. ternal 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.”

These houses are about forty feet in diam-
eter, 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,

MORTAR

six or eight inches in diameter, are set in the
ground, at equal distances, in the cireumfer-
ence 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

Fic. 17.—Ground-plan of a Mandan
House. braces are sunk in the ground about four feet

distant, which, slanting upward, are adjusted by means of depressions cut
’ ) eae ’ d y

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

MORGAN. INTERIOR OF MANDAN HOUSE. WAC

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.

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 to-

gether to give the

requisite strength

to support the earth

covering placed
upon the roo ifs Fic. 18.—Cross-section of House.

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 mat-
ting 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 edge-
wise. A hard, smooth, earthen floor completed the interior. Such a lodge

would accommodate five or six families, embracing thirty or forty persons.

128 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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, which would average forty feet in diameter,
all constructed upon this plan, besides several rectangular log houses of
later erection and of the American type.

These houses, of which a representation is given in Fig. 19, were
thickly studded to-
gether to economize
the space within the
stockade, so that in
walking through the
village you passed
along some circular

foot-paths. There

was ho street, and

F1G. 19.—Mandan house. 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 *

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 com-
fortable 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 tim-
ber 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-scaftolds (Fig. 20),
one for each lodge, which were nearly as conspicuous in the distance as the

1The 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.

MORGAN. | MANDAN SCAFFOLD AND LADDER. 129

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.

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

‘JOO AY OF YOUT 2g ayeag

Fig. 20.—Drying-scattold. Fic. 21.—Mandan ladder.

houses, each capable of holding about a thousand persons. ‘These houses
were without entrances from the ground, but they mounted to the first ter-
race by means of ladders, and so to each successive story above. ‘The

130 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

ladders which they have for their houses,’ Coronado says in his relation,
“are all ina manner movable and portable as ours be.”’ 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 cot-
tages thirty or forty feet in diameter, made of twigs of cottonwood trees, inter-
woven with straw of wheat, cornstalks, and cane.”* Those occupied by the
Mohaves, as described by Captain Sitgreave, are similar in character.2 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.”

'Hakluyt, Coll. of Voyages, London ed., 1812, vol. 5, p. 498.

2Notes, &c., New Mexico, p. 132. See also Bartlet’s Personal Narrative, p. 280.
’Expedition, &c., Zuni and Colorado, p. 19.

4Smithsonian Report for 1871, p. 415.

MORGAN.] HOUSES OF THE MARICOPAS AND MOHAYVES. oul

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.

CAA EDs Viele
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 super-
added to that of adaptation to communism in living. I 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 discov-
ery, were met 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.* The
present Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are in the main their descendants.
They live, some of them, in the same identical houses theirforefathers occu-
pied at the time of Coronado’s expedition to New Mexico in 1541-1542, as

1“ They have no cotion-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, 377.

2“Their garmencs were of cotton and deer skins, and the attire, both of » en 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, yol, iii, p. 114.

132

MORGAN,] HOUSES OF TWO OR MORE STORIES. 133

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 Zuni 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 Mex-
ico, going southward, are met for the first time houses constrneted 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 durabie stone wall. Some of the existing pueblo houses in
New Mexico are as old as the expedition of Coronado (1540-1542). Oth-
ers, 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 Zuni 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

134 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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, pos-
sessed 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 essen-
tially 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 in-
security 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 Depart-
ment, have been made in various parts of the Territory. The army officers
m charge 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

MORGAN.| PUEBLO INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO. 135

recently, the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, under
Prof. F. V. Hayden, geologist in charge, and also the Geographical and Geo-
logical Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, Maj. J. W. Powell, geologist
in charge, have furnished a large amount of additional information concern-
ing 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 infor-
mation 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 workman-
ship, 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.”*

“They had hardly provisions enough for themselves,”
remarks Jaramillo of the Cibolans, “and what they had consisted of maize,
beans, and squashes.”* 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 con-
tiguous pueblos, speaking dialects of the same language, were confederated
for mutual protection, of which the seven Cibolan pueblos, situated proba-
bly 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 Fé, writes as
follows to the author: ‘A visitor to one of their houses is invariably ten-

1“ 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.

2Relation of Capt. Juan Jaramillo, Coll. Terneanx-Compans, 1x, 369.

136 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

dered 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; anda
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

’ Here we find a nearly exact repetition
J

latter cheerfully and in due plenty.’
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. Lieu-
tenant 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

MORGAN] MRS. STEVENSON’S DESCRIPTION OF ZUNI. 137

houses could be converted into formidable forts.”! The number of apart-
ments 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 evi-
dently 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.

Zuni, Fig. 23, is the largest occupied pueblo in New Mexico at the pres-
enttime. 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 Zuni and the neigh-
boring pueblos, for the purpose of making collections of their implements,
utensils, ete., during which time the photographs from which the accompa-
nying illustrations of the pueblos were made. His wife accompanied him,
and she has furnished us the following description of that pueblo :

“Zuni is situated in Western New Mexico, being built upon a knoil
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 Zunians 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

1Ex. Doc. No. 41, Ist session 30th Congress,+1848, p. 462.

138 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

Mexico, to Isleta, in Western Texas. Among these remnants of great native
tribes, the Zunians 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 Zuni 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 Zuni are reached by ladders from the outside.
The lower tiers have doors on tlie ground plan, while the entrances to the
others are from the terraces. There is a second entrance through hatch-
ways 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 Zunians 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
inica was originally used, and is still employed to some extent; but the
Zunians 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 on 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
jntringed upon were men to do it. In building, the men lay the stone foun-
dations and set in place the huge logs that serve as beams to support the

MORGAN] DESCRIPTION OF ZUNI CONTINUED. 139

roof, the spaces between these rafters being filled with willow-brush; though
some of the wealthier Zunians 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 Zuni 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 pur-
_pose 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 Zuni, 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 Zuni. 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-Gov-
ernor, 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.

“Hach 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 some-
what 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-

140 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 Zunians. 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 grind-
ing 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 Zunians 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 in 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,

‘eSNOHT TUNG UL WOOY—'fFZ “DIT

MORGAN.) ONE OF THE MOKI PUEBLOS. 141

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 com-
fortable, and differ in no respect from those in use at the period of the con-
quest, as will elsewhere be shown. The mesa elevation upon which the old
town of Zuni 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 pueb-
los, 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-shone’-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 exten-
sive and beautiful view upen 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 astone 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,

142 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 ina 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 un-
palatable, particularly when eaten with salt. * * * The room was
fifteen feet by ten; the walls were made of adobes; the partitions of sub-
stantial 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
iuner 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, thgugh 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 mag-
nificent panorama. * * * We learned that there were seven towns.
* * * ach 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

or”

MORGAN.] ROOM IN MOKI HOUSE. 143

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 com-
munity of residence.”!

This account leaves a doubt whether the stories 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.

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

1 Colorado Exploring Expedition, p. 121.

144 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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, Lieuten-
ant 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.”"

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” 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 hun-
dred 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 chim-
neys have been added to the principal room of each family; but it is evident

1Colorado Exploring Expedition, p. 120. :
2 Relation of Castenada, Coll. H. Ternaeux-Compans. ix, 188. Trans. of American Ethnological

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MORGAN.] PUEBLO OF TAOS. 145

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 con-
trolling 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 yesso 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

10

146 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

from 7 to 74 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 24 feet wide by 44 feet high and 24 feet wide by
4 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 24, 3 feet
by 2, and 1% by 24 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 base-
ment 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 fire-
place, 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 neg-
lected. Those in good condition are still occupied. From the best infor-
mation 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

MORGAN.) ORGANIZATION OF TAOS INDIANS. 147

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 plat-
form 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 clear-
ness. 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.

‘Hach terrace is reached,” remarks Mr. Miller before mentioned, speak-
ing 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 state-
ment.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 house-
hold, 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 Fé, 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

*

x

148 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

captain, and a lieutenant war captain. 5. Six fiscals or policemen. “The
cacique,” Mr. Miller says, “has the general control of all officers in the per-
formance of their duties, transacts the business of the pueblo with the sur-
rounding 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 ieagues 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 sue-
cessor. 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 charac-
ter. 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 exe-
cutes 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 Decem-
ber, 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

DIT

‘souUy JO O[qong Ut WOOyY— ‘gz

MORGAN, ] RIGHTS IN LANDS. 149

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. Irom 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 Indi-
ans of America from Zuni 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 “ owner-
ship in fee” of land, is sufficiently explained by the possessory right which
is found among the northern Indian tribes. The limitations upon its alien-
ation 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 own-
ership 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 correct-
ness, 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,' and from
lack of time did not inquire into their property regulations or rules of in-
heritance. The dozen large ovens [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.

1 Mr. Bandelier has since ascertained that they are organized in gentes.

150 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 insti-
tutions. 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 num-
bers, 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 dis-
covery. 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 mvestigation
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 fore-
fathers in 1540 at Acoma, Jemez, and Taos. ‘These pueblos were contempo-
rary 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 sec-
tions 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,

MORGAN.] RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. 151

At the time of their discovery the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico
generally worshipped 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 worshipped 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 sus-
tenance 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 pro-
fess to believe in the God and Christ of the Catholic Church and of the
Bible. When we die, we go to God in Heaven. Ido 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

152 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 com-
municated 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 along 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 José, a
native of Zia, and José 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 wasthe sun. Seh-wn-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.’ 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 Montezu-
ma) is believed in all the New Mexican pueblos. ‘They practice the Cath-
olic religion ostensibly ; but in their consciences and in reality the old reli-
gion 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 w grep the Pueblo Indians pray to God, and also to Montezuma

1 The Iroquois ce a similar tradition of the ancient existence of an Indian village under Otsego
Lake in New York.

MORGAN.) SELF-SECLUSION FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES. 153

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 ca-
cique. 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 Monte-
zuma, 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 wide-
spread legend in the tribes of the American aborigines, of a personal human
being, with supernatural powers, an instructor of the arts of life; an exam-
ple of the highest virines, 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, pre-
served 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 Indiansin 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 canon or valley of the Rio
Chaco, which stream is an affluent of the San Juan, a tributary of the Colo-
rado. 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, ot which the uses are not at present
known. Cliff houses are also found on the Dolores River. Other ruins are
found in the canon 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 struc-
tures are found. They are similar in style and plan to the present occu-
pied pueblos in New Mexico, but superior in construction, as stone is supe-
rior 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.
154

MORGAN] RUINS IN THE CANON OF THE RIO CHACO. 155

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 canon of the Chaco, which commences about one hundred and ten
miles northwest from Santo Domingo, on the Rio Grande, is quite remark-
able. It has enough of the characteristics of the canon to justify the appli-
cation of this peculiar term But it differs from the great canons in the
lowness of the bordering walls and in the great breadth of the space between.
Neither Simpson nor Jackson describe the canon 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 canon
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 canon 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 canon commences very much like the McEImo Canon in South-
western 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 canon, “two miles over
a slightly rolling country, our general course still being to the northwest,
brought us to the commencement of the Canon de Chaco, its width here
being about two hundred yards. Friable sandstone rocks, massive above,

156 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

stratified below, constitute its enclosing walls.”'~ And Mr. Jackson, who
entered it from the same point, remarks that “two miles from the river
we descended into the canon of the Chaco. It is here only about fifty
feet in depth, with vertical walls of yellowish gray sandstone.” At a
point twelve miles down, at the Pueblo Una Vida, he remarks that ‘the
canon is here about five hundred yards wide, and is perfectly level from
one side to the other.”* Farther down the walls of the cation rise about a
hundred feet, as appears in the restorations of the Pueblo Bonito and of the
Pueblo of Hungo Pavie. Whether the cation 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 canon, 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.*

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 canon.
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 mate-
rials, 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 per-
sons, 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

1 Lieutenant Simpson’s Report, p.77. 2 Hayden’s Report, p. 436. %Ib., p. 437. 4Ib., p. 448,

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be referred to a higher stage of civilization and refinement than is discover-
able 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 thin-
ness. 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 develop-
ment 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 communi-
cating 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 apart-
ments sunk in the ground, the walls being of masonry. These apartments

158 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

the Pueblo Indians called estufas, or places where the people held their
political and religious meetings.”

