Page 108 - TheHopiIndians
P. 108
100 MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND
feathers, forming the "soul" of the house, are re
newed, and at this season when the sun returns north
ward, the village house-chief visits the houses which
have been built within the year and performs a cere
mony over them.
A hole is left in one corner of the roof, under which
the women build the mud fireplace, with its knob
andirons and the column of pots with the bottoms
knocked out which form the chimney. Over the fire
place, a chimney hood, usually supported on posts, is
constructed of basket-work, plastered over with mud.
A row of mealing stones slanted in sunken stone boxes
in the floor must not be forgotten, and no one in Hopi-
land could set up housekeeping without a smooth
stone slab to bake piki upon. Some of the houses have
a low bench along one or two sides of the room which
forms convenient seats. The windows are small, being
often mere chinks, through which the curious spy with
out being seen. Stones are usually at hand, by means
of which, and mud, windows and doors may be closed
when the family go off on a rather protracted stay.
This one-room house is the nucleus of the village.
When the daughters marry and require space for
themselves, another house is built in front of and ad
joining the first one, and a second story may be added
to the original house. Thus the cluster grows, and
around the spaces reserved for streets and plazas other
clusters grow until they touch one another and rise
three or four stories, the inner rooms being dark from