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 the court. These buildings, according to Sr. Epifanio Vigil, of Santa Fé, were barns or store-houses (round towers 10 to 11 feet high), in which the Indians preserved their gathered crops, forage, etc. Still, it is not unlikely that they were tanks, built for collecting rain-water. On the south side of the eastern wing, and so close to it that the heaps of rubbish touch, are two circular depressions surrounded by large masses of stones. They are marked S S on the plan. Their shape and size cannot be accurately determined, and their object is unknown. [Illustration: PLATE VIII INTERIOR OF BUILDING A, FROM THE SOUTH.]