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 con-
templated 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

2

the walls was obtained. He further remarks concerning the estufas :
‘Tn 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 proba-
bly 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.

1Simpson’s Report, p. 76. 2 Jackson’s Report, p. 433.

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MORGAN.] RUINS OF PUEBLO WEGE.GI. 159

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 auite 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 thick-
ness, laid close together, are now in fair preservation.”?

Twelve miles down the canon from the Pueblo Pintado, are the ruins
of the Pueblo Wegé-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.”

' Jackson’s Report, p. 434.

160 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

The Pueblo of Una Vida, Fig. 31, seems to have been in process of con-
struction, 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 reced-
ing 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 canon.

The highest portions of the wall still standing in this pueblo are fifteen
feet in height, twenty-five feet in Wegé-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 canon, upon the north side, and quite near the bor-
dering walls. In exterior development, including the court, it is eight hun-
dred 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 struct-
ure in Central America in ground dimensions. There are seventy-three

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PUEBLO HUNGO PAVIE
Chaco Canon,
N.M.
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-

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_ — ~_SCALE 160 FEET

Fig. 31.—Ground plans of Pueblos Una Vida and Hungo Payie.

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Fig. 32.—Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie.

MORGAN] RUINS OF PUEBLO CHETTRO KETTLE. 161

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
‘‘oreat houses of stone,” the annexed elevation is given, Fig.32. Itis arestora-
tion 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 cation 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 cotemporary, 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 canon, near the
bluff, are the ruins of the Pueblo of Chettro Kettle, or the Rain Pueblo,
Fig. 83. The main building and the wings face the court, from which alone
they are entered, and from which the several stories recede outward. In-
cluding 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
el

162 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

a

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 hun-
dred 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 hun-
dred 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 Simp-
son 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 appear-
ing to be almost covered up with débris.”

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 per-
fect 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 num-
ber 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 cloce contact, was a kind of lathing of the
odor and appearance of cedar, all in a good state of preservation.”? When

' Lieutenant Simpson’s Report, p. 63.

PUEBLO CHETTRO-KETTLE,
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Fig. 34.—Room in Pueblo Chettro Kettle.

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Chaca Canon,
N. M.

10 20 30 40 30 60 70 60 BO 100

SCALE, 100 FEET.

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MORGAN.] RUINS OF PUEBLO BONITO. 163

in its original condition, this fine pueblo must have made a very striking
appearance.

Immediately under the walls of the canon, 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 num-
ber of rooms on the ground floor is one hundred and thirty-nine. In this
enumeration, however, are not included the apartments which are not dis-
tinguishable in the eastern portion of the pueblo, and which would swell
the number io 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

1 No single edifice of equal accom-
5

number to six hundred and forty-one.”
modations, 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 trans-
verse beams being smaller and more numerous, and the longitudinal pieces,
which rest upon them, only about an inch in diameter, and beautifully reg-
ular. 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

'Simpson’s Report, p. 81

164 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

into adjacent apartments. The light is let in by a window two feet by eight
inches on the north side.”?

Mr. Jackson’s study of the ruins enabled him to produce a restoration,
which is given in his report, and of whose plate Fig. 87 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 canon 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 canon.”
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 massive-
ly-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

!Simpson’s Report, p. 81.

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Chaco Canon,
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PUEBLO No. 9,

Chaco Cajon, pe Sy
N. M.

SCALE 50 FEET.

Fyq@. 38.—Ground plan of Pueblo Del Arroyo

MORGAN] RUINS OF PENASCA BLANCA. 165

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 circu-
larrooms. Atthe 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. he 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
Penasea 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.”*

“Tn 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 wail
to wall inside. The smallest, which are only ten feet wide, are at the two

Se

1Simpson’s Report, p. 64.

166 1OUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

ends. ‘The width of the rooms of each tier appears to have been constant
throughout the length of the whole ruin. he 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
débris, but when the ruins can be followed they show that this floor is gen-
erally divided into much smaller apartments, two or three occurring some-
times 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 lead-
ing from one room to another. They are built of stones uniform in size,
averaging six by nine by three anda 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 build-
ing, the walls are entirely leveled, but enough remains to show the dimen-
sions 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 por-
tions of its interior wall in such preservation that its character is readily
discernible.” ?

Without the canon, 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

ma Hayden’s Tenth Annual Report, 1878,p. 446.

PUEBLO PENASCA BLANCA,
Chaco Canon,

gay
dv3H HSv 4

\

Fic. 39.—Ground plan of Pueblo Penasca Blanca,

we ia ~ °U res ‘

f a

MORGAN. CORONADO’S RELATION. 167

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-cight by sixty-three feet,
both of stone, complete the list of ruins in the canon. The pueblo of Pintado,
is, however, at the upper end, and without the canon, and the Pueblo Alto,
not yet described, is not in the cafon, but on the bluff. It is a remarkable
display of ancient edifices; the most remarkable in New Mexico. With the
bordering walls of the canon, 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 pre-
sented 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 canon 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 circum-
stances 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 canon, 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 Ci-
bola, August 3, 1540, Coronado describes his conquest and intimates his
disappointment in the following language:

“Tt 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

168 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 lodgings
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 hun-
dred. 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.”!

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.”?

It will be observed that the phrases ‘‘great houses of stone,” and
‘“‘go0d houses of three, or four, or five lofts high,” not only describe the

1 Hakluyt, vol. iii, p. 377. 2Ib., vol. iii, p. 379.

MORGAN] JARAMILLO’S RELATION. 169

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 Canon 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 “judg-
ment 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].”! 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 Canon 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. Castateda, 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 vallée trés-ctroite entre des montagues escarpées”],” 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
canon. This language, literally interpreted, does not describe this canon,
neither is there any valley in New Mexico, occupied by pueblos, which
answers this description.

1Coll. H. Ternaux-Compans, vol. ix, p. 370. 2 Castaneda Relation, Ternaux-Compans, ix, p. 164.

170 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 prox-
imity 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 north-
eastern 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. Zuii, 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 nar-
rative. 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 Zuni
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. Assum-
ing 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 prob-
ably 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

MORGAN] HOUSES GRADUALLY CONSTRUCTED. 1A

houses, after attaining a sufficient size, became overcrowded with inhabit-
ants, 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 becom-
ing overtaxed for their joint subsistence, the colonists would seek more dis-
tant homes. At the period of the highest prosperity of these pueblos, the
valley of the Chaco must have possessed remarkable advantages for sub-
sistence The plain between the walls of the canon 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.

OECAIE Di hs Vie

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 canon below, which was im-
passable; 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 cations also impassable.
The supply of water for irrigation at the pueblo was abundant.

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 build-
ing 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

1 The engravings of Figs. 40, 41, and 41a, were kindly loaned by Mr. F. W. Putnam of the Pea-
body Museum, Cambridge, Mass.
172

MORGAN.] RUINS OF PUEBLO ON ANIMAS RIVER. LTS

from the end back to the main building. 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

5 AUT Gia Oe AOR ABE LIONEL

Fic. 40.—Ground plan of Pueblo on Animas River, N. M.

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

174. HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 lad-
ders, 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, 7. ¢., we found a stone
wall regularly laid up, like the one in the main building, as will else-
where be shown. Some of the walls in these rooms were of cobblestone
and adobe; others were of stone with natural faces and cobblestone inter-
mixed. 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 thick-
ness 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 meas-

MORGAN, ] DESCRIPTION OF RUINS. 1rd)

urements 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. Al! 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.

176 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 venti-
lation. 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 ona
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, usu-
ally 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 astone 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 mor-
tar being sound and the bond unbroken.
The Indian had a string from time immemorial. With it he could strike

MORGAN. ] ADOBE MORTAR. 17

a circle, and lay out the four sides of a quadrangular structure with tolera-
ble 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 wellas wecan. 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 abuudance 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 struc-
tures 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

12

178 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.”!

Clavigero remarks that “the houses
of lords and people of circumstances were built of stone and lime.”® Again,
“the ignorant Mr. De Pauw denies that the Mexicans had either the knowl-
edge 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 build-
ings still remaining, that all these nations made the same use of lime as all
the Europeans do.”* In hke manner, Herrera, speaking of Zempoala, near
Vera Cruz, remarks that the Spaniards, entering the town, found “the.

houses [were] built of lime and stone;”*

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.”’ These several state-
ments 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.”°
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 through-
out the wall was solid and consisted of large stones imbedded in mortar,
almost as hard as rock.”* 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 con-
structed 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

1 The True History of the Conquest of Mexico, Keatinge’s Translation, Salem ed., 1803, vol. i, p. 208.
*? History of Mexico, Cullen’s Trans., Phila. ed., 1817, vol. ii, p. 232.

3Ib., vol. ii, p. 237.

‘History of America, Stevens’ Trans., London ed., 1725, vol. ii, p. 266.

5Tb., p. 112.

© Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, vol. ii, p. 310.

7Ib., vol. i, p. 178.

MORGAN. ] STONES USED SHOW NATURAL FACES. 179

been emptied by the Indians) with solid masses of mortar and stones.”?
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.”?
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.”* 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 satis-
fied 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 9f them, engraved from a photo-
graph. 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. The

1 Central American, Chiapas and Yucatan, vol. ii, p. 23. 2?Rambles in Yucatan, p.120. 8 Ib., p. 127.

180 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

upper and lower faces of the stone are substantially, but not exactly, paral-
lel. 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
yap evidently prepared by
MH fracture, probably with
H a stone maul, and the
Ma vegularity of the break-

age was doubtless partly

EBS AMS SUD US Heo OTE 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. 41 a represents a sandstone cut by American skilled workmen in
the form of a brick, and it is intended to show by comparison the great dif-
ference 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 at-
BEE Freee Ose ie pe tempted. But the accuracy of a practiced

comparison with Fig. 41. eye and hand, such as their methods af-
forded, 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

MORGAN] WOODEN LINTELS. 181

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 Maneos River. This was so firmly imbedded that we
found its removal impossible. They used fora lintel six round cedar cross-
pieces, Fig. 42, each about four inches in diameter and now perfectly
sound.

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 experi

enced to save the head from bumps, and the wonder is that it did not occur

Fic. 42.—Section of Cedar Lintel.

