Plate XCIV. Ancient wall of upright rocks in southwestern Colorado.
Notwithstanding the use of large stones for special purposes the pueblo builders rarely appreciated the advantages that might be obtained by the proper use of such material. Pueblo masonry is essentially made up of small, often minute, constructional units. This restriction doubtless resulted in a higher degree of mural finish than would otherwise have been attained, but it also imposes certain limitations upon their architectural achievement. Some of these are noted in the discussion of openings and of other details of construction.
[Pl. XLV], an illustration of a Mormon mill building at Moen-kopi, already referred to in the description of that village, is introduced for the purpose of comparing the methods adopted by the natives and by the whites in the treatment of the same class of material. Perhaps the most noteworthy contrast is seen in the sills and lintels of the openings.
[ ROOFS AND FLOORS.]
In the pueblo system of building, roof and floor is one; for all the floors, except such as are formed immediately on the surface of the ground, are at the same time the roofs and ceilings of lower rooms. The pueblo plan of to-day readily admits of additions at any time and almost at any point of the basal construction. The addition of rooms above converts a roof into the floor of the new room, so that there can be no distinction in method of construction between floors and roofs, except the floors are occasionally covered with a complete paving of thin stone slabs, a device that in external roofs is confined to the copings that cap the walls and enframe openings.
