[Illustration: Fig. 234--Supporting post in a summer hut]

Figure 235 shows another type of summer shelter in plan, and figure 236
is a section of the same. It is of the “lean-to” type, and consists of a
horizontal beam resting on two forked timbers and supporting a series
of poles, the upper ends of which are placed against it. The structure
faces the east, and the southern end is closed in like a hogán, but it
was covered only with cedar boughs laid close together without an earth
facing.

This shelter stood upon a slope and the timbers used in its construction
were small and crooked. Perhaps on account of these disadvantages the
interior was excavated, after the shelter was built, to a depth of
nearly 24 inches on the higher side, as shown in figure 236. By this
expedient the space under the shelter was greatly enlarged. The
excavation was not carried all the way back to the foot of the rafters,
but, as shown in the section, a bench or ledge some 18 inches wide was
left, forming a convenient place for the many little articles which
constitute the Navaho’s domestic furniture.

[Illustration: Fig. 235--Ground plan of a summer hut]

Mention has been made before of this interior bench, which is an
interesting feature. It has been suggested by Mr Victor Mindeleff, whose
well-known studies of Pueblo architecture give his suggestions weight,
that we have here a possible explanation of the origin of the interior
benches which are nearly always found in the kivas or ceremonial
chambers of the Pueblo Indians, that the benches in the kivas may be
survivals of archaic devices pertaining to the primitive type from which