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

182 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THIET AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 com-
municated 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, as elsewhere stated, by
late explorers. One of these trap-doors measured sixteen by seventeen
inches, and the other sixteen inches square. Hach 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 evi-
dently 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

MORGAN] NO CHIMNEYS IN BUILDING. 183

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 exca-
vation. 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 extend-
ing 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 inthis structure. There are none
in the ruins in Yucatan and Central America. It isa fair inference, therefore,
that chimneys were entirely unknown to the aborigines at the time of their
discovery. They have sincé 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 fur-
nished 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

184 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

be proved nor disproved from the ruins. The number of apartments
would not vary much whether the upper stories were symmetrically or irreg-
ularly 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 recog-
nize 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, some-
times three together, and sometimes five and six. These courses are carried
along the wall from one side to the other, but often brokenin 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 pleas-
ing 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 mor-
tar, 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

MORGAN.) SECOND PUEBLO ALSO OF STONE. 185

means of a canal, and passed in several smaller streams through their gar-
dens. 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 indistinet 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.

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 northeast- 200!

erly therefrom, isanother
pueblo in two sections,
Fig. 43, with a space
about fifteen feet wide _
between them. They z

00)

may have been, and pro-
bably were, connected
and inhabited as one
structure. Some of the

: -) c Case Fic. 43.—Outline of a Stone Pueblo an Animas River.
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:

186 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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, fol-
lowed 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 suflicient 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

MORGAN.) OTHER RUINS. 187

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 con-
nection 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 consid-
ered 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 cob-
blestone 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 thou-
sand 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

188 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 base-
ment 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 popula-
tion of at least five thousand persons at this settlement, living by horticult-
ure. 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

MORGAN. RUINS OF ADOBE HOUSES. 189

McEImo Canon. 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 Man- | GMitcH=its RANCH

cos River, twenty-five
miles distant. The bluffs |rouno tow
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

: Mo ELMO CANON
mountaims. About ten Fig. 44.—Pueblos at commencement of McElmo Canton.

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 McEImo Canon 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 inter-
section 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 ruimous 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 dis-
cernible 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

‘190 HOUSES AND HOUSE LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 ceme-
tery, where each grave is marked by a border of flat stones set leyel 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.

This is an immense ruin with small portions of the walls still standing,

particularly of the round

tower of stone of three

concentric walls, incor-
porated 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

Fia. 45.—Outline plan of a stone pueblo near the natok Ute ~ the first sae In its

Mountain. 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, assum-
ing that it was constructed in the terraced form, It is situated upon a ver-
tical 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

MORGAN.] RUINS OF STONE PUEBLO NEAR UTE MOUNTAIN. 191

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 indi-
cate 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 tweaty feet in diameter, and the spaces between the en-
circling walls are about two feet each; the walls are about two feet in thick-
ness, 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 Canon, 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 Canon, are two cliff houses. The walls of the bluff
are here about twenty feet high, with large cavities formed in them here

192 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 canon. 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 inhab-
ited subsequent to the period of European discovery, although they may
have been built and used before. The canon, 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 remark-
able 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. he evidence of Indian occupation and cultivation
throughout the greater part of this area is sufficient to suggest the hypoth-
esis 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, fol-
lowed by organization into independent tribes, and continuing through cen-
turies 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

MORGAN. ] MOUND-BUILDERS. 193

cultivation. ‘There are some facts that seem to favor this hypothesis.’ 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 class 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.

1 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 that 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 this 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. AJ1 the cereals belong
to the family of the Grasses (Graminew), and each of them, doubtless, is the last of a series of antece-
dent forms.

I saw rye, barley, and oats growing wild by self-propagation in the mountain valleys of Colo-
rado the present season; 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.

j 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 ina
field of maize growing at Conejos that the stalk grew only about three feet high, and the fact that the

13

194 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THF AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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, Tlasealans; 7, Aztecs or Mexicans. They
settled in different parts of Mexico The Cholulans, Tepeacas, and Huexatsin-
cos 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 ofthe 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 Navataleas [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.”* The same tradition, substantially, is given by

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 inter-
mixed in the sameear. It seemed probable that this was the primitive maize of the American aborigines,
{rom 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. After-
wards at TaosI 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 ap-
peared for their domestication. These are but speculations, but if they should prompt further investi-
gations concerning the place of nativity of this wonderful cereal, which has been such an important
factor in the advaucement of the Indian family, and which is also destined to prove such a support to
our own, these suggestions will not have been made in vain.

‘The Natural and Moral History of the East and West Indies, London ed., 1604, Grimstone’s
Trans., pp. 497, 504.

MORGAN] SANDHILL CRANES. : 195

Herrera,’ and also by Clavigero.? 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. Coues 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

** Tt is an Indian trait to mark localities by some con-

sustain themselves ’
spicuous 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 Vitsil-
puetli, he commanded them to leave their own country, promising them
they should rule over other races in a plentiful country, and much wealth.”!

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

‘General History of America, London ed., 1725, Stevens’s Trans., III, 188.
2 History of Mexico, Cullen’s Trans., 1, 119.

’ Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 534.

‘History of America, iii, p. 188, 190.

196 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 cultiva-
tion 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 status of Village Indians. This again ren-
ders 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 rela-
tions. 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 ‘amily, 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.

MORGAN. ] INDIAN MIGRATIONS. 197

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 knowl-
edge, 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 his-
tory <A study of all the facts may yet lead to an elucidation and explana-
tion 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.

OHA PH ox:
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 expla-
nation that the Jong-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.
198

MORGAN.) MOUND-BUILDERS. 199

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 evi-
dence 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 con-
necting 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

200 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

chiefly upon horticulture for subsistence. They had also carried the art of
pottery to the ornamental stage, and manufactured textile fabries 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 Lower Status of barbarism, who de-
pended 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 con-
dition 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 com-
munal or 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 com-
mon principle ran through them which was revealed by their adaptation to
communistie 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.

MORGAN. ] THEY PROBABLY CAME FROM NEW MEXICO. 201

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 con-
dition to the Village Indians of New Mexico, below whom they must be
ranked. The migrations of the American Indian tribes were gradual move-
ments 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 desti-
nation. 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 con-
structed the earth-works in question can be explained as a natural spread of
Village Indians from the valley of the Rio Grande, or 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 sup-
posing 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

202 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.’

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 neces-
sary 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 exam-
ined and surveyed are upwards of one hundred. * * * About two hun-
dred mounds of all forms and sizes, and occupying every variety of posi-
tion, have also been excavated.”” Out of ninety-five earthworks, exclusive
of mounds, figured and described in this valuable memoir, and which prob-
ably 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 weil as

different in character. They are not above the works of the Indians in the

‘Ata 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 com-
parisons of Indian skulls, he had been struck with the similarity between those of the Pueblo Indians
ot 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.”

? Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge, Preface, XXXIV.

MORGAN.) SIZE OF INDIAN PUEBLOS. 203

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,’ and a few other works not known to Squier and Davis, and
since described by other persons, there are something more than one hun-
dred 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.

‘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.”* 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 embank-
ments 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 trom 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

‘Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge, Vol. V.
2When a calamity befalls an Indian settlement it is usually abandoned,
3 Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge, I, pp. 6 and 8,

204 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

five hundred persons, makes an Indian village. Two or three such houses,
as at Taos and Santo Domingo, form a large pueblo; anda group of several
such houses, as at Zuni, 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 con-
tained 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.
Castaneda, who accompanied the expedition of Coronado to New Mexico in
1540-1542, estimated the population of the seventy villages visited by detach-
ments and situated between the Colorado River, Zuni, 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 colo-
nists 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? They 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 an attack. Some of them have been ealled
“saered enclosures”, but this goes for nothing apart from some knowledge

of their uses. They were constructed for a practical, intelligent purpose,

‘Coll. Ternanx-Compans, vol. ix, pp. 181-183.

MORGAN.) OBJECT OF EMBANKMENTS. 205

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 for-
tresses, in consequence of the insecurity in which they lived. Further than
this, that before they emigrated to the valley of the Ohio they were accus-
tomed to snow, and to a moderate degree of winter cold; wore skin gar-
ments, and possibly woven mantles of cotton, as the Cibolans of New
Mexico did at the time of Coronado’s expedition. 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.”* Although several centuries earlier in time, the Mound-
Builders, with habits of life similar to those of the Cibolans, in 1540, would

1«‘'The snow and cold are wont to be great,” Coronado remarks in his relation, *‘for so say the in-
habitants 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 haye 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 thereot ; 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,

2Coll. Ternaux-Compans, ix, 369.

906 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

understand, besides horticulture, the use of adobe bricks, and the art of
constructing long joint-tenement houses, closed up in the first story for de-
fensive 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 Man-
dans, 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 sub-
mitted, 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 pyra-
midal platforms upon which the great stone structures in Yucatan and Cen-
tral 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 bar-
barism, and large enough in some cases, when the people were in the Mid-
dle 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, prac-
tically, upon the roof terraces. When the use of stone came in, the struct-
ure 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

MORGAN] HOUSES OF MOUND-BUILDERS. 207

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 develop-
ment 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 embank-

o, with an

ment on each of the four sides being about a thousand feet long,

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, axe 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 sites of their

208 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 vil-
lages 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.'! 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 alti-
tude. 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.” 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 rail-
way, and are broad enough on the top to admit of the passage of a coach.”

It will be noticed that the octagonal work shown in the engraving con-
sists 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

1 Smith Con., vol. i, pl. xvi. 2Ib., p. 50. 3Ib., p. 51.

GMCH BANIK WORKS

ROSS CO. OHIO,

SCALE
500 fi to the Inch

Fic. 46.—Ground plan of High Bank Pueblo,

MORGAN] EMBANKMENTS FORMED BASE OF HOUSES. 209

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 charac-
teristic feature of which was sufficient length to afford a number of apart-
ments. 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 abo-
rigines, 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 ot the aboriginal American type.
14

910 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 con-
struction. Indians much ruder than they are supposed to have been, as
the Minnitarees and Mandans, walled their houses with slabs of wood stand-
ing 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 suc-
cessfully 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 recrea-
tion for their children, as well as room for their drying-scaffolds, of which
Mr. Cutler has introduced a number of the Minnitaree 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 embank-
ments 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

SECTION. PART ELEVATION.

ORE PIT.

S234 5678 9/0
1

SCALE OF FEET.

@FIREP/T.

PART PLAN ON
A.B.

Fig. 48.—Ground plan and sections of house, High Bank Pueblo.

MORGAN. ] SUPPOSED GROUND-SECTION OF HOUSE. il

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 sum-
mit 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, defin-
ing 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
eravel 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 con-
struction 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.

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

1 There are some reasons for supposing that the Minnitarees are descendants of the Mound-Builders.

912 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 struct-
ure 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 Minnita-
rees, 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 disinte-
grated 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 pre-
cise 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 alcng 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.

MORGAN.) HOUSES SAFE AGAINST INDIAN ASSAULT. 213

There is a direct connection in principle between the platform eleva-
tions inclosing a large square on which the High Bank Pueblo was con-
structed, and the pyramidal platforms in Yucatan, smaller in diameter but
higher in elevation, upon which were erected the most artistic houses con-
structed 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 dimen-
sions 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 apart-
ment, 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 vil-
lage 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 simi-

lar result is obtained by another comparison. The aggregate length of the

214 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

apartments in the pueblo of Chetro 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 fea-
ture. 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-tene-
ment 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 diversi-
ties 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 con-
nection 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 communi-
cating with the squares, it is not necessary that we should know their

MORGAN. ] CIRCULAR EMBANKMENT AROUND GARDEN. 215

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 Minnitaree 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 cor-
rectly, but a knowledge of which is not necessary to our hypothesis respect-
ing 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 em-
bankments 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."

