Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines/Table of Contents

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.
SOCIAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.
The Gens: organized upon Idu; 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. 1
CHAPTER II.
THE LAW OF HOSPITALITY AND ITS GENERAL PRACTICE.
Indian tribes in three dissimilar conditions—Savage tribes—Partially horticultural tribes—Village Indians—Usages and customs affecting their house life—The law of hospitality practiced by the Iroquois; by the Algonkin tribes of lower Virginia; by the Delawares and Munsees; by the tribes of the Missouri, of the Valley of the Columbia; by the Dakota tribes of the Mississippi; by the Algonkin tribes of Wisconsin; by the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks; by the Village Indians of New Mexico, of Mexico, of Central America; by the tribes of Venezuela; by the Peruvians—Universality of the usage—It implies communism in living in large households. 42
CHAPTER III.
COMMUNISM IN LIVING.
A law of their condition—Large households among Indian tribes—Communism in living in the household—Long Houses of the Iroquois—Several families in a house—Communism in household—Long Houses of Virginia Indians—Clustered cabins of the Creeks—Communism in. the cluster—Hunting bands on the plains—The capture a common stock—Fishing bauds on the Columbia—The 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. 63
CHAPTER IV.
USAGES AND CUSTOMS WITH RESPECT TO LAND AND FOOD.
Tribal domain owned by the tribe in common—Possessory right in individuals and families to such land as they cultivated—Government compensation for Indian lands paid to tribe; for improvements to individuals—Apartments of a house and possessory rights to lands went to gentile heirs—Tenure of land among sedentary Village Indians at Taos, Jemez, and Zuñi—Among Aztecs or Ancient Mexicans, as presented by Mr. Bandelier; in Pern—The usage of having but one prepared meal each day, a dinner—Rule among Northern tribes—A breakfast as well as a dinner claimed for the Mexicans—Separation at meals, the men eating first, and by themselves, and the women and children afterwards. 123
CHAPTER V.
HOUSES OF INDIAN TRIBES NORTH OF NEW MEXICO.
Houses of Indian tribes must be considered as parts of a common system of construction—A common principle runs through all its forms; that of adaptation to communism in living within the household—It explains this architecture—Communal houses of tribes in savagery; in California; in the valley of the Yukon; in the valley of the Columbia—Communal house of tribes in the lower status of barbarism—Ojibwa lodge—Dakota skin tent—Long houses of Virginia Indians; of Nyach tribe on Long Island; of Seneca-Iroquois; of Onondaga-Iroquois—Dirt Lodge of Mandans and Minnetarees—Thatched houses of Maricopas and Mohaves of the Colorado; of the Pimas of the Gila—What a comparison shows. 104
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 m terraced town—Ground story closed—Terraces reached by ladders—Rooms entered through trap-doors in ceilings—Pueblo of Zuñi—Ceiling—Waterjars and hand-mill—Moki pueblo-—Room in same—Ceiling like that at Zuñi—Pueblo of Taos—Estufas for holding councils—Size of adobes—Of doorways—Window-openings and trap-doorways—Present governmental organization—Room in pueblo—Fire-places and chimneys of modern introduction—Present ownership and inheritance of property—Village Indians have declined since their discovery—Sun worship—The Montezuma religion—Seclusion from religious motives. 144
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 Ilungo Pavie—Pueblo of Chettro-Kettle—Room in same—Form of ceiling—Pueblo Bonito—Room in same—Restoration of Pueblo—Pueblo del Arroyo—Pueblo Peñasca Blanca—Seven large pueblos and two smaller ones—Pueblo Alto without the valley on table land on the north side—Probably the "Seven Cities of Cibola" of Coronado's Expedition—Reasons for supposition—The pueblos constructed gradually—Remarkable appearance of the valley when inhabited. 188
CHAPTER VIII.
HOUSES IN RUINS OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF THE SAN JUAN RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES—(Continued.)
Ruins of stone pueblo on Animas River—Ground plan—Each room faced with stone, showing natural faces—Constructed like those in Chaco—Adobe mortar—Its composition and efficiency—Lime unknown in New Mexico—Gypsum mortar probably used in New Mexico and Central America—Cedar poles used as lintels—Cedar beams used as joists—Estufas; neither fire-places nor chimneys—The House a fortress—Second stone pueblo—Six other pueblos in ruins near—The Montezuma Valley—Nine pueblos in ruins in a cluster—Diagram—Ruins of stone 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 culture—Mound-Builders probable emigrants from this region—Historical tribes of Mexico emigrants from same—Indian migrations—Made under control of physical causes. 218
CHAPTER IX.
HOUSES OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
Area of their occupation—Their condition that of Village Indians—Probably immigrants from New Mexico—Character of their earthworks—Embankments enclosing squares—Probable sites of their houses—Adapted, as elevated platforms, to Long Houses—High bank works—Capacity of embankments—Conjectural restoration of 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. 244
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 Baudelier—House occupied by Montezuma—A communal house—Montezuma's dinner—According to Diaz—To Cortez—To Herrera—To H. H. Bancroft—Excessive exaggerations—Dinner in common by a communal household—Bandelier's "Social Organization and Mode of Government of the Ancient Mexicans." 274
CHAPTER XI
RUINS OF HOUSES OF THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
Pueblos in Yucatan and Central America—Their situation—Their house architecture—Highest type of aboriginal architecture—Pueblos were occupied when discovered—Uxmal houses erected on pyramidal elevations—Governor's house—Character of its architecture—House of the Nuns—Triangular ceiling of stone—Absence of chimneys—No cooking done within the house—Their communal plan evidently joint-tenement houses—Present communism of Mayas—Presumptively inherited from their ancestors—Ruins of Zayi—The closed house—Apartments constructed over a core of masonry—Palenque—Mr. Stephens' misconception of these ruins—Whether the post and lintel of stone were used as principles of construction?—Plan of all these houses communal—Also fortresses—Palenque Indians flat-heads—American ethnography—General conclusions. 303
INDEX
Pages 279 to 281

