wall of exceptional
roughness. Apparently there has never been any attempt to smooth or
reduce this wall to a finished surface with the usual coating of adobe
mud.

[Illustration: Plate LIII. Site of K'iakima, at base of Taaaiyalana.]

In Tusayan also some of the kiva walls look as though they had been
built of the first material that came to hand, piled up nearly dry, and
with no attempt at the chinking of joints, that imparts some degree of
finish to the dwelling-house masonry. The inside of these kivas,
however, is usually plastered smoothly, but the interior plastering is
applied on a base of masonry even in the case of the kivas that are
wholly subterranean. It seems to be the Tusayan practice to line all
sides of the kivas with stone masonry, regardless of the completeness
and fitness of the natural cavity. It is impossible, therefore, to
ascertain from the interior of a kiva how much of the work of excavation
is artificial and how much has been done by nature. The lining of
masonry probably holds the plastering of adobe mud much better than the
naked surface of the rock, but the Tusayan builders would hardly resort
to so laborious a device to gain this small advantage. The explanation
of this apparent waste of labor lies in the fact that kivas had been
built of masonry from time immemorial, and that the changed conditions
of the present Tusayan environment have not exerted their influence for
a sufficient length of time to overcome the traditional practice. As
will be seen later, the building of a kiva is accompanied by certain
rites and ceremonies based on the use of masonry walls, additional
testimony of the comparatively recent date of the present subterranean
types.

_Orientation._--In questioning the Tusayan on this subject Mr. Stephen
was told that no attention to the cardinal points was observed in the
plan, although the walls are spoken of according to the direction to
which they most closely approximate. An examination of the village plans
of the preceding chapters, however, will show a remarkable degree of
uniformity in the directions of kivas which can scarcely be due to
accident in rooms built on such widely differing sites. The intention
seems to have been to arrange these ceremonial chambers approximately on
the north and south line, though none of the examples approach the
meridian very closely. Most of them face southeast, though some,
particularly in Walpi, face west of south. In Walpi four