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

'' 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. 8., p. 112.)

216 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 Missis-

Fria. 49.—Mound, Artificial Clay Basin.

sippi Valley.” Mr. Squier remarks in a résumé 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.”?

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 F is the
basin, which is round, and measures from ¢ to d nine feet, and from a to e
five feet. The height from 6 to e¢ is twenty inches, and the dip of the curve,
atoe,is nine inches. ‘The body of the altar,” Mr Squier remarks, ‘is

burned throughout, though in a greater degree within the basin, where it

‘Observations, ete., Trans. Am. Eth, Soce., ii, 158.

MORGAN,] * CREMATION BY INDIANS. aled

was so hard as to resist the blow of a heavy hatchet, the instrument re-
bounding 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 frag-
ments 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 diam-
eter 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 mis-
apprehension, was peculiar to this individual mound, and not found in any
other of the class.”1 Calcined bones, however, were found in three out
of some twenty mounds of this class examined.’

The question now recurs, what was the use of the basin of clay, and

? and “mounds of

what the object of the mound itself? The terms ‘altars’
sacrifice,” employed in describing them, imply that human sacrifices were
offered on these “altars,” “‘upon which glowed the sacrificial fires.”* 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 per-
formed; but they were unknown in New Mexico, and, without better evi-
dence than these miscalled altars afford, they cannot be fastened upon the
Mound-Builders. Moreover, these clay beds were not adapted to the bar-
barous work. Wherever human sacrifices are known to have oceurred
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

1 Observations, ete., Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., ii, p. 161. ?Anc. Mon., etc., pp. 157, 159, 3 Ib., p, 155,

218 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 Ameri-
can 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 par-
ticulars are not given in any instance. In Nicarauga 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

1

that the smoke went ‘‘to the place where the dead man’s soul was.”? 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 inerease of the human race, esti-
mates them at 500,000.2. With thanks for the moderateness of the estimate,
one-third of that number would have been more satisfactory. Dense popu-

lations, an expression sometimes applied to the Mound-Builders, have never

!Herrera’s Hist. America, ii, 133. 2Trans, Am. Ass. for the Adv. of Science, 1873, p. 320,

MORGAN] VOLUNTARY WITHDRAWAL. 219

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 froma comparatively mild to a cold climate, they must
have found the struggle for existence intensified. Like the Cibolans in '540,
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. Vege-
tables and game were requisite to complete the supply of food. The difhi-
culties 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.”? It is
a sufficient answer to this remarkable passage that a people unable to dig a
well or build a dry stone wall myst 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

1 Foster’s Pre-historic Races, ete., p. 386.

220 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 pro-
tracted 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 trans-
plant 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 Tlasealans practiced cremation, but it was generally limited to the
chiefs... 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.? 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 leavy-
ing an hollow in the necks of them, put in their ashes and kept them among

”3 In New Mexico cremation is occasion-

their idols with great veneration.
ally 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

! Herrera’s Hist. America, ii, 302. 2Tb., iii, 220. 3Tb., iv, 175.

MORGAN.) VOLUNTARY WITHDRAWAL. 221

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.

CHHGAN EBay
HOUSES OF THE AZTECS OR ANCIENT MEXICANS.

The first accounts of the pueblo of Mexico created a powerful sensa-
tion 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 particu-
lars, 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 Aztee 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 Monte-
zuma 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

222

MORGAN ] EARLY SPANISH ACCOUNTS. 223

beginning to conceive of Aztec society; and emperor and empire gradually
superseded the more humble conception of the conquerors.

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. Igno-
rant of its structure and principles, and unable to comprehend its pecu-
liarities, 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

‘In the Despatches of Cortes the term King ‘‘ El rey” is not used in speaking of Montezuma, but
senor and cacique.

The Valley of Mexico, including the adjacent mountain slopes and excluding the area covered
by water, was about equal to the State of 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 Aztee con-
federacy ; 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 this 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 esti-
mates 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 barbarons people, without flocks
and herds and without field agriculture, could have sustained in equal areas a larger number of inhabi-
tants than a civilized people armed with these advantages.

224 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 con-
tinue to be read as Robinson Crusoe is read, not because they are true, but
because they are pleasing. The psychological revelation is the eager, unde-
finable 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 Ameri-
can ethnology. Such a science, resting as it must upon verified facts, and
dealing with the institutions, arts and inventions, usages and customs, lan-
guages, 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, Ameri-
can 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 him-
self 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, unmean-
ing, unintelligible, a chaos of contradictions and puerile absurdities. With
a field of unequaled richness and of vast extent, with the same Red Race

MORGAN.] INDIAN SOCIETY UNLIKE EUROPEAN. 225

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,’ 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 lite. 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 under-
stood. It exhibits three distinct phases, each with a culture peculiar to
-itself, lying back of civilization, and back of the Upper Status of barbar-
ism, 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 obli-
gation, I propose to question the credibility of so much of the second vol-
ume 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.

1See ante, page 43, note, for a definition of proposed ethnical or culture periods, and Ancient
Society, chapter 1, ‘‘ Ethnical Periods,”

15

2926 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

.

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 Span-
iards 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.’ In their mode of life and means of subsistence, in their weap-
ons, 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 gov-
ernmental institutions had attained. In some of them, as in the Aztec con-
federacy, 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.”*? The civil and military powers
of the government were in a certain sense co-ordinated between the council
of chiefs and the military commander. The government of the Aztec con-

federacy was essentially democratic, because its organization and institu-

‘But among all the other inhabitants of America there 1s 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.

*The Natural and Moral History of the East and West Indies, Lond. ed., 1604, Grimstone’s
Trans., p. 485.

MORGAN,] HOW SPANISH HISTORIES SHOULD BE REGARDED. Dou

tions 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 Huropeans
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 confirma-
tion 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 gov-
ernment, 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 Montezu-
ma’s dinner, it is necessary to know certain usages and customs, and even
certain institutions of the Indian tribes generally, which had a direct bear-

ing upon the dinner of every Indian in America at the epoch of the Spanish

9983 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

conquest. Although it may seem strange to the reader, it requires a knowl-
edge 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 ita 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 mid-
dle.” 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 cut-
ting and dressing this stone flint implements were used.’ 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, de-
stroyed and leveled three-quarters of the pueblo, which demonstrates the

flimsy character of the masonry. Some of the houses were constructed on

‘History of America, ii, 361, 2Clavigero, ii, 238.

MORGAN.) HOUSES USUALLY TWO STORIES HIGH. 229

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. Clavi-
gero 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 ter-
raced; 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

1 The house was entered through doorways from the street,

their houses.”
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 evi-
dently joint-tenement houses of the aboriginal American model, each occu-
pied 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.”” The Cubans were below the Sedentary
Indians. In Yueatan, the houses of the Mayas, and of the tribes of Guate-
mala, 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.”* ‘‘At Tztapalapa he was
y

i History of Mexico, ii, 232. 2Tb., ii, 15. 21b., ii, 320.

230 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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, extraor-

‘His accommodations in the pueblo of Mexico

dinary rich in their way.”
will elsewhere be noticed. After the capture of the pueblo, Alvaredo was
sent southward with two hundred feot 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. “‘ Be-
ing 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 mere 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 earthern vessels, containing several

sorts of white and red liquors, made of Indian wheat,”* ete. The notice-

=)
able fact in this description is the two chambers, containing provisions and
stores for the household, whieh 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

‘History of America, ii, 325. 2Tb., iii, 273. 3Ib., iii, 273. 41b., ii, 297.

MORGAN.) AZTEC HOUSES NOT FULLY DESCRIBED. 931

very light, the Indians being extraordinary expert at that work”! Herrera
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#he exception of Tlascala,
Cholula, Tezcuco, and Mexico, which contained ten thousand inhabitants.

a3

There is no occasion to apply the term “city” to any of them. None of
he Spanish descriptions enable us to realize the exact form and structuret
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 remark-
able 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 quad-
rangles, 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 Aztee 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.

1 History of America, ii, 211.

232 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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.’

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 #hese two structures.

Cortes made his first entry into Mexico in November, 1519, with four
hundred and fifty Spaniards, according to Bernal Diaz,” accompanied by a
thousand Tlascalan allies. They were lodged in a vacant palace of Monte-
zuma’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.”* Cortes, after describing his reception, informs us that Monte-
zuma “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

74 So much for the

which was a court through which we had entered.
statements of two eve-witnesses. Herrera gathered some additional particu-
lars. 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 observ-
ing 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

‘My learned friend, Mr. Ad. F. Bandelier, of Highland, Ill., bas 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
Archeology and Ethnology. Cambridge, 1880, p. 699.

“Taking all this together, and adding to it the results of our investigations into the military organ-
ization 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.”

* Diaz Conquest of Mex., ed. 1803, Keatinge’s Trans., i, 181, 189. Herrera says, 300, ii. 327.
3Diaz, I, 191.
4 Dispatches of Cortes, Polsom’s Trans., p. 86.

MORGAN, ] JOINT-TENEMENT HOUSES. 233

used.”’ In the tidiness of these rooms we gain some evidence of the char-
acter 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 Aztee
forces, should have regarded him as a king, since monarchical government
was the form with which they were chiefly acquainted. Sutftice, 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 conld 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 teepan, 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 new-
comers 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 pos-
session of the ‘tecpan,’ he retired to another of the large communal buildings
surrounding the central square, where the official business was, meauwhile,
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-in-
stallation in old quarters, and therefore the ‘Tlatoean (Couneil 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

9

from the snare, leaving the unfortunate ‘chief of men’ in Spanish hands.”

' History of America, ii, 330. 212 Annual Report of Peabody Museum, p. 680.

234 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

We are next to consider the second so-called palace, that in which
Montezuma lived, and the dinner of Montezuma which these soldiers wit-
nessed, 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 im-
mediately, 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.”! 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 addi-
tional 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.”

The external walls of the houses were covered with plaster. From the

1 Despatches, p. 121. 2 History of America, ii, 345,

MORGAN.) _ BANCROFT’S VERSION. 235

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 un-
covered, and thus have presented the mottled appearance mentioned. The
Aztecs had no structures comparable with those of Yucatan. Their archi-
tecture 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 beau-
tiful 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 carv-
ing, or held a grinning, grotesquely sculptured head. The beams and casings
were of cedar, cypress, and other valuable woods profusely carved and put

236 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 won-
derful 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.”?

