At the time the Spaniards came into Yucatan the Amerinds, according to Herrera, were dwelling in timber huts thatched with grass or something similar. The dense unexplored forests of the Yucatan region are filled with ruins which have never been seen by white men, at least that is the supposition of archæologists like Saville and Charnay. The Maya house was divided, according to Landa, from side to side by a wall with doors, the back part being sleeping quarters. The front portion was whitewashed or painted in designs and was open the whole length, with low sheltering eaves. In the rear there was a doorway leading from that part. A lengthwise division into two main parts was a characteristic of almost all the Maya buildings now found in ruins. The structures were generally wide and shallow, and subdivided into a great many rooms. It is more in the ornamentation of the buildings and the stone roofs than in anything else that they differ from structures farther north. The interior masonry is frequently a rubble, with the dressed and carved stones on the outside as a facing. Bandelier thinks that some of the stone walls in New Mexico are quite as well constructed as some in Mexico proper. But however this may be, there is nothing north of the City of Mexico that compares in architectural excellence with the Yucatan structures, albeit in some respects there is a strong resemblance between the latter in plan and conception, and the Pecos and other northern ruins. The communal principle of living had much to do almost everywhere with the size and character of the Amerind houses. Situation was determined by expedience and necessity; material of construction by environment. Throughout the continent the Amerind was a village dweller, and except in the Far North and on the northern Californian and North-west coasts he was generally a tiller of the soil, growing, often in large quantities, maize, beans, squashes, cotton, and some other products according to locality. His large communal buildings were in part fortresses to protect the families against marauding Amerinds of a less prosperous and cultivated type, and against the occupants of other towns, for in general it may be said that there was little political cohesion in the various tribes, though the Aztecs and Iroquois are examples of exceptions that arose from time to time. There is nothing in any of the remains, so far developed, that indicates foreign influence, prior to the Discovery. Every architectural work on the continent is purely Amerindian or modified by contact with other races subsequent to 1492. [Illustration: ESKIMO HORN DIPPER] [Illustration: HORN ARROW STRAIGHTENER] CHAPTER IX WEAPONS, ARMOUR, IMPLEMENTS, AND TRANSPORTATION [Illustration: MODERN IRON ARROW-HEADS OF THE OMAHAS War Arrow War Arrow Hunting Arrow ]