| Fig. 61.
A corner chimney hood with two supporting poles (Tusayan). |
A further improvement in the chimney was the construction of a corner hood support by means of two short poles instead of a single piece, thus forming a rectangular smoke hood of enlarged capacity. This latter is the most common form in use at the present time in both provinces, but its arrangement in Tusayan, where it represents the highest achievement of the natives in chimney construction, is much more varied than in Cibola. In the latter province the same form is occasionally executed in stone. Fig. 61 illustrates a corner hood, in which the crossed ends of the supporting poles are exposed to view. The outer end of the lower pole is supported from the roof beams by a cord or rope, the latter being embedded in the mud plastering with which the hood is finished. The vertically ridged character of the surface reveals the underlying construction, in which light sticks have been used as a base for the plaster. The Tusayans say that large sunflower stalks are preferred for this purpose on account of their lightness. Figs. [63] and [64] show another Tusayan hood of the type described, and in [Fig. 69] a large hood of the same general form, suspended over a piki-stone, is noticeable for the frank treatment of the suspending cords, which are clearly exposed to view for nearly their entire length.
| Fig. 62.
A curved chimney hood of Mashongnavi. |
In a chimney in a Mashongnavi house, illustrated in Fig. 62, a simple, sharply curved piece of wood has been used for the lower rim of this hood, thus obtaining all the capacity of the two-poled form. The vertical sticks in this example are barely discernible through the plastering, which has been applied with more than the usual degree of care.
A curious example illustrating a rudimentary form of two-poled hood is shown in Fig. 63. A straight pole of unusual length is built into the walls across the corner of a room, and its insertion into the wall is much farther from the corner on one side than the other. From the longer stretch of inclosed wall protrudes a short pole that joins the principal one and serves as a support for one side of the chimney-hood. In this case the builder appears to have been too timid to venture on the bolder construction required in the perfected two-poled hood. This example probably represents a stage in the development of the higher form.
| Fig. 63.
A Mashongnavi chimney hood and walled up fireplace. |
In some instances the rectangular corner hood is not suspended from the ceiling, but is supported from beneath by a stone slab or a piece of wood. Such a chimney hood seen in a house of Shupaulovi measures nearly 4 by 5 feet. The short side is supported by two stone slabs built into the wall and extending from the hood to the floor. Upon the upper stone rests one end of the wooden lintel supporting the long side, while the other end, near the corner of the room, is held in position by a light crotch of wood. Fig. 64 illustrates this hood; the plan indicating the relation of the stones and the forked stick to the corner of the room. [Fig. 71], illustrating a terrace fireplace and chimney of Shumopavi, shows the employment of similar supports.
| Fig. 64.
A chimney hood of Shupaulovi. |
Corner chimney hoods in Zuñi do not differ essentially from the more symmetrical of the Tusayan specimens, but they are distinguished by better finish, and by less exposure of the framework, having been, like the ordinary masonry, subjected to an unusually free application of adobe.
The builders of Tusayan appear to have been afraid to add the necessary weight of mud mortar to produce this finished effect, the hoods usually showing a vertically ridged or crenated surface, caused by the sticks of the framework showing through the thin mud coat. Stone also is often employed in their construction, and its use has developed a large, square-headed type of chimney unknown at Tusayan. This is illustrated in Fig. 65. This form of hood, projecting some distance beyond its flue, affords space that may be used as a mantel-shelf, an advantage gained only to a very small degree by the forms discussed above. This chimney, as before stated, is built against one of the walls of a room, and near the middle.