Upon this rhapsody it will be sufficient to remark that halls were en-
tirely 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 fig-
ments of a troubled imagination, recall the glowing description of the great

kingdom of the Sandwich Islands—with its king

g, 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 Kastern machinery”;
and it suggested also the Indian chief humorously mentioned.by Irving as
generously ‘‘decked out in cocked hat and military coat, m contrast with
his breech clout and leathern leggins, being grand officer at top and rageed
Indian at bottom.”* 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 afier 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

oO
o

the facts isin the main derived from what these soldiers reported upon

slight and imperfect means of observation. Bernal Diaz and Cortes have

MORGAN.) THE AZTEC DINNER. 937

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 under-
neath 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 ina communal household The dinner they
witnessed was the single daily meal of this household, prepared in a com:
mon cook-house from common stores, and divided at the kettle. The din-
ner of each person was placed in an earthern 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 them-
selves. On this hypothesis the dinner in question is susceptible of a satis-
factory 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 owner-
ship in fee, and power of alienation. Their social system, which tended to
anite 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

938 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

Status of barbarism. They had no money, but traded by barter of com-
modities; 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

"1 Wherever a household is found in Indian life, be the mar-

six families.
ried 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, with-
out any assistance from the Aztecs. The accounts given by Diaz and
Cortes, and which subsequent writers have built upon with glowing enthu-
siasm and free additions, is ‘simply the gossip of a camp of soldiers sud-
denly cast into an earlier form of society, which the Village Indians of

1 History of America, ii, 360,

MORGAN.] FIRST DINNER WITNESSED BY THE SPANIARDS. 239

America, of all mankind, then best represented. That they could under-
stand it was not to have been expected. Accustomed to monarchy and to
privileged classes, the principal Aztec war-chief seemed to them quite nat-
urally 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.’ 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 remain-
der 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-

1The Anonymous Conqueror does not notice it.

240 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 num-
ber of jars, about fifty, brought in filled with foaming chocolate, of which
he took some which the women presented to him. During the time Monte-
zuma 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 suf-
ficiently 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 regu-
larity that prevailed.” Diaz wrote his history more than thirty years after
the conquest (he says he was writing it in 1568), 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 con-
sisted 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

‘ History of the Conquest of Mexico, i, 198-202. 2Tb., li, 423.

MORGAN. ] THE ACCOUNT OF BERNAL DIAZ. 241

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 court-yards, 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 ina 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.”*

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

1 Despatches of Cortes, Folsom’s Trans., p. 123.
16 ;

942 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

was used at dinner. It will be 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 estab-
lishment. ‘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 marvel-
ous tale. The few facts stated by Bernal Diaz, expressing the interpre-
tation 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’s
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 encum-
ber 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

MORGAN.) THE ACCOUNT OF HERRERA. 243

a question. The sewer was always upon his knees and barefooted, attending
him without lifting up hiseyes. 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." Six ancient lords attended at a dis-
tance, 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.””

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.”*

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

1Solis, 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 sbells
very richly set with jewels.”—History of the Conquest of Mexico, Lond., ed. 1738, Townshend’s
Trans., I, 417.

2 History of America, ii, 336. 3Tb., 443.

944 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 hun-
dred 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,”* in whom may be recog-
nized 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 suit-
able number to give éclat 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 diu-
ners, 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 sim-
plicity 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.

' History of the Conquest of Mexico, I, 198.

MORGAN.] THE ACCOUNT OF H. H. BANCROFT. 245

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 house-
hold, 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 ante-
chambers of Montezuma’s palace in Mexico were occupied by six hundred
noblemen and gentlemen, who passed their time lounging about and dis-
cussing the gossip of the day in low tones, for it was considered disre-
spectful 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 beauti-
ful 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

246 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES,

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. * * * here 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 im-
portance; 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 bare-
footed and on his knees. 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 drip-
pings. 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

MORGAN] A MESS OF TRASH. 247

amused himself by watching the performances of his jugglers and tum-
blers, 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, sweet-
meats, 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.”?

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 com-
munism 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

1Native Races of the Pacific States, ii, 174-178.

2948 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 todo. 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 mis-
conceptions through the constructive faculty of authors.

A confederacy of three Indian tribes, speaking dialects of the same

MORGAN|] GENTES OR CLANS OF ANCIENT MEXICANS. 249

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 com-
mon institutions of the Indian family. Underneath these delusive pictures
a council of chiefs is revealed, which was the natural and legitimate instru-
ment of government under Indian institutions. No other form of government
was possible among them. They had, beside, which was an equally legiti-
mate 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. Noth-
ing 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 Aztees
were composed of twenty gentes or clans. “The existence of twenty auton-
omous 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 per-

1

manence.”' This organization, as was to have been expected, lies at the

1 Twelfth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of Archrology and Ethnology, Cambridge,
1880, p. 591,

250 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES,

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.

Il. It was the duty of the kin to educate or train its members to every
branch of public life.

Ill. 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 re-

move or depose them for misbehavior."

He also regards the four “brotherhoods” who occupied the four quar-
ters of the pueblo as probably phratries.”. He also shows that the govern-
ment was under the control of a council, Tlatocan, composed of a body of
chiefs.’

One of fhe most interesting results of this investigation is the discovery
of a class of persons unattached to any gens, ‘outcasts from the bond of
kinship.”* 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 compre-
hensible. 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.

' Twelfth Ann. Rept. Peabody Museum, pp. 615-638. *Ib., p.584. %Ib.,, p. 646, et seg. 4Ib., p. 608, et seq.

CH AP PRR, Oct.

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. Con-
federacies 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 con-
federacies, however, could not have reached beyond a common language

of the tribes confederated.
251

952 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 aborig-
ines 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.”’ 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 Quelenes have
twenty-five towns.”” 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 excess-
ive. 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

1 History of America, |. ¢., iv, 161. 2Tb., iv, 189,

MORGAN. LAS CASAS ON INHABITANTS OF YUCATAN. 253

in a cluster of houses, four or five in number, or in a single house; and, as
may be 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 con-
sisting 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, cot-
ton, cacao, and tobacco in garden beds, and exercised some care over cer-
tain 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.”"
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 socie-
ties 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.”? And, again, he quotes from a letter of the bishop of
St. Martha to the King of Spain, to this effeet: ‘To redress the grievances of
this provinee, 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 inhab-
itants 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.’’?®

1 History of America, iv., 133.
2 An Account of the First Voyages, etc., in America, Lond. ed., Trans., p. 52.
3Tb., p. 61.

254 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

There are two material questions which require priority of considera-
tion: 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 sur-
rounded 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.”
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 sup-
position. 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 sacri-
ficed; but the wars of the Spaniards made them disperse’? This last
statement is very significant. Mr. Stephens, whose works and whose obser-
vations are in the main so valuable, is responsible to no small extent for the
delusive inferences which have been drawn from the architecture of Yuca-
tan, Honduras, and Chiapas. If he had repressed his imagination and con-
fined himself to what he founds 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 vears after the conquest
, y

‘Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, ii, 348, 375. 2 History of America, iv, 168.

MORGAN, ] HOUSES IN YUCATAN. 955

of Mexico, Yucatan and Central America were overrun by military adven-
turers 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 Co-
comes of Mayapan, related by Herrera,’ 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 exemplifi-
cation.

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,

5)
they were able to raise such structures, which seem to have been temples,
for their houses were always of timber and thatched.”' 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

256 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 con-
quest, 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 exac-
tions of Spanish masters, whom they were unable to resist.’ 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 inconsider-
able size, and one or two pyrimidal elevations unoccupied by structures.
Of these, the ‘‘Governor’s House” may have been the Tecpan, 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 exam-
ple. 2. Ticplantlacalli, 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,

1 History of America, ili, 346,

MORGAN.) IDOLS AT COPAN—GRAVE-POSTS OF CHIEFS. 957

“oe

with the upper half of the exterior walls decorated with grotesque orna-
ments cut on the faces of the stone. Foster states that ‘‘these structures
are composed of a soft coralline limestone of comparatively recent geologi-
cal formation, probably of the Tertiary period.”'

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 hieroglyphies.
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
erave-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 per-
sonal 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 oppo-
site side. “The stone,” Mr. Stephens observes, “of which all these altars
and statues are made, is a soft grit-stone.””

Norman had previously described the material used as a ‘fine concrete

limestone.”?®

Elsewhere, with respect to the nature of the tools for cutting
this stone, he remarks that “flint was undoubtedly used.”* 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

1 Prehistoric Races of the United States, p. 398, 2 Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, 1-153,
3 Rambles in Yucatan, p. 126, 4Tb., p. 184.
17

258 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

composed.”! He also speaks of “large blocks of hewn stone used in the
doorways.”” <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 evi-
dence of limited advancement in solid stone architecture.?

These structures, as reproduced in engravings by Stephens and Cather-
wood, 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 prog-
ress actually made, which was truly remarkable for a people still in barbar-
ism, and no further advanced than the Middle Status.

2 =

Fa. 50.—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 sug-
gested 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 pyra-
midal 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

‘Rambles in Yucatan, p. 127. 21b., p. 128.

MORGAN. GOVERNOR’S HOUSE AT UXMAL. 259

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 sides 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 struct-
ure. There were, doubtless, pueblos of timber-framed houses with thatched
roofs here and there in Yucatan, Chiapas, and Honduras, as there were fur-
ther south towards 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

260 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 con-
structing the terrace had been saved.”' The three terraces with their slop-
ing 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 command-
ing 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 court yard. On each side of this gateway are four doorways

1Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, i, 128,

Fig. 51.—Governor’s House at Uxmal.

Fic. 52.—Ground plan of Governor’s House at Uxmal.

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MORGAN.) HOUSE OF THI NUNS. 261

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 oppo-

site, or at the end of the quadrangle, measures two hundred and sixty-four

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Fig. 53.—Ground-plan of the House of the Nuns.

feet. These three ranges have no doorways outside, but the exterior of
nach is a dead wall, and above the cornice all are ornamented with the
same rich and elaborate sculptures.”?

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 apart-

1Tncidents of travel in Yucatan, i, 299.

962 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

ments, 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 front room, is shown in Fig. 54. This number of con-
necting rooms is so unusual in Yueatan 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 triangu-
lar 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 remakable 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, after-
wards 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.’ . There were orig-
inally 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

‘Incidents of Travel, ete., i, 308.

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MORGAN. | TRIANGULAR CEILING OF STONE. 963

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 de-
signed to be oceupied 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 sig-
nificant feature runs through all the structures, in these areas, of which
ground-plans have been obtained.

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sections across the vault of a chamber in the place of joists, and, so far as

The triangular ceiling, in effect, is an attempt to extend the lintel in

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 win-
dows 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 presump-
tion 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 apart-
ment, 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

264 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 suparadd either a regular breakfast or a supper.
These belong to the more highly developed house-keeping of the mono-
gamian 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 knowl-
edge 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.

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 commun-
ism in living was accidentally discovered by Mr. Stephens, when among
them to employ laborers. He remarks us follows: “Their community con-
sists 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

1 Mistory of America, iv, 175.

MORGAN.] CEILING CONSTRUCTED OVER A CORE OF MASONRY. 265

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 this 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.”' 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 un-
likely 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

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Fig. 55.—Ground Plan of Zayi.

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

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seem to indicate that communism in living was practiced among the Villa
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

‘Incidents of Travel, ete., ii, 14.

266 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

Status of barbarism. The dinner of Montezuma, before considered, is an
illustration.

Near Uxmal are the interesting ruins of Zayi, which present a new
feature in Yucatan house architecture. Upon alow 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 aper-
tures indicate columns, which are found in this and several other structures.
In case of attack, the outer quadrangle was not defensible; but its inhabi-
tants 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.

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 tri-
angular stone ceiling, which is the striking char-
acteristic of this architecture.

