The ground plan of the mungkiva of Mashongnavi is illustrated in Fig. 27. In this example the narrowing of the room at the second level of the floor is on one side. The step by which the upper level is reached from the main floor is 8 inches high at the east end, rising to 10 inches at the west end. The south end of the kiva is provided with a small opening like a loop-hole, furnishing an outlook to the south. The east side of the main portion of the kiva is not provided with the usual bench. The portion of the bench at the katchina end of the kiva is on a level with the west bench and continuous for a couple of feet beyond the northeast corner along the east wall. The small wall niches are on the west side and nearer the north end than usual. The arrangement of the katchinkihu is quite different from that described in the Shupaulovi kivas. The orifice occurs in the north wall at a height of 3½ feet above the floor, and 2 feet 3 inches above the top of the bench that extends across this end of the room. The firepit is somewhat smaller than in the other examples illustrated. Fig. 28 illustrates the appearance of the kiva hatchway from within as seen from the north end of the kiva, but the ladder has been omitted from the drawing to avoid confusion. The ladder rests against the edge of the coping that caps the dwarf wall on the near side of the hatchway, its top leaning toward the spectator. The small smoke-blackened sticks that are used for the suspension of bundles of greasewood and other fuel in the hatchway are clearly shown. At the far end of the trapdoor, on the outside, is indicated the mat of reeds or rushes that is used for closing the openings when necessary. It is here shown rolled up at the foot of the slope of the hatchway top, its customary position when not in use. When this mat is used for closing the kiva opening it is usually held in place by several large stone slabs laid over it. [Fig. 29] illustrates a specimen of the Tusayan kiva mat.
Fig. 28. Interior view of a kiva hatchway in Tusayan.
The above kiva plans show that each of the illustrated examples is provided with four long narrow planks, set in the kiva floor close to the wall and provided with orifices for the attachment of looms. This feature is a common accompaniment of kiva construction and pertains to the use of the ceremonial room as a workshop by the male blanket weavers of Tusayan. It will be more fully described in the discussion of the various uses of the kiva.
Fig. 29. Mat used in closing the entrance of Tusayan kiva.
The essential structural features of the kivas above described are remarkably similar, though the illustrations of types have been selected at random. Minor modifications are seen in the positions of many of the features, but a certain general relation between the various constructional requirements of the ceremonial room is found to prevail throughout all the villages.
[Work by women.]—After all the above described details have been provided for, following the completion of the roofs and floors, the women belonging to the people who are to occupy the kiva continue the labor of its construction. They go over the interior surface of the walls, breaking off projections and filling up the interstices with small stones, and then they smoothly plaster the walls and the inside of the hatchway with mud, and sometimes whitewash them with a gypsiferous clay found in the neighborhood. Once every year, at the feast of Powuma (the fructifying moon), the women give the kiva this same attention.