r. Mariano Ruiz, the sacred
embers ("braza") were kept here until 1840, in which year the five last
remaining families of Pecos Indians removed to their cognates at Jemez,
and the "sacred fire" disappeared with them. Sr. Ruiz is good authority
on that point, since, as a member of the tribe[125] ("hijo del pueblo"),
he was asked to perform his duty by attending to the embers one year. He
refused, for reasons which I shall hereafter state. The facts--that the
fire was kept in a sort of closed oven, and that the front opening
existed--made it unnecessary to search for any other conduit for smoke
and ventilation. The fire was kept covered, and not permitted to flame.

I now come to one of the most interesting features of the court,--the
three circular depressions marked _P_ on the diagram. Two of them are in
the N. E. corner,--the northern one close to the northern wing, and the
other 2.65 m.--9 ft.--to the S. S. E. of it. Both are perfect circles,
and each has a diameter of 7.70 m.--25 ft. In the S.W. corner, near to
the passage _N_, is the third, with a diameter of only 6 m.--20 ft. They
look like shallow basins, encased by a rim of stone-work piled up in the
usual way, and forming a wall of nearly 0.35 m.--14 in.--in thickness.
This wall is sunk into the ground, but at the northern basin it
certainly, as former excavations plainly show, did not reach the depth
of 1 metre; and it appears that at about that depth there were flat
stones laid, like a rough stone floor. These basins were the "Estufas,"
or council chambers, where, as late as 1840, the meetings of the poor
remnants of the tribe were still held. Although an adopted son of Pecos,
Sr. Ruiz was never permitted to enter the Estufa. Across the northern
one a very large and very old tree, nearly 0.75 m.--2 ft. 6 in.--in
diameter, is lying obliquely. Its thick end is towards the N.E. wall. It
looks as if uprooted and fallen upon the ruins. But how could a tree of
such dimensions ever have grown there? Again, for what purpose, and how,
could the Indians of Pecos have carried it hither?

Outside of the building _A_, the narrow ledge separating its rubbish
from the eastern wall of circumvallation, a rim 150 m.--192 ft.--long by
32 m.--105 ft.--wide at the south, and 12 m.--40 ft.--at the north,
shows the basins _D_ and _F_, respectively 10 m.--33 ft.--and 8 m.--26
ft.--in diameter. They hug the rock of the _mesilla_ very closely, and
look completely like the estufas in th