by a
peg set into each side piece, the weight and thrust of the ladder
helping to hold it. The primitive arrangement here seen has been
somewhat improved upon in some other cases, but it was not ascertained
whether these were of later date or not.

In the best made frames for kiva entrances the timbers are "halved" in
the manner of our carpenters, the joint being additionally secured by a
pin as shown in Fig. 99.

The use of a frame of wood in these trapdoors dates back to a
comparatively high antiquity, and is not at all a modern innovation,
as one would at first be inclined to believe. Their use in so highly
developed a form in the ceremonial chamber is an argument in favor of
antiquity. Only two examples were discovered by Mr. L. H. Morgan in a
ruined pueblo on the Animas. "One of these measured 16 by 17 inches and
the other was 16 inches square. Each was formed in the floor by pieces
of wood put together. The work was neatly done."[8]

[Footnote 8: Contributions to N.A. Ethnology, vol. 4. House Life,
etc., p. 182.]

[Illustration: Fig. 99. Halved and pinned trapdoor frame of a Zuni
kiva.]

[Illustration: Plate CI. Masonry chimneys of Zuni.]

Unfortunately, Mr. Morgan does not describe in detail the manner in
which the joining was effected, or whether the pieces were halved or cut
to fit. It seems hardly likely, considering the rude facilities
possessed by the ancients, that the enormous labor of reducing large
pieces of wood to such interfitting shapes would have been undertaken.
A certain neatness of finish would undoubtedly be attained by arranging
the principal roof beams and the small poles that cross them at right
angles, in the usual careful manner of the ancient builders. The kiva
roof opening, with the hole serving for access and smoke exit, is
paralleled in the excavated lodges of the San Francisco Mountains, where
a single opening served this double purpose. A slight recess or
excavation in the side of the entrance shaft evidently served for the
exit of smoke.

At the village of Acoma the kiva trapdoors differ somewhat from the Zuni
form. The survey of this village was somewhat hasty, and no opportunity
was afforded of ascertaining from the Indians the special purpose of the
mode of construction adopted. The roof hole is divided, as in Zuni, but
the portion against which the ladder leans, instead of being made into a
smoke vent, is provided with a small roof. These roof holes to the