on account of their
comfortable temperature in winter. They recalled to them the
_temaz-calli_, or sweat-houses, of Mexico.]

[Footnote 3: The preservation of traditions is much systematized among
the Pueblo Indians. Certain societies know hardly any other but the
folk-tales relating to their own particular origin. To obtain correct
tradition it is necessary to gain the confidence of men high in degree.
That is mostly very difficult.]

CHAPTER II.

The homes of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, especially as regards the
size and disposition of the rooms, are to-day slightly modified from
what they were in former times. An advance has been made, inasmuch as
the buildings are not any longer the vast and ill-ventilated honeycombs
composed of hundreds of dingy shells, which they were centuries ago. The
houses, while large and many-storied, are comparatively less extensive,
and the apartments less roomy than at the time when the Queres lived in
the Rito de los Frijoles.

The two rooms where we left the lads and their mother at the close of
the preceding chapter formed such a home. In the front one the family
slept at night, with the exception of Okoya who was obliged to join the
other youths in the estufa of his clan. The husband was not always at
home after sunset. But the mother, Shyuote, and a little girl four years
old invariably took their nightly rest there. To the little girl we have
not yet been introduced. When the boys returned she was in the
court-yard at play, and in the usual state of complete undress which is
the regular condition of Indian children of her age.

The inner cell was kitchen and storeroom, and there the family partook
of their meals.

Among the Pueblos the house was in charge of the women exclusively,
everything within the walls of the house, the men's clothing and weapons
excepted, belonging to the housekeeper. Even the crops if once housed
were controlled by her. As long as they were in the field, the husband
or masculine head of the family could dispose of them. Afterward he must
consult the woman, and he could not sell an ear of corn without her
consent. It is still so to-day in many villages. Formerly all the
field-products were gathered and stored in the granaries of the several
clans whence each household drew its supplies. Even the proceeds of
communal hunts and fisheries were treated in this manner. Only where the
husband, son, or brother killed game while out alone, could