 Jacal (HAH-cahl) pl. jacales (HAH-cahl-leez) n. [Sp.] A crude hut comprised of pole and thatch construction. Most of the dwellings destroyed in the fighting around the Alamo were not expensive stone houses like the Veramendi Palace, but small jacales constructed of timber post, hides, mud or clay plaster, reeds for straw thatch, and other cheap local materials. Although well adapted to the environment and the economic level of their residents, jacales seemed unfamliar and primitve to Anglo American observers. Source: Schoelwer. ©1985, DeGolyer Library |