In the development of primitive arts the advances are slow and
laborious, and are produced by adding small increments to current
knowledge. So vague and undefined an influence as that exerted by the
larger forms of surrounding nature are seldom recognized and
acknowledged by the artisan; on the contrary, experiments, resulting in
improvement, are largely prompted by practical requirements.
Particularly is this the case in the art of house-building.
SHUMOPAVI.
This village, although not so isolated as Oraibi, has no near neighbors
and is little visited by whites or Indians. The inhabitants are rarely
seen at the trading post to which the others resort, and they seem to be
pretty well off and independent as compared with their neighbors of the
other villages (Pl. XXXIV). The houses and courts are in keeping with
the general character of the people and exhibit a degree of neatness and
thrift that contrasts sharply with the tumble-down appearance of some of
the other villages, especially those of the Middle Mesa and Oraibi.
There is a general air of newness about the place, though it is
questionable whether the architecture is more recent than that of the
other villages of Tusayan. This effect is partly due to the custom of
frequently renewing the coating of mud plaster. In most of the villages
little care is taken to repair the houses until the owner feels that to
postpone such action longer would endanger its stability. Many of the
illustrations in this chapter indicate the proportion of rough masonry
usually exposed in the walls.
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