or offset of the inner walls. The recent introduction of
improved mechanical aids has exerted a strong influence on the character
of the construction in greatly facilitating execution. The use of the
American ax made it a much easier task to cut large timbers, and the
introduction of the "burro" and ox greatly facilitated their
transportation. In the case of the modern pueblos, such as Zuni, the
dwelling rooms that were built by families so poor as not to have these
aids would to some extent indicate the fact by their more primitive
construction, and particularly by their small size, in this respect more
closely resembling the rooms of the ancient pueblos. As a result the
poorer classes would be more likely to perpetuate primitive devices,
through the necessity for practicing methods that to the wealthier
members of the tribe were becoming a matter of tradition only. In such a
sedentary tribe as the present Zuni, these differences of wealth and
station are more marked than one would expect to find among a people
practicing a style of architecture so evidently influenced by the
communal principle, and the architecture of to-day shows the effect of
such distinctions. In the house of the governor of Zuni a new room has
been recently built, in which the second series of the roof, that
applied over the principal beams, consisted of pine shakes or shingles,
and these supported the final earth covering without any intervening
material. In the typical arrangement, however, illustrated in the
figure, the first series, or principal beams, are covered by another
series of small poles, about an inch and a half or two inches in
diameter, at right angles to the first, and usually laid quite close
together. The ends of these small poles are partially embedded in the
masonry of the walls. In an example of the more careful and laborious
work of the ancient builders seen at Penasco Blanco, on the Chaco, the
principal beams were covered with narrow boards, from 2 to 4 inches wide
and about 1 inch thick, over which was put the usual covering of earth.
The boards had the appearance of having been split out with wedges, the
edges and faces having the characteristic fibrous appearance of torn or
split wood. At Zuni an instance occurs where split poles have been used
for the second series of a roof extending through the whole thickness of
the wall and projecting outside, as is commonly the case with the first
series. A similar arrangement was s