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Show 154 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY THE promenade, although then there were no trees, nor had any at: tempt been made to bring it to its present beauty. It was the market place. The principal stations for the public market were in that portion of the plaza near the western end of the palace. Here the country people sold the meats, fruits, and vegetables which were brought to town. The supply was very scanty, hardly sufficient to meet the demands of the city. THE PLAZA There were offered for sale, mutton, kid, pigs, THE MARKET-PLACE chilli, beans, onions, milk, bread, cheese, and, during the season, grapes, wild plums, raspberries, and melons. In the winter the Indians and others brought in, almost daily, fine venison, wild turkeys, and occasionally the carcass of a large bear, all of which were shot in the neighboring mountains. All of these articles were transported upon burros or upon the backs of Indians; one of the latter would often come a long distance with not more than a dollar’s worth of marketing. The meats were hung upon a line stretched to the pillars of the palace portal, while the vegetables were displayed on little mats or pieces of board, beside which the venders would sit for hours waiting for customers. Vegetables were a very scarce article, being confined almost entirely to the varieties mentioned. The eo market was located on San Francisco street where it enters the plaza at the southwest corner. During the summer and fall the rancheros were accustomed to come in from the country every morning with newly- cut grass or hay, each with a bundle of about twelve or fifteen pounds tied up in a blanket and carried upon a burro. The bundles were arranged side by side along the side of the street, and were sold at sll and a half cents, a real, each, cash, without the blanket. ' e houses of the earlier days, particularly those of the wealthier asses, were built of adobe, in the form of a square, surrounding a court-yard =a ae ia ‘iene La nen or patio. i style of architecture was adopted for aving entered this court-yard, the house prope? oY way of a reception hall or sala. ‘pe lies the ial This purposes, because of the hostility of the Indians. The s the oer was through a door opening, generally, building opened upon the CITY OF SANTA FE 155 traces of the Moors. It was a very rare thing to see a board floor in the houses, the substitute being earth. NEW MEXICAN DWELLINGS A coating of soft mud was carefully MODE OF CONSTRUCTION spread over the earth, which, when dry, made a firm and comfortable floor. The common covering for the floors, when they were covered at all, was a coarse article of domestic manufacture, called gerga, which answered the purpose of a carpet. The inside walls were whitened with calcined yezo or gypsum, which was used instead of lime; this would not adhere to the walls and would come off upon every article that touched it. To prevent this, the rooms were lined with calico to the height of four feet. The coating of mud and yezo on the inside of the house was generally put on by the women, who made use of their hands wool on for that purpose, and instead a piece of sheep-skin with the of using brushes and plasterers’ tools. The ceiling was never plastered, but in those of the wealthier classes the beams that supported the roof were planed and painted in various colors, and sometimes an artificial ceiling was In some made by tacking bleached muslin, called manta, to them. sections of the country, small round sticks were laid from beam to beam in herring-bone style; these beams were ealled vigas; sometimes the small round sticks were painted green, blue or yellow. The fireplace was always built in one corner of the room, something of and occupied a very small space. The mouth was or two inches the shape of a horseshoe, not more than eighteen feet in height, and the same in width at the bottom. The back was slightly concave instead of being a plane surface, and the small circular hearth in front was raised a half a foot above the the wood beThey knew nothing of the use of andirons, oor. Whenever a fireplace. the of back the Ing placed on end against "oom needed renovating, it was the custom to go carefully over it with on the outside with a coating of soft mud, and on the inside a fresh coat of yezo, followed by a fresh layer of mud for the floor. The furniture, as well as the manner of arranging the same, was Few chairs or wooden seats of any kind were used, but In its arrangement Peculiar. patio, m their stead mattresses were folded up and placed around the room, next to the wall, all of which, carefully covered with bright colored Navajé blankets, gave a pleasing appearance to the apart- except some unicated directly with the sala or with each other. yle was essentially Spanish, blended with which were many |