Tour the National Museum's South East Range After the First Fifty Years

The present pueblo of Zuni, of which the model on a scale of five feet to one inch is an accurate representation, is situated in the extreme western part of New Mexico. The town is built upon a knoll on the banks of the Zuni river, and is two miles distant from the high mesa, on the top of which is the ancient Zuni.

This is supposed to be one of the pueblos discovered by Coronado in the year 1540, when prosecuting his famous search for the "Seven Cities of Cibola." Zuni tradition says that the town was removed to this mesa owing to a great flood which deluged the country, and that after the waters had been propitiated by the sacrifice of two children, they subsided, and permitted them to reoccupy the former (present) site.

Zuni is the largest and most populous of the existing pueblos, which are all built upon the same general plan.

Most of the houses are substantially built of adobe, or sun-dried bricks though a few are built of stone. They are well-finished inside, are neatly washed with a white clay, and are comfortable habitations.

The floors are occasionally made of flagging, but are usually plastered with clay-adobe.

The roofs are constructed of cross-rafters, filled in with willow brush. Light is admitted through windows, formerly made of plates of mica, for which glass, when obtainable, is now substituted.

The terraced form of architecture illustrated in Zuni is designed to render the town a fortified citadel, capable of withstanding all assaults of Indian warfare.

The houses on the ground tier are entered by doors which can be easily barricaded. The upper stories are reached only by means of ladders, as in the model, which can be drawn up as occasion required, when the defensive rmensures are complete. In times of peace, the terraces are favorite lounging places for the inhabitants.

The oval, dome-stalled structures close to the houses, are adobe ovens used only for baking the sacred or feast bread.

In the wicker bird coops, seen here and there, are kept eagles, hawks, and turkeys, which are regarded as sacred birds, and from which are plucked the feathers used in the dances and ceremonials.

Covered ways permit access to the several parts of the town. Few of these streets are broad enough to permit the passage of wagons, as Zuni transportation is carried on only by means of horses and donkeys.

There are two plazas, or open squares; the one in the centre of the town being the larger, and the one where the inhabitants usually congregate to smoke, gossip, and idle away the time.

The large adobe building facing the plaza is the old church, which was erected when Zuni was under the control of the Spaniards, and presided over by Roman Catholic priests. On the cession of the country by Spain, the Zunis revolted from the priestly authority, drove out the priests, and re-established their own form of religion. The church was then converted into a stockyard.

Just outside the town are the vegetable gardens, which are protected from the inroads of stock by mud walls. These are watered and tended by the women.

Return to start of the South East Range of the National Museum in 1886