To understand the problem, the annexed cross-

Fic. 56. —Cross-section through

aes 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

MORGAN. ] UNREMOVED CORE FOUND IN A STRUCTURE. 267

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 unre-
moved 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 thé 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.”*

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 build-
ing. 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

1Incidents of Travel, ete., ii, 22.

268 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 pomt 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 construc-
tion 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 pyra-
midal 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 occu-
pation, a character who never existed and could not exist under their insti-
tutions, it has been a means of self-deception with respect to the condition
of the Aborigines which ought to be permanently discarded. Several dis-
tinct 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 architect-
ure. Nearly all the edifices in Yucatan and Central America agree in one

MORGAN.] SO-CALLED PALACE AT PALENQUE. 269

particular, namely, in being constructed with three parallel walls with par-
tition 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 passage-
ways 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. Ste-
phens, 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.”' 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 fea-
ture 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 door-
way 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 fash-
ion 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

1Central America, &c., ii, 310-312.

270 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

a number of families, whose private boundaries were fixed by solid parti-
tion walls. They are exactly adapted to this mode of occupation, and this
special adaptation, so plainly impressed upon all this architecture, leads
irresistibly to the conclusion that they were occupied on the communal
principle, and were, consequently, neither more nor less than joint-tene-
ment houses, of a model which may be called, distinctively, that of the
American aborigines. None of these edifices are as large as those on the
Rio Chaco, nor does either of them possess equal accommodations with
the Pueblo Bonito, which possessed six hundred and forty rooms.’ But in
this warm climate, and with the raised terraces used as gathering places,
more persons could manage to live in equal spaces.

Each structure, or group of structures, thus elevated, was a fortress.
They prove the insecurity in which the people lived; for the labor involved
in constructing these platform elevations, in part, at least, artificial, would
never have been undertaken without a powerful motive. One of the chief
blessings of civilization is the security which a higher organization of so-
ciety gives to the people, under the protection of which they are able as
cultivators to occupy broad areas of land. In the Middle Status of barba-
rism they were compelled to live generally in villages, which were fortified
in various ways; and each village, we must suppose, was an independent,
self-governing community, except as several kindred in descent, and speak-
ing the same dialect or dialects of the same language, confederated for
mutual protection. An impression has been propagated that Palenque and
other pueblos in these regions were surrounded by dense populations living
in cheaply constructed tenements. Having assigned the structures found,
and which undoubtedly were all that ever existed, to Indian kings or poten-
tates, the question might well be asked, if such palaces were provided for the
rulers of the land, what has become of the residences of the people? Mr.
Stephens has given direct countenance to this preposterous suggestion.” In
his valuable works he has shown a disposition to feed the flames of fancy
with respect to these ruins. After describing the “palace,” so called, at
Palenque, and remarking that “the whole extent of ground covered by

1 Lieutenant Simpson’s Report, Senate Ex. Doc., 1st Sess. 31st Congress, 1850, p. 81.
* Central America, &c., ii, 235.

MORGAN] SO-CALLED PALACE AT PALENQUE. 271

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, how-
ever, that considering the space now occupied by the ruins as the site of
palaces, temples, and public buildings, and supposing the houses of the in-
habitants 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.”?
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 asmall 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 build-
ings, and supposing the houses of the inhabitants * * * 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

1 Incidents of Travel, Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, ii, 355.

972 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 tem-
porary 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,” ' preferring a return
to a lower stage of barbarism rather than a loss of personal freedom. In
1524 Cortez 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.

The profiles of the Palenque Indians, copied by Stephens from repre-
sentations 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..”*? 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

1 Herrera, History of America, ili, 346, cf. 348. 2Tb., iv, 169. 31b., iv, 169.

MORGAN. ] ARCHITECTURE BELOW SCIENTIFIC STAGE. 273

Greeks. Speaking of the Governor’s House, Mr. Stephens remarks, that
“the doors are all gone, and the wooden lintels over them have fallen.”?
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.”* 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 build-
ings at Kabah, he says: “The lintels over the doors are of stone.”* 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, some-
what 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.”* 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 under-
stood 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 arule. 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 barba-
rism, 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 sub-
stitute 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 substitu-

tions of appropriate for deceptive and improper terms, the Indian of the

1 Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, i, 175. 2Tb,, p. 178. 3Tb., 1, 398. 4Rambles in Yucatan, p. 1L8,

18

274 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

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 nearly 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 develop-
ment. The American aborigines had enjoyed a continuous and undisturbed
progress upon a great continent, through two ethnical periods, and the lat-
ter 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 may be

stated as reasonable from the facts presented :*

1 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 eyvi-
dence 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 hardness requisite for a lever
or chisel; and they had no explosives to use in blasting. Other agencies may have been used. We
tind 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

MORGAN.) HAD INDIANS LEARNED TO QUARRY STONE. PATS)

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 con-
sequence, 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 suppo-
sition 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 Pana-
ma, 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, embody-

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 knowl-
edge, and possessed the skill and ability to quarry stone, it is important that the fact should be estab-
lished, 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 aright angle and a level face upon a stone, and
lay up vertical walls. These necessary acquisitions precede the first beginnings of civilization.

276 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

ing the social, the defensive, and the communal principles, we can under-
stand 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 impos-
ing 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 explana-
tion of its peculiar features in entire harmony with Indian institutions.
Should the general reader be able to acquiesce im this interpretation, it
will lead to a reconstruction of our aboriginal history, now so imperatively
demanded.

IN| DEX -

Page. Page.

A. Chinooksybousesofthel.n-2-es. see ea esececcecen cee 111
JN Wing Gade oc Bien oe CERO oSeose seo oeene 136 | Chocta, gentes and phratries....... 3 15
Aboriginal history perverted ..............--....-.- 273 | Chopunish, houses of the.......-. 5 3 : 110
PA‘COB ban MO OWCILE Mn statatcine ements oer slealnm stale i erelaie 194, 226 | Cibola, Seven Cities of ......-...-.-...2...--- - 129, 167
JAGISTR Gig?) a= Sactesnes Bepeeeresbudse sscess 54, 68, 100, 103 site of the “ 170
Adobe houses OIDs Olen. =< o2- ens see <ea loses 189 | Clahclellahs, houses of the ...........-..---..-..---- 111
TOY HOE om oe SO Seog Jase S SOce ec tops ifaw Glan veh ey ScoLtighis=-. cmc sos at n1-estels aisials soe a 2% 1
Aleuts, communal dwellings .----..---..------.---. 1S | Clarkerdeomapaas sacs sterc=nssesee ope aioe ses /= scieme 124
hospitality of the: --..--.------.--2..2,.2-..2 53! ||/{Clatsops;houses ofthe’. - +... 4. .-2--5- = 2m) -ao-reiesccle = spel
AltarssMound-Bullders’..- -.- = 2-20 oneness = ALG) 8C Invi Geral OenCttede «jaa se eee aeae ane seae ae a 101, 178
JGR CSI coos. cS Ben SER ORE EE ESS HOSA Sao Re ees 47a Colampbus, Christopher s-.--.eeteesee) eae set aneia a> 76
Ancient society, uniformity in the plan of --.....--- 1 | Communal dwellings...-....-..-.. 64, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 76, 85

Anonymous! Conqueror .-- <2-- <2 onsen ee cow een ene 234 of tribes in Lower Status of bar-
PATO V OMI O D0 temeatas oer =) xlainiaie ate e's em l=imis = neil iasaaln 164 Eh Ty itheqemapee aan ais. Bossa 118
Arickarees)=-: <-----.----:- Seanaacocae ns 125, 130 of tribes in savagery ........-- 106

Athenian tribes, coalesence of -......-.------------ 34 of Village Indians of New
PA OMS mee se asattienisnte sciences aes = salsoelcramaicie oeeinee LOL Mexi Cones oo ee see ate eae 136
INAS OSC TOO ae see Se een ees soso SesnEne 23 | Communism among ancient Mexicans ..........---- 232
Aztecs, cremation among the -- - oo Sash 220 ra babes — ace se ec Bene ee 63
eating customs of the ............-...--..... 101 in relation to dwellings ...-. -........- 63
extravagant accounts concerning the .-.--.- Zoos || iConfederacies,oriciniOf Gas) sen<2 2205. acc soe ewee ee 24
governmental institutions of the --......... 226 | Confederacy confined to a common language. ....--- 24

HOUSES OF ThE seem ieetec ei enw wines we wees MEO OOO: Iroquois. See Iroquois Confederacy.

social system of the...-..-.----.--.-.------- 222, 226 Of bhevAtztecel sAco eee nice bien Loe 23, 24
B. | Creek . - 23
Dakota - 23
BAGHOLen pe LOLGRROtneeemer sees = aaa ee ae lel 121 Molin. a 93
Bancroft, H. H |ggpee Se beosee Szaa case SSoereaSS oo ate 223 Ott ee : 23
if cited Se Cie eee a = 90g” Tishaa chs | the nearest analogne of nation. .--..--. 18
Bandelier, A. F-, cited .....--.------------- 84, 186, 232, 233, 249 Copanieravepostshe: epee ee ea. 257
arlow, Arthnr <0 Se.c.0 <.-22s2 scenes “ep eeaese 47 idols et a On aed eae te tes 257
SO | CR ea sar 8 | Coronado, F, Vicited -...2-.c-0seeecneca 129, 135, 167, 205
Brasseur de/Bourbourg, C. Be = -— 2-22 = eee-- seen Peo Core used in the architecture of Yucatan ...-....--. 267
Cc. (Chita ees ce eosinn RSSE Ene Jane bao S=en que Seed 223, 232
@alpullipne cere sce ree oc oat eee ee ea 81 | CUCM eee eon aac na pn eS one msaoe 59, 240
Caribs, communal dwellings of the.--..----..----.-. ROmIM COUCH IE NCHLeD ica sees Soe o eee nce nos a oesto=s seeearaee 195
MOUSER OL ENG fae em aon ew eee 229 | Creek Confederacy ae os 23
Carverrd en Clad arenes ee nla ener ante 54, 72,118 | Creek Indians, communal dwellings of the --.------ 68
Casa Cerrada or closed house -.--------------------- QT al OTCGR eee eae see anon ein stn’ nielaini aime ni 115
Castafieda, S:deN., ctled....- =. ----- ncn ne wens ene a= 204 | Cremation among Mound-Builders. ....-.....--..--- 215
(Catlins Gey Ob bed ae italetelaleie m= alam an malin imal rind 50, 72, 100, 102 practice of, among the Aztecs .-.-...----- 220
Champlainy'S; de; ctted) ..- 2 2 -ae ne ne we eeene == == 124 IMiai ya Sieeeee eee 220
Chiapas, village of ......-.----..----.--------.------ 252 220
Chickasas, gentes and phratries ....------.---.----- 6 | Crossman, Captain, cited ....-......-- = 130
Chilluckitlequaw, hospitality of the. - -- 53 | Culture periods .........-- ro 43
Chimneys absence of -.- 22 2< <--- - 3s ene ne 183 | Curia, the Roman 14
unknown in Yucatan and Central Ainerica TES W (Gras OIG Cy case es eased eRee nema Re neocon Cer oe con 210

