Fig. 110. Gardens of Zuñi.
[ “KISI” CONSTRUCTION.]
Lightly constructed shelters for the use of those in charge of fields were probably a constant accompaniment of pueblo horticulture. Such shelters were built of stone or of brush, according to which material was most available.
In very precipitous localities, as the Canyon de Chelly, these outlooks naturally became the so-called cliff-dwellings or isolated shelters. In Cibola single stone houses are in common use, not to the exclusion, however, of the lighter structures of brush, while in Tusayan these lighter forms, of which there are a number of well defined varieties, are almost exclusively used. A detailed study of the methods of construction employed in these rude shelters would be of great interest as affording a comparison both with the building methods of the ruder neighboring tribes and with those adopted in constructing some of the details of the terraced house; the writer, however, did not have an opportunity of making an examination of all the field shelters used in these pueblos. Two of the simpler types are the “tuwahlki,” or watch house, and the “kishoni,” or uncovered shade. The former is constructed by first planting a short forked stick in the ground, which supports one end of a pole, the other end resting on the ground. The interval between this ridge pole and the ground is roughly filled in with slanting sticks and brush, the inclosed space being not more than 3 feet in height, with a maximum width of four or five feet. These shelters are for the accommodation of the children who watch the melon patches until the fruit is harvested.
Fig. 111. Kishoni, or uncovered shade, of Tusayan.
The kishoni, or uncovered shade, illustrated in Fig. 111, is perhaps the simplest form of shelter employed. Ten or a dozen cottonwood saplings are set firmly into the ground, so as to form a slightly curved inclosure with convex side toward the south. Cottonwood and willow boughs in foliage, grease-wood, sage brush, and rabbit brush are laid with stems upward in even rows against these saplings to a height of 6 or 7 feet. This light material is held in place by bands of small cottonwood branches laid in continuous horizontal lines around the outside of the shelter and these are attached to the upright saplings with cottonwood and willow twigs.