modern notched ladder in Oraibi.]

[Illustration: Fig. 46. Tusayan notched ladders from Mashongnavi.]

The earliest form of ladder among the pueblos was probably a notched
log, a form still occasionally used. Figures 45 and 46 illustrate
examples of this type of ladder from Tusayan.

A notched ladder from Oraibi, made with a modern axe, is shown. This
specimen has a squareness of outline and an evenness of surface not
observed in the ancient examples. The ladder from Mashongnavi,
illustrated on the left of Fig. 46, closely resembles the Oraibi
specimen, though the workmanship is somewhat ruder. The example
illustrated on the right of the same figure is from Oraibi. This ladder
is very old, and its present rough and weatherbeaten surface affords but
little evidence of the character of the implement used in making it.

[Illustration: Fig. 47. Aboriginal American forms of ladder.]

The ladder having two poles connected by cross rungs is undoubtedly a
native invention, and was probably developed through a series of
improvements on the primitive notched type. It is described in detail in
the earliest Spanish accounts. Fig. 47 illustrates on the left the
notched ladder, and on the right a typical two-pole ladder in its most
primitive form. In this case the rungs are simply lashed to the
uprights. The center ladder of the diagram is a Mandan device
illustrated by Mr. Lewis H. Morgan.[6] As used by the Mandans this
ladder is placed with its forked end on the ground, the reverse of the
Pueblo practice. It will readily be seen, on comparing these examples,
that an elongation of the fork which occurs as a constant accompaniment
of the notched ladder might eventually suggest a construction similar to
that of the Mandan ladder reversed. The function of the fork on the
notched ladder in steadying it when placed against the wall would be
more effectually performed by enlarging this feature.

[Footnote 6: Cont. to N.A. Ethn., vol. 4, Houses and House life,
pp. 129-131.]

[Illustration: Plate LXXVII. Outline plan of Zuni, showing
distribution of oblique openings.]

At one stage in the development of the form of ladder in common use
to-day the rungs were laid in depressions or notches of the vertical
poles, resembling the larger notches of the single ladder, and then
lashed on with thongs of rawhide or with other materials. Later, when
the use of iron became known, holes were burned through the side poles.
This