The houses are built of adobe bricks with thick and solid walls, which are usually plastered on the outside and tinted white or pink.

The roofs are pitched, but with a gentle slope.
They consist of frameworks of poles upon which long narrow shingles are laid, and pegged in place with wooden pegs which project both above and below for several inches in a formidable, bristling way.

Sometimes the shingles, instead of being pegged in place, are held by stones, which in some cases weigh several pounds, and are laid in regular horizontal lines.
When we were there, great stacks of corn-husks were to be seen in almost every yard; these were placed on floorings, raised by posts some distance above the ground to keep them from animals.

A long ladder usually leaned against one side of the stack and a light cross of sticks stuck into the top of the stack kept off evil influences.

Sometimes this cross was cut in relief on the smooth, carefully trimmed end of the stack itself.