278

Page.
D.
Dakotaibeayue esescee= 2o- ean ee eee eee 23
lodge described - - - - -- re 114
Dakotans, communism of the 72
DD SU WevHl. nottedana 1 aalleam ae 53
Dankers, Jasper, cited. ---.-.-. 118
Delawares, communism of the ....-...-..----------- 73
eating customs of the -.....-....-. ----. 100
hospitality of the .-<--..--.---..-.---.-. 46
Descent in female line in archaic period. .----.------ 5
De Soto, Hernando, cited ~—- =.= ----- sae === 2a 48
Diaz Bena eteed nae eee eee aii 178, 222, 232, 239
Dwellings, communal. See Communial dwellings.
E.
Earth works, object of the ......-..-.---.-----.----- 204
size of the 213
TEmbankments as base of houses - - 209
Emory, General W. H., cited .--.--- 57, 130
SOR ECE OS (eee eee ee ere eee 250
Ethnic or culture periods..... -..-.-.2..-..---. --- 43
Exaggerationsin the accounts of the ancient Mexicans 222
F.
Feudalism, absence of in America.-.-.-...--..--------- 98
Food, joint ownership in ...-...--------------------- 99
IVR dis NY oSecn sh seorenc se see cece scarcer oeees 215
MrontLenscwlin dey B ees sae eee ena ne en es 123
Funeral practice, organization at.--...----.--------- 13
G.
Galbraith MiG ose se = sees oon eee eee sa 149
Garcilasso de la Vega ....-..------------..--.------ 76
Gardena, artificial 22 -Sopncecee ee soe ces eee ase 86
Gens archaic forms2--n.ceecessoncaeace cones aes 5
as it exists among American aborigines. ------ 3
founded uponskin-<<s=-—<22-- ones 3
intermarriage in, prohibited. .-.........-...-.- 5
Wroquois = 3-<+/--2 2-5-2255 <c2= se secieewsccescees 6
rights, privileges, and obligations . -- 7
number of persons im: ---------..-=------------- 9
rights, privileges, and obligations of .......--. 6
stages of development .....----.------.----..- 3
the 2
the Greek 2
the Latin -- 2
the Sanskrit 2
Gentes and tribes formed by natural growth. ...-.-. 19
Chickasag i. 22 \ sn saeco eect eee meee 16
Chocta .-- 15
Dakotan 8
Troquois, number of - 11
LAS IO teeter ooacrricec 7
IM ay aie ae eee ee cece <, 8
Moherant -22 0 = 220 seca noeaocheonsce. a eeee 16
7
8
8
20
17
transfer of, between phratries ..-...........- 11
(Gentileorganization seas ss ene aces se meee eee 3
society distinguished from political .._..__.. 4
Gorman; .ctled 252-02 scenes cess essere ee 74

INDEX.

Page.
Government, growth of the idea of .................. ¥1
plan of, among American aborigines... 4
stages in the development of -.-_..... 21
Governor’s\ Howse: . = 2253-2 ce canoe eee ee eee 256
Granganiméo’ -2.-—--2- - soe em een = ieee 47
Grave posts \ofchiefs: ...02-- <== se s= -inss soso ge 257
Gmeenbalgh <2. 222-0. een ota ee eee 64
O13 KAAS SESE Boe SAR RAO ARO SOC 119
Grenville; Re 22.2225 sceaeee BE se eee er 115
Grijalva, Jy, cited) 2.2. bs ose ree ere 59
Guerra,C:; ctted — so: 22 eee eee eee eee 59
Gyneocracy among the Iroquois -..-....-.--- I SCTS 66, 121
H.

Halls unknown in Indian architecture .-..-.......-. 236
Hayden, FV Cssestoneese ses soc - ce eeomecaee 135
Heckewelder, J.,cited....... -...-2.----------- «+49; 73; 100
Heffernan . -.. Boke See ER geen fear 188
Herrera, A. de, cited...--. 58, 59, 60, 76, 77, 103, 178, 195, 228, 229,
. 230, 232, 234, 238, 242, 252, 255
Mia watha 2.252 .ssAicssee eae Jose eee 27
High-Bank pueb!. described -....--. Boma 207
| Hindus, communal customs among the -.. . 122
Hospitality general among Indians of America. -_-. 56, 60, 61
lawil0fic 0. . nee asses 5 eee wee ----- 42,44, 45
of the Aleuts.....- : a5 53
Delawares ........-. 46
Indians of California............- 53

Mexico, Central and
South America -...-- 58
OHO 2 =. 2-5 .eeeeee nes 49
South America ..... .- 5
Carolina .... ... 48
the Columbia .--....... 52
Northwest ........ M4
Iroquois}. <seeee = a= es a see ee 45,119
iMarid anis i =p ee eine eee 50
May aS )2 sss —o..c= ere eee ae 59
Nez: Pencés fare a tee enee 5
North Carolina Indians -......... 47
Onondagas...---...-. .-. 46
PIMs hikes = ete Seceers 5T
Southern Indians 5 54
tribes of the Missouri-. - 50
Upper Mississippi -. . 53
Village Indians of New Mexico -. 56
House architecture modified by climate...........-. 206
Household, number of persons in.....-.......--.---- 73
House lifeiofithei Indians! .=-=5----.-5--- eee 199
of the Dwarf. : --.. <ane=-sec ee one eeereee= 256
INuns'at)Ummalseeease eee see eee 207, 231, 256
Old Woman. = 55--<<5.:sesceeseeosese= 256
Pigeon: «. =: kcteea cease eee Soeceeecae 256
Tuctle: . 22.6 esate se eee sacs 256
Houses of Central America..---.----.-.-.----------- 236
capacity: of:the~ 2-_.2<2_ nese ee ee ene 70
| of Indian tribes north of New Mexico.....-- 104
the :A:zteos: 1-2 2. o a er ee ee e256
California Indians -- - 106
Caribs -.. 229
Chinooks - 11
Chopunish. - 110
Clahelellahs 2 171
Clateops: .2-2-2-----= tots A 111
Indians of Columbia Valley .-...-..-.. 112

INDEX.

Page.
Hoses oh the Katonin - -...- cece =~ feseeeae nena moe 109
Moakah Indiansc = --5-— =r eee 112
Mandans and Minnetarees.-.-.-.----- 125
Maricopas and Mohaves .. ..-.-.---- 130
INP EVO UGE Baie eae eases aoe 118
Puebloslaos) Seaeeeesse) ae eel 182
TORE ee eipenens scrocscosece gp oaose 256
i 104, 132
115
ruins of,in Yucatan and Central America... 251
safe against Indian assault --.-------------- 213
Howitt, A. W.,on Australian customs. .-..-.------ e 70
Te
Weare ChyeAhe is ook = Gee er eee coonSe saseeeaSasses 257
Indian society unlike European ---.--...------------ 225
Indians; honsellifeiofther--.----- 2-<-2-~---.----=-=- 199
of Mexico and Central America, communal
dwellings of the..-...-..-.---. 75
tenureoflands:=-----.-----2---- 84
New Mexico, communal dwellings of the- 74
Jand customs of the --..--. 82
Northwest coast, communal dwellings of
ING eeterate oie saat oe oe eye ee reer 70
Peru, communism of the. --..------ 7
Southern, communal dwellings of the- 68
eating customs of the .--- 100
Inheritance, customs of -.-.-...-.--------- 94
Troquois, communal dwellings of the . ----...-.------ 64
communion’ among--- ==. -2--<------------~ 65
ContedelnG Wer miatenjs= eee ress aes al 23
cohesive principles of --.--.--- 33
democratic -.---..-----.-.--.-.- 40
founded on kinship ------------ 33
general features of the---..---- 28
origin of the Secon sess 27
seat of the central iailieg poesec 35
Council, annual meeting of the 35
decisions of the .--------

objects of the .----- -. ---
eating customs of the... -

ONS io - sci
rights, pri rilepes eral obligations .--.. 7
gentes, number of the .- 11
list of the ......--- 7
hospitality of the 45
bouses of the, described... ----.----...---- 120
Tandslotmuhor-eeesaer eee ea eeenr eeiccrens 80
MON eHOUGG ae pea seman eae aerate 81, 34, 120
adlenginty Un) a! sooemenea le ecasedycdbesnne 25
mi GNI Nee eet oes kena sere iceeosD 66
number of, in existence... -. ...---..---. 26
MIDE Of UNG ee oma oa wee ee 26
TODRAMMET Se Recs oe eee 10
phratry, functions and WG ecsecnoeeaeoae a 11
objects of the. ---------.---.---- IL
sachemships of the .-- ----- 29
table of the .------- 30
sachems, names bestowed upon -....-.----- 2
tribal epithets -.---.---.-.---. ---.-- 36 |

government ..----.--.--.-------.---- 32

war chiefs ...--...- Boas 38
Ives, J. C., cited .... 56, 141, 144
Jackson, W. H 155, 162, 171
158, 164, 165

:
|

| Latin and Sabine gentes, coalescence of .

| Male labor, first appearance eof.

, Maximilian, Prince

279

Page.

ALAIN Ove MAN CHEM onsen atseee en aennwea seer sanee 135, 169, 205

AYakteyt 10) aoe ese, Geeces SO ausC pao Soc EEBeLUSSSeaEe 53

WODOG, | S.y ChE Dancisscu nj nee nie seen eetesnnnisaeeewcasone 109

JET cece cents Gos beta COLO DOS EE Bn een eee oS 152

Jus gentilicium\~-- ~~ =n. -. 6... oe ee 7

K.
Legh St cisaqgeescise Sens neaoede ceeceassassse cocci 161
Kinship, rights and duties of, among the Aztees 250
rights, duties, and obligations of - Eo 250

Kin the basis of gentes.-...-..-.-------- 35 3

Kootenays ....-.-.-- 69

Kutchin, houses of the Sona da she sedssodoeesocodgoDd 109

L.

Wands; Civision) Of--sas2s-ce a6 ocean satnovclec/sesnnce sie 89
Ol UNE SLOG nNOS = eae eee ce ase ee oe rials 80
ownership of, in common..-.--.-.---..-------- 79, 85

ROVGLALy yee aean essa nee 81
of Village Indians, rights in.-.-....--.----.-- 149
tenure of, among ancient Mexicans -.----.--- 84
Languages, stock, number of .....-...--.-.-.-.----- 20
great number of, among American
DOL CMES toeeeme sam ae = eee ecieriae 20
verbal, incapable of permanence... --. 19
aphamyd eAgeee ashen era ae eae e nance ane es oes
a6 Casas Nb Ges eifed yaaaee ane oats eee >

Lewis and Clarke, cited ......-.-..---- 50, 51,

Lintels of Pueblos of Mexico. ------

WROOMANGStONG tsetse ee ee eta me asain
Long-House of the Iroquois described. --

Onondaga described E

symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy. --.

