rtains to religion. In the
small roof holes methods of construction are seen which would not be so
practicable on the larger scale of the ladder holes after which they
have been modeled. In these latter the sides are built up of masonry or
adobe, but the framing around them is more like the usual coping over
walls. The stone that, set on edge in the small openings built for the
admission of light, forms a raised end never occurs in these. The ladder
for access rests against the coping.

When occurring in connection with kivas, ladder holes have certain
peculiarities in which they differ from the ordinary form used in
dwellings. The opening in such cases is made of large size to admit
dancers in costume with full paraphernalia. These, the largest roof
openings to be found in Zuni, are framed with pieces of wood. The
methods of holding the pieces in place vary somewhat in minor detail.
It is quite likely that recent examples, while still preserving the form
and general appearance of the earlier ones, would bear evidence that the
builders had used their knowledge of improved methods of joining and
finishing.

As may readily be seen from the illustration, Fig. 98, this framing,
by the addition of a cross piece, divides the opening unequally. The
smaller aperture is situated immediately above the fireplace (which
conforms to the ancient type without chimney and located in the open
floor of the room) and is very evidently designed to furnish an outlet
to the smoke. In a chamber having no side doors or windows, or at most
very small square windows, and consequently no drafts, the column of
smoke and flame can often on still nights be seen rising vertically from
the roof. The other portion of the opening containing the ladder is used
for ingress and egress. This singular combination strongly suggests that
at no very remote period one opening was used to answer both purposes,
as it still does in the Tusayan kivas. It also suggests the direction in
which differentiation of functions began to take place, which in the
kiva was delayed and held back by the conservative religious feeling,
when in the civil architecture it may have been the initial point of a
development that culminated in the chimney, a development that was
assisted in its later steps by suggestions from foreign sources. In the
more primitively constructed examples the cross pieces seem to be simply
laid on without any cutting in. The central piece is held in place