[Illustration: PLATE X VIEW OF PASSAGE G, BUILDING A, FROM THE NORTH.]
The mound _H_ describes about two-thirds of a circle. Its base at the south is 6 m.--20 ft.--from E. to W.; its diameter, 6.85 m.--23 ft; its actual height, about 1.5 m.--5 ft. It is conical, and appears to be a round heap of earth and rocks encased with neat and judicious piling of well-selected stones. This naturally gave the stone-work a slanting surface; the higher it reaches, however, the more it becomes vertical, until at last it juts out above the surface of the mound like a circular breastwork, or a hollow round tower on a conical base. I refer to Pl. X. for an excellent view of its vertical aspect and structure. This mound, or tower, while it commands an extensive view to the west, north, and even north-east, is also the most northerly "spur" of the western wing of the great house _A_. This wing extends in an unbroken length of 62 m.--203 ft.--from the base line of _H_ to the entrance _N_, and is divided into 3 transverse sections, all connected, and all having 3 longitudinal rows of rooms or cells. The width of each cell is the same in every section, to wit, from E. to W. 2.58 m., 2.58 m., and 3.22 m.--8 ft. 6 in., 8 ft. 6 in., and 10 ft. 6 in., respectively.
Section _k l l m_ has 3 × 5 apartments; in length from N. to S., 2.51 m., 3.86 m., 2.35 m., 3.71 m., and 3.72 m.--8 ft., 13 ft., 8 ft., 12 ft., and 12 ft. It was therefore 16.15 m. × 8.38 m.--53 ft. × 27 ft. Probably all the ground-floor cells were on the same level.
Section _l l h h_ has 3 × 12 apartments, each 2.53 m.--8 ft.--long. Consequently, it was a rectangle of 30.36 m. x 8.38 m.--100 ft. × 27 ft. The eastern row of chambers was on the slope.
Section _h h N_ 3 × 4 long, respectively 2.77 m.--9 ft. each, therefore 10.98 m. × 8.38 m.--36 ft. × 27 ft. There were two eastern rows on the slope.
This entire wing (forming a rectangle of 62 m. × 8.38 m.--203 ft. × 27 ft., if we add to the spaces given the thicknesses of the transverse partitions, this time not included in the measures) has given me more trouble than the rest of _A_ and _B_ combined. Nowhere are the walls so twisted and out of range as here. Besides, there is an unfinished air about it that is almost bewildering. The height of the stories does not agree with that of the other sections,--the western wing would be one story lower. Furthermore, it contains in several places squared beams of wood inserted in the stone-work lengthwise. These beams (of which there is also one in the opposite wing similarly embedded) are identical and apparently of the same age with the (not sculptured) beams still found in and about the old church. Entire walls of chambers, or rather sides, appear to be new; the mud or adobe is fresh, whereas almost everywhere else it has disappeared, out of the crevices even; the stones are almost laid in courses. As I shall hereafter relate, there are at several places adobe walls, the adobe containing wheat-straw! And all this right among chambers showing sides as uncouth and old as any of the pueblo, though still as high as their more recent and better preserved neighbors. Here there is evidently patchwork of later date, and patchwork executed with material unknown to the Indians previous to the advent of the Spaniards. I am even convinced that it was done after 1680; for the beams evidently came from the church or the convent, which buildings we know were sacked and fired by the Indians in the month of August of that year. If this conclusion be correct, the south-western part of _A_, its entire westerly wall, was somehow destroyed after 1680, and partly rebuilt with materials unknown to the Indians at the time when Pecos was first erected.