Room _I_, in the S.W. corner of the north wing is very well preserved: so well, indeed, that it is nearly certain that there was no entrance to it from above. On the contrary, the entrance appears to have been from the front, as shown in Pl. VIII., where this room stands in full view. It is perfectly plain inside; eight posts of wood, round, and stripped of all bark, support the ceiling and roof, whose composition I have elsewhere described. These posts (which are also shown in Pl. VIII.) are so distributed as to have one in each corner, and two between, on each longer side of the room. In the S.E. quarter of the ceiling the splinters covering the rafters or poles are removed, and fresh straw (or rather very well preserved) protrudes, as having formed a layer with the brush. I was at first inclined to take it for wheat-straw, but other parties insisted that it was mountain grass. For the latter it appears to be very long, and it has a marked head. I have not, as yet, seen any wheat-plants grown at these elevations.[124] Otherwise this chamber appears nearly perfect. In the middle of the north wall a hole is knocked out, but the two coats of plaster (dark and white) are almost everywhere preserved. Great interest attaches to this apartment, from the fact that, according to Sr. 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.