The
builder also makes an offering to M?sauwu (called "feeding the house")
by placing fragments of food among the rafters, beseeching him not to
hasten the departure of any of the family to the under world.
A hole is left in one corner of the roof, and under this the woman
builds a fireplace and chimney. The former is usually but a small cavity
about a foot square in the corner of the floor. Over this a chimney hood
is constructed, its lower rim being about 3 feet above the floor.
As a rule the house has no eaves, the roof being finished with a stone
coping laid flush with the wall and standing a few inches higher than
the roof to preserve the earth covering from being blown or washed away.
Roof-drains of various materials are also commonly inserted in the
copings, as will be described later.
All the natives, as far as could be ascertained, regard this
single-roomed house as being complete in itself, but they also consider
it the nucleus of the larger structure. When more space is desired, as
when the daughters of the house marry and require room for themselves,
another house is built in front of and adjoining the first one, and a
second story is often added to the original house. The same ceremony is
observed in building the ground story in front, but there is no ceremony
for the second and additional stories.
[Illustration: Plate XLVII. Hawikuh, view.]
Anawita (war-chief of Sichumovi) describes the house in Walpi in which
he was born as having had five rooms on the ground floor, and as being
four stories high, but it was terraced both in front and rear, his
sisters and their families occupying the rear portion.
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