Illustrations

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


Page.
Frontispiece.—Zuñi Water Carrier. xiii
Fig. 1. Earth Lodges of the Sacramento Valley to face page 106
Fig. 2. Gallinomero Thatched Lodge to face page 106
Fig. 3. Maidu Lodge in the high Sierra to face page 108
Fig. 4. Yókuts Tule Lodges to face page 108
Fig. 5. Kǔtchin Lodge 109
Fig. 6. Ground-plan of Neorchokioo 110
Fig. 7. Frame of Ojibwa Wig-e-wam 113
Fig. 8. Dakota Wäká-yo, or Skin Tent 114
Fig. 9. Village of Pomeiock 115
Fig. 10. Village of Secotan to face page 116
Fig. 11. Interior of House of Virginia Indians 117
Fig. 12. Ho-dé-no-sote of the Seneca-Iroqnois 119
Fig. 13. Ground-plan of Seneca-Iroquois Long-House 120
Fig. 14. Bartram's ground-plan and cross-section of Onondaga Long-House 123
Fig. 15. Palisaded Onondaga Village to face page 124
Fig. 16. Mandan Village Plot 126
Fig. 17. Ground-plan of Mandan House 126
Fig. 18. Cross-section of Mandan House 127
Fig. 19. Mandan House 128
Fig. 20. Mandan Drying-Scaffold 129
Fig. 21. Mandan Ladder 129
Fig. 22. Pueblo of Santo Domingo to face page 136
Fig. 23. Pueblo of Zuñi to face page 138
Fig. 24. Room in Zuñi House to face page 140
Fig. 25. Pueblo of Wolpi to face page 142
Fig. 26. Room in Moki House 143
Fig. 27. North Pueblo of Taos to face page 144
Fig. 28. Room in Pueblo of Taos to face page 148
Fig. 29. Map of a portion of Chaco Cañon to face page 156
Fig. 30. Ground-plans of Pueblos Pintada and Wejegi to face page 158
Fig. 31. Ground-plans of Pueblos of Una Vida and Hungo Pavie to face page 160
Fig. 32. Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie to face page 161
Fig. 33. Ground-plan of Pueblo Chettro Kettle to face page 162
Fig. 34. Interior of a Room in Pueblo Chettro Kettle to face page 162
Fig. 35. Ground-plan of Pueblo Bonito to face page 163
Fig. 36. Room in Pueblo Bonito to face page 164
Fig. 37. Restoration of Pueblo Bonito to face page 164
Fig. 38. Ground-plan of Pueblo del Arroyo to face page 164
Fig. 39. Ground-plan of Pueblo Peñasca Blanca to face page 166
Fig. 40. Ground-plan of the Pueblo on Animas River 173
Fig. 41. Stone from Doorway 180
Fig. 41a. a finished block of Sandstone (for comparison with 180
Fig. 42. Section of Cedar Lintel 181
Fig. 43. Outline of Stone Pueblo on Animas River 185
Fig. 44. Pueblos at commencement of McElmo Cañon 189
Fig. 45. Outline plan of Stone Pueblo near base of Ute Mountain 190
Fig. 46. Ground-plan of High Bank Pueblo to face page 208
Fig. 47. Restoration of High Bank Pueblo to face page 210
Fig. 48. Ground-plan and sections of house, High Bank Pueblo to face page 211
Fig. 49. Mound with artificial clay basin 216
Fig. 50. Side elevation of Pyramidal Platform of Governor's House 258
Fig. 51. Governor's House at Uxmal to face page 260
Fig. 52. Ground-plan of Governor's House, Uxmal to face page 260