M.
WUE) eho nee aa area AnpaoasO ep ddea sone Eanosoan 122
Mnize indigenous to America .-..-..----. ---------- 193
Makah Indians, houses of the. -.----.-------.--------- 112
Mandan.drying scaffolds .....- ..-....----.--------- 128
houses, interior of the -..-.-.--.----------- 127
Iaddersi22=-5 2<-S2-s-n02ee se 192
Mandans, communal dwellings of the 72

eating customs of the

hospitality of the

houses of the - -
Marcos, Friar ....-.----

Maricopas, houses of the
Marquette, J., cited
Marsh, O. C

Mayas, communism in living -----.-------------------
OfthG :2=- s=cscsase's--s--eeeose- 75
cremation among ..-.----------------------+ 220
mentes Of the rsese ease a= oe as ee eae eae eel 8
hospitality of the...---..-----.------------- 59
(OP WOR AY aie Shee Sore eon soap soa Ss se 220
Meals, customs relating tco..-.-.-.------------------ 99
separation of the sexes at 102
Mexican houses, BIZGOLtNG neeeme ees === aa 232
usually two stories high ..-.. - 229
land ownership, conclusions concerning - -- 97
Mexicans, ancient inheritance among ..-...---.----- 95

280 INDEX.

Page. Page.
Mexican tribes, migration of the.................-.. 194)) Peru, tenure of landsiine= =. ---2-264. sees eeeneae 91
Mexico, pucbloof-.---...---.=..- .- 84, 222,228 | Phrara of the Albanians. ...--...-.--- tO Be a cee 1
council-house =ohieoes 88 | Phratric organization at funerals. ........-.... ee 13
largest in America... - 238) |\pPhratries;|Chickasacq-n0-->se-ese eee sees eee cere 16
Migration of the Iroquois 25 Chottay: se aaa a ee eee ee er 15
Migrations occur through physical causes —- 196 composed of kindred gentes 11
Mer wD SO) Che 0 meme err sae ae eee 82, 135, 147, 152 Mohegan ..-.. -- 16
Minnetarees, houses of the. .-.-........-.......----. 125,2 of the Iroquois - - 10
Mishonginivi, pueblo of, described ..-..............- | Thlinkit 17
Mitchel eT oes ay 0 eters coe ee eee mes 188 Phratry, existence of the, in Mexico and Goa
Mohiaves; houses of the:- 22202) -s.s5sseee a eae 130 America, )5.0 pesos eeee ison eee eee 14
Mohegan gentes and phratries --.................... 16 | in the military organization -- ......-.-- 15
Moki‘contedbray...coc=. 2 5- «Jack 52sceaeew ans ases 23 Troquois, functions and uses-..---.-....--- 11
143 | Objects) 0 fies oe en amare eee 11
141 marriage’ in} they. <2 2: -<tas2 122 = 84s epee = 10
299 older than the confederacy..-.--.---....... IL
248 UCT em onae OB (noes. ae; eaenceaos Seat osacrc
house of .- 225 || Pimas, hospitality, of the 22-22 24---.-. cece asses 57
Montezuma’s dinner - - 227, 237 | Plant life in the Rocky Mountains .............----- 193
palace B Pomeiock, village of, described..--.....----..---.<-. 115
Mortar, use of among American Indians... ......- TRE OW ELL ea Wiese sia tease ae EPA, 135
Mound=Builderss oe oe, ey Seer ee 193), Bowers; Stephen, citede sucess 2-5 ease eeeeee ee 53, 106, 107
arts and Paiaeiales of the ..... .... 200,219 | Powhatan Indians, communal dwellings of the...-.. 67
circular inclosures of the ...-. .- 214 “Prescott, W.H .-
cremation among the....... .--. 215 Pueblo of Chetro Kettle, : size © of re
derived from Village Indians ie Mexico) 225225 So eeemeee
New: Mexi¢o 222 oe cea toate 193 | Pueblos, number of persons in .--.....---....--..---
earth-works, uses of ............_-. 202 of North America, number of inhabitants. - 231
houses of thet. 7-266 ste, cee 198 Yucatan and Central America, popula-
in Middle Status of barbarism ---_-. 199 PWS NG) bien ee soe sossdssHses -sheseee7s ae 251
migrations of the -..... ........-.- 201 size of 203
migrations of, affected by climate - - 201
modification of house architecture. - 206 = is
Quatmozin 59
probable number of ..-...-..-- 218 GQuelaticas ic. Le ee 259
probably derived from New Tessin. 200 Ss oe ae a ea
social organization of the ........-. 215 R.
structures of, in Ohio.. 907'\| Buleigh, Sir Walter. -.<- --- 222-222. 25-2 nnennmnn 47
Mound, Grave Creek......--.----------- ee 9715; | Religions beliefs:2-—- 0. oe ee ees 151
Monnds at Mound City -...-....-.. oe 216 seclusion -.-----------------+------------- 153
Tih Vinca & bl Ope ese as bah ced I TN jig Rights in lands smong the Indians of Taos ..-...-.. 149
Robertson, cited 102
N. Round towers. -- 119
Ruins, east of the Rio Grande - 186
Nation, a coalition of tribes ...........-....-----.--- in McElmo Cation 189
National Assembly, functions of - -- the San Juan district = 192
Neerchokioo -...-..---.. Serer: : near base of Ute Mountain ............. .--. 190
Nez Percés, hospitality of the. Ralsc a/euerisateeee enc TniMexicows Gee eee eee ee 186
Norman, B. M., cited.-... -......- of houses in New Mexico ‘ 154
Nyack Indians, houses of the .-.--.........--..----- the pueblo of Bonito _ 156, 163
0. hun go Pavie enema seas ree 156, 160
? Alto'-. 2 3-2 s soon tee decodes 166
Ojibwa center feces. ae apa os Pe eee eS 8 161
lodge, description of. - 113 165
Omahal zentes) ee nana) ~ a<oee eae ee eee 8 156
Onondaga, Long-House of the, described 123 160
Onondagas, hospitality of the 46 159
Onondaga village described ......-..- 124 178
Organization, social and governmental = : 1 164
Otoes .-.--- Bs Se EAA gs ae PEED Oca - 115, 257 172
Ottawa confederacy... -<.22- 2... -.-~-n ese e = 23
Ownership of lands in severalty.........--...------. 81 185
P. Ss.
Palenque architecture. _:..-..2.5-- <<.2+-e-e-0= <== 269 _ Sachems of the Iroquois, names bestowed upon ---.. 32
so-called palace of the ...---.. Sie tra See 268 | Sachemships of the Iroquois Confederacy ..-.-...-... 26

Parker, William, a Sencea chief ............--..--.-- 65 tablevof S22 .-.:2-es--2= 30

INDEX.

Page
SahaeumypBadG ced: «2-2 <<500c sees aen seein. 103
Sandhill crane ....-....- ache a eae ea 195
San Juan district, ancient occupation of the ..... -- 192
geographic relations of the..... = 196
Walley; altitude of 4gk..-- 2... -..-2. 0. 193
Santo Domingo, puebloof —...... ..........----- 136
Sauks, communal dwellings of the.............--.-.- 73
schnr7;¢ Carlene ses eon eee ee = ee 80
Secotan, village of, described 116
Seneca-Iroquois. See Iroquois.
Se tiel weer een amet anne eens setae eters tee ee 108
Sept, the Irish ........ SO SALE ERAE AT emeace SSS Se 1
Shawnees, removal of the 8L
Shoshones, hospitality of the. ...............2........ 53
Sibley tent, aboriginal origin of the................. 115
Simpsony id, ecco teeta ee. Ske esas ea sa Senacves 171, 184
OILED renee occ ciawie nats iserseee ae 155, 156, 162
Ritereavd pligmec em ncein e ee oie ce ee 130
Slnyter* Peter ewe pacer ne nee sono ee ae ccd 118
Smet hd neuer see eee a or el 2 3 69
Smithy John yovted ee eee ee ree, Lo ae ees, 67, 117
Social and governmental organization........._.... al
Society, organization of.........-.....-:.:-20.------ 39
Sokulks, commercial dwellings of the ............... 70
Spanish accounts of Aztec society. -................. 223
histories, how they should be regarded. ._.. 227
SquirephnG cited sess eee eee eee a 216
Squire and Davis, cited..............- 202, 208
Bleck Met peeeete te tee Joos 5 ee a EAA 145
Stephens, J. L., cited. ..... 75, 178, 254, 257, 259, 264, 269, 270, 273
SLOVCHBOU yea reese ns oes een e amen eee oe 137
Stevenson, Mrs. J., description of Zuni, by... ...... 137
Stones of Pueblo dwellings - 179
Swan, C 68
Swan, J. G., cited 112
Symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy 31, 34
Syndyasminnamily< 222225. mcossesecseccs cee ee 5
rT
pU208 /HOURES Ofsess eee eee e <<< <is=csces ne ete eccee ae 182
Indians, organization of 147
pueblo of, described. .......... 144
Tecpan, or official house of the tribe - 256
enbroeck cred ens a see nee an epee 56
onc htliqerensecscteete sje cctet a caes 14, 249
Thlinkit, gentes and phrates..... ...........-.. : 17
Motohatton, Size of se..225 =. 2. cos cme cc cee 213
village of, described.............. Snes 119
Tlascalans, cremation among...............--. .---- 220
the four lineages of the ---.............. 14
FROQUER sere ttc ee aoe es oe sea oe eee ee 252
Mowers, TOUNG @ eens -2ccc wc ae ese ocosecnee eres yl
Tribal government of the Iroquois .-......- Se GraoOSe 32
GE) fecee ses dn essence acoson 21
Tribe composed of gentes 18
functions and attributes of 21
UNG ee ates esse eens suvanasoncececenccensesee 17

281

Page.

Tribe, the characteristics of......................... 2L

Tribes and gentes continually forming -............- 19

formed by natural growth. 19
evolved from each other... ..... ... 20
in savagery, communal dwellings of -- ao 106
| Tribute and tribute lands ...............-...--..---- 90
U.
Uxmal, Governor's House at....-................... 258
described --- 2-4-2 «5-25 259
House\of the Nunsiat-o--.6.+.5--- ose secs o-n 260
ground plan.-........_. 261
room described -. 262
Structuresiof:. <2) sense eet att getnc nee eeee 256
Vv.
| Véga, Garcillasso de la, cited..............-. 60
| Village Indians, houses of the............. 132
of New Mexico, arts of ..... : 135
| religious beliefs of ............. 151, 152, 153
| Voyage to New York in 1679-80 by Dankers and
Wem cluyverteceten cee chen ks 22 gees cach ee 118
| W.

Walker, F. A., on the Iroquois.................--.-- 6

PWS el OLED anne tac ete tea aen es ae ee ye 145

Wihitilesey;|Czescmos. seceea wen eseeneen face eee eee 218

Wiocoken}island!of oo 2 s-<- eh aee ew Soe beets 47

Wrolpi;pueblotoficcs- 2. o: sasese--eeaese econ ee eee 141

Wright, A 65

Wyth, J., cited 115

YE
Yucatan and Central American agriculture... _... 253
architecture ........ 272
confederacies ....... 251
general condition of
the aborigines .-. 274
household life in... 263
Indians, condition
and structures of. 274
| languages of 252
| population of 251
villages designed as
fortresses. --..-..- 270
ruins of houses in... 251
village life..-....... 251
Maya Indians of-<-2-: ofsssse-sees eee 59/75,
SWZREN ure eien wale eetom nm ne lem ee Soe sie mene eeaeere ee ae 255
Z.

Lay APALLMI ONG ee aoe ern acess Sevan eee a ee 266
architecture. -. 266
ground plan of - 265
ruins of ... ... 266

1 Zelsales . <== 556. <<25 252

Zempoala described Sar 230

KeZuni pueblo iOfis..-cceso:cbsctene cscs. nepepspCgScee 137

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