A large percentage of the windows, in both Tusayan and Cibola, are furnished with glass at the present time. Occasionally a primitive sash of several lights is found, but frequently the glass is used singly; in some instances it is set directly into the adobe without any intervening sash or frame. In several cases in Zuñi the primitive sash or frame has been rudely decorated with incised lines and notches. An example of this is shown in Fig. 88. The frame or sash is usually built solidly into the wall. Hinged sashes do not seem to have been adopted as yet. Often the introduction of lights shows a curious and awkward compromise between aboriginal methods and foreign ideas.

Fig. 88. Incised decoration
on a rude window sash in Zuñi.

Characteristic of Zuñi windows, and also of those of the neighboring pueblo of Acoma, is the use of semitranslucent slabs of selenite, about 1 inch in thickness and of irregular form. Pieces are occasionally met with about 18 inches long and 8 or 10 inches wide, but usually they are much smaller and very irregular in outline. For windows pieces are selected that approximately fit against each other, and thin, flat strips of wood are fixed in a vertical position in the openings to serve as supports for the irregular fragments of selenite, which could not be retained in place without some such provision. The use of window openings at the bases of walls probably suggested this use of vertical sticks as a support to slabs of selenite, as in this position they would be particularly useful, the windows being generally arranged on a slope, as shown in Fig. 89. Similar glazing is also employed in the related, obliquely pierced openings of Zuñi, to be described later.

Fig. 89. Sloping selenite window
at base of Zuñi wall on upper terrace.

Selenite, in all probability, was not used in pre-Spanish times. No examples have as yet been met with among ruins in the region where this material is found and now used. Throughout the south and east portion of the ancient pueblo region, explored by Mr. A. F. Bandelier, where many of the remains were in a very good state of preservation, no cases of the use of this substance were seen. Fig. 90 illustrates a typical selenite window.

Fig. 90. A Zuñi window
glazed with selenite.

In Zuñi some of the kivas are provided with small external windows framed with slabs of stone. It is likely that the kivas would for a long time perpetuate methods and practices that had been superseded in the construction of dwellings. The use of stone jambs, however, would necessarily be limited to openings of small size, as such use for large openings was beyond the mechanical skill of the pueblo builders.