The general plan of the village of to-day confirms the traditional accounts of its foundation. According to these its growth was gradual, beginning with a few small clusters, which were added to from time to time as the inhabitants of the lower site upon the spur of the mesa, where the mission was established, moved up and joined the pioneers on the summit. It is probable that some small rooms or clusters were built on this conspicuous promontory soon after the first occupation of this region, on account of its exceptionally favorable position as an outlook over the fields ([Pl. XXI]).
Though the peculiar conformation of the site on which the village has been built has produced an unusual irregularity of arrangement, yet even here an imperfect example of the typical inclosed court may be found, at one point containing the principal kiva or ceremonial chamber of the village. It is probable that the accidental occurrence of a suitable break or depression in the mesa top determined the position of this kiva at an early date and that the first buildings clustered about this point.
A unique feature in this kiva is its connection with a second subterranean chamber, reached from the kiva through an ordinary doorway. The depression used for the kiva site must have been either larger than was needed or of such form that it could not be thrown into one rectangular chamber. It was impossible to ascertain the form of this second room, as the writer was not permitted to approach the connecting doorway, which was closed with a slab of cottonwood. This chamber, used as a receptacle for religious paraphernalia, was said to connect with an upper room within the cluster of dwellings close by, but this could not be verified at the time of our visit. The plan indicates that such an adjoining chamber, if of average size, could easily extend partly under the dwellings on either the west or south side of the court. The rocky mesa summit is quite irregular in this vicinity, with rather an abrupt ascent to the passageway on the south as shown in Pl. XXII. Southeast from the kiva there is a large mass of rocks projecting above the general level, which has been incorporated into a cluster of dwelling rooms. Its character and relation to the architecture may be seen in [Pl. XXIII]. So irregular a site was not likely to be built upon until most of the available level surface had been taken up, for even in masonry of much higher development than can be found in Tusayan the builders, unable to overcome such obstacles as a large mass of protruding rock, have accommodated their buildings to such irregularities. This is very noticeable in the center cluster of Mummy Cave (in Canyon del Muerto, Arizona), where a large mass of sandstone, fallen from the roof of the rocky niche in which the houses were built, has been incorporated into the house cluster. Between this and another kiva to the north the mesa top is nearly level. The latter kiva is also subterranean and was built in an accidental break in sandstone. On the very margin of this fissure stands a curious isolated rock that has survived the general erosion of the mesa. It is near this rock that the celebrated Snake-dance takes place, although the kiva from which the dancers emerge to perform the open air ceremony is not adjacent to this monument ([Pl. XXIV]).
Plate XXII. South passageway of Walpi.
A short distance farther toward the north occur a group of three more kivas. These are on the very brink of the mesa, and have been built in recesses in the crowning ledge of sandstone of such size that they could conveniently be walled up on the outside, the outer surface of rude walls being continuous with the precipitous rock face of the mesa.
Plate XXIII. Houses built over irregular sites, Walpi.