ny enfeebled remnants of independent phratries and
groups once more numerous and powerful. Some clans traditionally
referred to as having been important are now represented by few
survivors, and bid fair soon to become extinct. So the members of each
phratry have their own store of traditions, relating to the wanderings
of their own ancestors, which differ from those of other clans, and
refer to villages successively built and occupied by them. In the case
of others of the pueblos, the occupation of cliff dwellings and cave
lodges is known to have occurred within historic times.

Both architectural and traditional evidence are in accord in
establishing a continuity of descent from the ancient Pueblos to those
of the present day. Many of the communities are now made up of the more
or less scattered but interrelated remnants of gentes which in former
times occupied villages, the remains of which are to-day looked upon as
the early homes of "Aztec colonies," etc.

The adaptation, of this architecture to the peculiar environment
indicates that it has long been practiced under the same conditions that
now prevail. Nearly all of the ancient pueblos were built of the
sandstone found in natural quarries at the bases of hundreds of cliffs
throughout these table-lands. This stone readily breaks into small
pieces of regular form, suitable for use in the simple masonry of the
pueblos without receiving any artificial treatment. The walls themselves
give an exaggerated idea of finish, owing to the care and neatness with
which the component stones are placed. Some of the illustrations in the
last chapter, from photographs, show clearly that the material of the
walls was much ruder than the appearance of the finished masonry would
suggest, and that this finish depended on the careful selection and
arrangement of the fragments. This is even more noticeable in the Chaco
ruins, in which the walls were wrought to a high degrees of surface
finish. The core of the wall was laid up with the larger and more
irregular stones, and was afterwards brought to a smooth face by
carefully filling in and chinking the joints with smaller stones and
fragments, sometimes not more than a quarter of an inch thick; this
method is still roughly followed by both Tusayan and Cibolan builders.

Although many details of construction and arrangement display remarkable
adaptation to the physical character of the country, yet the influence
of such environment woul