[41] Bancroft, p. 665.
[42] Twitchell, p. 447.
[43] Ibid., p. 449, from P. B. Pino, Notícias históricas (Méjico, 1848); and Ninth U.S. Census (1870). The later figure may represent only the town proper; earlier statistics generally included outlying settlements.
The Architecture of the Moradas
Figure 2. The Abiquiú area, showing the Chama River, U.S. Highway 84, and siting of buildings (the mission of Santo Tomás and the two moradas are circled).
In a modern map (Figure 2), circles enclose the Mission of Abiquiú and its two penitente moradas. The moradas lie 300 meters east and 400 meters south of the main plaza onto which Santo Tomás Mission faces from the north. Between the moradas rests the local burial ground (campo santo), a cemetery that serves penitentes as "Calvary" (calvario) in their Lenten re-enactment of the Passion.
Penitente moradas share a common system of adobe construction with the religious and domestic structures of New Mexico. While the Indians set walls of puddled earth directly on the ground, the Spaniards, following Moorish precedent, laid adobe bricks on stone foundations. Standard house-size adobes average 15 by 30 by 50 centimeters. Adobe bricks are made by packing a mixture of mud, sand, and straw into a wood frame from which the block then is knocked out onto the ground to dry in the sun. Stones set in adobe mortar provide a foundation. The sun-dried bricks, which are also laid in adobe mortar, form exterior, load-bearing walls and interior partitions.
Spanish adobe construction also employs wood. Openings are framed and closed with a lintel that projects well into the wall. These recessed lintel faces often are left exposed after the plastering of adjoining surfaces. Roofs are transverse beams (vigas), which in turn hold small cross branches (savinos) or planks (tablas). A final layer of brush and adobe plaster closes the surface cracks. Plank drains (canales), rectangular in section, lead water from this soft roof surface (Figure 3).
Domestic adobe structures differ from ecclesiastic buildings in scale and in spatial arrangement. Colonial New Mexican churches are relatively large, unicellular spaces. Their simple nave volume often is made cruciform by a transept whose higher roof allows for a clerestory. A choir loft over the entry and a narrowed, elevated sanctuary further articulate the space at each end of the nave. In contrast, Hispano houses consist of several low rooms set in a line or grouped around a court (placita) in which a gate and porch (portal) are placed. Rooms vary in width according to the length of the transverse beams, which usually are from four to six meters long.[44]