_Antiquity of the kiva._--The widespread occurrence of this feature and its evident antiquity distinguish it as being especially worthy of exhaustive study, especially as embodied in its construction maybe found survivals of early methods of arrangement that have long ago become extinct in the constantly improving art of housebuilding, but which are preserved through the well known tendency of the survival of ancient practice in matters pertaining to the religious observances of a primitive people. Unfortunately, in the past the Zuñi have been exposed to the repressive policy of the Spanish authorities, and this has probably seriously affected the purity of the kiva type. At one time, when the ceremonial observances of the Zuñi took place in secret for fear of incurring the wrath of the Spanish priests, the original kivas must have been wholly abandoned, and though at the present time some of the kivas of Zuñi occupy marginal positions in the cell clusters, just as in many ancient examples, it is doubtful whether these rooms faithfully represent the original type of kiva. There seems to be but little structural evidence to distinguish the present kivas from ordinary large Zuñi rooms beyond the special character of the fireplace and of the entrance trap door, features which will be fully described later. At Tusayan, on the other hand, we find a distinct and characteristic structural plan of the kiva, as well as many special constructive devices. Although the position of the ceremonial room is here exceptional in its entire separation from the dwelling, this is due to clearly traceable influences in the immediate orograpic environment, and the wholly subterranean arrangement of most of the kivas in this group is also due to the same local causes. [Illustration: Plate LII. K’iakima, plan.]